Fun In The Sun

We are still having unseasonably glorious weather here in the UK. Well, at least in my little corner of it. How is it where you are Simba, Loui & Marvin? People say that hawthorn bushes flowering & swifts returning from their winter holidays usually signal the start of summer here in mid May, but both these things have already happened here. Is this global warming that the hoomans talk of, or just a good year? Who knows really.

So anyhow, off we set to Seven Fields, my local nature reserve and playground. There is a big stick on the way there that has been catching my attention for the last few days.

I tried to suss out how heavy it was & if there was a realistic chance of me managing to drag it home with me on the return journey.

I decided that it was probably not feasible. Mum sometimes carries small stickies home if I get tired on the way home (or more likely find something more interesting to sniff or pick up), but something told me she just wasn't going to be up for heaving this beast home. No problem, I just decided to lie down & have a good old chew instead.

I have to admit that a few passers by did give me some funny looks, dogs included. I thought they would have understood the gloriousness of sticky chewing, but apparently not. Ah well, all the more for me.




Going in for a big old chomp. Ah, happiness is a stick to chew. Did I tell you that I finally ate all the stick that I had hidden in the bushes? It was a sad, sad day when that was all gone. I still haven't found a suitable replacement.

Mum says it's rude to open your mouth when you're eating, I say "aaaaaaaaaaaaah".

When I had sufficiently chewed, we carried on to the fields. In the woods we saw these pretty bluebells. Again, these don't normally appear until May.

We also say some white bluebells, umm, whitebells? Mum didn't know there were white ones. All the rest were the usual colour, so maybe these ones were freaky mutant bluebells?

One on the fields I found a stick that was a bit easier to handle. I'm running around a really marshy natural pond. I like playing in the long grass commando solider stylee. The other day I missed my footing & my head got dunked in the mud. One whole side of my face was totally caked in mud, but thank doG mum didn't have the camera that day as it was really embarrassing. Not the being muddy so much, more the falling over part, doh!



I am giving a "don't mess with me & my sticky" look to any approaching doggies. To say I am such a big softy, I can pull out the mean look when needed. In truth, if they actually came up to me I would give them my stick no questions asked. That's how much of a nice guy I really am!

Here I am practicing my commando stalking through the long grass. Can you see me mum? Oh, you can? Hmm, must work on my crawl, then it'll be much harder to spot me!

I'm on the trail of the rabbits that live here. I have never seen one, but I can smell them & I have seen lots of the tasty chocolate drops they leave lying around.

It's so great to have all this space to bound about in. As I have said before, to say what a great place these fields are, there really aren't ever many hoomans or doggies around. I don't know if the other doggies round here just don't get good walkies like I do, or whether they have all found somewhere even more fantastic to go!

Here I am trying to hunt the silly pigeons. No matter how much I tuck my tail down & try to creep up on them, they always hear me coming & fly off at the last moment. Still, the fun is in the chase, right?

I had to go back on my lead briefly as there was a big doggy that we didn't know in the next field & as we know from bad experience, not all doggies want to be friends (I got nipped on my side by a dog here late last year).

I found a MASSIVE sticky store! This lot will last me the rest of the year!

After lots of running around I had a bit of time out to do some sunbathing in the nice cool grass.

I dug a big hole...no, not really. Somebody did though! I wonder what they were trying to get to? That must have been one determined doggie!

We played lots of fetch. I am getting pretty good at it now & will bring the ball back more than 3 times before I get bored. Dad was laughing at me the other day as sometimes when the ball is thrown I act like I don't know where it went & go off to sniff something, but as we walk off I always go to grab my ball from where I know it was all along, hehehe!

This is the state I was in after all that fun in the sun! Absolutely exhausted. As mum always says "A tired puppy is a happy puppy". Ain't that the truth!

Licks

Oscar x

New Dishy & A Big Fat Fishy

Thank you to all of you who made my mum feel really guilty about the inferior quality of my dinner bowls. I now have a sparkly new one which is never going to move anywhere as it's HUGE and VERY heavy. Yay! The double bonus is that hopefully lots more food fits into it.

It only took reading your comments & some pleading looks from me & she hot-footed it to the shops.


I definitely have the woeful look down to a fine art now don't you think? Flop around a bit, look sad, use the eyes to silently plead (even though you can hardly see mine due to the huge furry caterpillars that have taken up residence). Works like a charm every time!

For my breakfast yesterday mum gave up on the idea of the bowl altogether. I was a bit worried that she thought I had turned into a dolphin when she started throwing fishies at me though! Only joking, I am a good boy & like my oily fish full of Omega oils to make me super smart. Uh-oh, I guess that means I have no excuses for doing badly at obedience class tomorrow...

Turn the volume down if you are grossed out by meaty grinding noises!



