The Adventures of Oscar the Airedale

One year on

2008-07-28T11:41:00.000Z

It's one year ago today since we lost our darling boy Oscar so suddenly and tragically. In some respects it seems so raw and recent, and in another it seems a lifetime since we snuggled into his fur and had him trotting around the house and garden with us. He still holds the most enormous spot in our hearts, and we miss him every single day.

Oscar, our darling, sweet boy 28/05/2006 - 28/07/2007

Happy 2nd Birthday Darling Oscar

2008-05-28T16:40:00.003Z

Happy 2nd birthday to you our sweet boy. We so desperately wish you were here with us, it seems so unfair that you only got to celebrate one birthday with you. We miss you each and every day. Harry and Cassidy are wearing your bandanna's in your honour, I hope they are doing you proud.

We love you and always will,
Mummy & daddy xxx

Remembering Oscar Always

2007-10-11T11:27:00.000Z

We will never forget you darling Oscar. I hope you know how much you are loved and that we miss you every day. You were a one in a million special and unique boy. I hope you are pleased that Harry and Cassidy will keep us company and teach us even more Airedale ways. They will never replace you, but have made our hearts happier again, which I'm sure is what you would want.

All our love forever fuzzy boy,

mummy and daddy xxx

The Name's Harry, Happy Harry

2007-10-01T13:32:00.001Z

Hello old chaps and chapesses. Harry's the name. Absolutely super to meet you all. My new master and mistress have told me you're all absolutely fabulous types, so I hope you'll be pleased to meet me.

As I said, my name is Harry. I'm 10 1/2. My birthday is 14th March, which Katy says is the same day as Oscar's girl Faya. I have lived with my old family since I was 12 weeks old, but they have been having a few difficulties and I was no longer able to live with them and they needed to find me a new home urgently. My old family loved me lots though and found an Airedale rescue service and asked them to find me a simply marvellous home befitting an older timer like me.

I am a very fortunate chap I know, as almost immediately the rescue coordinator rang to say he had talked all about me with a lovely couple and that they had decided they would like to meet me with a view to offering me a home. They came to see me and talk to my family, and of course one they met yours truly it was a done deal.

I came to live with my new master and mistress Katy and Martin on Saturday evening. I must say they seem jolly nice so far, and they have a rather pretty old pusscat girl called Flakes who I think I could be very good pals with. They have told me that it gets better, and that in 5 weeks time a young whippersnapper named Cassidy will come to live here too. That sounds topper. I lived with 2 dogs and I do love a young pup to play with and keep me young at heart.

As I said, I'm a bit long in the tooth at 10 1/2, but that doesn't hold an Airedale like me back. The old legs give me some jip but I still like a good stroll. My eyes are a bit cloudy but I still have darn good eyesight, and the hearing is a sharp as ever.

I grew up with children and love them immensely. I met master girls yesterday and reckon they're just super. They gave me plenty of cuddles and fuss, but know to leave me be for an afternoon nap. What more could I ask for?

I have been for a recce of the new patch and it seems jolly nice. Left some pee on every lamp post and tree to let the local boys know there's a new stud in town. Met a few dogs and had some good sniffs. I hear I am off out tonight to meet Poppy, a pal of master and mistresses darling Oscar.

Talking of Oscar, I believe he had a hand in making sure I found this fabulous new home, so thank you Oscar. Even though I didn't now you, I am learning lots about you and you sound like an amazing young chap. If I can make your mum and dad a tenth as happy as you did I'll feel blessed indeed.

Katy says I can share Cassidy's blog, as she wants Oscar's to be mainly about him and a tribute to his memory, so please come on over there to learn more about me and hear about the young 'un.

I'll leave you with a few piccies of the first day of my new life. I am charmed to meet you all and hope we'll become firm friends.

Here I am with Martin getting plenty of ear scratches. I may be an old gent, but I just love lots of attention and love. Nothing wrong with being an old softie I say!

Here I am trying to persuade Flakes that I'm a good egg. I think she is semi-convinced. I'm sure my charm will win her round soon.

I have been out every day to pay my respects to Oscar. I really do think he got me here and I will forever be in his debt.

Toodle pip for now,

Harry x

WESWATC Fun Day 2007

2007-09-19T14:35:00.000Z

On Sunday after lots of indecision, we decided we would go along to the WESWATC annual fun day. We had planned to go with Oscar, and we decided it would still be nice to go and see his friends.

We arrived in time to see the egg and spoon races. In this photo you can see from left to right Mojo and her dad, Russell, another Oscar, Archie and Willow.

Here is Oscar's good pal Archie. They met up at grooming, walks and other club events and got up to all kinds of mischief together. You can't really see too well, but he's wearing his polka dot bandanna from Oscar.

This little cutie pie is Ruby. She was a darling. She's been very poorly so is a bit small and skinny for her age, but she still had great time, not letting anything hold her back in true Airedale style. I had lots of cuddles.

She almost fell asleep on my lap. She had the sweetest fuzzy little face. Hopefully now her medication is sorted out, she'll stay healthy and happy.

We took E and J with us, and they really enjoyed playing with all the Dales. Here's J getting Ruby to sit for a treat. I think they are now quite excited about our new puppy after being quite upset and confused about Oscar's death.

The mummy dog game is a popular one. Basically you have to wrap your dog in as much toilet roll as possible in 2 minutes. Little Willow was quite relaxed about it all.

Her big brother Jasper looked a little embarrassed about it all.

And feisty young miss Mojo was having none of it. As soon as her dad got one piece wrapped around her, she whipped round and tore it off. They eventually managed to get some on her tail in a last ditch attempt!

We took Oscar's cowboy outfit along, as we had had it made for him by Butchy and Snickers' mum to wear today. We asked Mojo's mum and dad if she'd like to wear it in his honour. Even though it was very large for her, she still managed to carry it off with a certain je ne sais quoi and scooped 3rd prize.

There was some pretty stiff competition for the title as you can see. Bob Marley Dale.

Oscar's pal Rupert dressed as his namesake Rupert the Bear

Pirates of the Caribbean must be popular amongst Airedales as there we two Pirates present.

I'm not quite sure what this guy was trying to be, but he seemed quite impressed with his outfit despite looking a bit silly.

Jasper made a very handsome groom.

And Willow was a beautiful bride, though it looks as if marital bliss could be over already as Jasper is about to wrassle her to the floor!

There was much more fun to be had, with competitions for best groomed Airedale and best trick, an Airegility course to try, a sausage hunt, musical chairs and quizzes for the humans. E & J won the "guess whats in the poop bags" quiz. Luckily there was no poop, just doggy related stuff like leads and whistles!

***********************************************************************************

We took Oscar last year. He had only been living with us for a week. He had a blast, though last year there were no other puppies to play with. This meant he got everyone cooing all over him with no competition! Although the youngest by a long way, he was already showing his potential, and won first prize in the "best trick" competition with a "roll over" and a "shake paw".

Here's the group photo from last year. Can you spot little Oscar?

Here we are playing musical chairs. Silly? Yes. Good fun? Definitely!

Oscar was far more interested in trying to sniff the other contestants than playing the game!

He took everything in his stride though, not being fazed that all the other Dales were a lot bigger than him.

This was our attempt at the mummy game. Not bad I don't think, though poor Oscar does look a bit like he's got a huge nappy (diaper) on, bless him!

Tough as it was to go without Oscar and seeing all those Dales, I'm also happy that we got to see all his pals having fun. We also got to chat with Oscar's breeder about the puppies. All being well we can go and visit Cassidy and the others on the weekend of the 29th/30th of September when they'll be 3 weeks old.

Katy and Martin x

A New Life

2007-09-13T12:01:00.001Z

Hello all,

After all the tears, heartache and sadness of recent week, we wanted to share some happy news with you. Oscar's breeders girl Maggie (not Oscar's mum) had puppies in the early hours of Sunday 9th September and we have decided that we would like one of the puppies. We have always been in close contact with Oscar's breeders as you know, and they have been a great support over the last 7 weeks. Oscar had a big place in their heart, especially after being taken back to them by his original owners.

We have known since Oscar died that the puppies were due, but at first we were too distraught to even think about the possibility of a new dog entering our lives. We were so numb from the loss of Oscar that all we could think about was being without him. I felt overwhelmed with guilt at the thought of getting a new puppy or dog, thinking Oscar would feel he was easily replaceable, when this is so, so far from the truth. I also didn't want to get too excited about a puppy to find something had gone wrong with the pregnancy or birth and face yet more heartache. We have come to understand now through talking to each other and other people, that by getting a new dog we are in a way honouring Oscar and the love of Airedales that he gave us. I know deep down that he wouldn't want us to go through life unable to open our hearts to another dog, and to have one from his breeders who have litters very infrequently seems fitting.

As I said, the puppies arrived at the weekend, there are 4 girls and 3 boys. All are vigorous and healthy and Maggie is apparently taking it all in her stride. We do not know yet if we will get a girl or a boy, but as long as they are happy and healthy we do not mind at all. They will not have the same sire or dam as Oscar; the sire is English and American Champion Jumpin Jack Flash at Jokyl, the dam is Magwyr Starlight Over Sherifs. This should mean that the puppies have very distinct personalities, looks and traits to Oscar, but no doubt will share the same clownish love for life as he had.

As you all know, Oscar's KC name was Sherifs Sundance Kid, and we have decided to call the puppy (Butch) Cassidy as a way of remembering and honouring Oscar. Cassidy is a fairly unisex name I think, so should suit a boy or a girl pup. Funnily enough both Martin and I came up with the name independently (Martin at 4am after waking from a dream about Oscar!).

I hope you will all be pleased to hear our news. Thank you all once again for the fantastic love and support we have received from you all over the last 7 weeks, it has been a great help in us coming to terms with Oscar's death and helped us through some very tough days.

Here is dad, isn't he handsome? He's English and American champion Joval Jumpin Jack Flash at Jokyl. His pet name is Jack.

Here is mum, Magwyr Starlight Over Sherifs. Her pet name is Maggie (another Airedale Maggie!), and as you can see, she's stunning (and muddy!).

And here is the first photo of Maggie with the puppies, though it's very hard to see them as they are just a black mound at her stomach! Apparently they all took quickly to mum's milk bar. I'm sure many more photos will follow over the coming weeks.

Katy and Martin x

Oscar Unseen

2007-09-06T08:48:00.000Z

Hello all,

We are now coming up to 6 weeks since our darling Oscar died. Last Saturday (1st September) was a difficult day as it would have been Oscar's first anniversary of coming to live with us. By a strange coincidence, Martin was sorting through his phone and found some photos of Oscar taken during his first few days with us which we hadn't looked at since then I don't think.

Here is the fuzzy one making a visit to our friends Simon and Lucy's house. He was a very good boy in the house, no accidents. Outside however, he did do quite a bit of gardening, dead heading plants that were actually in their prime! Luckily his cute face got him off the hook pretty easily! Here he is having a good game of tug with Uncle Simon.

And here is he celebrating his arrival! Don't worry, the Champagne bottle was empty. He was far more partial to the foam on a pint of Guinness anyway, and would always try and get his nose in there if a glass was left unattended. It's hard to remember him being that small and fuzzy, he grew so quickly, though of course he had already done a great deal of growing by the time he came to live with us.

There were also quite a lot of photos of Oscar playing with Paddy the Poodle, but they're pretty much all just black and tan blurs as the two of them were chasing around like crazies!

I also found this video of Oscar playing with his Wubba that I don't think he'd ever got round to showing you. I think it shows Oscar at his best, a big silly clown who loved life and having fun so, so much. I hope watching it will make you smile and laugh.

Katy and Martin xxx

Oscar's Stone and Mini Oscar

2007-08-28T09:41:00.000Z

Hello, thank you all for keep stopping by and checking up on us. It means a lot. We thought you might like to see the pebble we had made for Oscar. We are really pleased with it. We didn't want anything with dates or anything like that on, just something positive to remind us of him in as happy and simple a way as possible.

Once we knew how big it was, we were able to finish planting. Hopefully before too long the planter will now be a mass of colour.

A very lovely lady in America who used to read Oscar's blog contacted us after he died to send us her condolences and support. We have kept in touch since. She makes mini Airedales from felt and wanted to send us one. He is absolutely beautiful and has been going everywhere with me.

The photos don't really mini Oscar justice, but he even has teeny tiny Airedale eyebrows and a big juicy Airedale nose.

He will be treasured forever along with all your tributes, kind words, cards, thoughts and prayers.

We are doing OK. As some of you mentioned, it had now been just over a month since we lost Oscar. In some ways it doesn't feel that long, but in another way it seems like ages since we last stroked or cuddled him or had him bumbling around the house.

We are still finding that there are people to tell - people that I used to see out walking who have seen me and asked where he is, people at our local pub who have asked about him. Yesterday was the first grooming at our Airedale club class since Oscar died. Ralf & Molly's mum and dad went along and told people there for me, so we have had emails and messages from people there in the last couple of days. I am sure there are other people who still don't know. Oscar certainly was a very popular puppy.

We still have days when we feel very teary and emotional. I suppose we just have to be easy on ourselves and try not worry to much if we feel sad or if other people don't understand that we are still mourning. We were sent a very good little booklet called "When an animal friend dies" which has been very helpful to read.

As I have said before, I suppose only time will heal the pain of losing Oscar, but I'm not sure we will ever fully get over the shock and sadness, just learn to live with it and move forward and try to remember as many of the happy times as possible. Hopefully that doesn't sound negative, it's not meant to.

Katy and Martin xxx

Oscar's Fields

2007-08-15T13:48:00.000Z

I think you all know by now how much Oscar loved his almost daily visits to his beloved Seven Fields. No matter how many times we went, rain, wind, snow or shine, he never seemed to tire of running around there either on his own or with friends old and new, with or without a ball or tasty stickie. Here are some of our favourite photos of Oscar doing his thing there. It is nice to think that a little bit of him still lives on in the fields he loved so much.

I have also tried to add some videos of Oscar playing at Seven Fields here which were saved in Video Egg, but they are appearing as black boxes and won't play. Maybe there's a blip with the site. I'll try again later.

Katy and Martin x

Goodbyes & Hellos

2007-08-09T17:39:00.000Z

Firstly, thank you so much for continuing to visit Oscar's blog and for all the lovely messages you have left. It has been nice to feel you are all still there for us.

Thank you also for the many beautiful cards we have received. Amber-Mae, we have received the beautiful drawing & it is being framed. We will post a photo once it's done. Thank you so much for sending it to us, we will treasure it.

On Saturday we went to collect Oscar's ashes. It was a very emotional thing to do & definitely made it hit home that he was really gone. Before that it had almost seemed unreal or as if we were stuck in a bad dream. I am glad we chose to have him cremated and get his ashes back though. They came in a beautiful casket.

When we got the ashes, we almost couldn't bear to not have them in the house with us. We kept them with us over the weekend, and decided it was better to do what we originally intended. We went & bought a planter to put his casket in. Although it is rather plain, we both really liked this one. We placed his casket in the bottom and planted the rose bush from Poppy's mum. We have ordered a memorial pebble like the top one here which we will place in the front of the planter, then we can add more plants around it. We want his pot to be as colourful and full of life as possible. You all know how Oscar loved his gardening, but at least these plants will survive his pruning attempts. We can see the planter from the house, so will always be able to keep an eye on him, and if we were ever to move we can take him with us. I will post a collection of photos from Seven Fields soon.

We are still looking for a nice trophy, plate or statue for the training club award. We have a couple of ideas, and will let you know when we have chosen something. I am going to go along on Wednesday next week and take his new training dumb bell and a few of his tennis balls for their "toy box". I know I'll probably find it really hard, but I still feel like I want to go and see everyone and take something of Oscar's along.

Moving on to happier events, we went to see baby Leo on Monday. He's really teeny tiny still. We had lots of cuddles, I fed him and Martin even did a very smelly nappy change. He's a really good boy and barely made a whimper all day.

You can see how small he is on this photo. He was 5lbs 10oz when he was born, so I imagine he's only put on a little bit of weight since then. I'm not that used to handling babies, especially tiny ones so it took me a while to feel confident. With his 2 girls, Martin is a pro already as you can see.

Hopefully we'll be able to go over and see him regularly. They live about 1 1/2 hours drive away, so we should make the effort to go over every 6 - 8 weeks and see Leo grow up.

One thing we found quite hard about going to visit was that they have a 2 year old Border Collie. He's called Samwise (from Lord Of The Rings) and although he's a lovely boy, it was just hard being around a lively puppy for a whole day.

We gave him Oscar's harness as he's a puller when walking and it definitely helps, especially if Michelle is going to be pushing a pram and trying to walk him too. He is so good around the baby. We went out for a meal at the local pub and he lay by the pram lots as if to guard it and keep an eye on the baby, and in the house he does the same. He doesn't touch any of the baby's soft toys, he seems to know already that they're not his. I know Border Collies are very clever dogs, and Sam definitely seems to be true to type.

We are printing out all the pages of Oscar's blog & memorials. There certainly are a lot, and there are probably some we haven't found yet! Thank you again to everyone who has cared about us and Oscar so much.

Now we are feeling a little bit stronger, we will make our way around your blogs and see what you've all been up too. I'm sure there's lots to make us smile.

