Making plans for the weekend

Oh my woof, how time flies. I realised today that it was Sunday when I last put paw to keyboard! My adoring fan base will be getting withdrawal symptoms. On Sunday afternoon I got another walk around Hilly Fields. I really like it there because I can pretty much do as I please on the long line. I do have to practice ‘recall’ and some other tricks, but I usually get treats for getting it right, so I don’t really mind that at all! After all that walking and running it was time to go home and have a bit of a rest. I didn’t bother with the ‘lie down and refuse to move game’ because, frankly, I wanted a bit of a lie down where I wouldn’t eventually have to get up and walk home. Anyway, that game is getting a bit boring now. When we got home I pushed out a few ?s for a while but then at about 9 o’clock in the evening I had a fresh lot of energy. I wanted a walk! I don’t usually go out for a walk at that time in the evening and I don’t usually want to, but this time I did. So, although he didn’t really want to, I took Alex out for a walk around the block. I don’t think he was over keen because it was one of the fastest walks I have ever been on and we even walked straight past Sniff Central without me even getting chance to notice we were there!

When we got back, Richard gave me an ice cube. I like ice cubes, but I do have a tendency to drop them … usually in Alex’s lap which seems to amuse Richard! However, this time I dropped it down between the cushions. Richard got it out for me, but that sort of gave me an idea for a new game. I asked Richard for another ice cube (I just give him the look, you know) and then, after a couple of minutes of chewing it, I pretended to drop it down between the cushions. (Actually, I had eaten it, but Richard didn’t know.) I whined at Richard until he tried to find it (which he couldn’t because I had eaten it) and he eventually had to take the cushions out to try and find it. That was my chance – straight in and curled up where the cushion should be! This turned out to be quite a good game. I buried my head low and pretended not to hear calls of “Monty” and “Come on, let me put the cushion back”. Eventually, I was tempted by a treat and before I knew it, the cushion was back in place. I am still pretty good at inventing new games!

Monday was an interesting day. It wasn’t anything like as hot as the weekend had been, but still quite sunny. The morning passed without incident, but the afternoon was a whole different matter. This bloke called Maurice turned up and he and Alex started erecting trellis along the wall of the garden. Apparently, this is to prevent me from getting in Alex’s raised vegetable beds and destroying his plants. As if?! I mean, would I do a thing like that? It didn’t seem to take that long either – now I have absolutely no way of getting at his raised beds … most unsatisfactory! The upside of Monday afternoon though was that Sue and Malcolm came to see me. They are nice too. They had a cup of tea with Alex and then, to my surprise and delight, Sue took me for a walk around the block! That was really good. By the time I got back though, Maurice and Alex had pretty much finished the trellis which wasn’t so good. They kept on saying how good it looked too. What has that got to do with the price of bones? I can’t get in the beds anymore!

On Tuesday morning I took Alex back up to Hilly Fields for a walk. We had a lovely time and I discovered that the wooded area is just full of bluebells. They look so pretty! We had a good walk around and I had a lovely time. I did try to get back down into the muddy stream a little further on, but Alex was having none of it. (Note to self – I must find a way to distract him whilst I jump in!) For our afternoon walk Alex decided we would do our Bay Pond walk. I like this walk too and, although I tried to get him to cross the road to The Green, I was quite happy when we turned in towards the White Hart Barn. And guess who we should bump into? Only Angela! She’s lovely and always puts out bowls of water for dogs. I was so pleased to see her I gave her a present – a really pungent two bagger right on her doorstep! Boy was Alex embarrassed! He kept apologising to Angela and she said she didn’t mind at all – I have made a note that I may do this again since Angela doesn’t mind and Alex finds it embarrassing – I can’t really make it into a game because I am never entirely sure when nature will call, but it is certainly worthy of consideration!

Alex stood and chatted for a couple of minutes with Angela (whilst he was clearing up and apologising) and then a chap called Frazer came along. He chatted for a bit before he went off up Bay Pond. He said he had heard that Alex had a dog – how news travels in this village! Mind you, I would like to point out that Alex does not have a dog, nor does Richard – I have graciously decided that I will adopt Alex and Richard and allow them to accommodate me! A dog does have standards, you know! When we were nearly home guess who came around the corner into Salisbury Road? Only Richard! I was so pleased to see him (Alex is OK, but I see a lot of him!) that I ran half the length of Salisbury Road. I think this was a particularly good achievement since I had to tow Alex all the way along with me. Honestly, why can’t he keep up! Having left Angela he seemed to be quite keen to get home for some reason so running along Salisbury Road at full pelt with me towing him should have been right up his street (if you’ll excuse the pun) so I don’t know why he was so out of breath when we reached Richard.

