A Busy Weekend

Hello everyone,

Phew! I've had such a busy weekend. On Saturday dad got me into my car harness, popped me in the car & off we went. We didn't go any of our usual routes for walks or puppy class so I was very intrigued. As I peered out of the window I could see lots of cars, buses, people & buildings.

We parked with lots of other cars & dad put some pennies in a machine. Dad got me out of the car & it was sensory overload. There were loads of people & so many new sights & smells everywhere. Mum explained that her & dad had to do some shopping so they had decided it would do me good to experience the town centre for the first time! It was really exciting. There were loads of pigeons to chase, people to be admired by, bit of food to snaffle off the floor, & best of all we bumped into another Airedale, a 2 year old boy! It was so exciting, and his owners made a real fuss of me & said how handsome I was (I know it already!) with my proper Airedale hair do (their doggie was REALLY wild & wooly).

Later we met an Italian Spinone puppy almost exactly the same age as me! She looked like the picture below and was very eager to play with me, but all the hoomans said that the middle of town on a Saturday morning wasn't the best place, so we just had a little bit of a wrestle while the hoomans nattered! I was well behaved whilst waiting outside shops. I either stayed with mum or dad while the other went in, and lots of people stopped to admire me & ask what kind of dog I was. One person thought my Halti lead was a muzzle, so mum soon put them straight!

Cute Spinone doggy

We stopped at a place called MacDonald's on the way home & dad asked a funny machine for some stuff, them we drove up to a window & picked up some yummy smelling food! I sat really nicely while they muched & my patience was rewarded with a bit of Chicken Nugget. Yummy!

When we got home I was so tired from all the new sights & smells that I slept for the whole afternoon & most of the evening!

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Sunday was another beautiful sunny day, though still freezing cold I have to say. Yet again dad put my stoopid car harness on, grabbed my lead & some poopy bags & off we set. We only drove about 10 minutes away then parked up on a country lane. We were off on a 3 mile walk round Stanton Park & the Great Wood.

Mum found the walk on a really cool website called Tara's Trails
It's written by a local doggie & has loads of great walks around our town. Mum says we can try new ones out at the weekends, which is great as I simply adore going out & exploring new places.

As soon as we got going I tried to find the best stick I could for mum & dad to throw & me to chew on - sticks make such a tasty snack don't you think? No? Hmm, maybe just me then. After careful inspection, I decided this one wasn't quite perfect.

The first part of the track was REALLY muddy due to the amount of rain we have had recently. Dad was sinking but mum thought it was more important to take photos of his predicament than help him! Good job mum bought him new wellies this week!

I had such a great time running through the mud, across the fields & in the woods. There was a field with some horses in with some really tasty food that I enjoyed eating (mum: it was horse poop!). We also saw some sheep & some deer, but I was a good boy & ignored them.

There were lots of men sitting by the edge of the lake. Dad said they were fishing. They had buckets with worms in which I was keen to eat, so dad had to put me back on my lead until we got past them. Boring!

I enjoyed watching this water flowing really fast out of the lake. It was quite noisy all crashing down on the rocks.

There were lots of trees that had fallen over because of the gale force winds we had last week, though none were as impressive as Miss Sunshade's big tree that toppled over.

I finally found the perfect stick. I think I look a bit like a martial arts dog with a Kendo stick! I had to leave it behind as it was kind of difficult to navigate through the trees with it!

There were loads of crystal clear streams & ponds in the wood, and dad FINALLY managed to persuade me to take a dip. Brr, it was fr-fr-freezing, but it was actually fun, and I did have a little swim. Mum was really excited, cheering & saying "good boy, good boy". Thank Dog there was no-one nearby as she was embarrasing! I will try it again when the weather is a bit warmer.

This was the result of walking through all that mud & having a dip in the pond. Check out the state of my feet - excellent!

I did fear that mud in that extreme could only lead to one thing & yep, I was right. Dad took his t-shirt off, picked me up (no mean feat as I'm getting pretty big), carried me upstairs & unceremoniously dumped me in the bath. You guys, why did you have to spoil such a good day? I had a wash in the pond & it's only a little bit of dirt for pete's sake!

Hmm, is all that mud really coming from me? OK, maybe I did need a teeny rinse.

When I got out of the bath my "Aire Dry" was interrupted by grandma & grandad coming over, so there was more excitement. I hope they didn't mind getting sprayed with the remains of my bath water as I ran round them like a crazy!

It was still a really good day despite the bath, & yet again I certainly had an excellent snooze later on!

Licks,

Oscar x