Katy & Martin xxx

Our Oscar

2007-08-02T07:22:00.000Z

Before we say anything else we just want to say thank you so much for the unbelievable number of messages, emails, cards, prayers and tributes to our darling Oscar. We are completely overwhelmed by how many people loved and cared about our boy, and how many of you are there to support us. It has been a great comfort to us to know that we have such a great network of people out there from our next door neighbours to the furthest corners of the globe. We will reply to all your emails and tributes, but it's going to take us some time so bear with uis and know that we are very grateful for all your support.

When we set up Oscar's website, we wanted to share the joy and laughter brought into our lives by our fuzzy little clown. We are feeling upset now that so many people have been saddened by the death of our darling boy. When we started his blog, the thought of losing him was not in our mind - we just assumed he would be a part of our lives for 10 or more years rather than 10 months.

On the one hand we feel quite guilty at feeling so devastated by his death after him only being a part of our family for such a short time when lots of people have to deal with the loss of their beloved pet after many years together, but then we think that to lose a seemingly healthy puppy so quickly and unexpectedly is just as much of a shock.

We have spent the last 5 days doing lots of crying, talking about Oscar, looking at his blog, photos and videos, reading your emails, messages and tributes and realising that we had many, many people to tell the awful news about Oscar. He certainly was a popular puppy and had definitely packed a lot into his 13 months.

It is clear that Oscar was a one-off and touched the lives of people with his sweet looks and nature, clownish personality and eagerness to do anything asked of him. We were so blessed that David and Martin his breeders trusted us into our care after he had already had one home, and we will be forever grateful to them.

I hope Oscar enjoyed every second of his time with us. We always tried to make sure he had the best of everything - care, attention, what we thought was the best food for his poor delicate little tum, visits to lots of different places, training, having fun at agility, lots of toys, friends to play with every day, good walks and most of all more love than you can imagine.

At the moment it is hard to imagine life without him. The house is desperately quiet. It's so strange to come downstairs in the morning and not see him still snoozing on the sofa or his bed not wanting to get up (he was never a morning dog), or to hear his claws tapping around on the wooden floor and his tags jingling. When we came home from work we used to be able to hear his tail bashing against the radiator in the hallway as it wagged like mad in anticipation of us coming through the door. Not hearing that is very strange. So much of our daily routine revolved around him - meals, walks, training, agility, grooming, visits to meet up with new friends we had made since getting him - it's as if we have lost a huge chunk of our day to day structure. I suppose in time we will work out what we used to do before, but at the moment it feels very strange.

We do know that Oscar was such a little ray of sunshine that he would not want us to be sad for a long time, so we have tried to look to doing some nice things to remember him in a happy way.

We have arranged for Oscar to be cremated, and we have decided to scatter some of his ashes over at Seven Fields which must surely have been his favourite place as he played there every day with his pals. We will keep the rest and are going to get a nice garden planter to bury them in. His pal Poppy's mum bought us a lovely rose bush which you can see in the photo, and we will plant that in there too. We are going to have a boulder memorial made to put in the garden.

We have spoken to Tracey who ran his obedience and agility class and asked her if we can create an award in his memory to be given out at their annual prize night. She thought it was an excellent idea, so we will start looking for a nice trophy and think up a fitting award title. Any suggestions are welcome.

On the day that Oscar died, Martin's sister-in-law gave birth to a premature baby boy. They have named him Leo after Martin's middle name. Though small, Leo is perfectly healthy and is at home already. We are going to visit them all on Monday. We thought maybe Oscar gave Leo his place here and made sure he was safe and healthy.

Since Oscar died, all the awful rain we have had for months has disappeared overnight and we are left with glorious summer days. Perhaps Oscar is sending that sunshine down for us to tell us not to be sad.

We are going to print out all the pages of Oscar's blog along with all the beautiful tributes and create a special book which we can look at always and remember the very happy times we spent with our precious boy. I hope everyone who reads his website will be able to do the same.

We will continue to visit the other blogs and look forward to seeing all the adventures Oscar's pals get up to.

We will update Oscar's blog again when we take his ashes to Seven Fields.

Well, we could talk forever about our precious Oscar, but I want to leave you happy not sad. Here are a selection of our favourite photos of our fuzzy little clown that we hope will make you smile.

Katy and Martin xxx

Click here to get Days at EZ-Tracks.com

Bye Bye Our Darling Baby Oscar

2007-07-28T13:20:00.000Z

I am heartbroken to tell you that Oscar died at around 11am this morning as they sedated him to try to operate to see what was happening to him. We opted not to put him through an autopsy, but pancreatitis or a blockage is most likely. We went to sit with him afterwards and he looked very peaceful.

Thank you for all your well wishes, Oscar must have been one of the most loved dogs on the planet.

We simply do not know what we will do without him.

Run free our sweet darling boy.

Katy and Martin x

From Healthy Boy To Sick Boy

2007-07-27T21:52:00.000Z

**Update number 2 @ 9.20 am. Lyn the vet just called to say they are almost certain it's a blockage as despite all the fluids etc he hasn't been sick or had diarrhoea. They are giving him some special fluids to try and stabilise him some more and plan to take him to surgery at 11am despite the risk. She said there is a slight possibility that all the fluid is caused by a disease, but they will know once they operate. More prayers please. Of course I'll let you all know as soon as we hear how he's doing.

**I'm sorry to update with bad news but my darling Oscar is very, very sick. The vet called at about 11 pm to say his heart rate was 250+ and despite huge amounts of IV fluids he was becoming more and more dehydrated. They x-rayed him to check for a blockage but found nothing, then tried a scan. That showed huge amounts of fluid in his intestines. Lyn the vet thought it was either a blockage that they still can't see, or possibly parvovirus (though he was vaccinated as a pup by previous owner and was due to go for his booster this coming Wednesday). She said she was trying to get his heart rate down and him better hydrated as to operate while he was so unstable was too risky.

She called back an hour later to say they have been giving him shock fluids and basically replaced all his body fluid and they had got his heart rate down to 150.

The nurse just called (7.30 am) to say he's held his own overnight but that his heart rate is creeping up again despite lots of fluids by IV all night. She said the vet is probably going to operate shortly no matter the risk as they need to see what's going on.

She said Oscar is pretty out of it on strong pain meds but he was giving her his paw to tickle.

Please, please pray for my baby. I'm so scared we're going to lose him. I can't tell you how awful it is in the house without him with all his toys lying around. I just want him on my knee having ear scratches.

Hi all, it's Oscar's mum Katy here. After all Oscar's talk of being healthy and eating his veggies yesterday, the poor little guy is at the vet hospital tonight and feeling very poorly, hence the sad face photo.

3
On Wednesday while I was out, he chewed on a TV remote. He has never so much as looked at a remote control before or chewed anything he wasn't supposed to but it had been left on the sofa, so maybe he thought it was his for the taking. After I picked all the pieces up, it all seemed to be there so I thought he'd chomped and spat (nice!) and wasn't too worried.

The yesterday evening I took him for walkies to meet Poppy. On the way while he was still on his lead 2 very large dogs came hurtling at him barking, growling and snapping. He was terrified and somehow managed to back out of his collar and just fled. I panicked as we were still on the way to the fields along pavements and roads. I ran in the direction he'd gone calling him but he'd sped off as hadthe other dogs in pursuit. I eventually managed to find him and gafter what seemed like an age and get his collar back on and tightened, but he was clearly petrified. The dogs then came at him again. I held the one that was nearest away with my foot (in wellington boot) and shouted "move!". Not very sensible I know but I wasn't thinking straight. 2 very young boys appeared, the oldest about 7 years old at most. I shouted at them that they shouldn't be out with 2 dogs that size and demeanour, but they just muttered and ran off calling the dogs to follow which thankfully they did. I checked him over and he seemed OK, just scared and I managed to coax him to walk, and we did go to meet Poppy. Due to all the rain, there weren't any other dogs about on the fields and he had a good run around with her and seemed OK.

This morning he was very quiet when I got up, no waggy tail greeting at the bottom of the stairs. I took him on his walk but he wasn't that keen.

I went to work for the morning and when I came home at lunch he didn't come to the door to greet me like usual and he'd pooped in the house which is not like him at all. I let him in the garden where he was either standing all hunched up with tail down or lying on his side. He then went onto the grass and was REALLY sick (like the sound of someone emptying a whole bucket full of water). It smelt REALLY bad, and he seemed to feel worse afterwards. During the afternoon he was sick twice again and seemed very depressed and restless. I called our vet and told them about the sickness, the remote control chewing and how scared he'd been by the dogs the previous night. They told me to take him to their hospital branch about 20 minutes away.

He was sick 3 times in the car (I have left it for his dad to clean in the morning, ick!), and twice in the waiting area. When the vet examined him she said she couldn't feel any blockages which was my biggest fear - I think he's told you about his sock and washing up sponge eating antics - but said he was reacting as if he had very tender tum and had a very high temperature. He was sick again in the examining room.

So my little baby is at the hospital overnight for re hydration, blood tests and x-rays. I had tried all afternoon to get him to have some ice cubes or water but he wouldn't touch it. The house feels so quiet without him and I can't wait until the morning to phone and see how he is. He's normally such a bouncy crazy little lump that to see him stood all hunched like an old man with his tail down and ears back gagging and gagging was horrible.

I know you'll all send good vibes for him to feel better tomorrow and have a smiley face again! I'm sure he'll be keen to tell you all about his vet visit in every gory detail!

Katy x

Healthy Boy

2007-07-26T06:51:00.000Z

Now as most of you know, I eat a raw diet, consisting of minced meats like chicken, lamb, rabbit, beef and fish, raw meaty bones like lamby shank, turkey neck, oxtail and other yummies, muscle meat like heart, offal (which isn't awful, hehehe) such as liver and kidney, raw eggs, raw veggies and fruits and plain natural yogurt along with a couple of supplements such as kelp and garlic powder. I used to get poorly tummy about 3-4 times a week on kibble no matter what one mum tried. Now I rarely do, and when I do it's usually because somebody gives me a treat I can't eat without asking mum or dad first. I of course am too greedy to refuse the treat even though I know it will give me poorly tum. Yeah, I'm stoopid!

So anyway, what part of my yummy dinners do you think I will generally dive into first? Have a look at this fine bowl of food before you make your decision. See how meaty and delicious that oxtail looks.

Have you made your choice? OK, let's see if you're right.

OK, so maybe that was a fluke right? Let's try it again with some yummy chicken & a raw eggy. Do you like my poor little starving urchin face? I think I have it perfected!

Ready, set go! If you don't like the noise of bones crunching you might want to turn down the sound.

Yep, I'm a funny boy. I'll always go for a bit of yogurt and my smushed veggies before eating the meat. Delicious as my meaty bones are, I know that I need to be healthy and eat my yogurt and green stuff to so I grow up big and healthy!

Mum makes up big batches of my veggies and freezes them in individual portions and while she's chopping up, blitzing and bagging I sit waiting expectantly in the kitchen. I don't even mind the loud noise the blitzer makes as I know it is producing good stuff for me to eat, yummy!

Licks

Oscar x

Rainy Days & Monday

2007-07-24T09:48:00.000Z

Hello all, hope you're OK. I am fine if a little soggy. Some houses a few streets away were flooded over the weekend but we are dry so far, though our patio was more like a paddling pool for a while over the weekend. Lots of places around are suffering badly, it's so sad to hear about all the people who have had flood damage to their homes. My pal Blue who cam to see me on Saturday has flooding very close by, so I have paws firmly crossed that it does not reach her house. You can read more about the floods and see photos here.

My super cute wirey friend Asta Up Over awarded my the Rockin Dog Blogger award, thank you Asta!

Well, we had a dry day on Sunday, so I made sure I got outside to make the most of it. I decided dad needed some exercise, so I persuaded him to play one of my favourite games with me. He pretends to be a big scawie monster and chases me around. it's so much fun, and a very good cardiac workout (maybe more for me than him if you see how tired I am by the end of the video!).

As mum and I were heading off to grooming class, I gave dad some jobs to do to make sure he didn't get bored. He finished off painting the new fence. I kept an eye on him before I left to make sure the work was up to my high standards...hey dad, you missed a bit at the end here!

Before he painted the fence he got out the scawie grass eating monster! Now I used to be a teensy bit scared of this when I was a littler pup, as seen here:

But now that I am a mature boy of nearly 14 months I am not so bothered by it. I still wouldn't say I liked it - it does eat the grass and I'm quite partial to doing that myself thank you! I will however tolerate it now.

Anyhow, so we left dad working hard (though I think he actually crept off to watch something called the Grand Prix once we'd gone, hehehe) and mum and I drove to grooming class. Mum got help getting my neck and chest hair shorter, though I still have some left to poke out of my cowboy waistcoat in a manly fashion.

We didn't take any photos of boring grooming, only of the best part about the classes - getting to play with other Dales! My buddies Ralf, Molly, Rupert, Archie or Milo weren't there today, but I'm a friendly boy so I soon made new pals!

Here I am getting acquainted with the laydees! Beside me is little Ruby who I met at the first grooming class I went to. She's almost 1 now. She recently got badly attacked by another doggy who ripped all her side and underneath open. She is healing well now thank doG, and apart from being a little nervous, doesn't seem to have suffered any lasting effect. Little Willow - who's not actually so little anymore at 6 months old - is at the bottom of the photo. Poor Indie was trying to have a poop in peace and got caught on camera, sorry Indie!

Once Ruby realised I'm a gentle boy her tail came up and she was happy to have a good old game of bitey face, yeah!

Willow really wanted to play, but she just wasn't quite brave enough to join in properly, preferring to trot around and watch us. I guess as she gets older she'll get braver. She's also very dainty, so maybe that's why she isn't too keen on running around with us bigger dogs.

As you can see, Willow is still stood by my mum on the step while we all play. I'm now playing with Indie (he finished his poop) while Ruby cheers me on and tries to get Willow to come and join in!

Indie had a word in my ear to ask if I thought he should ask Ruby if she'd be his girlfriend. I told him to go for it. Lovely as she is, I am faithful to my Airegirl Faya.

We discovered there were lots of sticks on the floor and had great fun running around with them playing "chase me". At one point 3 of us had one stick in our mouths, running around in a row, but mum just couldn't get a good photo.

As you'll see on the video, even Willow couldn't resist coming to chomp a few stickies! I am the big fuzzy one!

Yay, Willow is out playing and her little tail is up. I guess she realised how much fun we all are! Grooming class is great for socialisation as well as the horrid hair pulling. Can you see Indie's ears? They're all sticky uppy the whole time and very cute. That's my big fuzzy butt in the background!

Ahh, nothing like a communal butt sniff! The paler guy sniffing my butt is Russell, and he belongs to one of the ladies who runs the class.

So all in all, grooming class was great fun, not the stoopid standing on tables bit so much, but the play time in between rocked!

Licks

Oscar x

Meeting Blue

2007-07-21T21:12:00.000Z

This morning I had agility as usual. No photos or videos today as I went on my own as lazy dad wanted a lie-in! Anyone would think it was the weekend or something! My teacher Tracey says that from Wednesday I am moving up to the highest class in obedience, eek! I think the first lesson will be tough while I find my paws and get used to the new dogs, but hopefully I'll soon get the hang of the tougher lessons.

After agility we headed back out to meet my pal Blue! She's a lovely lady who has been visiting my blog for a long while. She was coming to Swindon to meet up with a potential new dog, so her and mum arranged for us all to meet. This was the first time meeting any of my bloggy pals, how exciting!

Here's the handsome Thistle who will soon be Blue's new boy, isn't he handsome? Blue will be back to collect him in a couple of weeks so I look forward to meeting him then, and hopefully lots of times after that too!

We met here at The Tawny Owl pub. I used to come here when I first came to live with mum and dad so it was nice to go back. The staff couldn't believe how big I got! A little girl came to play with me while we were waiting for Blue, and mum showed her how to make me do "bang", so she was very pleased with herself!

When Blue arrived, her and mum got on straight away, natter, natter, chat, chat. I got lots of snuggles and pets. Soon the rain started and as the hoomans were still yapping away, we went back home for a cuppa (well, not for me!).

There are some photos of mum and I on Blue's blog, and here are some of me and Blue! She's such a lovely lady.

I look forward to seeing you again in a few weeks Blue. I'll introduce you and Thistle to Seven Fields (weather permitting!).

Licks

Oscar x

Well Bred and Read

2007-07-20T09:59:00.001Z

Are you sitting comfortably? Then I shall begin! Hehehe, I just love sitting ON the sofa!

My human friend Blue (who I am hopefully meeting tomorrow!) and my cool new WFT pals Agatha and Archie tagged me to reveal my favourite books. Now I'm not really one for long complex novels - I'm only just a year old remember, and I am a terrier with the associated attention span after all!

Here I am sitting ON the sofa with my birthday birdie from Faya waiting for story time!

My first choice is this book of pubs and hotels here in the UK where I can tag along with mum and dad! There are a few dog friendly pubs around here, and it will be very useful if we ever want a holiday without the taking the tent - which might be soon if this rain doesn't stop!

My second choice is this very sweet book about a lady who was left with nothing but her 3 female Airedales after her husband left her. Her dogs gave her the strength to carry on and she bought and repaired an old cottage, set up a grooming business, bred Airedale puppies, made new friends and lived to a grand old age!

This is one of the books mum read before changing my diet over to BARF. I'm grateful to Tom Lonsdale as I really love my dinners, and my tummy is soooo much better. I'm sure mum and dad are also glad that I don't have the windy bottom from hell any more, hehehe!

