Alfie's Tail is a Blog written by one of our successfully rehomed dogs.
March 2013 Alfie’s Blog
Hello everyone,
I forgot to put the best picture
on my last blog, so here it is –
Isn’t
that great, all that snow to play in?
By the way, I found out the other
day that I hadn’t won the picture competition. A tiny little thing won it. I
think he was a Yorkshire Terrier (I should know really shouldn’t I?) but I
can’t remember his name.
You’ll never guess where I’ve
been lately. I’ve been to Anglesey again, but only for
the day this time. We went to look at another cottage; but I don’t think we’ll
be moving there either. Oh dear. Mummy said there was a lovely ginger cat with
ginger eyes living in the garden shed. I wonder if it will stay behind when
they move away. I had plenty of little walks whilst we were there, so that was
ok; and I could smell the sea even
though I couldn’t see it properly.
I haven’t been going upstairs to
bed so often since my humans moved back into their bedroom. I’ve decided to
stay downstairs occasionally. I can
stretch out better on my own, but of course it’s not as warm.
Talking of ‘warm’, I had a little
accident one day, although it was mummy’s fault really. We were playing with Mr Squeaky in the house and
mummy missed catching it, so I dashed for it knocking over a cup of freshly
made tea. It went all over me but most went on the carpet. Mummy was worried that I had been scalded.
Aunty Elizabeth did that last year and badly burnt her legs and had to keep
going to hospital. Anyway I seem to have escaped safely and the carpet smells nicely of peppermint now.
One day I was walking along the
cycle-path and a little black Labrador puppy came right up to me and started
licking my face and ears, and we hadn’t even been introduced, cheeky wench. She
was lovely though, but I’m afraid I growled at her. I was really tired that
morning and couldn’t be bothered being nice. Another day I was even worse. I’d
been charging through the bushes after rabbits and got all covered in those
sticky things again. While mummy was trying to remove them a man came along
with a Spaniel and a Labrador-cross who were playing happily together with a
ball. Then I had to go and stick my nose in. Luckily the man was quick and
caught me so that I could be put back on the lead. Mummy wasn’t happy. I had to
stay on the lead for the rest of my walk.
Since then I’ve had a rotten few
weeks lately. It has been so boring. Chris has been going out a lot
more. Sometimes we drop him off at that place that smells of wild things.
Mummy spends more time cleaning
the house. She says my hair makes a lot of mess. They still both spend a lot of
time on those little computers. Mummy says she’s looking for somewhere to live,
but I know that Chris plays lots of games. Then there’s been lots
of strange people coming into my house. People I don’t know. Some smelled of
dogs and one even brought a tiny baby. Then I spent a boring morning at aunty Elizabeth ’s
and had to step into that funny moving box four times. I didn’t want to
go in it the last time ‘cause I didn’t realise that we were going home. Then
the next day I had to spend even more time at aunty Val’s. I was waiting for
Chris to come and pick us up just after 2 o’clock
but he didn’t come till nearly 4 and I was worried he wasn’t coming at all. The
next day we went looking at houses and that was boring as well, because I had
to spend quite a lot of time in the car, although I did get quite a few walks
in new places as well. In the woods was
the best walk – it smelled of lots of lovely things and there were horses about
too. At one place my humans were quite excited about seeing a Red Kite. We
don’t have those where we live; we only have Buzzards and Sparrowhawks and
stuff.
I’m still enjoying playing with
Mr Squeaky. As soon as I’ve had my breakfast I pick him up and run into the
garden inviting my humans to play. Mummy says it’s much too cold for her to
play outside. She also says I look so happy with a funny little grin on my
face, but that I have to let my breakfast go down before I run about. I don’t
know what she means; I get so excited I just want to play! Sometimes I’m a little sick, especially if
I’ve just drunk a lot of water too, so perhaps that’s it. I charge up the
garden with Squeaky and squash him to make lots of noise. It’s great fun.
Trying to take him off my humans is best because I grab at him excitedly, and
I’m told to be gentle so I don’t hurt, but I do tend to scratch hands a bit and
pull holes in jumpers; all accidentally of course. In the house I like teasing
mummy to chase me round the table to try to catch me and take Squeaky away, so
that she can play with him. When she does I bark loudly asking for him back.
One day I ran straight through her and she fell backwards onto the floor. Ha!
I’ve been down on the canal a few
times near that wild place. Once we saw a dead white duck (mummy’s favourites)
and a dead fox, both floating in the water. How did they get there? We get foxes near where we live. I can smell
them where they push their way through the hedge.
Anyway I think that’s all my news
for the moment; my towels have just been washed yet again and need hanging out
in the cold wind so I’ll say Bye for now. Perhaps mummy will play in the garden
after that?
Bye everyone.
Lots of love & wags from
Alfie
xxx
January 2013
Hello everyone, It’s me once again.
Gosh I had a shock one night when
I went up to bed – there was no bed. It had gone and so had everything else in
the room. Well, actually it had been moved into another room because Chris
wanted to paint ours. For the first few nights in the new room I couldn’t
settle and didn’t sleep very well at all, so after my walks I kept nodding off.
