AUGUST 2025

Me enjoying a swim and retrieving my stick.
 

JULY 2025

Just call me a water baby.  I love the water and I love retrieving.  Most mornings include a trip to the lake.  Before my dip I enjoy helping to feed the fish.  I do this by finding and eating all the morsels dropped by the Mrs as she throws it into the water.  For a second I feel empathy with the fish as they go berserk, so excited by the thought of food.  Back on dry land I suspect she purposely drops bits for me to find on the grassy bank so I don’t try to jump in and wrestle the fish for it.  Then we walk round the lake looking at flora and fauna and I wait patiently while she keeps stopping to take photos.  Eventually we return to a quiet section away from the fish feeding station and again I wait patiently while the Mrs does a search for a suitably sized stick and lobs it into the water for me to retrieve. 

If you’ve seen my blog on the square box thingy you’ll have seen a shot of my spectacular diving technique.   Once launched and the enormous splash fades I lift my head above water checking to see where the stick landed, then I strike out to retrieve it.  With my paws extended I boost the webbing between my toes giving me extra pulling power, snatch it from the surface and swim back to shore.  This is the part where the Mrs will stand well back from me.  All I want to do is give her the stick so she can throw it in again but the more I advance, the more she retreats.  Eventually I give up and drop the stick to do my whole body shimmer shake which rids my coat of most of the excess water giving me a lighter running weight.  I look round to find the Mrs and give her the stick but she is standing well away from the droplet flying zone.  What is it with her and water – she’s exactly the same when it falls from the sky.  Me, I love it, the wetter the better……

 

JUNE 2025

Helping with the hydrangeas.   I thought I was just being helpful but the Mrs did not share the same feelings.  She was busy dead heading all the hydrangeas.  Apparently, it is advisable to leave the old blooms on until old Jack Frost has stopped visiting as they protect the tender new shoots, or in this case when you return to the garden they are growing in and have the time and energy to remove them.  That is what is happening now, the Mrs moves among the many hydrangea plants and systematically removes the old blooms and placing them in the wheelbarrow behind her.  I secretly assist by delicately lifting each bloom in my mouth and removing them to a pile nearby thus emptying the wheelbarrow to allow her to add more old blooms.  After a while she becomes suspicious that she is able to add so many to the wheelbarrow without filling it.  At this point she looks behind her to find my helpful emptying technique has resulted in a pile of blooms with me in the middle.  She was a little exasperated but managed to smile at my help, however I was banned from removing anything further from the wheelbarrow, no matter how helpful I thought I was being.  Sometimes my assistance is just not required!
 

APRIL

Smelling the flowers.  The Mrs is trying to educate me as to what smells nice in the hope that I can improve my hygiene which will in turn improve my aroma.  The Boss thinks she is far too fussy and he says my aroma is fine. 

This aroma teaching thing could take a while because there are a lot of flowers blooming as the garden is bursting into flower due to the sunny days we have been having.  The grass has also been cut and I am discovering where a lot of my toys have been hiding in the secret corners of the garden.  I have taken to rolling on the newly cut grass to get that lovely mown grass smell into my coat. 

My coat….that’s another minor thing the Mrs keeps on about.   As soon as the sun came out my coat seems to be diminishing, in fact much of it is coating the floor instead of me.  That noisy suction machine which the Mrs loves so much follows me around nearly every day pinching all my fur.  I have to vacate the room in search of a safe haven in case I eventually disappear inside it.  Goodness knows what it wants all my fur for…..it will soon have the same aroma as me, he he.

 

MARCH

You will notice I am holding Teddy by the arm.  This avoids any worries the Mrs might have if I hold him by the ears or the foot.  She thinks they may be torn off by accident if I play too roughly with him.  I hasten to add that she is misguided in her belief I would hurt him…..he is my best friend and I would not damage him, even though he does get flung around a bit.  He changes his scent regularly and I am suspicious of the Mrs confiscating him occasionally and heading to her den where the washing machine is housed.  He is always returned to me bright and fluffy but his scent is different and it takes a lot of cuddles, playing and licking to get him back to his familiar scent – very much like mine……something I don’t think the Mrs is very fond of…..