We use this book to learn new tricks. There are some cool ideas in there such as learning to put rubbish in the bin. Funny concept if you ask me - I much prefer trying to get stuff OUT of it! Mary Ray is quite famous here in the UK as she does a lot of great doggy dancing (heelwork to music) like my pal Amber-Mae does.

My final choice is this manual. Mum read it before she even got me and said it has some great advice in there, especially for first time dog owners like her. This book definitely helped make me into the good boy I am, along with hard work from mum and dad - and your truly of course!

I hope you liked my choices. I have enjoyed reading my pal's lists. I'm not sure who has been tagged, so join in if you want to play!

Have a great weekend everyone. I have agility, meeting Blue and grooming class amongst other things, so I'll be busy as ever!

Licks

Oscar x

Wild Wild West (England)

2007-07-18T09:50:00.000Z

Ye ha, cowboy fans! Look what came in the post from Butchy and Snicker's mum / Snitchybug Dog Designs!

I am now a genuine bona fide Sherif Sundance Kid!

I've got my cow print waistcoat.

I've got my cool chaps with tassels.

I've got yet another bandanna, proper cowboy stylee!

And I've got a very cool cowboy hat.

Isn't Butchy and Snicker's mum clever? It's all beautifully made and stitched. It blows my stoopid Woody outfit right out of the water.

So, how do I look?

Do you like the way my manly chest hair is spilling out over the top of my waistcoat?

I like wearing my hat at at jaunty angle, kind of cowboy meets Justin Timberlake!

I'm looking for cows but I don't see any.

I think I look pretty cool! Butchy and Snicker's mum also forwarded us a link she found for a doggy gun holster. That would finish my outfit off a treat!

Watch out other doggies, I'm so going to win every fancy dress competition I ever enter!

OK, enough of the posing, I'm headed off to the saloon bar for a big glass of whiskey...erm water!

The camera battery ran out, but mum will have to get a video of me walking in my outfit, as she says I really do look like I have a cowboy swagger going on. I guess I need to get used to walking in trousers!

Thank you so much for my outfit Linda, I love it!

Licks

Oscar x

Animal Magic

2007-07-16T13:34:00.000Z

Hello! I hope you're all well. I am good. I had a fun weekend. My hooman step sisters were here this weekend. It's E's 6th birthday on Wednesday so we celebrated with her.

We went to a really cool place called Cotswold Wildlife Park. There were so many different animals there. I couldn't believe how many different animals there are in the world, and how many of them are in danger because of humans destroying their habitats.

It's a cool place because us dogs are allowed in most areas of the park apart from the bat belfry (eek, who wants to be near scawie bats anyway), the farmyard area where animals are roaming loose and the reptile house. Apart from that we can see all the animals, cool!

First we went to see the Humboldt penguins. They were really cool guys. They come from Peru and Chile and are a smaller breed of penguins, weighing around 4kg when grown.

We watched them being fed (mackerel, yummy). These 3 were obviously the greedy ones of the group as they were waiting at the door to the keeper's office where they could obviously smell the fish being prepared!

After they had been fed they stand and digest the fish which they store in their gullet until it forms a mushy fish paste, yum!

We also saw lemurs. They come from Madagascar. The park has two types, ring tailed and black and white ruffed. These are the ring tailed as you hopefully worked out! They are omnivores, basically meaning they will eat anything!

Next we went to see the meerkats. As it was quite a chilly day, a lot of them were hiding, but this little guy had come to have a sniff to see what was going on.

Most of his mates were inside their house. This one was really camping it up for the camera! They look cute, but are very territorial and will fight to the death in the wild if a rival group of meerkats try to take over their territory.

We found more fish eaters! These are otters and they were having a great time splashing about and eating their fishy dinner.

Look at this cute little baby with his mum. He got his own fish when they were fed and there was no way any of the bigger otters were going to get it from him!

I asked if I could share a fish but there was no chance!

I can't remember what this animal is. Maybe one of you will recognise it. They look very chilled out sitting on their rock watching the world go by.

Next we went to look at the monkeys. They were so great at using their hands, feet and tails to swing across the cages, nets and trees.

E & J thought this bird only had one leg, so dad explained that they like to stand like that. Can you see the fluffy baby in the nest?

This is a great hornbill. Isn't that beak quite something? They use it to amplify their call, which can be heard for 800 metres!

Here's a beautiful male peacock. Sadly he didn't put his tail feathers up to show us the full glory of his plumage, but he still looked pretty spectacular! He was just roaming around the car park when we went back to the car to get our lunch!

Here is dad looking at the tortoises. They had very bumpy shells. They were munching on lots of lettuce and tomato.

Here's an iguana. He was so still he almost looked like a statue. I bet he can move fast if he wants to catch some prey, or if an animal is chasing him though!

I wasn't allowed in the reptile house, but the girls told me there were lots of ants, spiders, stick insects (wow, I would have liked to have seen those!) and snakes! It was hard to get photos as everything was behind glass.

Here is a pair of alligators! There was also a crocodile who was sitting under a waterfall as if he was having a shower, but sadly the photo didn't come out as it was just too dark. Mum and dad used to call me The CrocoDALE when I was teething, but these guys have some serious teeth going on!

These guys are siamangs. They are the largest gibbons. There was a teeny baby but he was dashing all over the place and we had no chance of a non-blurred photo of him!

And here's another monkey...oh whoops, that's E playing in the park. It looked like a huge agility course but I wasn't allowed to play on it, boo!

I could have stood on here while it span round but noooo, had to sit and watch.

These are zebus. They are the scared cow of India. Can you see the hump they have on their backs?

Here's a big fat piggy. I bet he has some good pork ribs I could munch on. Oops, sorry mum!

They had very bristly hair and were very stinky. Look at his cute curly tail!

And here's a little billy goat. Cute huh? Wouldn't want to get too close to those horns though. His beard is even more impressive than mine, that's why he's looking so smug I think!

There was another fat piggy. Can you see his big tusky tooth sticking out? he was dreaming and his mouth was twitching away. He must have been dreaming about eating.

I have seen these animals in the pet shop. They're guinea pigs. There were lots of them and they were all going "wee, wee, wee".

Mum used to have guinea pigs when she was little, and likes these scruffy looking ones the best.

There were also bunny rabbits like Simba has at home. These 3 definitely look like they're plotting something!

And there was a HUGE rabbit like Sunshade's Georgie. I asked him if he knew Georgie, but he looked at me like I was stupid!

Back outside there were some zebras. I liked their stripes a lot, though they did make my eyes go a bit funny when I stared at them lots. They originally come from East Africa.

This one looks like he's a bit camera shy! 2 of them were playing chase and were racing around.

Wow, just look at this guy. he's a southern white rhino and was just huge! They can weigh up to 3600kg! He had obviously found a great muddy puddle, lucky thing.

E & J posed with him. The beauties and the beast.

There were also ostriches. These guys are very tall. They can reach speeds of up to 43 miles per hour and their kick could kill a human, yikes.

We went to see the lions and leopards. The lions were all high up in the branches snoozing, and we could only just see the leopard having an afternoon nap.

After all those and many more animals we sat down for a well deserved ice lolly. Well, for the hoomans, poor little me didn't get anything.

On the way back to the car we saw the Bactrian camels from SE China. Their humps are full of fat so they can survive out in the desert without having to eat and drink regularly.

The last thing we saw were these giant tortoises, these guys were huge, E & J could easily have sat on their backs and had a ride!

When we got home the excitement didn't end. Mum had made E some birthday buns. E & J can't eat dairy produce as they get poorly when they have lactose, so mum made these buns and the icing from special ingredients. She said they didn't rise as well as regular cakes, but I still think they look pretty good.

E was certainly impressed with them, look at that smile. Ansd everyone agreed they tasted good. Everyone except me that is as I didn't get to try these either. Harumph!

E was allowed to open a small presents from us, she took her main present home to open on her actual birthday.

Phew, so that was my busy weekend. I hope you enjoyed learning about all the animals. I certainly did, and hopefully I can go and visit them again soon.

Licks

Oscar x

Fruits, Vegetables & A Time Capsule

2007-07-13T08:41:00.000Z

Don't you just hate sticky buds? You innocently poke your nose into the bushes to have a good sniff, and when you emerge you've been attacked by a swarm of evil tentacled seed pods!

Anyhow, on to more interesting thing! My very cute Beagle pals Jazz and Dixie tagged me to play a cool game. They recently went to a park in Tokyo where there's a time capsule which was buried in 1982. It will be opened in 2032, how cool! I wonder what's in there?

Anyhow, seeing the time capsule got them thinking and they asked - "If you doggies/Girl Girl were going to make a time capsule to be opened some time in the future what would you put in there for the doggies/hamsters of the future? Name five important things that you would include and then pass it on to five other friends".

Hmm, now I have been thinking hard about this and I have decided that I would put in:

1. The website link to Dogs with Blog, though I'm sure in only a few more years, DWB will be world famous without the help of my time capsule.

2. My Wubba! This is the best toy ever. You can tug it, squeak it, bounce it, chew it and you can even get ones that float for watery fun - it's sooooo cool!

3. The recipe for Frosty Paws, courtesy of Nanook and Pooka. No doggy should ever not know about the delicious cool creaminess of this homemade frozen delight

4. My fave treat, homemade dried liver. I actually think the delicious smell coming from this might make someone crack open the time capsule before time though!

5. My cat sister Fat Flakes. Well, if I have to put up with her, the dogs of the future should share my pain too!

I am now going to tag Persephone and Buster, Pappy, Pippa, Wimsey and Sophie. Look forward to hearing your answers guys!

I also got tagged by my new buddy Johann. He's a Sheltie who is a master of all things agility related. I hope one day I am a tenth as good as him.

I'll pass over to him to explain the tag.

---------------Copy and paste this line and below------------------

There are all kinds of fruits and veggies that are good for us dogs, right? Well, let's make a list! And get some link love in the process.

Instructions:

1.) Copy and paste the matrix of “Fruits/Veggies LinkLove” below, courtesy of Johann The Dog!

2.) Substitute the Host Tag and one of the “Fruits/Veggies” in the matrix with the name of the fruit or veggie and URL of your blog.

3.) Be sure that the fruit or veggie that you list is REALLY safe for dogs. Do your research, K?

4.) When you get a ping back from someone that has your link in one of their “Fruits/Veggies”, practice good paw by copying his/her Host Tag’s anchor text (automatically the associated link will also be copied) and paste it over one of your “Fruits/Veggies” below.

5.) Encourage and invite your readers to do the same and soon this can grow fast. And if your not a dog, but your blog about dogs you are also welcome to participate - just make sure you do your research! Safety first!

Host Tag: Oscar the Airedale - cherries

1. Blueberries - JohannTheDog
2. Bananas - Tip Tail
3. Apples - The Adventures of Spencer: Sticker Dog's Mascot's Blog
4. Fruit
5. Fruit
6. Fruit
7. Fruit
8. Fruit
9. Fruit
10. Fruit
11. Fruit
12. Fruit
13. Fruit
14. Fruit
15. Fruit
16. Carrots - Utah Collie Rescue
17. Tomatoes - Ayla the Newf - I'd like to note that green tomatoes and the plants themselves are not safe for them to eat but ripe tomatoes should not be a problem.
18. Sweet Potato - Furbaby Frenzy
19. Veggie
20. Veggie
21. Veggie
22. Veggie
23. Veggie
24. Veggie
25. Veggie
26. Veggie
27. Veggie
28. Veggie
29. Veggie
30. Veggie

Important: Once I get a ping back from you (I promise to do the best I can), I will add your anchor text and the associated link you designate as “Host Tag” here, replacing one of the “Fruits/Veggies” from the matrix above. As more and more doggie bloggers copy and paste this matrix, the more backlinks you will have with your anchor text. If everybody who copies and pastes from your blog does the same, pretty soon this will spread and go viral. So, the sooner you participate, the more links with anchor text you will receive.

There it is folks. This should help you improve your Technorati ranking, SERP and Google PR and get you noticed with more blogs - we all like making friends, right? Please leave a comment here if you have copied from this matrix so that I can add you just in case your ping-back didn’t reach me.

Remember, before giving anything to your dog, research or ask your vet if the food is safe. Obligatory disclaimer: No entities and individuals participating or involved in this project will be liable for any injury or illness that could arise from feeding your dog the items listed and included in this list. Practice responsibility, K?

---------------Copy and paste this line and above------------------

I am master of the fruits and veggies, I like most stuff that we're allowed to eat, and I'm pretty sure I'd give the stuff we're not supposed to eat a good try too. Greedy, moi?!

Have a good weekend all. Hopefully we are off to pick up something from Snitchy Bug Dog Designs which is waiting at the Post Office later today so look out for Oscar the Airedale AKA Sherif Sundance Kid coming soon to a blog near you!

Licks
Oscar x

Rockin' Smiley Guy

2007-07-12T08:52:00.000Z

Look what my rockin' girl buddy Ruby awarded me! Thanks Ruby! My pal Toffee also thought I was worthy.

I'm going to pass the love to my blogging buddies Marvin, Loui and Kevin the Brit Boys!

I also got tagged by the lovely Chilli to show you my smile. Now I'm not really a big beam kind of a chap, even when I am very happy. I prefer a cheeky little grin.

All kinds of things can make me smile - mum and dad, my hooman step sisters, my friends, food, toys...but in this particular case, mum had just asked if I wanted to go walkies with Poppy, guaranteed to make me a happy boy!

I'm not too sure who hasn't been tagged yet, but I fancy a Poodle grin-a-thon so I'm tagging Triple B, Chelsea and T-Man. Come on guys, show us your pearly whites!

Licks
Oscar x

My New Uncle!

2007-07-10T06:19:00.000Z

Hmm, for some reason I don't seem to be able to give my posts any titles at the moment. I couldn't when I posted about agility the other day and I still can't today. Very odd.

Anyhow, look at this little cutie pie! It's my grandma and grandad's new dog! Now those of you who have been reading my blog for a little while may remember that my grandma and grandad moved to Spain in March and that their two poodles were stolen/lost en route by the company transporting them. You can read about it here and see some photos of Sammi and Suzy here.

Grandma and grandad spent a lot of time and energy looking for Sammi and Suzi but they were simply nowhere to be found. It took them some time to mourn for them and get used to the idea that they probably wouldn't ever know what had really happened to them.

They have been settling into life in Spain and are buying a lovely house out there. Grandad is playing his guitar lots and earning some Euros and they are beginning to relax and enjoy their retirement.

And then today I got an email from B'Jay! It seems like he's adopted grandma and grandad! He's a little Bichon Frisé and is cute as a button I think you'll agree!

He told me that he has his very own paddling pool to play in and loves splashing about in the water, although it gets very hot in the afternoons in Spain. I expect he goes off to have his siesta when the sun gets too much.

He also told me he likes chewing shoelaces! I wonder if he'll learn to untie them like I can? I can hardly believe any doggie with a face as cute as that could do anything naughty can you?

He said he also like to run really fast around the house and skid along on the tiled floors. Eek, sounds a bit scawie to me. I'll tell him to make sure he doesn't hurt his little legs.

I am so glad B'Jay has come along to cheer grandma and grandad up. Of course he won't ever replace Sammi and Suzy, but I know he'll keep them smiling!

Licks

Oscar x

Agility 7th July 2007

2007-07-08T09:44:00.000Z

Hello, hope you are having a lovely weekend. I can hardly believe it but it has actually stopped raining here! Yes, we had a whole day with no rain yesterday for the first time in weeks. Mum even risked hanging some washing out, amazing! This morning is quite bright so far too. Once my breakfast has gone down and I have done my round of the blogs, we are off out for a nice walkie!

So yesterday was my 5th agility class. I think I am starting to get more focused now that I am familiar with all the equipment. I am really enjoying it and hope that mum can find me a place at a proper club sometime soon. This class is just a fun class (good job sometimes the way we can all carry on!), but is good for getting used to the equipment.

Here's my first run from yesterday. I still like to try and clamber on the dog walk part way up the ramp. Dad said it's mums fault as she doesn't being me round so I'm at the start of the ramp. Nice to know it's mum being a doofus, not me!

And here's my second attempt. There's not much difference in the two, but I come off the end of the ramp a bit better in this one. Mum has realised that I go a lot better if she doesn't use a treat apart from on the weaves where I still need a bit of help remembering what I have to do. When she was using a treat near the tunnels, I wasn't wanting to go through as I was too distracted by the power of the cheese. That's why you can see her getting a biscuit out of her pocket as I come out of the second tunnel.

If you compare it to the video below taken in my first class, you can see how I am more confident on the equipment, especially the dog walk. Mum says that's because I am becoming a lot more aware that I have back legs as well as front ones. What?! Of course I know I have back legs, otherwise I'd be scooting around on my fuzzy little bottom all day. Crazy lady!

As my agility class is run by the same people as my obedience, I had a go at the 2 minute stand from my Platinum. I had the urge to sit down about 1 minute 45 in, ah well!

Licks

Oscar x

Golden Boy

2007-07-05T08:14:00.000Z

Hey, hey, hey, here's my certificate! Pretty nice isn't it? Do you like my expression? I'm trying to act like getting my gold was no big deal. Whatever! I am REALLY pleased with myself! It's already up on the wall with my other certificates and rosettes.

Here is is in close up.