I know I said in my last letter
that nothing exciting happens here. Well, the very next day it did! The first thing I saw on my morning walk was a
huge lorry stuck on the grass verge up to its axles. The children from
the nursery school had come out to watch it being rescued. Next, I saw a
sparrowhawk perched on the gate by Park Farm with his back to me. I managed to
get right up to him before he went, oof, and flew away. Then when we
reached the bridge we had to turn back because it was not just flooded but
running like a river. Coming away we met 3 dogs with their master and he said
that Belle Vue Lane round
the corner was also flooded, and that was our alternative route. So we had to retrace
our way back passed our house and went towards the Rugby Club. Of course that
way took us to where all the local cats lived . . . and, yes, I almost yanked
mummy’s arm off trying to chase one. Then on the way home again a silly
squirrel, unseen by me at first, decided to run across the road in front of me
and I dashed off again. Luckily mummy was expecting it this time and I came up
short on the edge of the grass verge. A very kind lady driving her car stopped
in case I ran in front of her. Wasn’t that nice.
My Christmas Day started with a
nice walk with mummy. For breakfast I had some bacon with my kibble. Then I
found that I had been left two presents. The first one was from auntie Val
(although she wrote Nanna on the label) and it was a penguin wearing a Santa
hat and a rope tug. I loved it from the moment I saw it. I took about 30
seconds to pull off the bobble from the top of his hat and another 30 seconds to
do the same with one eye. After a few minutes of playing with Chris I heard it
squeak and loved it even more. Then it took about five minutes for me to pull
off the tug-rope. I still liked playing with the penguin part of it, it was all
good fun, especially when it squeaked.
I was then given my other present
which came from auntie Sandy and Annie Spaniel. It was a huge biscuit
covered in two colours of chocolate. By the time I’d eaten half of it (about 10
seconds) Chris took the other half away for another day. My afternoon walk was
once again in the pouring rain and we went along the canal and back round some
roads that I hadn’t seen before. After my tea of chicken and kibble I had a few
little pieces of swordfish. And when I came in from my evening walk I had some
custard stuff. Wow, what a good day.
Each day I loved playing with my
new squeaky toy, although it no longer resembled a penguin. Mummy kept putting
it on the top of the radiator to dry off. She said it was horrible and slimy
because I’d been licking it. Someone would squeak it and it drove me wild. I’d
leap about trying to get it. I loved it so much that one afternoon Chris took
me to the pet shop to buy me a squeaky ball as well. So many squeakies I didn’t
know what to do with myself. I thought I’d gone to heaven. That very same evening,
I was resting on my cushion when my tummy started rumbling, ‘so much so’ that
Chris gave me an extra helping of tea! Wow.
One day when Chris was out I kept
pestering for more breakfast. Mummy had already given me a treat of more bacon
in my kibble, then some fish and still I wanted more. She said I couldn’t have
any because I hadn’t eaten all my kibble. But then when she had something to
eat herself she gave me some toast – buttered mind you – not some of that other
stuff. After that I still asked for more – and I ran off up the garden with
teddy and a door-sausage from the dining room. In the end she begrudgingly gave
me some more fish. I was perfectly happy then. But later, at lunchtime, I
didn’t want to eat my biscuits because they hadn’t been dunked in Chris’s soup.
Well he wasn’t there was he? Anyway by the time I’d had my afternoon walk I was
ready to eat them, but I had to have two ‘sweeties’ as well! Mummy said I was a pig and a spoiled
child. What?
You’ll never guess what I’ve been
up to. I took Chris for a walk by the
river one afternoon and then he went for a coffee, leaving me to guard the
car. Well Andy, who runs the café,
invited me inside as they weren’t very busy and I settled myself down on the
floor. While Chris was reading the paper Andy brought over his coffee and
decided to join him for a chat and invited me to curl up on the settee, where I
fell fast asleep! I don’t even do that at home.
I’ve entered two of my photos and
some writing into a competition with Dog Friendly and, if I win, my
picture might be used to advertise some new doggy product later in the year. I
could also win a voucher to spend at Pets at Home. Just think of all the
squeaky toys I could buy with it! I’m so handsome I’m sure to win. Aren’t I?
Oopsie! I was a bit naughty one lunchtime. Mummy left
one of my bonio biscuits on the dining room table whilst she went to make a
drink. It was my last one for lunch and I thought she had forgotten to give it
to me. SO, whilst she was out of the room I pinched it off the table.
When she came back in with her coffee she noticed straight away that it was
missing and caught me in the process of just finishing it off! She said something like ‘Oh, Alfie you are
awful’. I don’t know what she means, do you?
Golly, we’ve had snow. Have you?
It’s been fun running about in it. And one morning Chris met us in the Rugby
field with my squeaky ball. I had a great time chasing after it, but kept
losing it in the deep snow. And mummy went skidding on the ice and fell over, again.
Another time I was busy chasing lovely smells in the snow when it collapsed
under me and I disappeared down a hole. Mummy thought that was very funny and
laughed at me, but I thought she was rude and I walked away.
Me and Mr Squeaky in the snow
I get such a lot of fun from my
squeaky ball. We’ve decided to call him Mr Squeaky and play with him
every day. I go wild, barking with excitement. My humans chase me round the
room trying to get him off me. Often they will sit on the floor at opposite
ends of the room and throw him to each other, so that I have to run up and down
trying to catch him. I’ve caused quite a few grazed hands and torn jumpers in
the process of leaping up to grab it, and I’m supposed to do it gently and
quietly (so as not to frighten the old b.. I mean lady next door).
Earlier this week I was taking
mummy for our early afternoon walk and decided to take a slightly different
route from normal. As we were passing a pub we met an old man with a gorgeous
girl called Sadie. She was a ghostly grey and white colour and was a cross
between a Collie and a Lurcher. The man
said that she would be 20 years old in four months time. Gosh, that is
old. I’ve a long way to go to reach that age.
This morning had seen a bright
blue sky with a lovely warm sun. Mummy even sat in the garden for a while. After
lunch we walked to the next village on an errand and guess what? It poured with
rain whilst we were out, again.