While mum was out buying my bowl, she also got me some veggies. I have about 100g of blitzed up veggies with one of my meals each day. Mum whizzes a big batch up which she freezes in individual portions.

Today on the menu we have spring greens, seeing as we are in that lovely season at the moment

Courgettes. Do some of you call these by a different name?

Baby spinach so I'm strong like Popeye

Parsley for sweet breath!

Carrots so I can see in the dark

Here it is all blitzed up. This was half the batch. Mum did the other half separately then mixed it all up. I didn't like the noise of the blitzer at first, but I soon realised that scary whizzer noise meant food for me, so now I don't care at all.

I also get fruits blitzed up some days, and I have a banana in my Kong once a week. Yummy!

This is what I have for one meal a day. It's minced up fresh raw meat with some bone content still present. There are lots of different options: beef, rabbit, fish, lamb, chicken, chicken & liver, & delicious stinky tripe! I have about 200g of this, about half this pack along with my veggies & my yogurt.

Mum adds 1 teaspoon of each of my magic powders to my food Monday - Friday. These contain lots of vitamins & minerals. I also get cod liver oil in my food. One day a week I get my eggy as you saw yesterday.

For my other meal I get a raw meaty bone such as turkey neck, oxtail, lamb shank, whole fishy, lamb shank or beef rib. Once a week or so I get offal such as liver or heart.

I was forever sick when I was on kibble with bad tummy problems & this BARF diet seems to be working well for me. I know it isn't for everyone though so I would never suggest anyone follows it unless your mum & dad have done lots of reading & research/talking to people & decide it's best for YOU!

And here is my lovely new bowl! See how HUGE it is!! And it says DOG, so no danger of Fat Flakes eating from it (even though hers says CAT & I eat from it, but let's not go there).

Mum managed to press record this time so you can see how nicely I do my wait...yeah, I know I'm kind of leering at the bowl but it was the first time I saw my new bowl & I was getting my meal later than normal as mum had been out shopping to get it, then messing about whizzing veggies!



No more posts about food for a while now I promise!

Licks
Oscar x

Weekend Fun

Hello everypup, hope you all had a nice weekend. Mine was pretty good fun - bright sunshine, lots of walkies, good food & playing with friends. What was not so good though was that grandad left to go back to Spain. I had such a fun week with him & I'm going to miss him so much. We just played, played & played some more while he was here. Hope to see you soon grandad, give grandma kisses from me & tell her how much all my friends are praying for good news about Sammi & Suzy.

Here was my din dins yesterday. I got tuna mixed with my magic powders (kelp mix & garlic plus powder), yogurt & a raw eggy.

Mum thought she started recording while I was sitting nicely doing my wait, but she hadn't pressed the button on the camera, so you didn't get to see how nicely I sit until I'm told to eat. I will show you another time, it's not like it's a hardship having to eat more yummy food is it? Who thinks I need a nice new bowl that doesn't slide all over the place when I'm trying to eat?

Fat Flakes did some sunbathing. Either that or she was going back to her primal roots & pretending to be a tiger in the jungle. Either was, she was as mean as ever & didn't let me polish of her biscuits as well as my own dinner.

I was pretty bored after grandad left, so I did my best pleading face to be allowed to go over to play with my friends Paddy, Daisy & Jamie. Lucky for me it worked! I know just how to pull on mum's heartstrings. Can you see how fuzzy I am getting. Nearly everyone we meet on walkies keeps saying I look like a teddy bear, which is not doing much for my macho image I can tell you. Yeah, well I don't actually have a macho image, but even so...roll on the grooming class next weekend I say. Dad keeps saying I have eyebrows bigger than ex-politician Dennis Healy!

We got straight down to some serious romping. Auntie Kim worries about Paddy playing like this no matter how many times mum & dad tell her that we are just being puppies. Can you see any nastiness in this video? Nope, we are just having a blast, but Auntie Kim gets all worried that we are fighting, silly lady! Can you see Daisy sitting behind her on the sun lounger at the end of the video? Think she's hoping for a bit of food!

All that playing leaves a guy thirsty. Look at the mess we made having a drink! I think I am largely to blame as my beard holds an inordinate amount of water. I especially like going to plonk my head down on mum's lap when I've had a drink, hehehe!

Ah, nothing like a nice bowl of chilled water to get you ready for another round of bitey face game.

Daisy & Jamie don't have much time for us silly puppies. They preferred to hang around the bar & see if anyone dropped any food.

Paddy wanted to show you all his tongue! He's as much of a show off as I am.

We kept calling Jamie "pea head" as his fur is long & bushy at the moment so he looks all out of proportion. Weirdly, he wasn't too impressed with us. Old guys, tsk, no sense of humour.