To get my gold award I had to:

1 Sit - Dog to sit on command whilst a distance away from handler

2 Down - Dog to go into down position whilst a distance away from handler

3 Walk without a lead - Dog to walk by the side of handler and be able to halt, sit and move on without being on a lead

4 Come to heel - Dog to return to handler's side when called and continue walking to heel

5 Leave it - Dog to walk past and ignore food, tit bits and toys on the floor

6 Sit-stay - Dog to stay in the sit position for 5 minutes whilst a distance away from handler

7 Down-stay - Dog to stay in a down position for 5 minutes whilst a distance away from handler

8 Seek - Dog to seek out and bring back an article (one of the dog's toys or article supplied by trainer)

Along with my silver award which I passed in March. Here's what I had to do.

1 Sit - Dog to sit in front & at each side of the handler & stay until told to move

2 Down - Do to go into a down position in front & at each side of handler & stay in that position until told to move

3 Walk on a loose lead - Dog to walk in a controlled manner in a circle & a figure of eight pattern

4 Come when called - Dog to come back to handler on command ignoring any distractions & have a lead attached

5 Leave it - Dog to walk past & around other dogs in a controlled manner

6 Calmness - Dog to wait patiently whilst owner has a conversation with another person

7 Fetch - Handler to throw an article. The dog must pick up the article, bring it back & allow the handler to take it from them

8 Car - Dog to enter & leave a car in a controlled manner

And my bronze which I passed just before Christmas. In order to pass this I had to:

1 Sit - Dog to sit in front of the handler

2 Down - Dog to go into down position in front of handler

3 Walk on a loose lead -No pulling

4 Come when called

5 Leave it - Leave/ignore a titbit of food

6 Play - Dog and handler to play with a toy and dog to allow handler to take the toy

7 Controlled greeting - Dog to meet people without jumping up

8 Vet check - Dog to allow handler to inspect teeth, ears, eyes and body

9 Grooming - Dog to allow handler to groom it

10 Doorway situation - Dog to allow handler to go through a gate or doorway first while waiting calmly until called through

When I first started classes at the end of October I had only been with mum and dad a month or so and I was pretty crazy still. It was hard to imagine I'd ever pass this level, never mind progress any further. I guess that goes to show you what you can do if you put your mind to it. I love a good challenge!

And I'll need to. Tracey gave mum and I the criteria for the platinum award last night and all I can say is....GULP!

1 Drop on recall - Dog to be left in the sit position, to be called but must stop and go into down position where indicated

2 Stand stay - Dog to stay in the stand position for two minutes

3 Sit stay - Dog to stay in the sit position for five minutes whilst the handler is out of sight

4 Down stay - Dog to stay in the down position for five minutes whilst the handler is out of sight

5 Heelwork - Dog to heel at normal, slow and fast pace whilst off the lead

6 Leave it - Dog to walk past/over food and toys whilst off lead. Only voice commands are allowed

7 Distance control - Dog must go into the sit, down and stand position whilst the handler is at least 2 yards away (just under 2 metres)

8 Scent - Dog to retrieve the piece of cloth with the handler's scent on it (from 3 pieces of cloth)

9 Send away - Dog to go to an indicated point. No aids are allowed

10 Retrieve - Dog to retrieve and article of the judges choice

Yikes! I reckon I can do numbers 2, 5, 6, 7 and 10 without too much difficulty, but 5 minute sits and downs while mum isn't there, hmm! Ah well, I guess learning that little lot will keep me out of mischief for a while!

Licks

Oscar x

The Scoop on Mum & Dad

2007-07-04T10:29:00.000Z

Happy 4th July to all of you celebrating today. I hope you get sunny weather, good food, fun with your families and not too many scawie fireworks. I put my stars and stripes banner that Putter sent me on to get in the spirit!

Now lovely Reina tagged me so I thought I'd join in the fun and give you the lowdown on my folks. It's been fun reading everyone's interviews and details on their own family.

Here are my mum and dad. This was taken at the end of the night at a Christmas party, hence why they both look very drunken! There was a fake snow machine apparently, and that's what is floating around all over the photo.

As you can see, both mum and dad are red heads, which means they can both have pretty fiery tempers at times! They are both pretty stubborn too. However, they love each other very much, so they never stay cross with each other for too long. Dad is 3 1/2 years older than mum, but I think he still looks pretty good for his age, hehehe. People usually think mum is a lot younger than she is, which she is always happy about! They aren't married (how shocking), but hopefully if they ever do tie the knot I can be a page boy at the wedding. I can wear a bow tie like the one dad has on in the photo!

Dad has 2 daughters. As I think you know, they come to see us every other week. They used to be quite scared of me as their dog is an old, very docile Border Collie and my puppy energy was a bit full on. Now they have realised that I only get excited for 5 minutes or so when they first arrive (well I haven't seen them for almost 2 weeks so of course I go a little crazy!). They play with me lots now and give me the best rubs and tickles. They now also have a new puppy of their own, another Border Collie, so now they get full on puppy fun 24/7!

E is 6 and J is 4. They are both super smart. E is already a year ahead in school and still finds the work easy. J will start school in September and no doubt will be a little star too.

My mum works in finance and is studying to be a fully qualified accountant. She has a degree in European languages (French, Spanish and Catalan) and lived out in France (Lyon) and Spain (Barcelona) as part of her degree which she says was great. She has taught me French so I can talk to my Swiss Miss, the beautiful Faya. Mum enjoys reading, running, TV and films, cooking (and eating LOTS), languages and looking after and loving me and my fat cat sis Flakes. She has 1 younger sister.

My dad works with computers and IT, though I don't know what "it"is. He looks after the computer system for the company where he works, and also installs the software and hardware the company makes and sells in their customer's premises. My dad really wanted a Border Collie or a Welsh Springer Spaniel puppy, but mum has always wanted an Airedale and managed to persuade him. Guess she was the more stubborn one that time! He found me hard work at first as he was used to Border Collies who are very obedient, submissive and eager to please, but now he loves me lots (apart from when I try to knock his new aquarium over when looking at Mr Plec). Dad has 2 older sisters and 1 younger brother.

So there you have it. I didn't tell you much about Flakes, but because I am in a happy mood this week after my DWB win and obedience award success, I have said I might let her do a post later this week. It depends how nice she is to me so we'll see...

Licks
Oscar x

Gold! Always Believe In Your Soul!

2007-07-02T09:02:00.000Z

Hello to you all! So I won the Awesome Blog poll alongside handsome Spanish senor Verdi! Congrats to you Verdi, and also to Gus for winning featured blog!

But that wasn't the only good thing to happen on Saturday, oh no! Guess which handsome young Airedale passed his Gold obedience award? Yes siree, I did it FINALLY! Woo hoo! It was dad who eventually got me through. I actually ended up doing about a 7 - 8 minute sit, as the first time we got a couple of minutes in and some man came slamming through the door of the hall where we have class and me and the other dog who was doing the test jumped a mile. Dad got me settled again almost immediately but Jasmine took another minute to settle again. When we got to about 4 1/2 minutes the stoopid man came back in again, but dad said "sit!" really firmly so I thought I'd better keep my cute little bottom on the floor. I will get my certificate at my Wednesday obedience class so I'll make sure to get a photo of it for you. Mum and I thought that was the end of the award scheme, but Tracey who runs the club told us that she has just finished putting together a Platinum award, so now we're going to give that a try (gulp!). I enjoy class and we were going to keep going anyway, so we may as well keep my brain active learning even more obedience.

The rest of Saturday's class was agility as usual. Mum didn't think we had the camera (though it was actually in my bag), so there are no videos or photos. We did weaves, tunnel, dog walk, tyre, 2 jumps then collapsible tunnel to finish and I did pretty well. I have definitely got my balance much better on the dog walk now and don't scramble up it in an ungainly fashion.

In the afternoon we went for a nice walk, and I found a funny yellow ring on my fields. At first I was very unsure what to make of it.

I was being cautious rather than wimpish, OK? That thing could have been dangerous. You can see how you could get your legs caught in it. I sniffed it, but it didn't smell of much.

I tasted it, but it didn't taste of much apart from plastic.

I decided to try having a little play with it.

I decided to claim it as my own after deciding it was quite safe and could actually be good fun to play with. I carried it some of the way home, but it got hard work so lovely mum carried it the rest of the way. She's so well trained!

The rest of the weekend was pretty much a wash out - it's still raining torrentially here if you can believe it. The risk of more flooding up where grandma and mum's friend live has subsided a little which I'm sure is a relief for everyone in those areas. Here it is more of a nuisance than anything. I don't get to hang around and sniff or leave pee mail as much on walks as I get marched round quicker than normal, and our house is like a laundry with clothes drying everywhere. This would be a good thing if the socks were within my grasp, but sadly they are well out of reach. Please come out soon sun!

Licks

Oscar x

Barkdays, Blogaversaries & Bad Fishies

2007-06-29T10:01:00.000Z

It's my good pal Maggie Queen of SoCal's 2nd barkday today. She is off at Camp Bow-wow as her mum has deserted her to go camping. Ben-Ben has arranged for us to all go to surprise Maggie with a costume pawty, cool! I am going to dust off my old Sheriff Woody costume. Butchy and Snicker's mum has made me a cool new outfit, but it is in the mail somewhere between Iowa and England at the moment sadly! If you want to come to the pawty, check out Ben-Ben's blog!

Boo hoo, it looks like I could be pipped to the post for the Awesome Blog Award. Never mind, it was an honour just to get nominated by my good buddy Boo anyway!

Anyway, moving along. Do all of you already know these two good looking dogs? They are Gomer and Opie who have a blog called Dogs Aye View. They had their 10,000 visitor this week and it's also the 1 year anniversary of their blog today, Friday June 29th.

Here's Gomer. Pretty neat trick isn't it? I keep telling mum big dogs can't do this trick as I keep falling over every time I try, so I don't know what my excuse is going to be now, hmmm.

And this is Opie - quite a cutie I think you'll agree. I bet that sweet face bags lots of treats!

Anyway, this is what they're doing in celebration of their 10,ooo visitor/1 year blogaversary.

THE FIRST ANNUAL DOGS' AYE VIEW 10K:We wanna make pawprints all over the world and celebrate our success by giving back to the people who helped to rescue us and those who work hard every day to rescue other animals from the streets or from bad situations. So, will you enter the Dogs' Aye View 10K and help us out? It's simple... just run around your keyboard ...

For every visitor* to the blog over the next 10 days (from Tuesday, June 26 till Friday, July 6), dogmom is going to donate 10 cents to Friends For Life Animal Sanctuary, where she adopted us!

But wait, there's more! She's going to donate another 10 cents for everybody that posts a comment to our blog ... about anything ... to Southwest Metro Animal Rescue, located in Chaska where we live, since they have the same no-kill philosophy about domesticated animals.

But wait, there's more! If you tell us in your comment that you also clicked the purple button (upper left side of our blog, under our picture... or this link) The Animal Rescue Site on our blog to help feed shelter animals ... then she's going to donate another 10 cents to EACH of these fine organizations -- Friends For Life, SWMAR and The Animal Rescue Site.

And, if you post a blurb and a link on YOUR blog that tells everybody and links back to us -- then she's going to donate a whole dollar (!) to the animal rescue group of your choice if you email her their information at dogsayeview@aol.com.

*We'll use Google Analytics to determine the number of visitors between midnight on June 26 and 11:59 p.m. on July 6.

Isn't that just the best idea? Gomer and Opie's mum sounds like the greatest mum two rescue pups could have ever wished for!

Now, you know I told you about my fishies a few weeks ago? Well I am sad to tell you that the teeny baby guppies didn't make it. I think they needed a more specialised tank to help them grow. Amber-Mae's also has some guppies who have just had 16 babies, so I hope hers will fare better than mine did. The other fishies are all still OK and have grown a fair bit already. Mr ugly mug Plec keeps sticking to the front of the tank asking me to play with him, but every time I oblige I get into trouble, and now I'm not even allowed in the living room when mum and dad aren't around. Something about knocking the tank off the stand with my "big clumsy paws" to quote dad. Thanks Mr Plec, what did I ever do to you to make you get me into trouble?!

I think you'll agree that the fish would have been loving having my face up close and pawsonal. Dad is a big meanie!

So, what have you got planned for the weekend? I have dad's hooman pups coming, agility class and a show so I'm going to be pretty busy. Did you just say "no rest for the wicked" dad? Charming!

Licks

Oscar x

What Katy Did!

2007-06-28T08:45:00.000Z

I wanted to call this post "What My Mean Mum And Dad Did", but mum said we should call it "What Katy Did" as her name is Katy and she did something mean to me. Mum says she used to love the book of the same name when she was a little girl. Maybe some of your mum's read it too? I have never read a book, I chewed one once though!

So, I told you the other day that I'd tell you what mum and dad did to me at the weekend. Well, on Saturday morning we set off to agility as usual and I did good this week - nice and focused, no picking my own equipment, hehehe! Dad didn't come as he said he had things to organise at home, hmmm. When we got back all my food, poop bags, lead and other stuff was in a crate on the kitchen counter, and dad had packed a bag. They distracted me with a treat and sneaked out and drove away in the car with the bag! Well, I thought maybe mum was just taking dad to the station as he sometimes goes away on business. I was kind of tired after agility so I decided to have a little snooze. I was woken up a bit later by the noise of a car outside, but it didn't sound like ours. I heard the house door unlock and Victoria came in. Now Victoria owns a company called Paw Pals. She's looked after me before when mum and dad have had a long day out. However, this time she came with a bag like the one mum and dad left with and she told me that mum and dad had gone to a family wedding and were staying away ALL NIGHT! I have never spent a night without mum. Dad works away a fair bit and stays away, so I'm kind of used to him being away, but both of them!!! Victoria is really lovely though and Airedale Terriers are one of her favourite dogs and I am one of her favourite clients, so I was happy to stay with her.

We went for a really nice walkies, had some dinner and we settled down in front of the TV. Victoria let mum know that I was fine and relaxed. I was a good boy and didn't cry when she went to bed like I sometimes do when mum and dad go upstairs - mainly because I know my fat cat sis is allowed to snuggle up with them while I have to stay downstairs on my lonesome with only my cushion to sleep on because mean mum and dad STILL haven't bought me a new bed. Poor Victoria did have Flakes jumping on her head for most of the night apparently. That cat is a nightmare!

In the morning we went for another nice walk then I had my brekkie. Victoria went to feed and water some other animals then came back to let me out. She told me mum and dad would soon be home, and sure enough they were. Even though I was cross with them for leaving me (albeit with the lovely Victoria), I couldn't help but do a lot of racing about with my tail and bottom wiggling as I was so pleased they were home! I spent the rest of Sunday either on their lap or following them round in case they tried anything sneaky again!

I found some photos they took at the wedding. They'd tried to fob me off that I wouldn't have enjoyed it, but I'm not so sure...

Look at how pretty the bride and bridesmaids are, and how handsome all the men look. I think I would have added a certain je ne sais quoi to the photos. The groom is mum's cousin Matt.

This is Michelle. Doesn't she look like a princess? I suppose it would have been a shame if I'd got muddy paw prints on that beautiful dress, but still...The lady behind is Matt's mum, my mum's auntie. Mum says no-one could get near to give her a kiss because of that hat!

This is Matt and Michelle with mum's auntie and uncle (mum's dad's brother). Her uncle became blind after an accident but he still manages really well. He went to a special college to learn to read braille and has his own little business.

Here are the happy couple leaving church for the reception. What a cool car. I'd look great leaning out of the window with my Doggles on don't you think?

Here is dad at the reception. Hmm, looks to me like he may have had one or two of those beer drinks that I like the foam from!

There were lots of hooman pups there too. How come they are allowed and I'm not? I bet they made more mess and noise than me! I would have loved to have joined in! This is Luke, who was a page boy, and Archie.

Here is Archie doing what I enjoy, destroying flowers! See, we would have had so much in common! Mum says he didn't stay looking neat and smart for long, he's a "proper boy" apparently, cool!

This is one of Archie's sisters - he has 3 older sisters. They are all mum's cousins, as is Luke. Alice is a real sweetie, very serious, quiet and caring.

This is their sister Lillie. She is a little spitfire. Don't let that sweet smile fool you, she is a cheeky monkey!

See what I mean? This is a much more typical photo of her! The older lady in the background is my auntie Betty who has come over all the way from California. She is coming to see me next weekend and I can't wait. Mum says she is the best fun ever, and she used to have an Airedale cross who weighed about 114 lbs so she's really excited about meeting me!

Here is Luke again. He is mum's cousin too. He wasn't that keen on his page boy duties and was much happier once he got to the reception and could play!

So, I think you can see how much fun mum and dad had without me. I need to make sure I get invited next time!

However, being home alone (OK, not really ALONE, but you know...) wasn't all bad. I had fun making a mess for them. The game was to see how many toys I could get out of my toy box in the shortest time. I won!

Did you see that even with all those toys out, I actually chose the camera case to play with, hehehe!

I also got some yummy treats. These are dried chicken breasts and they are really yummy I have to say.

So yummy that I just could not wait for a sensible photo, so this was the best mum could get, CRUNCH!

I also got a new lead and collar. My puppy one was on the largest setting and was a little snug, so mum decided I was ready for a big boy collar. The lead made a good toy. Obviously I was doing important safety checks for strength and resilience at the same time. Wouldn't want it snapping while I was near a busy road now would we?

Here they are in close up, pretty groovy, eh?

Here I am modelling the new collar. it is more padded than my old one so it's lovely and comfy. I have my address tag and my cool barkday tag from Sunshade and Jaffa on it. Don't you think it goes nice with my tan colouring?