I thought that, as I’ve filled up
nearly three pages again, I’d better send you this one now.
Bye everyone.
Lots of love & wags from
Alfie
xxx
December 2012
This will be my last letter to
you for this year, but don’t worry, I shall keep writing to you if you want me
to, until you say ‘Please - No
More!’ I suppose, now that I’ve been here a
while, you’ll be getting bored with my stories because not much different or
exciting happens. Maybe next year when
we move house there will be new things to tell you about. Ha - When!
Did you know, I may have
mentioned it before, I think my humans really like me. I get lots of cuddles and kisses (a bit soppy)
and some days I get called everything but Alfie, such as Cuddly Bear, Cheeky Monkey,
Gorgeous, Clever Clogs, Beautiful, Honey Bun and other such sickly stuff. I
know I’m lovely so I suppose its ok.
Chris plays rough-and-tumble with
me and sometimes we all play tug of war with some old socks. Mummy’s not very
good at it, and she says I cheat because I put my foot on the sock or I pull it
behind her so she has to let go! In the
garden we play with a stick or a ball (and sometimes in the house if its
raining). So I keep myself busy and I prefer to be outside if I can. They often
say to me that I’m a very good boy (I hardly ever get told off for being
naughty – except the time when I picked Maddy Boxer up by the top of her
head!) or that I’m ever so clever. At
the moment I’m being shown how to open the living-room door myself so that I
can go to the kitchen for a drink. Up
till now my humans have had to drag themselves out of a comfy chair to open it
for me. I know what to do really, but I pretend I don’t.
I had to look after mummy for a
few days when she was ill in bed. We spent most of the time sleeping in the
dark. I still went out with Chris for my walks though; I didn’t miss out on
those, thank goodness. Since then I’ve had to look after both of them with one
thing or another and, to be honest, it’s been a bit tedious. Running up and
down stairs with cups of tea was the most difficult. (Only joking). I still dragged them out for walks though –
I’m sure the fresh air did them both a lot of good.
I can forecast the weather you
know . . . even if it’s much too early for one of my walks I ask to be taken
out because it’s going to rain. Of course then I’m told to wait and we end up
getting a soaking – and it’s usually mummy!
I do love going on my walks though, especially to the different woods
and other places we visit. I’m generally allowed off the lead for most of the
time and I charge about through the trees hunting for squirrels. During the heavy frosts I loved running madly
about the fields sniffing rabbits and other wild things. Mummy calls me a wild
child, but I still like her a lot and miss her on the days when she has to
go out. Often when I’m busy investigating a rabbit hole or some other
interesting stuff, they just walk on and leave me behind. Then I have to go
racing after them to catch them up. Its great fun and I have a big grin all
over my face and my tongue’s lolling out with excitement.
Actually I’m training them well –
my afternoon walks used to be well after 3
o’clock when it was light, but I go out earlier and earlier now, so
much so that I can go out soon after lunch, especially if we are going out in
the car to somewhere interesting. In fact some days I go out before lunch!
In the evening I know when my
humans are thinking of taking me out because they whisper to each other, things
like “Whose turn is it to take mm-mm out?” and “Who’s doing the washing
up?” They think I don’t know what they
mean, but I do because I’m up and ready to go before they can decide. After all
I’ve done for them lately and they want to cut out these evening walks, now
that it’s dark and horrible. They keep saying I should go in the garden
instead, but I don’t like to. In fact I refuse to. I don’t even go out there at
bedtime, which upsets my humans a bit. But I’m quite ok till the morning thank
you. I’d rather go out as soon as I’ve had my tea, but I have to wait for them
to say when it’s time. So I’ve wasted nearly an hour when I could have been
sleeping.
Even so I think I’m very lucky
here. I often get taken into the pet shop to buy my food – I get through rather
a lot you know. Bags of kibble, biscuits and some chicken flavoured things we
call sweeties, not to mention the little tasters of things they eat themselves,
such as chicken, custard, beans and tasty fish AND SOUP on my kibble. I shall
be trying porridge soon apparently, whatever that is. I also now have my very
own VIP membership card for my shopping. My humans keep saying silly things
like ‘If we give you a note and some money you could go and do the shopping
yourself.’ Now that the wet weather is
here I don’t have my meals outside in the garden very often, I have them
indoors with my humans - in the dining room! How spoiled is that?
Bye everyone, till next year.
Lots of love & wags from
Alfie, and a big THANK YOU to the person who puts my blog on your website!
xxx
My big footprint in the sand
Summertime in the garden
September 2012
Hello everyone. Hope
you’ve had some good holidays with your chums. I may not have a
holiday this year, although Chris keeps talking about a place called
Rock Beach in Cornwall. He says it’s a lovely sandy place where we
can just walk for miles and play in the sea. But will we get there?
It’s such a long way to go. Mummy says it’s much nearer to drive
to the Welsh coast.
I’m really enjoying
using my very own door. I can have it open as long as I like,
so long as it’s not really, really cold or pouring with rain. Some
nights I stay in the garden until long after dark when Chris goes to
bed. One night it was so hot mummy said I could have the door open
all night if I wanted to, but Chris closed it when he went to bed.
However a few hours later he was so hot that he got up again and we
both went into the garden!
We’ve been out and
about having the usual walks, by the canal or the river, along the
cycle path where I always get in everyone’s way (!) and to
Gowy Park of course. I call it the park because I don’t really know
what it is. It’s not a real park. It’s got lots of big open
spaces where I can run about chasing rabbits, and there are a lot of
young trees, a couple of ponds of course and there’s even a little
river called the Gowy. Once when I went there with Chris I ran around
madly with two other Collies, Ben and Ellie who is red. It was great.