Our good weather is set to end today. I don't think we'll be having freezing weather like some of you guys are having, but it's still a shame as it has been glorious here for days. Paws crossed it picks up again soon.

Licks

Oscar x

Sammi & Suzy

No, sadly they still haven't been found, but I know a lot of you have been keeping your paws crossed & sending positive vibes, so I thought you might like to see some photos of them.

Grandad is staying with us this week as he has come back to pick up the rest of his & grandma's belongings & their car which we have been looking after, then he is going to drive all the way to Spain. I was so pleased to see him when he, mum & dad got back from the airport, but when he said there was no news on Sammi & Suzy I was so sad. I have been trying hard to keep grandad amused while mum & dad are at work. We have played lots of tuggie, had cuddles, been on some cool walks & I even went jogging with grandad which was REALLY good fun. Mum & dad, I hope you're listening because I want all this to continue once grandad leaves on Sunday!

I told grandad that you all knew about Sammi & Suzy & that you were all keeping your paws crossed & praying for good news & he was amazed that you all cared. I think after the Spanish police & the nasty company that lost them in the first place were so unhelpful, they felt maybe that people didn't understand the loss they were feeling. He has told grandma about my blog so she is checking in & I'm sure she'll be amazed by all the good vibes being sent their way by you all.

Did you know the stoopid company hadn't even registered Sammi & Suzy's microchips on the Spanish database like they were supposed to, so even if a shelter had got them, they would not show up on any records. Grandad is so, so mad. He has written to the local newspaper in Spain & also a national paper here in the UK to tell the story & try to stop other people using this company & going through the heartache that they are going through. The company hasn't so much as sent a letter of apology to grandma & grandad. Poor grandad has been getting up in the night while he's been with us as he is still sleeping badly due to worrying about Sammi & Suzy & having a zillion things going through his mind.

Anyway, enough of me rambling. Here are photos of the beautiful twosome. Here's Sammi. Isn't he just the most handsome little guy?

And this is sweetie pie Suzy. How beautiful is she?

And this is my sad, sad face. Please come home soon you two.

Licks

Oscar x

Spring Cleaning

Why oh why didn't I realise that mum was up to something when she told me I could tear up what was left of my old donut bed yesterday morning. I mean, when I originally started on it, she was all to quick to take it away from me & tick me off, so I should have been suspicious that she was now happy for me to rip the insides out. Stoopid, stoopid Oscar.

But no, my young, naive puppy mind was tricked & I busied myself with tearing it up & having a most enjoyable time with little thought to why mum was trying to distract me.



And look what she did while I wasn't watching! She stole my new bed away & put it in the funny washing robot thing in the kitchen that I like to help mum feed socks to (or more likely rescue socks from, hehehe). My bed had just got to optimum stinkiness & dirtiness after much work & effort from me, so I was not best pleased with mum as you can imagine. I don't want my bed to smell all icky - flowery & clean & girly, I want it to smell of me, all rugged & manly, grrr.

And that's not the worst part, oooooooooh nooooooooo. She also fed all of my toys in there. Again, I had worked hard to ensure they had the optimum amount of drool & gunk on them. Does mum not appreciate my efforts or something. Look at poor Mr Cow's worried face as he dangles there on the line. I tried to reach them to save them from their hanging but they were too far out of reach.

Dino-egg, Do-you-think-he-saurus, Mr Cow, Roger the Reindeer, Alien Ladybird-man., all clean, clean, clean. Even my bandanna with Faya's lovely smell on it got washed, noooooooooooooooo! Why is mum so evil!

Well mum, I gotta tell you, my bed & toys may be clean, but I refuse to join in. I found the stinkiest, muddiest pond I could & waded right on in. Ah, mud, mud, glorious mud! How do you like that mum? Pardon? I can't hear you? What, me in the bath? Argh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Eek, got to run!

Licks

Oscar x

My Drawing

Wowie, look what mum got! It's a caricature of yours truly! A very clever lady sketched it for us & it's all personalised to do with me, me me!

It's not very easy to see it on a photograph, but there's so much detail on it. On the left is the garden & there's some mean looking squirrels around the tree. There's a sign out the that I'm supposed to have erected saying "Squirrels Out".

The list on the wall beside me is my "To Do" list. Sock collecting & washing up sponge eating are ticked off as done, but get squirrels is still to do.

The teddy bears are all eye-less, as are all my toys in real life as I always have to take their eyes of straight away. One of them says "I've been Oscar'ed" on his tummy!

There's a HUGE jar of peanut butter & my Kong on the floor, as well as my favourite Kong on a rope (I'm a BIG Kong fan!).

On the floor there are also lots of stickies & socks, another two of my favourite things.

On top of the counter there are buns & a cup of tea, as I like drinking a cup of tea on a Saturday morning. It says "Oscar's Surf Spot" along the counter as I do tend to counter surf a teensy bit (OK a lot).