I decided they were forgiven, and after a last bit of sulking, I decided to have a good old play. Hubba Wubba!

I don't think I am too traumatised from my night alone, but I really hope if they ever go on holiday I can go too. The thought of not seeing mum and dad for a week or two is horrible. Guess I am still a baby after all!

Licks

Oscar x

A Blog For All

2007-06-26T10:59:00.000Z

Thanks for your support so far to those that have voted for me in the Awesome Blog poll. I feel very honoured, especially as competition is TOUGH (as it always is - we all have awesome blogs, right?). However, there is still time to vote, so go and check out Dogs with Blogs and do your thing! Oh, and did I mention I will ensure your hoomans are at your beck and call, you get the best treats ever and none of you need ever have a bath again if I am elected? Oops, I thought I was running to be the new British PM for a minute there, hehehe!

So anyway, how are you all doing? I hope you're not all as flooded as we are here in the UK. One of the villages near the dam which is in danger of bursting are where my mum comes from and my grandma still lives there as does mum's bestest friend works also at the high school where people are taking shelter. 3 people have already drowned which is super scary. Paws crossed the rain will stop and clear up can begin soon. There are some photos here, here and here.

We haven't been so badly affected by the rain down here, so I have been getting out and about as usual. I take back everything I ever said about there being no doggies to play with on my field though, as I now seem to have a lot of friends! As well as Maddie and Poppy, I have found another girl to play with! Her name is Sasha and she's very beautiful, and like my other girl pals, she's a proper tomboy who loves getting wet, muddy and smelly at every opportunity, yeah!

Here we are having a splish splash in the river. Can you guess where we're going to reappear? This bit of the river is nice and clean.

Whereas this bit isn't! The banking is REALLY nice and yucky so when you come out with wet paws you get a good old muddy mush going on, cool! The poor boy stood there wasn't prepared for us, hehehe!

And in case you're wondering about all these girl friends...don't! That's just what they are - friends who are girls. No funny business or lovey dovey going on.

See? My blog has even been given a G rating as further proof that I am not starting my own hareem of local doggie girls!

Right, I'm off to finish off a rather tasty chew treat. Chat to you all soon. I still haven't told you what mum and dad did to me at the weekend!

Licks

Oscar x

Awesome Airedale

2007-06-24T15:18:00.000Z

Hey you guys, hope you all had fun weekends!

I see that I have been nominated for an AWESOME BLOG AWARD at Dogs with Blogs! Oooh, that's so exciting and such an honour.

It's tough to be voted too though as lots of my buddies have also been nominated.

So why don't you head on over to Dogs with Blogs and cast your vote for your favourite doggy blogger.

Off you go then!

Are you still here? Get a shuffle on! Voting closes on June 30th.

Hey you! Go and make your vote count!

Licks

Oscar x

Results, Rain and Random Facts!

2007-06-22T09:55:00.000Z

Hey everyone, hope you're all OK. No meaty bone photos today! The winner of the competition was....Tofu Burger! Is it a bit ironic that a doggy with a vegetarian name won the meaty bones competition?! No one got all the answers exactly correct, but Tofu and Simba were the closest! I pulled those answers out of a hat and Tofu was the vistor. Well done Tofu Burger. Send me an email and we'll sort out your prize! For anyone interested, the correct answers were:

1. Chicken thigh and drumsticks
2. Chicken wings
3. Lamb's heart
4. Pig's ear (treat rather than a meal)
5. Oxtail
6. Mackerel
7. Pork ribs
8. Lamb shank

So, I had fun on the fields last night with my pal Poppy. She's a Labrador and is about 18 months old. She's not quite as manic as Maddie, but she's just as much find to play with. She and I love to run through the long grass as fast as possible and jump in and out of the streams.

Think these photos look like we were out on a beautiful June afternoon?

Does is appear that we are frolicking in beautiful sunshine?

Hmm, well we weren't! It was absolutely pouring with rain and there was thunder and lightening. Can you see the rainbow? It looked like it ended right in the field but we didn't find the pot of gold. Lucky for Poppy and I, our mums aren't fair weather walkers and realise we need our walks regardless of the weather. Either that or they would rather get wet than have us zooming all over the house all evening because we didn't get our exercise!

If you didn't believe me about the rain, look at this! We are gambolling along like to spring lambies in the torrential downpour. It was lovely and refreshing! Mum put the camera after this as she was scared it would get to wet and stop working - leave it out I say!

So anyway, Penny, Sherman and Lola came up with a cool game to play! Penny posted the following questions and answered them herself, then challenged us to answer the same questions about ourselves. Here are my answers. I hope lots of you are going to play too!

1. Your age? - 1 year and 25 days!

2. Your age when came to live with your people? - 13 and a half weeks

3. What color is the collar you’re wearing right now? - Beige with an argyle design in blue and orange

4. Who is your favorite person other than the people you live with? - Grandad

5. How much do you weigh? - 22.5 kilos / 49.5 pounds

6. Most expensive thing you’ve ever chewed up? Dad's glasses (oops, sorry dad! Luckily he has 2 pairs)

7. Do you like other Dogs? - Yep, I am super sociable!

8. Who is your best non-human friend? - Maddie the Boxer, but also my Airedale buddies at my club who I don't see so often

9. Squeaky Toys or Tennis Balls? - My new Kong squeaky tennis balls, 2 birds with one stone

10. Do you like to be brushed? - It's OK, better than when I get my hair stripped anyway

11. Peanut Butter or Cheese? - Sooooo tough, hmmm, I think I'm going to have to go with cheese, goat's cheese, yummy! Someone needs to make cheese with peanut butter - heaven!

12. Do your people cut your toenails? - No, I have only needed them doing once so far and a groomer did it. My toenails are black and mum is scared of cutting too much. I do lots of walking so they get worn down very well anyway

13. Any formal education? - Yes, lots of obedience training. I have 5 certificates to date and I will get that elusive gold award soon!

14. Couch potato or Energizer Bunny? - Couch potato in the mornings and evening, energizer bunny in the daytime, but not manically so

15. Five nicknames your people call you - Bosco, Bosco Kid, Ratbag Boy, Wigglebum, Osc the Bosc (what is wrong with these people?!)

16. What is your best trick? - Bang (play dead)

17. Do you like kitties? - I suffer them (particularly my cat sister Fat Flakes)

18. What did you have for breakfast? - Pork ribs, mushed veggies and yogurt

19. Can you hunt (aka have you ever killed anything living)? If so, what? - Mmm, do spiders and flies count?

20. When & why was the last time you went to the V.E.T.? - A couple of weeks ago for my icky eyes

21. Where do you sleep at night? - Downstairs - on my bed if mum and dad are reading (actually on the couch as soon as they go to bed, shhh)

22. Do you like to swim? - I love water, but haven't quite mastered the swimming part yet

23. Can you make puppies? - No, I am boy bits free!

24. Your favorite place to visit? - Seven Fields, obedience and agility class

25. Do you give kisses? - Only to dad really

26. Can you potty on command? - Yes, my cue word is "quickly"

27. To Cuz or not to Cuz? - Hmm, I'm not wild about them like some of you are. I will play with it if mum got it out of my toy box, but I probably wouldn't choose it myself

I look forward to seeing all your answers!

Licks
Oscar x

Foodie Fun

2007-06-20T22:54:00.000Z

Now, if you are squeamish you may not want to read this post!

OK, so mum went shopping to stock up the freezer with lots of lovely meat for meeeee! As she was bagging it all up ready for the freezer I thought it would be a good competition to see if you can guess my favourite meals.

There will be a prize for the winner who can guess the meals (not some of my juicy bones alas) so get your thinking caps on!

1) OK, here's the first one. Should be quite easy I think.

2) This is the same animal as before, but a different part.

3) This isn't a bone, it's offal (which is offaly tasty, hehehe!)

4) This is more of a treat than a meal, but can you guess what it is?

5) Mmm, this is my second favourite.

6) This is fairly obvious. This is probably the main one that Fat sister Flakes the cat would like to steal!

7) This is a new discovery of tasty meal time treats, but it is certainly delicious.

8) This is my all time most favourite dinner EVER! Even though it's a big piece of meat I can eat it in about 20 minutes bone and all!

Hopefully you are all hungry now rather than grossed out by the raw meatiness of my diet!

Good luck, and may the best doggy win!

Licks

Oscar x

Fatty Baby Photos

2007-06-19T13:28:00.000Z

Our good friend Suki, the cutest little pug I know and probably the prettiest in the whole of the universe, posted a game a week or so ago asking us to show our baby photos. Well, I have finally got around to posting mine!

Now as you may or may not know, I had another family before I came to live with mum and dad. A lady had reserved me from my breeders and came to collect me at 8 week. At about 13 weeks she took me back to my breeders saying I was "too much of a handful" and a real "Jekyll and Hyde", asleep one minute and running around the next. Erm, hello...I was a little puppy! Anyway, her loss was mine and mum and dad's gain. What I am rambling on about is that we have a big gap in cute puppy photos between when I left my breeders at Sherifs Airedales and when I returned to them to go home with mum and dad. Mum has made up for it since mind you!

Anyway, here I am at 1 day old with my tired but proud mum. I had 7 brothers. What a handful for mum! We are all named after cowboys which I think is pretty cool. That's why I am Sherifs Sundance Kid like in the film. I think I am more handsome than Robert Redford though, hehehe.

Here we are at 4 weeks old. Us Airedales look quite different when we're little to when we're fully grown. I think we look a bit like rottweiler puppies. Looks like we were getting plenty of food doesn't it, roly poly puppies that we were!

Here we are at 6 weeks, getting more handsome by the day, and having lost a teeny bit of our puppy fat. I think we must have been waiting for din dins in this photo. When I came to live with mum and dad I came with a bit of that stripy sheet as a comfort blanket.

Now there is the gap in photos while I was with my first owners....

.....and here I am on my first day with mum and dad on 1st September 2006. Wasn't I a fluffy little chap. I weighed about 9 kilos here compared with 22.5 kilos now.

You can see that I had a lot more black on my ears and face and down my back legs when I was little. Look how big my paws are too!

Here I am one week later. We went to our Airedale club fun day and I won my first rosette for "Best Trick". I did shake paw. I had learned it in just a week and beat a lot of grown up Airedales!

Here I am a week after that playing at mum and dad's friends house. I did a bit of gardening while I was there and ate a few flowers, oops. My cuteness got me off the hook though. We stayed there for 4 days and I was very well behaved apart from the plant chomping, no accidents on their nice new cream carpets or chewing their lovely leather sofa or anything!

Here I am at 5 months old. Aw, there's my crate. I really liked it, but I got too big to fit in there and I must admit, sneaking on the sofa once mum and dad have gone to bed is much comfier!

I was a scruffy little urchin wasn't I? I had forgotten how much puppy fuzz I had!

This was taken at 6 months just before my first Aire cut. As you can see, I had more or less grown into my paws by now!

And here I am after my Aire-do! That was in the days before mum decided she'd rather pull my hair out instead of taking me to the groomers to be clipped!

This photo coincides with me starting my blog, so from here on in my life is VERY well documented by paparazzi wannabe mum!

I hope you enjoyed looking at my puppy photos. It's been fun having a trip down memory lane!

Licks

Oscar x

Clown Of The Class

2007-06-17T19:47:00.000Z

Hmm, well it really wasn't third time lucky at agility on Saturday! I had my silly head on and decided I'd give everybody a good laugh at mum's expense rather than concentrate on the job in hand!

It all started off well enough. I did some good walking to heel, halts and setting off again.

I did some good down-stays. Look, there's a boxer in my class, but she's nowhere near as nice as Maddie. She barks at everyone and isn't friendly at all. She's pretty accurate at agility though, but she goes ever so s-l-o-w-l-y!

Here's my go on the equipment. I just don't know why, but I just wanted to do my own thing. Mum isn't very good at directing me yet, and the teacher said last week that 99% of mistakes in agility are the handlers fault for not communicating properly what they want us doggies to do. If you look when I get to the tunnel, she's standing right in front of it - well, how am I supposed to get through it?! As for the dog walk, what can I say? I just wanted to go on it THEN, not after doing the other stoopid obstacles. Eventually I just decided to go to the other end and do it myself!

Mum and dad weren't very impressed by my antics! Never mind, that's just part of the fun of owning an Airedale. We're the clowns of the dog world. And in my defence, I am still only a young 'un and it was only my 3rd class! I promised I'd try harder next time so I think I'm forgiven!

Licks

Oscar x

My Mate Maddie

2007-06-15T11:10:00.001Z

Hey guess what? You know how I always moan that when I go over to play in Seven Fields there is never anyone around to play with? Well I have found my mate Maddie again! I first met her months ago when we were both little puplets and we got on great, but then I didn't see her for ages and mum lost Maddie's mum's phone number when her old mobile phone broke.

Well, we saw her again last week and we were both so excited to see each other. She is 10 months old now and she has grown loads (well, I suppose I have done a fair amount of growing too!). She is still great fun to play with though. I love playing with boxers as they like lots of wrestling and bitey-face game just like I do. Whenever I see one I get really excited. We met a little white boxer pup called Dexter the other day and we had a good old chase around and a bit of "boxercise". Hopefully we'll meet him again too.

Check me out chasing after Maddie when I spot her ahead of us on the way to the fields! I had just emerged from a particularly refreshing bit of river (read muddy and slimy!).

We got straight down to some serious wrestling. She's quite a dominant girl and wastes no time in slinging a paw round my neck to try and pull me to the floor. 1-o to Maddie.

I couldn't have everyone thinking I was a big sissy so I jumped on her head to try and knock her down that way, 1-1.

Haha, I managed to get her on the ground, but she still came back with some counter blows to my big fuzzy head. There's no keeping that girl down!

I guess my terrier touchdown made her a bit mad as she was soon back on her feet ready for a big boxer take down. 2-1 Maddie.

She meant business too. She had me pinned to the floor before I knew what was happening! 3-1 Maddie?

This is so not good for my street cred! I'm getting beaten up by a girl, and a younger girl than me at that! It's at time like these that you really wish your mum didn't have that stoopid camera permanently attached to her wrist!

Time out, time out! Maddie is the victor, I admit defeat!

So now you can all see the shameful truth of what a submissive boy I am. I think you probably had some idea when I lay down for little Saffie to play with me at the show the other day, but now you have even more proof! I say I'm just a gentleman who knows how to play nice with other doggies, especially ladies. Dad says I'm a big wuss. Mum says I am a clown but she's glad that I am such a nice friendly boy! What do you guys think?

Here we are in action. As you can see, there is no malice whatsoever in our "fighting", we are simply having the most fantastic time EVER! Apart from all the bitey face and rolling around we do plenty of jumping in and out of the stream, hopping through the long grass like a pair of gazelles (well Maddie looks like a gazelle, I kind of look like a big fluffy bunny!), and trying to take our mum's out by running past their legs at 100mph, hehehe!

Our mum's now have now swapped phone numbers again, so we will be doing lots of meeting up from now on, yay!

I hope you all have a great weekend. I have agility tomorrow so I'm really looking forward to that. I wonder what equipment we will try out this time? I think we are also going to help out at an RSPCA fun day and dog show on Sunday, so hopefully the weather will stay dry as the forecast is not good at all!

Licks

Oscar x

More Presents For Me!

2007-06-13T11:25:00.001Z

...And not stoopid grooming tables this time either! While we were out walking this morning we bumped into our postman. Now I think I have told you before that I love our local posties. Ours is really cool and always makes a real fuss of me and tells mum what a good boy I am (of course!) and that I never make a sound when he puts the post through our door. I love him because he brings me presents from my friends! There's another postie who does the other round in our neighbourhood. The second I spot him my tail starts going nineteen to the dozen and I plant myself on the ground to wait for him. He always fusses me and usually has some biscuits/cookies in his pocket, yay! So, any of you guys who have postman "issues", maybe you should get to know yours - he might be a nice guy who carries food about his person!

So yes anyway, we were out walking this morning and bumped into our postie and he said "Morning Oscar, I think I've got a parcel for you here!". I sat down and waited while he rummaged in his bags. Sure enough he pulled out a silver package! Mum let me carry my parcel home, which I managed even though it smelt really good and I was itching to open it right there and then.

It was from my friend Finni! He is a really cool guy, just a little bit older than me. He lives in the north of England near where mum's mum, auntie and best friend live. Finni and I haven't met up yet, but we're hoping to next time I go up to visit grandma and mum's bestest friend Sarah. It was Finni and his mum who helped mum with lots of information and support when she switched me to my BARF diet, and his mum is also suggesting some natural remedies for some of my annoying health issues like my icky eyes and my sensitive stomach.

Isn't he a super handsome boy? There are some other very nice photos of him on his site, so go and check it out! I'm getting a bit worried about all these airetractive Aireboys that are around now! As well as fine-looking Finni there's the beautiful Bogart and striking Stanley, as well as the young pups Jaffa and Mitch who are growing more handsome by the day. Finally, my little namesake osKar is working hard on his blog, so you'll all be able to drool over him soon too! I think I need to work of my handsome-ness and get mum to finish my Aire-do (can't believe I'm actually wanting to have some hair ripping done!) and get rid of my gunky eyes which a back again, grr.