Another time when I went with mummy there wasn’t another dog or
person there. But one Sunday afternoon, as we arrived, Ben and Ellie
were just leaving so I missed running around with them and only had
time to say Hello. Later, we were just on our second circuit
when it started to rain heavily. Whilst we were under the trees we
managed to keep dry, but out in the open we got soaked. As we were
making our way back to the car there was thunder and lightning, which
I didn’t much like and started to whine and bark.
We go to the woods
occasionally too. It’s good when the weather is hot because it’s
so cool under the trees. I’m usually allowed off the lead most of
the time and go chasing through the trees looking for squirrels.
However I sometimes make mistakes, like the other day when I jumped
on a Beagle. Mummy was cross and I had to go back on the lead for the
rest of my walk. There are two different woods we go to and we have
to go in the car to both of them, so I get a ride as well as a run.
When we go out, I always
seem to know where we are going depending on which roads we take,
especially if it’s in the car. I’m quite clever like that. And I
bark like mad because I get so excited. And Chris and mummy howl at
me and we all make lots of noise. It’s great fun. I also
bark when I want something, like the car windows open, or especially
my breakfast or my tea. Mind you my humans have encouraged me to make
this noise; but now that I know what to do I get quite cheeky
sometimes.
We all went out in the
car together one day and had two walks on the beach, lunch
outside a café with other dogs and ice cream when we got home. That
was a lovely day. I only blotted my copy-book once when a Wire-haired
German Pointer came over to say Hello and I growled nastily at
him. Oh dear, there I go again. His human said if I was ten
years old then I wouldn’t grow out of that – but I thought I’d
been getting better.
Sometimes when we go for
a walk by the river or the canal near Tower Wharf in Chester, Chris
and mummy stop for coffee or even lunch at a café called The Cake
Fairy, on the canal, near where ships on the river used to dock a
long, long time ago. Here is where the canal and the river meet up.
When we went the other day it was really sunny and we sat outside,
and everyone said how lovely I was!
One day when Chris was
out with his friend Neil, mummy took me out three times and
then I went out again with Chris after tea. Mummy took me to two
places I’d never been before, both down streets with houses along
them. The first one was to see Helen, a lady who trims dogs – would
that be for me do you think? Anyway she was on holiday. Phew.
The other was at the end of my afternoon walk, when we went to some
shops. I had to be left outside on my own for ages and ages –
about five minutes mummy says. I was ever so brave and didn’t cry
once.
I told you about Tilly
Newfie in my last blog, didn’t I? Well, on one of my evening walks
with mummy we met her again with her humans. And she’d had a hair
cut. She looked really neat and cuddly. Also, she had one of her
chums with her and he was even bigger than she was. There was I stuck
between these two giants; I didn’t like it much so I started
grumbling. I often do that – go and spoil the fun – silly me.
Anyway, as I was saying, the other dog was a huge white Great Dane
called George. Poor George was a rescued dog, like me, but deaf,
nearly blind (with ice-blue eyes) and he had no tail. His
humans said that they had ANOTHER dog at home, who was an Alsatian.
Mummy said to me later that their dog-food bill must be horrendous.
I mentioned little Woody
Wood Mouse last time too, I think. He’s still about, and potters
around the garden in the evenings. He comes onto the patio right up
to the door even when it’s open, picking up little bits of biscuit
that I’ve dropped. He’s really cute, tiny with big round ears.
Of course the
house-viewing is still on-going. We went to another one near the
canal, so I had a lovely walk there. Next time we went to look at one
near the sea – that was good. We had
breakfast outside at an airfield place where helicopters kept buzzing
about. They made a lot of noise and mummy thought I needed to wear
ear-muffs. THEN we had a brilliant walk in the sand dunes. It was
quite windy and the tide was up to the pebbles, so we didn’t go
right down to the water this time. Mummy looked at the wild flowers
and butterflies and I was allowed to charge about all over the place.
We stopped to talk to a couple with 2 Deerhounds. Mummy wanted to
take them home with us! Angus was about 2 years old and a bit
of a wimp and stood close up to mummy’s leg. Hugo was a puppy and
came right up to me, cheeky devil, so I barked loudly at him and he
moved off. I had a fabulous time and I’d like to go there again. On
the way home we stopped and had another lovely walk with just a
little paddle in a stream which ran into the sea. By the time we got
home I could barely stay awake long enough to eat my tea and I was
starving. In fact I’d had such an exciting day that I was too tired
to go for my evening walk.
Have I mentioned my
near-neighbours to you, Polly Retriever and Max Russell? For some
reason they don’t seem to like me very much, especially Max. He’s
not a very nice person to know. He makes the most awful high-pitched
barking and snarling noises at me, which sets off Polly. If ever we
meet them on a walk . . . WELL, it’s bedlam. His mummy says he
doesn’t do it with anyone else. One day he managed to get his head
out of his collar and ran across the road to me. Luckily for him
there was no traffic just at that moment. He’s got no road sense at
all; but I can’t talk – I haven’t much either, although I am
improving.
I’m not doing very well
with my diet. I do so like my food, especially when I get little
samples of what my humans are eating (unless it’s vegetables –
yuk). I tried a bit of mummy’s home-made curried chicken one night
– that was delish. And, of course, if there’s bacon and sausage
available I’ll have a bit of that. Yes Please! Sometimes for
my lunch I get bonios with a bit of cheese rubbed on them (my very
own cheese & biscuits!). I must tell you that I tried a little
piece of swordfish too – WOWIE! But these treats are only
on special days, not every day (I wish). But, on the occasions when
Chris has tried to give me less of my own food, I go asking for more.