Tuesday was a pretty good day all round! Would you Rover and Fido it, who arrived just as we got home but Amanda from Happy Buddies! I was so excited she didn’t even get through the door before I had rolled on my back for a tummy rub! It was just so exciting. Whenever Amanda comes two things are absolutely guaranteed – one, I will learn new things and two, I will get lots of really high quality treats! Tuesday evening was no exception! I learned the ‘wait’ command. That’s really cool – all you have to do is wait for a few seconds and keep eye contact and then you get a treat! It’s easy, but don’t tell Richard and Alex that. Then we tried a ‘wait’ command and I had to sit there and let them walk around me. Woof! I mean, how hard can this stuff be? Of course I pretended it was hard, but that was only to get more treats. Occasionally, the lure of the treats did get the better of me and I pinched it before I had done my bit, but hey, a dog sometimes has to do what a dog has to do! I learned the ‘drop’ command too. I am still working on that because, although the command is pretty easy, I rather like the game of pinching someone’s shoe and then not giving it back. If I follow a drop command, the game finishes too. Mind you, although I like the learning games when Amanda comes, it would be even better if Richard and Alex could remember how to play them the next day! It was only Wednesday and they were saying, “We learned so much last night, I can’t remember half of it!”.

And so, as if by magic, Tuesday turned into Wednesday. Wednesday was a day of ups and downs. In the morning I took Alex on a walk around our Bay Pond route. We didn’t see Angela on that occasion, but we did meet lots of other nice people and dogs. Most of these people we meet nowadays know my name and know me. Alex is rubbish with names and can’t remember who half of them are so he just nods and smiles! Richard is better, but he has to go to work at an office (I have been there once) so he isn’t out on quite as many of my walks as Alex. Would you believe my luck, Richard had booked a half day holiday. Alex had to make an important telephone call (what is a telephone?) with people in America (wherever that is – I don’t think I’ve been there) and he didn’t want me to bark during the call (something I have done in the past) so Richard took me out for a walk. That was the good part, the bad part was that we got a bit lost and ended up walking miles and miles and miles! By the time Alex had finished his call we were miles away. Richard had to call Alex and ask him to come and pick us up! The biggest shame was that meant I had to get in the car. Normally I have would have refused point blank, but I was so tired that I decided the car was the better of all evils.

Now, I’m not one to complain but … having actually conceded and got in the car where did they take me? No, not home, to the blinkin’ vets! Actually it wasn’t that bad. Nobody prodded me and nobody stuck a needle in me. I just lay down on a nice cool floor and pushed out a couple of ?s whilst Richard and Alex talked to a nurse about my car sickness. Apparently, over time, I will get used to the car but in the interim there are pills that I can take that will stop me feeling sick. They are not cheap – £12.50 each – so I think they will only be used in special circumstances. They haven’t got them yet, but they’ve ordered some. The good news, however, is that I was not car sick on the way to the vets, or on the way home. Alex thinks it may have had something to do with the rather tasty beef bone that he used to tempt me into the car in the first instance and it taking my mind off things, but in any event I wasn’t car sick which is good.

Now it is Thursday already. The week has just flown by. On this morning’s constitutional we walked up Hilly Fields and round our, now familiar, route. I did try the ‘I’m not moving’ game a couple of times, but it didn’t really work out all that well. I’m just a little bit (well actually rather a lot!) excited about this weekend and it all starts tomorrow. Richard and Alex booked a trip abroad long before they ever had the pleasure of meeting me and they’re going with Zena and Simon. They have to go on an aeroplane and it isn’t really practical for me to go with them, so I am going to stay with Fran and Iain. Fran is really experienced with dogs and walks lots of dogs for other people and Iain is really nice. I am really excited because they live really close to Hilly Fields and I’m hoping Fran will take me up there on a long line. Actually, I’m just really excited because they’re both really nice and I like going to their house (I have been before, you know, several times). They’re really good to me and, whilst I really love Richard and Alex, it will be nice to have a few days away from them. I mean, I’m not complaining or anything, but Richard does snore rather loudly and Alex’s bottom burps can sometimes compete with mine! Fran is a proper lady and Iain is far better groomed than my two. So, tomorrow I’m off for my own little holiday. And do you know the funniest thing of all? Alex and Richard think I don’t know about it!

They think they’ve been doing all this planning without me knowing. Now, I am no expert in human speak (why doesn’t everyone speak dog?) but I know what a holiday is and I know when they’re talking about me. I heard Alex on the phone earlier saying “I’ll bring his lead, his food and his bowls. I’ll bring along a toy or two too.” I mean, come on, I wasn’t born yesterday (I am 14 months old now, you know) and I know when they’re planning something! Actually, talking of planning, I’ve been thinking about what I’ll do at Fran and Iain’s. The thing is, I really like going there, so I’m thinking that I had better be on my best behaviour. I figure that if I’m on my best behaviour when I’m there then there is a chance they might invite me back. If I misbehave then I’m not so sure they’d be that keen. I’m beginning to work it out that there’s more to this strategy lark than I first thought. You’ve really got to out think the thinkers and there’s more to that than just a woof or two! So, I had better return to my strategising and for now, must paws … ?