Once we got home it was time to tear open that parcel! I could smell something really good in there! It was also wrapped in lovely popping plastic stuff which I just adore, so that was a present in itself. Oh, and mum is talking to the little boy next door who is a real chatterbox and is telling mum all about his new slippers! He's the one I like playing the "chase up and down the fence game" with!

Wowee, look what I got! A set of 3 Air Kong balls! I love the Aire Kong stuff for its' super squeaky-ness; that's why I loved the Aire Kong rings I got for my barkday from Simba and Putter. Mum likes them as they are made from non-abrasive fluff that doesn't wear your teethies down like normal tennis balls can, yawn!

There were also 2 piggy ears in there, no wonder it smelled so good!

I got straight down to work on one. Mmmm, piggy crunchy deliciousness!

Here's a video so you can share the pleasure! Listen to the crunch, imagine the taste, mmmm. Are you hungry?

Can you hear that annoying bird cawing away in the background? It was really putting me off my chewing, stoopid bird!

Once I had demolished that I wanted to try out the tennis balls.

Yay, they're quite strong even for my monster jaws, I'm really going to enjoy playing with these! Even though mum was trying to get ready to go out I insisted on a bit more play!

Thanks so much for my great presents Finni! You and your mum are very kind.

Now, you may have noticed that I was wearing a rather dapper new bandanna in those photos and videos! That's right, I got yet another barkday present! I reckon I'll still be getting presents by next barkday! Mum says I'm a spoiled brat! My bandanna is from my very good pals Boy and Baby! They asked Butchy and Snicker's very clever mum to make it especially for me, wasn't that sweet, especially as they had already sent me a very cool tuggy for my barkday. I really LOVE my new bandanna you guys! I have been wearing it lots, so much so that mum has already had to wash it twice as it keeps getting all muddy from jumping in the river with it on, then running around the fields.

Here I am modelling it while it is nice and clean! It has a print of a very handsome looking Airedale on it...unlike me who looks very scruffy!

When I went inside to have my dinner I ended up looking very stoopid as it flipped over my face, kind of a cross between a bandanna and a pirate's eye patch! Ar har me hearties! All I need now is a parrot on my shoulder!

I eventually managed to shake it round to the side a little. I had to do it myself as mum was being no help, just snapping away as per, grr!

Thank you Boy and Baby. I really like it a lot and it co-ordinates with my tan and black fur just pawfectly!

I will wear it to obedience class in the hope that it gives me the power to do my annoying 5 minutes sit-stay which I am still trying to achieve!

Licks

Oscar x

WESWATC Show 10th June

2007-06-12T10:29:00.001Z

OK my friends, I will keep you in suspense no more! So, the eyes were looking good on Sunday and off we headed to my birth land of Wales to our club's Open Show near Chepstow.

I was happy just to be in the car as I simply LOVE journeys. I always seem to know if we're going on a longer journey and get cosy on the back seat quickly rather than sitting an looking out of the window like I do when we're just pootling about the town. We had to travel for about an hour today, including going over a really big bridge where we had to pay a lady some money for the privilege.

Soon after that we arrived at a hall and I could see lots of other black and tan terrors, cool! As soon as we got in the hall I spotted David, one of my breeders. My tail was going nineteen to the dozen and I had to say a big hello to him with lots of jumping about and licks. I am normally quite calm when greeting people, but David and Martin are very special to me. They said I looked very nice and my coat looked good despite mums hair-tearing efforts!

Do you remember me telling you about cute but Crocodale-like Saffie from grooming last month? Well she came to watch today with her mum and dad as her breeder had dogs in the show too. Mum was waiting for a puppy from that same breeder when they got news of me being taken back to David and Martin by my first stoopid owner, came to see me and fell in love (well, who wouldn't?). The rest, as they say, is history. I'm so glad that breeder told mum and dad about me!

Anyway, Saffie is a really confident little girl. She is now the exact same age that I was when I came to live with mum and dad. We had some really good play time at the show. I was very patient with her, letting her hang off my beard, bat me in the face and bite my ears. All the hoomans were really impressed at how gentle and calm I was with her. I'm hoping my good behaviour may help with my "I want a sister" campaign! We have been invited to go and see Saffie and her family any time, so I can't wait to play again properly when we're not on our leads.
Here is a little clip of us playing. There was plenty more but mum was conserving batteries for when I was on centre stage!

Anyway, soon the show got underway. Here is Martin with my brother Arthur. He is just over 2 years old and he has the same dam and sire as me. Look how handsome and muscly he is! I have a lot to live up to!

Here is Arthur in action. See how beautifully he moves. I think my movement is better than last show when the judge said my gait was a bit off as I am stronger now and my back legs are developing better.

Arthur got a 2nd place, yay! The dog that came first is one they always struggle to get placed higher than. I was still extremely proud of my big bro!

This is the bitch that mum and dad were going to get a puppy from. Yes, she's lovely, but I'm so glad that they got me instead!

Here's Annie. She's another of my breeder's Airedales, but she isn't related to me. She is a very pretty, dainty girl. I got to say hello to her after she'd shown and she was very sweet and polite (though she did sniff my bottom, hehehe!). She got a 1st placing!

Here the judge is shaking a treat at her to get her nice and alert. Judges like to see good terrier expression in our faces, with eyes alert and ears listening.

Isn't she a beautiful looking girl? Her and Arthur are so professional when they're showing. They know exactly how to stand, and how to show themselves off.

Here are the two bitches that won Best in Show and Reserve Best In Show. They are both owned by the same lady (the one mum was going to get the puppy from) so she had to enlist some help to take one of them round the ring!

Then after some lunch - lunch for the hoomans that is as all I got was one measly strawberry - it was my turn!

I was entered in "Best dog or bitch under 2". There were 4 of us entered: from the left they are my mate Rupert, me, Freda and Iris.

Here we are waiting for the judge to have a good look at us and feel us to see how closely we conform to the breed standard. That's what you have to remember about shows. They aren't comparing you to the others entered as such, they are seeing which of you best fits the breed standard as laid down by the Kennel Club.

Here is a video of me. I was a bit shy of the judge. I'm normally confident with people, but I think what with vet visits, funny eyes test and eye drops this week I was not too sure what he was going to do to me! The two girls had been in another class already (beginners class) so that's why the judge doesn't make them walk again.

I got a first, wooooooooooo hoooooooooooooooo! Mum was really surprised but ever so proud of me! Did you see how I went to get pats and praise from the people watching, hehehe!

Next we entered "Best Coat and Condition". Mum did wonder about withdrawing from this as she is still midway through my Aire-do, but then thought what the heck, there's only 3 dogs entered so we'll win something!

A second place! Mum was even more shocked by this. We knew Rupert would win this as he is beautifully stripped by his mum, but Jasper who came third (little Willow's big bruv) is also beautifully groomed. I guess the judge fell for my teddy bear charms!

The final round was supposed to be "Best Companion Airedale", out of the winners of "Under 2" "Aged 2-5", "Aged 5+" and "Best Coat and Condition", but the judge said he was going to base it on dog he'd most like to take home. Seeing as I kept shying away from him I knew I didn't have much chance, hehehe! Rupert won this, way to go Rupert! He won a cool rosette and his mum got a very nice rose bush.

Phew, what a great morning out that was. After the drive home I was ready to sit and relax and contemplate my success!

After I'd had a nap, mum made me pose with my certificate and rosettes. She was a bit cross that I put my big clumsy paw on it, oops!

Here I am trying to look serious and composed after my wins! I really just wanted to run up the garden with my rosette's in my mouth!

I also got my Kennel Club Bronze obedience award, so it was a real weekend of awards and accolades. I guess mum's going to need to go and by some more frames!

Here's a close up of my Kennel Club certificate. The test was pretty easy, but it's a good award to have as it is nationally recognised, whereas the ones from my training club are not. Mum will take me to try for my KC Silver over the summer. We had a look and it's not too much of a challenge (only a 2 minute wait, not 5!!!). You can often just turn up at shows of fairs and take the test there and then for a small fee. I think for the Gold you have to take a short course, but we can probably find a club somewhere nearby to go for a few sessions.

And here are my certificates and rosettes from the show, my first 1st prize, woo hoo!

Well, after reliving all that excitement, I think I'm due for another nap, zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Licks

Oscar x

Airegility Again

2007-06-10T15:04:00.000Z

Hello all, an eye update first. They're soooo much better after a few days of drops, not red and angry looking and much less gunky. Thanks for all your good wishes, it seems they and the eye cream did the job!

Anyhow, so yesterday morning we set off to my second agility lesson. You may remember that mum didn't come last time so she was looking forward to seeing how I got on.

I don't know any of the dogs in this class even though it is run by the same people as my obedience class. There was a Boxer, a Bull Mastiff, a couple of Springer Spaniels, a Border Collie, a Border Terrier and a couple of mixed breeds. None of the other dogs were all that friendly which was a bit of a shame as you know how I like to play with EVERYONE! Never mind.

First we did some warm up walking around and practiced sit-stays and down-stays. We had to do it for much less time and with our mum or dad nearer than at obedience, so it was pretty easy, especially as mum had taken goat's cheese to use as treats, yummy!

Next we worked on our recalls. Now normally I am really good at these, but not yesterday! I guess maybe it was because there were lots of exciting new dogs and smells (agility is in a different village hall to where I do obedience) and I kept breaking my wait, oops! Lots of the dogs were barking too, and I am a bit of a wuss when it comes to barking dogs; I tend to run to mum (blush). Also, after the first recall, it took the lady forever to get her Bull Mastiff (I think she's called Tia) back and I had to sit waiting for ages which made me all twitchy. Lorraine who runs the class knows I can do good really good waits and recalls at my obedience class so she made me do it again and again, meanie!

Then finally it was time to play! The first time we did some jumps, then tunnel then the jumps again. Mum messed it up the first time by telling me to go the wrong way, stoopid. We did it fine the next time though. Not bad for only my second class and mum's first. I am not boasting but I was already a lot better than some of the others and they were already learning when I started last week.

The second course we did was some jumps, the tyre and the dog walk. We were going to use the tunnel too, but someone had pee pee'd in it, nice! Check out my technique on the second jump, hehehe! I am still not great at the dog walk but again, not too bad to say I'd never seen one before last week. At the end they were trying to get me to practice waiting at the bottom to make sure I hit the bottom section, as your feet have to touch the bottom in agility competition, but I had already jumped off - never mind!

I can't wait for next week! Who knows what equipment we'll try out!

I've been to my show today as my eyes were looking OK. I'll let you know about that next time (keeping you in suspense hahahaha!)

Oh, and in fishy news, we have two baby guppies!!! We think the mummy guppy may have eaten a lot of them as they can do that straight after birth sometimes, but hopefully these two may now survive. They are really teeny tiny, but are already bigger today than they were yesterday. Another female guppy also looks pregnant, so dad has ordered a breeding tank. Hopefully it will arrive before the mummy fish gives birth and we can save more babies this time. It's so exciting! Here are all the fishies swimming around.

Licks
Oscar x

Icky Eyes and Mosaic Me

2007-06-08T10:13:00.001Z

Oooh, look what my friends Cubby's mum made for me! Isn't it cool?

Here's the original photo:

And here it is in cool stained glass/mosaic effect! My wonky ears look even cooler! The photo was taken on my 6th month barkday last November, haven't I grown?!

I donated some money to help Dora the Boxer get some surgery on her hip, and Cubby's mum made me this as a thank you, aw! Paws crossed Dora will get her surgery soon then find a fantastic forever home!

In other news, I have conjunctivitis AGAIN! I have large amount of the loveliest green gunk and gunge coming out of my eyes and they're really bloodshot and sore. Mum took me to the vet yesterday and Emma the vet thinks I may have some problems with my tear ducts called keratoconjunctivitis sicca (dry eye) so she gave me a Schirmer test like my pal Jackson has to have. I had to have some weird stick things placed in my lower eyelids for 1 minute. I was very well behaved and didn't wriggle or complain at all so mum was very proud and Emma was very impressed (especially after all my squealing over the poorly paw and resulting injections!). My left eye read 10 and my right eye was 15. The ideal reading is 20 - 25 so Emma said I will have to have another test in a month and if the readings are still low I will have to have daily eye drops. She said it is normally a problem for older dogs, but sometimes it's just one of those things. So anyway, I got eye cream for my sore eyes and after using it last night and this morning they already feel a whole lot better. Mum is going to bathe them in warm salty water soon to get the rest of the gunk off them, nice! I wouldn't let her take photos of me looking grim and crusty eyed!

So, I may not be entering my show on Sunday if I still look green and gungy as apparently that is not on the Airedale breed standard, hehehe! We will probably go anyway so we can see my breeders and some of my pals as my conjunctivitis isn't catching.

I will definitely be going to agility tomorrow and mum is taking the camera so you can all see how I'm getting on.

Licks

Oscar x

Fishy Fun!

2007-06-06T14:12:00.000Z

Yes, lots of you guessed correctly, we got fishies! Look! We got the tank about a month ago, and have had it all set up and running with no fishies in it for a few weeks so that the water levels were all correct. Finally it was ready for the first residents last week so dad bought some neon tetras and some zebra danios to begin with.

When you have a new tank it can take a little while for the water to settle down, so you don't want to put too many fish in to start with as you will be buying more when they all die!

This weekend we bought a few more as the others were doing OK and dad had re-tested the water and it was perfect. Next we got some guppies, and a common plec. In a few weeks we will get a few more, then that should be enough for now. It is a 60 litre tank, so we don't want to overstock it. The wood is called bogwood, and there are also some marbles in the in case any of the fish do lay any eggs. It might stop a few of them from being eaten if they nestle among the stones!

Can you see the bubbles? That is to make sure that there is lots of oxygen in the water for the fishies. Can you see what a fish expert I have become? And I thought they were only good for eating, tsk!

Do you know how hard it is to take photos of fish? Very hard! Here are the zebra danios. They swim in a shoal and are quite fast. They mostly like to be in the top section of the tank and they are the greediest. One of them is a bit of a bully at mealtimes. Can't say I blame it, that's pretty much the most important part of my day too!

This is the plec. I feel a bit sorry for him as he's pretty ugly. He's a bottom feeder which sounds a bit gross, but means that he likes to eat algae from the sides of the tank and bits of food and algae in the sand or on the log.

He's mostly to be found doing this...

...Or this! Scooting around the glass looking for slime. He likes hiding in the bogwood and sometimes he's quite hard to spot.

Here's one of the guppies to the top left. The males are very pretty colours, the females are duller. They are good breeders usually, and give birth to teeny babies rather than eggs, so we may have some mini guppies at some point!

That's another female in the centre, along with a zebra to the far right.

This is my favourite one, a pretty blue boy guppy with a female behind him. Dad keeps saying he's a randy boy, whatever that means.

Can you spot a couple of the neon tetras here? They are the smallest fish in the tank but they're very attractive with reddy-orange tails and an almost ultra-violet stripe.

Here they are again. They mostly stay in the bottom section of the tank. Can you see mum's legs in the photo, hehehe?!

So there you go! My new pets are pretty cool I think. It's very relaxing to watch them and to hear the water bubbling away. I was thinking maybe I should give up eating fish out of respect to my new buddies but then I decided it's just too tasty. Sorry little guys, but I won't eat you I promise! I know some of you have fishy friends to, so if you have any hints, tips or recommendations for other fish, then let us know!

Licks

Oscar x

More Presents...Kind Of...

2007-06-05T14:35:00.000Z

Hey everyone, sorry if you've all been wondering about the "new additions". They are my new pets! I haven't got any photos yet, but I'll give you some clues and will show you some photos next time.

There are 15 of them altogether of 4 different types
They live in a glass "home"
I like to eat their bigger relatives

Can you guess what it is yet?!

Anyhow, yesterday two BIG boxes arrived and I felt sure they must contain more barkday presents for yours truly, even though they were addressed to mum. They didn't really smell of anything exciting like a lifetime supply of treats, but I was intrigued nonetheless.

Dad unpacked the first box and it started to look horribly familiar...yes, I have seen one of these at auntie Kim's house and when I have met my Airedale buddies the last 2 months.

Yes, I feared as much. Mum and dad have only gone and bought a grooming table for me, gee thanks! Excuse dad's naked flesh, it was hot and sticky and he had been gardening. He has trousers on I promise!

Incedentally, have you noticed what else is appearing in the garden? A fence to keep me off the grass! Apparently a gate is to be added shortly, then it will be stained to match the other fencing. Little do they realise, but with my airegility training, I'm going to be able to jump that no problems very soon, hahahaha!

OK, I have to admit it's a pretty nice table, but all it means is that I'm going to be getting my hair ripped out by the roots even more frequently. OK mum, I mean my hair stripped which is totally painless and will give me a lovely wirey Airedale coat and keep me looking very smart and handsome (yawn!).

Is this a happy face? I don't think so! The other box contained this support arm so I can be "hung" (mum says the post is so I can be attached to stop me falling off the table and so that she can hoist my back end up as I have a tendency to sit down when she tries to do my rear end) - well, wouldn't you too if someone was fiddling around back there?!

I suppose it'll be OK really. At least now that we have our own table mum can groom me little and often rather than one long session when we're borrowing a table. And do you know the best thing about hand stripping? It's best done on dirty hair so you get a better grip and the hair lays flatter, so that means less baths, yay! Every cloud has a silver lining, hey?

I'm sure you'll be hearing about my grooming progress over the coming weeks. I'm going to a show on Saturday, so mum needs to do some serious work between now and then if I stand any chance!