Where’s my tea? Oh, do come on, I ‘m starving!
Ah, that’s better.
One day mummy went to
visit auntie Elizabeth and on their way back from shopping mummy’s
coat fell on the floor with her mobile phone in the pocket and auntie
Elizabeth drove over it in her mobility scooter! So the next
day I had to go to a shop with mummy to help her choose a new phone.
On the walk home we met Sammy Wolf. He’s huge and looks just like a
wolf, but I don’t know what he is really. By the time we’d walked
home I was ready for an early tea.
Chris and mummy are
always saying how clever I am, because I understand lots of words
they say; then mummy had a letter about homeless Collies, which said
that we are clever because some of us can understand up to 250
words. Wow, I wonder if I do.
Ahem. Oh dear.
Helen came back from her holiday and a few days later I was taken to
visit her. Chris left me with her for ages and whilst I was there she
gave me a bath and a hair cut. Whilst I was waiting for her to finish
one dog and start on me, I had to wait in a cage and it was horrible.
Actually, I didn’t like the whole experience much and Helen said
I’d been a wimp. Thanks. But I did feel a bit better afterwards
when Chris came to pick me up.
Ha! The following
week it was mummy’s turn for a hair cut. As Chris was away that
time with the car, I was looking after mummy. She said she didn’t
feel like walking all the way to the hairdressers and back so we went
part of the way . . . by BUS! I’d never been on a bus
before. When we got off the bus I had to be tied up to a fence for a
bit which I wasn’t keen on and barked a bit. Steve, in the
hairdressers, joked that I’d pulled the fence down and run off with
it! Anyway mummy soon came out of the shop for me and we
walked back home along a new footpath behind the village.
I’d been so good on the
bus that the very next afternoon I went on a bus again, but
this time I had to pay 45 pence. Mummy told the lady driver that I
was a pensioner too and should be able to get a bus-pass. When
we got off the bus we walked along the canal around Chester. It was
a Race-day so we saw lots of people and eventually ended up at The
Cake Fairy again. After I’d had a drink of water and mummy a coffee
we walked all the way home along the canal, through a village and
back along the lane passed the Rugby Club. I knew my way home from
there. We’d been out all afternoon and were both tired.
Mummy said she hoped I wouldn’t want to go out again after tea.
Must dash now. It’s
time for Chris to take me for my evening walk.
Bye everyone.
Lots of love from Alfie
xxx
October 2012
Alfie’s Blog
Hello everyone.
My very first really big
boo-boo to relate . . and what a good one it was too. I was walking
with mummy one afternoon and I took her down onto the Rugby field,
which lead to some hay fields that had recently been cut, so that I
could have a good run around. Anyway, as we got onto the Rugby field
I shot off towards a football. Odd, mummy thought, because I didn’t
usually play football. What she hadn’t seen, but I had, was
a tiny terrier of some kind behind the football (the ball was bigger
than the dog). Mummy called me back but, of course, I didn’t listen
and charged headlong into a little boy, who was in my way, knocking
him over – I just ran straight through him as if he wasn’t there.
(Oops.) No manners you see. I completely ignored him flat out on the
floor and just carried on running. Needless to say mummy was terribly
embarrassed and checked to see that he was ok. I’m sure it would
be exciting and lots of fun to tell all his friends at play-school
all about it. Of course I lost my chance of running around off the
lead after that, didn’t I?
I’m afraid I have some
sad news to impart. You’ll remember Woody Wood Mouse of course,
because of that lovely picture I sent you last time. Well a few days
after that mummy found him in the bottom of a bucket. He must have
slipped in and not been able to climb out again. Oh dear, poor little
Woody.
Well then, who was that
we saw a couple of nights later scuttling about the patio looking for
food? Hmm, if there had been two mice . . Oh-oh. A couple
of weeks later we found another dead one in the street. I wonder if
there are any left, because now that the evenings are dark I can’t
see if there’s anyone running around the patio.
You’ll just never guess
where I’ve been recently. No-no, not Cornwall (maybe next year) but
I have been to Anglesey for a whole week’s holiday!
Oh this is the life, I don’t think I’ve ever been on holiday
before. WOWEE, I was so excited I barked a lot especially on the
beach.
We stayed in a little
cottage on a farm where they had lots of Easy-Care-Sheep. Uh?
Each time I went for a
walk from the cottage I had to step across two cattle-grids going out
and, of course, the same two coming back. I only slipped a couple of
times in the wet, which I thought was very clever of me.
I went to the forest a
few times and onto the beach most days. It was great fun and I
thoroughly enjoyed myself, as you will see from my pictures. The
dunes were full of lovely rabbit smells.
I met lots of dogs and
behaved myself most of the time. Everyone I met said how gorgeous I
was. Some liked my face and others liked my speckled socks. Others
laughed at me when I barked. Whenever my humans sat down for a rest I
barked because I just wanted to keep on going – forever.
One day my humans stopped
to talk to some other humans with a 4 months old Cockapoo. She was a
busy little girl and I completely ignored her. Mummy said the poor
little thing would be exhausted after the miles she’d run that
morning. The lady said that the puppy was naughty and wouldn’t come
back when she was called. What did she expect at 4 months?! She’s
lucky she came back at all. Mummy said it might be an idea to have
lessons. I think she meant the lady as well as the dog.