There do seem to be a lot of baths recently, which I don’t mind.  I jump in the bath with alacrity waiting for the shower to be sprayed over me and then a special doggy shower gel is rubbed all over.  I have learnt to balance on three legs while lifting one helpfully while the Mrs cleans the unmentionables.  Then comes the rinsing shower again and finally I am allowed to shake but only if the shower curtain is drawn across hiding me from view.  I am instructed to jump out of the bath tub and on to a towel while another is draped over me.  This is a game I love and I can wriggle and shake with the best.  The Mrs has trouble keeping me covered and I love the drying session with the towel before I am let out to show the Boss my new clean coat.  He lets me snooze by the fire with Teddy until I am dry and I dream of spending the next few weeks playing and cuddling with Teddy so we can retrieve our own personal scents again……. 

 

FEBRUARY

Please can we go for a walk now…… I’ve waited patiently for the snooker to finish (I must say I am a bit flummoxed by all those balls, and how they disappear down holes - very similar to rabbits).  We could squeeze in a nice walk before the darts start or we could do an even longer walk before the golf starts……

The Mrs helps me by explaining to the Boss that “the dog wants to go for a walk” at which point he jumps up with alacrity and immediately finds his boots and coat.  If you believe this you are more gullible than I gave you credit for….. 

Luckily he needs to collect more wood for the fire and I am a champ at helping with that so we do eventually get the buggy out and go for a good run.  I assist by foraging for logs and chunks of wood which he loads into the buggy.  However after a few forages into the pile I get a bit bored and start to investigate other scents around the area.  There is an interesting smell coming from the back of the wood pile but I am restrained from further excavation by a call on the whistle.  The wood collection is over and it’s time to go home to dinner and more sport, that is unless the Mrs has hidden the flicker and is watching  what she wants to watch for a change…….I am afraid I am on the Boss’s side – anything involving a ball holds my attention!

 

DECEMBER / JANUARY 2025

I wish a Happy New Year to you all with plenty of food and a lot of walks.

Christmas was a very happy family affair here and I am pleased to say I had a little playmate to share the day with. Cookie the Border Terrier came over. We have a love/hate relationship. I love her and she hates me but I am immune as I don’t believe anyone can hate me as I am so lovable. Here I am just trying to rip the wrapping from my Christmas present which turned out to be a tasty chew in the shape of a bone. I said my thankyous in the time honoured way with a big lick and a wagging tail and an immediate devouring of my delicious gift before Cookie found it. In roughly 10 seconds I had scarfed the lot and it was delicious. I began rummaging through the myriad wrappings scattered over the entire floor in case Cookie had been given one which she may have mislaid…. Nothing doing, apparently she had eaten hers too but happily there seemed to be some turkey left which was donated to my dish and also tasted as good as the gift. The Boss received some soft suede slippers trimmed inside with sheep skin which I quite envied but after a good perusal I decided my sleek fur paws with their hardy pads and sophisticated black nails were far superior, especially as I can keep them on all the time – no need for this constant change of footwear.

I sometimes hear the Mrs exclaiming about footwear the Boss has on indoors – especially if he has just come in from the garden without changing them! Luckily my paws seem to be self-cleaning as I never leave dirty footprints on the floor – at least I don’t think so…….

It must be such a drag having to have so many different pairs of footwear and having to make decisions all the time on which pair to put on. I often hear the Boss asking the Mrs if she needs to have quite so many to choose from, but she says it is quite necessary – as necessary as it is for him to have four pairs of wellington boots…… I gaze into his eyes, telepathically telling him to discontinue that conversation! At least they only have two feet to worry about – I count my lucky stars that I don’t need any at all - can you imagine four of everything.