Licks

Oscar x

Airegility & Other Stuff

2007-06-04T11:36:00.000Z

Hello all, hope you're all well. I never seem to get time to update my blog at the weekend, I guess I am just too busy having fun!

So, agility was great fun! Dad took me along with his girls as they were here this weekend (they come over every other weekend). Mum was getting her nails done. The same lady has done her nails for 3 years but she is now moving back to the US as her husband is in the USAF and his posting here is finished. Mum is going to miss her soooo much as she doesn't think she'll ever find anyone who does her nails as well as she did. I don't see the worry, nails are boring!

So anyway, dad and the girls took me to agility on Saturday. There were weaves, a collapsible tunnel, a dog walk a tyre and lots of other cool stuff. I think I did pretty good for a first timer and dad and the girls told mum they were proud of me. The only thing I was a bit worried about was the dog walk. Dad didn't take any treats to lure me (silly dad!), so Tracey who runs the class let me have some of her sausage, yum! After one tentative attempt, the next two times I went hurtling up there. Tracey said I need to work on being more "back leg aware" as I don't take much notice of what they're doing, so mum is going to teach me to walk backwards as apparently that helps. I was OK with all the other equipment, and didn't mind the collapsible tunnel once dad lifted the end up to show me I could go through, just like I can with mt regular tunnel in the garden. We don't have any photos as dad was busy helping me and I'm not sure how the photos would have come out if the girls had been in charge of the camera - probably lots of weird and wonderful shots! We'll get some photos next week.

Yesterday was a lovely sunny day so we decided to combine my walkies with a trip to the park. The girls wanted to take it in turns holding my lead. I was being really good and walking nice and slowly, but then J decided to run and she tripped over and scraped her knee! Mum thought I pulled her over at first and was about to tell me off, but dad saw that I wasn't even moving, she just tripped! To cheer her up I did this:

I stuck my head in the bushes and got these thorny stems tangled up on my head. It made her laugh so it was worth the prickles!

Once we got to the park, dad was busy playing as you can see!

E was doing a great job of scaling the climbing frame. She's like a little monkey and can scramble to the top in next to no time.

Dad played with J on the see-saw - I'm not sure which of them was having more fun, hehehe!

And poor old me had to stay tied up outside as no dogs are allowed in the park, sniff sniff.

I'm a poor abandoned puppy, boo hoo!

OK, so I was only tied for about 5 minutes. The rest of the time I was running around with either mum or dad and jumping in and out of the stream, so I'm not that hard done by really. But still, I would really have liked to try out that climbing frame!

We have some new additions to the family at home, so I'll tell you more about that next time!

Licks

Oscar x

Here Comes The Sun

2007-06-01T13:33:00.000Z

Hip hip hooray, we finally got a sunny day! When I realised it was a lovely afternoon I asked mum if we could go to Seven Fields, our local nature reserve, which is right on our doorstep.

I get to come here almost every day, but as I hadn't shown it to you for a while, I thought we'd take the camera to show you how green and lush everywhere looks (yeah, largely because of all the nasty rain!).

6 out of the 7 fields are left unmown during the spring and summer, then they are cut for hay in the early autumn. This makes sure that the soil isn't enriched and means that lots of wild flowers grow alongside the grass. Humans have to keep to the grassy pathways which are cut into the fields, but us lucky doggies can run all over!

We can also do this!

As is nearly always the case, even on a lovely sunny day after days of rain, I still had the place to myself. What is wrong with all the other doggy owners? Bring your dogs here to play, they'll love you for it! And I'll love you too, cos then I'll have some friends to enjoy the fields with.

Here's a panoramic view of video of one of the fields. Pretty isn't it? You can see I am standing on one of the paths.

There are already quite a lot of flowers in the fields, but other people have told us that there will be many more before the summer is over, especially a multitude of poppies. We will let you see more photos as the summer progresses.

Mum took some close up photos of the flowers. Well, I suppose technically they are weeds, but they're lovely all the same.

I would really have my work cut out keeping up with the gardening down here wouldn't I?

Of course, mum being mum, we had to have a photo call before we got down to the fun stuff. She said she wanted to get some nice "1 year old" photos. I have learned now that it's easier just to get in out of the way quickly so I can get to go off and play!

I am wearing one of my birthday bandannas from Putter.

This grass is a bit tickly on your nose, I think I'm going to sneeze, a-a-achooooo!

This is my serious big grown up boy face. Nah, not really. I was waiting for a liver treat, hehehe! Well, food is a serious business is it not?

As usual, I was on sticky patrol, and found a good one without too much difficulty.

I never do fetch with sticks. It's far more fun to chomp them!

See Boo, I will hold sticks in my paws because unlike treats, they're not all sticky and icky (well not until I've chewed them up anyway!).

With teeth the size of mine, it's only a matter of minutes before the average stick is just a pile of woodchips. I don't really eat any of it, I just like shredding it up. I could probably get a job at a wood yard. I could then buy all the treats I wanted with my earnings, whooo!

Sticky sticky sticky, I love you so!

Mum says she likes this photo most out of all the ones she took today. What do you guys think? Is this my good side? Can you see I'm wearing the beautiful tag I received for my barkday from Sunshade?

Hmm, well even I have to agree that this isn't the best photo! Chewing up sticks is hard work, OK?

After my sticky workout, I was ready to move on and explore more.

I had a look in the woods, but there were no squirrels today, boring. Sometimes I will sit at the base of a tree for an age hoping the tree rat will come back down again.

I also had a quick dip in the stream to cool of and have a refreshing drink. It is extremely clean water, until a big bruiser like me jumps in and stirs it all up!

Last but not least I had a game of hide and seek with mum. I thought I'd be able to hide pretty easily in the long grass.

I put my head down and began a commando style raid into the undergrowth.

I asked mum if she could still see me. She said she could. Hmmm, need to try harder then.

I thought maybe if I closed my eyes so I couldn't see her, then she wouldn't be able to see me either. Yes, I realise now that was a bit daft. Must have been the sunshine sending me silly!

Hey, what do you think now? Not bad work to say I'm quite big. I think a lot of you smaller guys would have been extremely well hidden!

I hope you all have a great weekend whatever you have planned. I finally get to start agility classes tomorrow so I'm really excited! You know I'll tell you all about it!

Licks

Oscar x

Gardening and Grooming

2007-05-31T10:08:00.000Z

Phew, I think I have finally recovered from all my barkday pawtying! That was quite a day as I'm sure you could tell from all the photos and videos on my last post. I wish I could have a barkday more than once a year!

Anyway, as you may have heard me mention, the weather here has been really showery for about a week now. It can be blue skies on minute, then the rain clouds roll in really fast and the rain is torrential. It's very frustrating, and me and mum have got soaked through a few times this week after setting of for a walk when it seemed like a perfect May day only to be caught in the middle of the fields in a deluge!

Due to all the rain and sunshine, the garden is going crazy! When we moved in, mum and dad thought this vine was dead and almost pulled it out. The next door neighbour said it did grow so they decided to leave it until spring and see what happened. Oh, it grew alright! You can practically see it growing it's so voracious. Like any good son, I thought I would help out with a little pruning so that it does not take over the garden altogether. Also, I like to be able to see though the fence as I like playing the "run up and down the fence game" with the little boy next door. I think you can guess the rules! We both love that game! I don't bark, I just love dashing back and forth with him.

I thought I'd clear all the bits that were encroaching my view through the fence. Can you see my pee pee spots on the grass, whoops!

I didn't realise sneaky mum the paparazzi photographer was sneaking up on me, grr. I was only trying to be helpful, honest! And don't worry pups, mum knows that this plant isn't a harmful one.

Well, after all that gardening I was pretty tired, so I decided to have 40 winks. Find a comfy spot and relax, ahhhh. I know it's a bit selfish to block the doorway, but when you've got to snooze, you've got to snooze, am I right or am I right?

I can't believe mum was poking the camera right in my face while I was dreaming. Thank doG it was daytime and she didn't use the flash or it would have been a rude awakening. Mum said I was making really funny noises while I was asleep, kind of whimpering sounds and twitching my front feet. That made sense when she told me as I was dreaming about catching a rabbit after reading about Simba's attempt the other day!

When I woke up all refreshed I soon wished I hadn't, as I was whisked upstairs to have a bath. Apparently the "eau de pond weed" from my birthday dip was not appealing to the hoomans. Charming.

So I was dumped unceremoniously in the bathtub. Is that any way to treat a birthday boy I ask you? At least this time the photos are more flattering that that scary swamp monster one I showed you the other day!

Look how scrawny my legs look when I'm wet! I don't love having a bath but I do behave pretty well. I will stay put while I am hosed, and I quite like the shampoo going on as we have a rubber mitt things with bobbles on that massages me while it shampoos. But the best bit is trying to get a good shake going on once we're finished before mum or dad can get me towelled off!

Luckily these were the only photos as it got pretty steamy and mum didn't want the camera to break. I wouldn't have minded!

Once out, it was time for a good old "Aire-dry". I stole a sock while I was upstairs (every cloud has a silver lining!), so that's what I have and what goes down the side of the couch. It kind of put me off my crazy drying procedure at first, but I soon got back into the swing of things!

After my busy day I was ready for some R & R, so I sat on the sofa and watched some Animal Planet channel. Mum keeps telling me that this is not how you sit on the couch, but I don't see what's wrong with it!

Licks

Oscar x

Birthday Boy

2007-05-29T13:21:00.001Z

Hello everyone! Wow, thanks so much for all the lovely birthday messages and good wishes! I'm sorry it has taken until now to tell you all about my exciting day, but I was so busy having fun and then in the evening I literally collapsed on the couch and could not be moved for love nor money (well, food actually!). I had such a fabby day - being 1 is great!

When I got up this morning there was a HUGE pile of packages and parcels on the table and mum and dad said they were all for me!!! I am such a lucky boy!

Lots of parcel ripping action quickly ensured!

Mum had sneaked a peek in the envelopes I think, as all the cards were safely removed before I got my teeth on them, hehehe!

Oh it was such good fun pulling the envelopes to bits that at times I almost forgot that there were actual goodies lurking inside!

I found wedging the parcels under the furniture worked well to stop them scooting all over the place on the stoopid wooden floor.

Anyhow, I have lots of thanks to do, so I better get on with it. The first parcel I opened was from my Faya! Well...I tried and tried to open it but it was really tricky...

It smelt so good and I wanted to get the box open. Mum eventually helped me and look what was inside! A seriously HUGE cuddly bird, some tripe treats, some cheesy treats and a beautiful photo of Faya with lots of kisses on it!

I had a good sniff. There was a lovely aroma of Faya, tripe sticks and cheese treats, hehehe!

Dad let me try one if the tripe treats. They looked really hard and dad thought it would last me for a while. Here is dad asking me to wait nicely for it.

Well, chomp chomp and it was gone, so it didn't really keep me quiet for long. It was very tasty though! Right, next...

I had a good chew on the birdy. The white fluffy hair on his head was particularly attractive, even more so than the eye balls which as you know are normally my first target!

Ah little birdy, I hope I can look after you as well as Faya looks after M le cochon (Mr Pig) that I sent her for her barkday.

Merci Faya pour mes cadeaux fantastiques! Je t'adore ma belle!

I also had a package from Boo all the way from Malaysia! He had made me a cool card with a picture of me in my Doggles on the front. There were 2 different packets of yummy treats and a cute bookmark for mum. Thank you soooo much Boo, what lovely gifts!

I also got a package from Girl Girl in Singapore. Look, I got a very cool bandanna and a Garfield card! Mum really likes Garfield so she was impressed with that. You can see me wearing my bandanna is some videos further down. Thank you Girl Girl, and I'm glad you liked your pizza and sign too!

And here's yet another parcel from Singapore! This one arrived a few weeks ago so I have been very patiently waiting to open it. It's from Boy and Baby! It's a Petstages chew/tuggy toy and I really love it!

All the different textures feel nice on my teeth to chew on. I seem to be going through another phase of needing to chew at the moment, so this will be very handy. Mum says my adult teeth are settling into place. This toy is also really strong, so great for playing tuggeeeeeeee!

Look at my teethies! You should see how HUGE the back ones are! I hope they stay nice and white.

Next up I opened the parcel from Simba! I wasn't tiring of opening stuff at all and was zooming all over the house like a crazy as I was so excited about all my new toys and treats! Mmmm, Simba, you may notice that the original blue ball isn't on the rope any more. Well I played and played with this toy yesterday and the tennis ball came apart at the seams. I was really sad as I was having so much fun with this toy, so clever dad put one of my rubbery balls on the rope instead, cool! Thank you for my pressies Simba!

Here I am opening Simba present. You can see that although I love my Kong squeaky ring and REALLY love the ball on a rope, I knew there were treats further in the envelope and was on a mission to get to them!

And here I am playing with the original ball on a rope before my big old jaw wore it out. We have a pink toy the same as this at obedience class and I always choose it for retrieve. Now I have a macho blue one all of my own!

Can you believe there are still more presents! Next was a parcel from Putter! Look at the cool card. I am trying to learn to balance a treat on my nose then toss it into my mouth like this doggy. I got a HUGE Kong squeaky ring. Cool! This will be great to take to the lake when I go swimming. There were also 2 very fancy bandannas! You all know how I love my neckerchiefs so I was very impressed! Thank you Putter!

Here I am opening Putter's parcel. I am sorry if I kind of tossed the presents out there Putter, but your padded envelope was great fun to tear up, hehehe!

Here I am modelling one of the bandannas. What do you think? I think it goes great with my black and tan! You may also spot that I am wearing a new tag. I'll tell you about that in a minute!

Nearly there! Next was a parcel from Sunshade and Jaffa! There was a pretty pop up card, a rope toy in the shape of a doggie, some truly yummy peanut butter and kelp treats and a tag.

Mum found it hard to take a photo of the tag which did it justice as it's really beautiful. On one side is a etched photo of yours truly.

And on the reverse is a message from Sunshade and Jaffa to wish me a Happy 1st Birthday! Isn't it cool?

The rope doggy is really good to chew on.

Oh little blue doggy, I will try and be gentle with you I promise, but you're just so good to gnaw!

When I checked my pee mail yesterday I had this really pretty e-card from Ruby Bleu. She even manages to look good with a silly party hat on and a whistle thingy in her mouth! Thank you Ruby!

I also got a very funny card from Billy Boo! The punchline on the inside is "But it turns out, they're not very good at knitting!" Thanks for giving us a good chuckle Billy!

Here are all my cards! I was very good and none of them have any teethie marks in them!

Last but not least, here are my presents from mum and dad. Mum thought there were cool as the all had a cowboy/sheriff there, and I am called "Sherifs Sundance Kid", cool hey?

I like the cowboy horsie best. He still has his eyes, amazingly. I think I got so many toys yesterday that I was too busy playing with lots of different things to give him my full attention, lucky for him.

I'll report in a few days to let you know whether he needs a guide dog!

Can you tell how much I really wanted to pose for this photo?! I just wanted to got on and play!

Once I had opened all my presents, played with the toys, sampled the treats and remembered to have some food, dad put me in my car harness and we set of in the car. I soon realised we were going to my favourite walkie spot, Nightingale Wood! As soon as we turned up the road that leads to the woods I started making my silly squeaky noises and peering out of the car windows!

As it had been raining on and off all day I think a lot of people had stayed home, so we had the woods pretty much to ourselves. I did meet a couple of dogs, but no-one who was really fun to play with. Ah well, I still had fun!

There were lots of good smells but I didn't spot anything exciting to chase. It was fun running through the long grass feeling it tickling my tummy!

We have not been here for a couple of months and it looked so different now all the grass, shrubs and undergrowth have grown over the Spring. It made it more exciting to run around now the woods are more dense.

As I was the birthday boy, mum and dad let me go into the really stinky pond, yes!

As you will see on the video, I got a good sticky out of the water, yummy yum yum!

Once we got home and I'd had my dinner, a birthday phone call from my brother Fergus and a bit more of a play with my toys, I flopped on the sofa for the rest of the evening as I was completely exhausted!

Being 1 was so much fun! Thank you for my gifts, cards and lovely messages. You made it a very special day for me.

Licks
Oscar x

Oscar Fact Overload (7 Things You Never Needed To Know!)

2007-05-28T00:46:00.000Z

So I got tagged by the lovely Sitka to tell you 7 previously unknown facts about me. OK, let me see...

1. I love having the inside of my ears rubbed (especially by dad) and will groan loudly with pleasure while it is being done.

2. I love my cat sister Flakes more then she loves me. She likes nothing more than swiping my nose. To me, that's not a fun game!

3. When I was little I really used to love eating gross stuff- cigarette ends, slugs and dirty tissues were particular favourites.

4. There is a gate on our stairs so I can't go upstairs. I don't care how many times people go up and down the stairs in the morning or during the day, or even at bedtime, but go up there in the evening and if I see you I'll stand at the bottom and whimper like a baby.

5. I have just learned how to howl - arooooo! I treated mum to an impromptu concert the other evening while she was watching that bit in "Moulin Rouge" where Ewan McGregor and Nicole Kidman are singing their medley. Weirdly, I don't think my sing-a-long was appreciated!

6. I am greedy, and even though lots of things disagree with my tummy, I will still try and eat almost any food. The only thing I have ever tried and didn't like was kidney. Yuck, I would barely even sniff it let alone eat it.