Mummy wanted me to swim
but I only paddled - may be next year, if it’s warmer. Well she
didn’t swim either, did she?
I’ve been wearing uncle
Jake’s collar for quite a long while now. It’s black with a short
chain fastening. With all the wet weather this year plus the sea
water it has started to go rusty and made horrible brown marks on my
lovely white bib. Mummy threatened to send me back to auntie Helen
for a bath, but luckily Chris said ‘no’. Phew. So . . ugh,
mummy gave me a wash one sunny afternoon. Just my bib, not all of me
thank goodness. I kept running away and she cheated by enticing me
with bits of Schmacko, which I like rather a lot. Anyway eventually
we got it all over with and, even though I say it myself, it does
look better. Later the same day Chris took me to the pet shop to buy
me some more bonios and a new collar. It’s a rather smart murky
green colour with no rusty bits. He had me weighed at the same time -
I was 38.3 kilos, so not much different from previously.
The very next day I took
mummy to ‘the park’ in the afternoon and had a good run around. I
met George G Dane with Tilly Newfie & their other smaller
house-mate. Tilly and her friend went in the river but George wasn’t
so inclined. I grumbled all the while we were together – I think
three against one (me) is too many and anyway I was trying to look
after mummy. She wouldn’t let me go in the water because she didn’t
want me to get mucky, not that I was really bothered. Later, on our
way back from walking along the river bank, I met a lovely little
girl Labrador swimming in the river after sticks. It looked good fun
so I disappeared down the bank and straight in the water. I could
hear my name being called out, but I carried on swimming across to
the other side. It wasn’t very wide, but too wide to jump across
even for me. The man said to mummy “ . . that wasn’t part of the
plan?!”. Oh crikey, I’ve gone and done it again. When we
got back to the car there were no towels to dry me off, ‘cause
they’d been washed the day before. So I had to go home dripping
wet. Mummy said I stank and was making the car smell horrible! I
heard her say something like I’d be in for a bath tomorrow. Groan.
But what really irked her was the fact that she’d wanted me to swim
in the sea on holiday, but I wouldn’t. There’s just no pleasing
these humans is there? Some day’s later mummy took me to the woods
for a run round and twice I went into deep muddy ditches before she
could stop me! Ha. Then when we got home she hosed me down. Eek, that
was a bit cold. She said not to be a wimp, it couldn’t have been
any worse than the river. Hmm.
A few days later I had a
horrid surprise when Chris approached me with towels, a bucket of
warm water and a bottle of shampoo. Still it was a lovely hot morning
and I really was ever so good and stood very still till it was all
over, when I got biscuits for being a good boy.
Would you believe it, we
saw two more wood mice in the garden the other day. It was so
terribly windy the little one could hardly walk he was being blown
about so much. Later on I ate my biscuits on the lawn so that they
might have the crumbs.
Oohh, I think I’m in
love! I was walking along the canal with Chris one morning
and a narrow-boat sailed passed with a puppy Collie onboard. She
was gorgeous. A short while later the boat moored up and the
puppy jumped off to come and see me. Her name was Ziva and she was
only 9 months old. She kissed me on the nose and I was all hers. I
went on the boat with her, oblivious to Chris calling me back. The
boat sailed off with me still onboard and Chris was left on the
tow-path. I had a wonderful time. When the boat reached the next
bridge I said a fond cheerio to Ziva, jumped off the boat and went
back to Chris. Oh, I do hope I see her again soon.
Did you know – it’s
just twelve months since I moved in with my humans? They sang me a
song and took me a really long walk and we had a little picnic.
Whilst we were out we saw a horse being taken to the clinic for a flu
jab. It was such a lovely day and I enjoyed myself so much that I
went a bit sulky when we got home because I wanted to do it all
again. Anyway to top it all off I had a yummy bit of sausage with my
tea.
By the way, mummy says
she loves the children’s art work on the website – it’s really
very good.
Actually, I was hoping to
see my September newsletter on my blog page. Perhaps some nice human
would add it at the same time as this one please. Many many woofs.
Bye everyone.
Lots of love & wags
from Alfie
xxx
July 2012
Hello everyone. It’s
that time again already. How time flies when you’re enjoying
yourself.
And I am, because (as you
know we are house-hunting at the moment, to move to the country) and
each time we go to look at a house I get long rides in the car and
lots of new walks. It’s great! One time we went walking in
amongst a lot of sheep which walked on the road and into peoples’
gardens! Mind you, I’m not a bit interested in sheep so I
took no notice. I was more interested in all the lovely new smells.
Another time we walked
along a lovely river and I had a little paddle and a drink in the
cool clear water. Mummy said it would be a nice place to go for a
picnic on a sunny day - the day we were there was grey and misty.
However they didn’t like the house, so maybe we won’t go there
again.
After one of our really
long trips I didn’t want to get out of the car – even for my food
(ha!), so Chris brought it to me to eat in the car. Spoilt?
Nah!
Well, you can decide for
yourselves . . . sometimes I don’t even bother to stand up to eat.
Recently we have had a
young rabbit living in our garden. Mummy was a little bit miffed
because it was eating the tops of her new plants. I spent quite a bit
of time trying to find it and made a bit of a mess of the plants
myself. One time I barged round behind the little greenhouse and
damaged that too. Oops. Well, sometimes these things happen
when you’re busy, don’t they? I’ve seen 6 frogs and 2 newts in
the pond too; but it’s ok, I shan’t chase those – they’re a
bit too wriggly for my liking.