The only bit I'm not sure I agree with are the bite marks on the furniture! I never chewed any furniture, even as a wee puppy. The muddy paw prints are pretty spot on though, hehehe!

Here's a close up of handsome me. My sash says "Squirrel Watch".

Isn't it a lovely sketch? Mum was so pleased with it. She has now framed it & put it on the wall with my photos & certificates. I'll have to get her to take a photo of the whole collection.

Licks

Oscar x

Water Baby

As it was another beautiful spring day, & given my new found love of all things watery, mum & dad took me here for my walkies.

Keynes Country Park is part of the Cotswold Water Park. It has been created from the pits left from sand & gravel excavation. There are over 140 "lakes". Some are nature reserves, some are for water sports, some have luxury homes & holiday homes around them & some are for lucky dogs like me to go walking around & swimming in!

At Keynes Country Park there is a beach where the hoomans can go swimming. This is the only area us doggies aren't allowed. fair enough I say, we have the lions share after all!

The trees still look quite wintry, but there are lots of buds, shoots & baby leaves appearing.

Peekaboo! I found these funny wooden animals to befriend, but they didn't do a lot. If the squirrels in my garden would stay this still it would be happy days for Oscar!

Mr Owl looks a bit mean. Maybe he was worried I was going to do pee-pees up against him. He obviously doesn't know that I still squat like a girlie!

Close up of Mr Squirrel. He looks like he's going to do some boxing. He obviously heard I'm not the tree rat's biggest fan.

Once we had tired of talking to the wooden animals it was time to head off round the lakes. At the first opportunity I ran down to the water. It was pretty cold, but quite refreshing on the tootsies at the same time. It doesn't look it on this photo, but the water is crystal clear.

There were lots of bits of stick & rockies under the water so I enjoyed bobbing for them. There were also some duckies to spy on through the reeds.

Dad threw me some stickies to try and get me to venture further in. This photo better shows how lovely the water is.

It was fun running up & down the banking. I liked peering over the edge at mum & dad down below. I'm practicing my best "Airedale - King of the Terriers" pose. What do you think?

Mummy doesn't think there is much puppy-ness left in me when she looks at photos like this. I am getting very grown up looking. I still don't think I have quite grown into my paws though, so I guess I may still get a bit bigger. This photo also made mum think that maybe it's getting near to grooming time again. I heard her mention we might be going to stripping class later in the month. I thought that sounded a bit x-rated for a young pup like me, but apparently it's to groom me rather than using clippers so I keep my nice colour coat which can go quite grey/pale tan with lots of clipping. Plus, the stripping will keep my coat good & wiry.

Look! We met another Airedale after the excitement of my play date at the weekend! His name was Jack & he was 7. He had rheumatism in his back legs but he still came for a swim & a romp about. The black dog was his brother. Jack was a rescue dog. His owner was quite a frail looking elderly lady. She was asking mum is I was very willful (I think she meant was I a typical Airedale!) as Jack was a bit of a naughty boy. As mum & dad were telling her I was quite a good boy, I did a perfect recall & sat at mum's feet. Jack on the other hand ran further down the path every time his name was called. Naughty boy. Eventually dad went to get him for the poor lady. He was a cool guy, hopefully we'll see him again.

By now there was no stopping me & every time there was a gap where I could go in the water I was straight in there! It was so lovely & clear - well until my splashing about swirled it all up anyway!

I can't believe I never realised until recently how much fun water is! I missed out on months of fun splashing about & enjoying it. What a silly boy I am!

Dad was trying the Sunshade rockie tactic to lure me further in, but it wasn't really working! As all the lakes here are formed from old gravel pits, they get deep pretty quickly, and I wasn't too sure about having all 4 paws off the bottom. Have any of you swimmer doggies got any tips for me? I think I would like swimming a lot but I'm just not quite sure how to get started!



As we got back round to where we started we saw this great big structure. It's for humans to practice climbing on & looks pretty cool I have to say. You have to go on with an instructor wearing all the proper equipment. Those black tubes at the bottom are to stop people climbing on it unsupervised.

When we got back to the car park I had to have my lead put back on in case there were cars around. I didn't mind too much as I'd had 2 hours running & splashing, plus dad gave me treats. Also, just after mum took this photo a lady came dashing over squealing "Ooh, Airedale puppy!". See mum, I DO still look like a puppy! She told is she had an 11 year old Airedale called Alice at home who was a bit too frail to enjoy walks places like this any more. She made a huge fuss of me, and left muttering about wanting an Airedale puppy! Sunshade, Maggie - want me to give her your addresses?

I hope this Spring weather continues so I can come back here soon & try to do some proper swimming!

Licks

Oscar x