7. Today it's my barkday and I am 1 - yeah I guess you all knew that actually but I'm so excited!!! I'll post to tell you all about my day later on!

I'm pretty sure lots of you have been tagged, so let's wait for the next tag game as there have been some great ones the last week or two!

Licks
Oscar x

Boyz In Da 'Hood

2007-05-25T11:11:00.000Z

...Or one boy in his hoodie!

Alright? Check it out! Do I look mean and moody in my hoodie? I'm trying out my mean moody teenager look (well, I am nearly 1 now, so surely that qualifies me as a teenger in hooman terms, right?).

Do I look any meaner if I show you my teeth?

How about if I put my Doggles on? Do I look like I should be hanging out on the mean streets of Swindon with my crew?

I think to look cooler I should wear them on my head.

I am practicing my bad boy swagger so I can cruise down the street with my homies.

And my mean "Am I bovvered" stare.

Here I am eating my Scooby Snacks, hehehe.

Noooooooooooooooooooooo. Thanks mum, street cred right out of the window!

This is so not a cool look! Take my hood down mum!

Ah well, guess I better just stick to what I know best - being cute!

Have a great weekend everyone. It's my barkday weekend! I will be 1 year old on Monday and I'm soooo excited! Mum and dad even have the day off in my honour (OK, OK, so it just happens to be a Bank Holiday here in the UK, but it's still pretty cool that we can all spend the day together!).

Oh, and the winning look-a-like was Einstein. You guy! I'm so honoured (even if it was the goofiest photo EVER of Albert)!

Licks

Oscar x

Look-A-Likes!

2007-05-23T08:31:00.000Z

So I got tagged again, this time by little Ruby Bleu! There certainly are a lot of fun games going around our gang at the moment, and I love joining in.

Now I couldn't decide who my look-a-likey should be, so I thought I'd give you some options and let you guys decide!

My first option is Albert Einstein. I mean, the guy was a genius, who wouldn't want to be compared to him? Unfortunately, we both seem to be behaving like a pair of Doofus faces in these photos!

A lot of people when we're out walking tell me that I look like a teddy bear, or quite often Fozzie Bear, that cool dude from the Muppet Show. What do you guys think?

I think the likeness to this next one is uncanny. Me and Stevie Wonder - separated at birth don't you think?

And last but not least, mum says I look like Denis Healey when I need grooming and my eyebrows get out of control. He was a politician who was renowned for his caterpillar brows! I think mum's being a bit cruel with this comparison personally.

So my friends, over to you. Who do you think I look most like?

Ooh, almost forget to tag it on! Right, my fellow Airedale buddies Bogart, Stan and Jaffa - can you do any better?

Licks

Oscar x

Terrier Tagged Twice

2007-05-22T08:54:00.001Z

Hello everyone! Phew, I finally caught up on my sleep after all that fun on Sunday with my Airedale buddies! It was the best time ever (apart from the bath I got when we got home).

Anyhow, I got tagged by Faya to show my worst photos. Now because mum seems to have that bloomin' camera permanently attached to her wrist, there are often moments captured on memory card that I really wish weren't.

I think this has to be my worst moment EVER! I mean seriously, does that look like me? An Airedale? A dog?? I look like the creature from the swamp! Please don't have nightmares.

This is not a bad, bad photo, but I'd still prefer to have some control over my ears and facial hair. I know I may look happy, but I'm really not I can assure you. I was actually telling mum to get the camera out of my face when she snapped a shot.

DoG knows what I am doing in this photo. I don't really stick my tongue out all that often. Well, it's not really got hot enough in the UK yet (ever?) to start panting. I may have been trying to get a shot of the black spot on my tongue, but the angle wasn't quite right. Do you other Airedales have the black spot on your tongues? Anyhow, I think I look pretty stoopid.

What can I even say to excuse this one. The stance, the eyes, the angle that makes my face look longer than ever. It's just wrong, wrong, wrong!

Another bad photo. I was obviously having a bad day that day. What is going on with my ears?! And the devil-dog eyes? Evil flash! The only good thing about this photo is my bandanna!

And if that wasn't bad enough and I haven't scared you all off, Asta tagged me too. For her challenge, I have to show photos of me in weird/funny situations. I couldn't find any really good photos for this challenge, so I hope this selection will suffice.

This first photo was taken back in February when I saw my first snow. Remember this snowman that I came across complete with some rather large *ahem* "boy bits"? Well, he didn't have them for long once I arrived on the scene. Here I am chomping the offending articles. Well, I had to protect the eyes of younger pups and children!

Here I am celebrating St Patrick's Day back in March. If a picture of a dog who isn't Irish and can't drink celebrating St Paddy's isn't a bit strange then I don't know what is!

No, I don't know why I got on the table, but I suppose it must have seemed a good idea at the time. Check out how impressed I am to have the moment captured on camera though, hehehe. if looks could kill....

And this is just plain wrong. Mum dressed me up as Woody for my puppy class Christmas party back in December. To be fair, she did dress up as Jessie so I wasn't the only one looking stoopid, but I was still extremely embarrassed!

Well, there you go, I hope that covers my mission. Now then, who shall I tag? Hmm, I think I'm going to choose Perfect Tosca - I need to see if her perfect-ness ever slips! The choice is yours Tosca, weird or bad photos, I don't mind.

Licks

Oscar x

Airedales, Airedales Everywhere

2007-05-20T19:03:00.000Z

Yay! The weather today was excellent which was such a relief after all the rain we've had for the last 10 days or so, so off we went to meet all my Airedale buddies from our regional Airedale Club. I was a very lucky boy, because mum drove for an hour and three quarters so that I could go. Thanks mum, I love you lots! Dad stayed at home as Em & Jess were at our house (that's dad's girls).

There were about 20 - 25 Airedales there I think. We were last to arrive, oops. When we got out of the car there were Airedales as far as the eye could see, it was fantastic!

The place we went to walk was in a place called Holford in the Quantock Hills and it was really beautiful - well mum says it was, I was too busy playing with my friends to pay much attention to the scenery!

Here's Milo. If you have been reading my blog for a while you will remember we met at a show back in February, then again last month at the grooming class. He is about 2 weeks younger than me.

Splish splash! The water was crystal clear and nice and cool so we wasted no time going in for a paddle.

All of us loved the water so we had a blast frolicking around. All of us had to cross the stream twice during the walk, so the hoomans had to get their feet a bit wet. None of us were worried about that though!

Lots of the photos mum took were blurry, even with the camera on "sports" mode. Well, who wants to stand around posing when you could be playing?!

This is one of the places we had to cross the river. As you can see, some Labradors and a Border Collie came with us too. All the Border Collie wanted was for someone to throw a stick for him, and he kept dropping it at all the hoomans feet in the hope they would throw it for him!

How cool is it to see all us Airedales together? Quite a few other people were out walking or cycling through the woods and they tended to do a double take when they saw us all, hehehe!

Here are some of the others. I didn't get everyone's name as there were just too many of us. Some of the older dogs weren't too keen on us younger pups. I guess we are all a bit full on at playing for the older guys and girls. I'm sure they were just like us once upon a time.

There was lots of good smells in the woods. The hoomans had been told to be vigilant as there are sometimes sheep and deer in the woods, so sometimes we had to go on our leads when the view ahead wasn't clear. As well as the sheep and deer, some horsies must have been through, as there was lots of delicious horsie poop to snack on, yummy!

Aha, time for another refreshing dip! Sunshade would have been in her element as there were hundreds or rockies in the stream!

Here's little Willow who was at the grooming class last month. She has grown so much since then!

Another dip! Well, I had got a bit muddy so I was just having a clean off - honest mum!

Here's some video of the four musketeers! Me and Archie have our red harnesses on, Milo has a red double collar, and Rupert has a blue tag. I think we're all going to be great buddies and enjoy growing up together.

Milo had to go back on his lead every so often for "time out" as he was hump-hump-humping, naughty Milo!

We found a nice shady spot to stop and have a rest. We were all happy, but those hoomans have no stamina!

Here's Rupert. He is beautifully hand stripped. Mum says if she can ever do me that well she'll be very happy! We are off to class again next Sunday so we'll see!

Here are us Four Musketeers again. That's Archie's daddy snapping away. He is going to email mum his photos, so we may have some more good ones - or maybe just more black and tan blurs!

There was lots of butt sniffing going on! As usual, I was getting humped by them all, but I'm a nice boy and don't get too worried by it. They all still have their boy bits so there was lots of testosterone going on. Archie is having his operation soon though, poor Archie. I warned him about the dreaded lampshade.

Can you spot the token Labrador in amongst all the Airedales?

Here are some of the older guys and gals. By the halfway point of the walk they were all pretty pooped, but us young ones were still ready for more! The little babies like Willow and another little puppy called Gunner only did the first part of the walk, then went to wait for us in a cafe.

Mum really likes this photo of me and Milo. She thinks we both look full of mischief!

Rupert isn't that much younger than me, but as you can see, I am a fair bit bigger than him. I am a lot fluffier, but I am taller too. It was interesting to see all the different shapes and sizes, short and long hair, short and long tails today.

Mmm, as well as horsie poop, there was also some delicious rabbit chocolate drops to munch on!

We were all running in and out of the water at every available opportunity. All the hoomans were saying it was wonderful to see us all running free together and having such fun.

As usual I was on the lookout for a good stickie and I hit the jackpot with this one! Mum said there was no way she was carrying this one all the way back to the car though, boo.

This was Archie having a big yawn at the end of the walk! Don't you just love his curly tail?

And here I am looking pretty pooped too! I had a good old sleep in the car on the way home I can tell you. I can't wait until next Sunday when I get to see Archie, Rupert and Milo again, as well as some of the others no doubt. It's just a shame that grooming is going to get in the way of having a good old play!

Licks

Oscar x

Stoopid Sit-Stay!

2007-05-18T10:54:00.001Z

Yeah, so as some of you know, I didn't do my 5 minute sit-stay at class...it's just sooooooooooooo tough. Nanook and Liberty gave me and mum some good tips, so we will try them out over the next week and give it another go next Wednesday. Nanook recommended sitting me in a corner or with my bottom against the wall to prevent me slip sliding away, while Liberty suggested doing a "watch me" to keep me focused on mum. I did however do my "leave it" like a pro, so it wasn't all bad - and it required ignoring liver treats, cheese & toys belonging to another dog, so I think that deserves some merit!

To get my gold award I have to:

Sit - Dog to sit on command whilst a distance away from handler (halfway down the hall)

Down - Dog to go into down position whilst a distance away from handler

Walk without a lead - Dog to walk by the side of handler and be able to halt, sit and move on without being on a lead

Come to heel - Dog to return to handler's side when called and continue walking to heel

Leave it - Dog to walk past and ignore food, tit bits and toys on the floor

Sit-stay - Dog to stay in the sit position for 5 minutes whilst a distance away from handler

Down-stay - Dog to stay in a down position for 5 minutes whilst a distance away from handler

Seek - Dog to seek out and bring back an article (one of the dog's toys or article supplied by trainer)

I have done them all several times now with the exception of the stoopid sit-stay, which only two doggies have managed in the whole time we've been going, proving how tough it is I think!

I am determined to do it though!

I can sit for an age when I'm watching the squirrels jumping through the hedgerows. Maybe I should ask if they can supply a tree and a couple of tree rats for the test!

I was feeling a bit fed up after class so I tried to give mum my cute face to try and get an extra nice dinner. I think it ended up being more of a doofus expression as mum said "Hey Oscar, why the long face?" (Geddit?!). She told me to go and play while she made dinner.

But do you ever find that despite getting all your toys out, you just can't find one that you really feel like playing with? Mum says the next trick dad teaches me can be tidying everything back into my toy box, hehehe!

So mum said that as I had tried really hard at class, and as it had been a bit of a horrible week after the sad news about Fufu, I could have one of my birthday presents from her and dad early. Woo hoo! Thank you mum and dad, and hello blue doggy!

I started on his eye balls right away and after a good old chew pretty soon everything was right with the world again!

Have a good weekend everyone! Keep your paws crossed that the weather stays fine here as I'm supposed to be going on a walk with my Airedale Club and meeting up with my friend Archie on Sunday!

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Oscar x

Apple Blossom Fairy

2007-05-16T15:10:00.000Z

Look what my new friend Sir Chance-lot & his mamma made for me! I'm the Apple Blossom fairy! Luckily I am secure enough in my masculinity (despite having no boy bits anymore) not to be worried at all by being a pink flowery doggy, hehehe. I think it's fabby, especially the mini-me lying down on the branch. Thank you so much Sir Chance-lot, I really LOVE it! There are lots of clever pictures like this on his blog so why not go and check it out. He hasn't been blogging for too long, so maybe not many of you have met him yet. He's our favourite Newfy Nanook's cousin, so go and say hi!

In other news, I have obedience class tonight. I only have a couple of things to do now before I get my Gold Award. Mum is really hoping I can finish it off this week & next so that I will have it by the time I celebrate my 1st barkday 0n May 28th as she thinks this will be a big achievement. One of the things I have left to do is a 5 minute sit-stay. We are struggling a bit with this as I tend to slide into a down after 3 minutes or so (what can I say, I'm a lazy bones!). I already did my 5 minute down-stay a few weeks ago as I find that fairly easy. Has anybody got any suggestions to keep me in a sit - and super gluing me to the floor is not an option, hehehe! The other thing I have left to do is a "leave it" where I have to walk past and ignore toys and treats on the floor. Hmm, tricky but I do know this command so I should be able to do this one without too much trouble. I'll let you know how I get on.

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Oscar x

A Load Of Old Balls

2007-05-15T09:50:00.000Z

Do you live in areas with careless doggies? Do you often find buried treasures when out on your walkies? Do you determinedly carry your finds home with you even though it may be a long way and your jaw may get really tired? Well I do! Every walk leads to a potential treasure trove of fabby new balls!

Don't you think it's a lovely collection? Yes, I know some of them look a little deflated, but at least it means I can pick them up in my mouth and carry them around! I have found all these hiding in bushes whilst out on my walkies. I think most have been abandoned by children or other doggies once they have punctured, but that doesn't bother me, I still love them just the same.

This is my mean face to warn mum not to try and take my footballs away from me. I have the blue one and the mini one safe, but the poor white one is a bit out of my reach so I'm keeping my beady eye on it.

Look how happy I am when I'm playing! That's the camera case I have in my mouth, hehehe! Do you think we have enough footballs now for the Airedale Football (Soccer) team?

Action shot! I thought mum was about to try and take one of the footballs, but I have much faster reflexes than she does! I know it's a bit of a weird one, but my favourite game with the the footballs apart from actually playing football is to hold a ball firmly in my teeth and have dad kick it. I then shake my head around furiously with the ball still held in my teeth and go back for him to do it again. Mum doesn't like us playing it as she thinks it's dangerous, but dad only taps it. I don't know why it's so much fun, it just is! Dad is away at the moment working, but when he is back I will get him to play and video it! Yes, I'm a crazy pup!

Hmm, which one to play with next? Look what happened to the new turf! I kept lifting it up to see what was underneath (mud, quite boring actually) and it didn't root very well. After all the weekend rain it now looks better again (apart from where I have pee pee'd on it, oops!).

After we took these photos I had an attack of the zoomies. I was just so excited after playing with my footballs! You can see the old grass was really dry. Well, it's now almost as green as the new stuff as it's STILL raining here!

After I'd had my mad 5 minutes, we went inside so I could show you the rest of my collection. Now there have been quite a few other tennis ball sized finds, but a lot of them have either fallen to bits (been chewed!) or I have re-lost! I currently have 2 tennis balls, the white rubbery ball & this cool furry ball with a squeaker and a tuggy rope. What a find that one was! I was so happy that morning. It was right in the middle of the field. Once home it went in the washing machine and came out good as new. I hope the doggy who lost it wasn't too upset, but I mean, it wasn't really "lost", it was sat right there on the field so it's their own silly fault if they went home without it! The tennis balls are harder to find as they're usually in long grass. Quite often mum throws my ball and I come back with a different one!

I got impatient posing and had a play with one of the tennis balls. I have also found 3 baby's dummies (I think some of you might call them pacifiers?) but mum takes these away from me straight away even though they are great fun to chew on! I guess since I am now almost one I should really start to wean myself off that habit!

Then I eyed up the white ball. These are my favourite kind and I have quite a few of my own in various colours. They bounce really well & are good to chew and drop in mum or dad's lap once they are good and gooey! One day I lost one of my own balls on the field as I saw one of my friends and went to play instead of fetching it. Mum looked for it but couldn't find it as it was the evening and it was starting to get dark. The next day she was talking to Auntie Kim and said I had lost my favourite ball on the field. Auntie Kim went into the other room and came back with my ball! Paddy the Poodle had found it! Go Paddy!

Mum too a little video of me playing, but she's silly and held the camera the wrong way AGAIN!

So, please someone tell me I'm not the only naughty puppy that likes to find and collect lost balls? I'm not a kleptomaniac I promise! I would never take a ball from another doggy, these ones are all just lying in bushes and long grass seemingly unloved and unwanted. I'm just trying to give them a happy life again!

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Oscar x

Bye Bye Fufu, The Best Hamsterrier In The Universe

2007-05-14T09:49:00.000Z

What sad news to wake up to this morning to find that our dear Fufu has died at aged 2 1/2. Even though you are teeny, you are leaving a big gap in our little community Fufu. I am so happy that I got to know you & share so many of your hamsterrier adventures.

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Oscar x

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