You know that fancy
weekend a while back? Well, I took mummy on two walks in the pouring
rain and we both got absolutely soaked. Mummy was so wet that she had
to change some of her clothes! I was alright though because my
coat felt lovely and soft and clean once it was dry and mummy said I
was all cuddly. Chris and mummy are fed up with the rain. Are you?
And they were complaining about having to put on warm sweaters and
the central-heating. Come to think of it I’m a bit tired of being
dried every time I set foot outside. So, when I can, I run to my
cushion to avoid it, but then mummy complains that my cushion gets
wet.
Actually, I know I said
that I was enjoying myself here, and I am a very happy boy, but
sometimes it can be a bit boring. I do get lots of outings and to sit
or play in the garden whenever I want and stuff like that. But when
my humans are busy doing chores or worse – working at the table on
those computer thingies – that’s really boring. Also if
it’s raining I stay with them in the house a lot of the time. I
huff and puff down my nose and eventually have a snooze to pass the
time. Or, if I fidget and grumble a bit, one of them gives me a big
cuddle, a brushing, or takes me out for a walk.
A while ago Chris took me
for a FREE dental appointment at the vets, where I saw the nurse. She
said my teeth were pretty good for my age except for a little brown
stuff on a couple of my front teeth. Chris told her that I don’t
like those Dentastix things (I gave mine away to Annie Spaniel), so
she suggested something that looks like a big toothbrush but is
edible (and green!). Well,
I tried one of those and I thought it was pretty much the same stuff,
although over time I’ve been chewing on it a little, but still have
half of it left. So then I tried something that looks like a bone -
that was great. I hope I get lots more of those. Whether it does my
teeth any good I don’t know, because I tend not to chew with my
front teeth. Anyway, whilst I was at the surgery the nurse also
weighed me. And, oops, I’ve put on nearly 2 kilos since I’ve been
living here and need to go on a diet! Not sure I like the
sound of that much, I rather like my food. Although mummy says Chris
gives me far too much chicken.
Earlier I mentioned that
I didn’t want to get out of the car when we got home from a long
journey. Well, since then, I’ve done it quite a number of times!
Even after a short journey, when I’m hoping for another really
long one, I just refuse point blank to get out. I love it so much. So
now I get left in there with my door open (if it’s not raining) and
sometimes with a bit of a picnic. The only thing that gets me out now
is the offer of another walk. Actually Chris caught me out one day by
putting the lead on me and then walking into the house – Ha. Let’s
see what happens if I’m still in there at a bedtime.
Talking of bedtime –
after mummy had gone to bed one night I stayed with Chris for a while
until it was time for me to go in the garden, you know. Well he
called me, he whistled and called me again and I still didn’t come
in, so he came down the garden . . . and found me fast asleep on my
back, feet in the air, snoring!
One day when mummy had
gone to visit auntie Elizabeth, I had taken my breakfast in the
garden and then wandered back into the house to see where Chris was.
We were sitting in the dining room looking through the windows when a
little mouse scrambled into my bowl looking for the leftovers!
(Yes, I do have leftovers sometimes).
We recently went to look
at two more properties and had even more new walks. One was alongside
a funny little canal blocked at both ends and known locally as the
longest pond in Shropshire. It was full of lovely new smells and big
tall yellow flowers that mummy said were called flags or something.
We saw two big swans with five little grey babies and a brown
mummy-duck with her babies, but one was white with a yellow beak –
how did that happen? That day my humans stopped at an airfield place
and had bacon and sausage and beans and stuff like that. Of course I
had some too!
On a really nice day we
went out for a trip in the car, as a break from house-hunting, to
Parkgate again. We walked along the ‘sea’ wall passed the golf
course and back along the old-railway track, which is a bit like the
one near home but nicer. Then we drove a bit further along the coast
to a place where my humans had lunch with me, sitting outside in the
sun overlooking the beach. Except it’s not really a beach anymore
because it’s overgrown. When the tide comes in boats can sail up
almost to the restaurant!
Would you believe that
the very next day was good too, but in a completely different way.
After I took Chris for my morning walk we all had breakfast together
in the garden. I’m a very sociable person because I like eating and
drinking with my humans. Then I had a jolly good brush, which was
lovely. My hair is still coming out by the bucket-load. My humans
then decided to do some gardening whilst the weather was dry, and I
thought boring. But, no, it wasn’t because I was given a
lovely bone to play with, and the morning just flew by. We all had
lunch together in the garden and then had a bit of a rest. When it
was time for my afternoon walk Chris took me in the car to the ‘park’
at Mickle Trafford. I bet you’ll never guess who I played with
there. It was a cousin - Tilly Newfie! She’d just had a
dreadful haircut and was nearly bald, but I could see that she was
really black, not bronze like some of my hair. That reminds me -
mummy trimmed my pants last week. She cut off some of the grey tatty
hair near my backside so that I would feel a bit cooler. And now the
silky bronze hair is showing from underneath.
Did you know – there’s
a cockerel living somewhere near here who can’t tell the time? He
cockadoodles at all silly times during the night, like half-one and
three o’clock and then again in the afternoon. It’s a right pain.
One day, I was sitting in
the front garden minding mummy whilst she did a bit of gardening,
when along came Henry Black-Lab with his human. Henry is the same age
as me and is quite podgy, although to be fair he is big-boned like
myself. I was a bit grumbly towards him, probably because I’d
never met him before. And, whilst mummy and his human were chatting
over the gate, Max and Molly Choc-Labs turned up too. When she wags
her tail Molly’s whole body wriggles like a worm. All of a sudden
she poked her face through the gate and kissed me on the nose!
Well, I was so taken by surprise I just sat there gob-smacked. The
little hussy – but she is rather a sweetie.
On a nice sunny afternoon
we drove to Delamere Forest for a lovely walk amongst the trees and
we ended up by a lake. By this time I was thirsty and, although I was
told not to go in the water, I did try to get a drink and . . . yes,
you’ve guessed . . . I slipped in. Up to my earlobes I was. Oh
lore, not again. It didn’t seem to be particularly smelly, just a
bit mucky at the bottom, so I think I got off ok this time. Near the
lake we met 2 little Terrier things, a very quiet Whippet and a very
happy whiskery Lurcher, who had also been in the lake. Mummy liked
the Lurcher and wanted to take her home with us. Whilst we were
having a little rest a German Pointer passed by with hardly any
spots, and a Jack Russell puppy who came right up to my nose. Mummy
said he was very brave (stupid she meant) to come so close to
me. Then, blow me, when we were all having bacon sandwiches for lunch
2 Rhodesian Ridgebacks appeared. Anyway, before that, I had wanted to
chase a scruffy fox into the trees but Chris wouldn’t let me.
Meanie.
I was so thirsty after
all my charging about that I drank loads and loads of water, emptying
2 big bottles. So, thinking that I might need a wee before we drove
home, we went to another part of the Forest for another walk. That
was much quieter. We didn’t meet any dogs at all, just two nice
horses with their humans sitting on them! How funny is that?
Whilst mummy was at aunty
Elizabeth’s the other day, Chris and I were playing in the garden
with my stick and I spun round too quickly and twisted my leg. It
was quite painful and so I was confined to barracks with light duties
for a few days till it settled down a bit. I’ve been going for a
very short walk just twice a day – ONLY TWO LITTLE WALKS!
Hmph. Now that’s really boring. Poor do, that. Over a few
days my walks increased in length and sometimes I’d get 2 and
sometimes 3, but as yet I’m not up to full strength. I’m not able
to go upstairs yet, although after a week I could get in the car.
I’ve not told you about
my very own personal door to the garden have I? By my cushion in the
dining room there’s a sort of door with windows in it that I can
see the garden through, if you see what I mean. Mummy says it’s
French, but I’m not sure what that means. Anyway that doesn’t
matter because when it’s open I can just step out into the garden
without going round through the kitchen. It’s brill.
For the first nice day in
ages I spent most of the day in the garden with a new bone that mummy
had got especially for me as a surprise present. Isn’t she nice!
Well, I seem to
have chatted on for such a long time, I’ll try and finish
before the next page. But I must just show you a picture that mummy
took . . .
Anyway I hope you’re
all enjoying your walkies as much as I am was.
Bye for now,
Love,
Alfie xxx
May 2012
Hello again; Alfie here with a little bit more of my news.
It’s quite a few weeks since I put pen-to-paper (so to speak), so I’ll have to dredge the old memory files a bit.
The first bit of my news is easy to remember because it makes mummy laugh! One day when Chris was out I took mummy for my afternoon walk. It was about 3 o’clock and looked a bit grey outside. We hadn’t been out ten minutes when the heavens opened and it hailed, rained and sleeted all at once. It was horribly miserable. We tried sheltering against a hedge, but whilst mummy pulled up her hood I made other arrangements. Muttering to myself . . “Blow this. I’m not staying here, I’m off.” . . I promptly turned round and ran for home dragging mummy behind me. Needless to say that by the time we got there both of us were soaked and it took THREE towels to get me barely dry!
He says to tell you that I’m now down to the last piece of her and that mummy tasted lovely!!
(only joking)
Actually I might not be joking – just look at what she’s done to my tail. I’d been chasing rabbits for ages through the brambles and stuff with a friend, young Sammy Collie. When I finally returned to mummy I was covered in brown sticky things and the end of my tail was wrapped round oodles of them. She managed to remove them from my coat but said that she couldn’t untangle the bits on the end of my tail, so she just cut them off! And look at it now . . . .
She says it’s already re-growing, but I can’t see it myself and I feel so silly.
I’m going to let you into a little secret now, but you mustn’t tell anybody. Sometimes Chris curls up with me on my cushion. He covers me with his jacket and we snuggle up nice and warm together and both fall asleep. Eventually Chris wakes me up by snoring and taking up too much room, so I have to move away and leave him to it. Mummy says You should see the look I give him, because he’s pushed me out of my own bed. She’ll try and take a sneaky photo one day for you to look at.
Mummy has been to stay with Auntie Elizabeth for a few days and Chris and I went to pick her up the other afternoon. I had a walk on the way there and then another on the way home. So by the end of the day I’d had FOUR walks – how lucky is that? I also went into the place where Auntie Elizabeth lives. It was weird. There were three magic doors to go through and then we went into a tin box, with a magic door, that moved and took us to another place. Eventually we arrived and I could look through a window down onto the cars parked outside – most odd. I missed mummy while she was away and was a bit quiet because I didn’t really understand where she had gone, but I’m really happy now she’s back.
27th May – doggy fun day . . . . I’m sorry but I’m afraid I don’t think I’ll be able to attend the Doggy Fun Day this time. (Although I might have had a chance at winning The Dog with the Silliest Tail).
We are really busy house-hunting and house-selling at the moment and just can’t spare the time. The last place we looked at had loads and loads of lovely space for me (and maybe a new friend) to run around in, but Chris said the cottage wasn’t big enough for us all, so we won’t be moving there! The one we looked at the week before was also in a great spot, near to TWO canals, but that was too small as well.
It looks as though this may take some time, so don’t hold your breath.
I think that’s all I have for you this time.
Lots of Love
Alfie xxx
