Poor Paddy!

I went round to see my friend Paddy the Poodle yesterday afternoon. We always have fun together now that he has decided he likes me. We do lots of butt sniffing, bitey face game & general running around like the two crazy pupsters we are.

Do you see how nice Paddy's hair is? As I have mentioned before, Paddy has an older sister Daisy & an older brother Jamie. Aunty Kim clips their hair, but as Paddy's is so nice, she has decided to never clipper it & trims it instead so it has stayed soft & wavy rather than going hard & wiry like the other 2. It takes a lot of work to keep in good condition when it's long as it can get matted really quickly. Poor Paddy has to endure lots of brushing to keep him looking tip-top.

Well, as we live in rainly old England, his legs in particular were getting muddy, wet & tangled every day when we went over the fields, so look what his mean mum is making him wear now! Wahahahaha, I have to say I was quite mean & laughed at him lots as he looks pretty stoopid, & he walks really funny when he has it on. Aunty Kim will probably tell me off for posting a photo of her doing a Doofus, oops!

Does that look like a happy dog to you? Street cred right out of the window. And mine to I have to say as I have to walk down the street with him looking like that! Come on sunny weather, go away rainy days is all I can say!

I suppose it does mean he has to get bathed & brushed less but still...maybe I need to tell Aunty Kim to look at Butchy & Snicker's mum's website Snitchybug Dog Designs. Her clothes are cool!

Licks

Oscar x

Mountain-aire-ing

I know on my post yesterday I mentioned that part of my busy weekend involved doggy class. I've been going to a 4 week course on Saturday mornings which is for general socialisation & good manners. It's a lot less formal than my Wednesday class & there are no certificates or tests. It's a very small class. There's me, 2 Bedlington terriers - Lottie who's 2 & Molly who's 4 (they are sisters), a mongrel called Pip who's 8 years old & a West Highland terrier called Milo who is 3. So again, I am the baby of the class, but I was deemed a bit too big for the puppy group where there are some really teeny puplets. We do a lot of fun stuff, but the best bit is at the end when we get to play off lead! It's so much fun tearing around. Lottie is quite nervous & it's her you can hear barking away in the video. She doesn't like joining in all that much, but this week was week 3 of the 4 & she's so much braver than she was & barks a lot less (believe it or not!). Her sister Molly is the total opposite, a really confident girl & a bit of a flirt I have to tell you. She's always rubbing her head on mine. I had to tell her politely that I already had my Faya. I am sad that it's the last class next week, but they all live fairly close by, so hopefully we can swap pee-mails and go out for walkies together.



It was a gorgeous sunny afternoon yesterday when we went for walkies. Mum even went out without her big coat & wore trainers instead of wellies for the first time in months!

Mum often says I'm her little ray of sunshine & I think this photo nicely proves her point!

While we were out I found the coolest new place to play, which I'll tell you more about in a moment. I'm the king of the hill!

First though me & mum played a bit of Hide & Seek. I tried to camouflage myself behind the trees but I admit it wasn't the greatest hiding place ever, but it was partial revenge for mum & dad frequently hiding when we're out walking under the pretence that it's to help with my recall training, hmmm.

The little stream that runs through Seven Fields is my new favourite place. As we got near it I started bounding towards it, eager to check it out. I stood at the top of the steps that lead down to it & looked from afar. I wasn't super keen on actually going in it despite it being really crystal clear.

Once I ventured down the steps, Mum was trying to persuade me to take a dip, but I was pretty sure it was going to be freezing cold so I wasn't all that keen.

I tentatively stepped in to test the water...

...Yikes, that's f-f-f-freezing cold! I'm glad it's not any deeper! How Marvin can swim in what must be even colder water in Scotland I just do not know. I guess I must be a Southern Softie!

This morning though I was a lot braver. I went tearing down the steps all on my own, but I found a game that was much more fun & exciting than paddling!

Running up & down the banking was great fun, especially as the second time I did it, I headed onto the field on the other side as there were 2 West Highland terriers asking me to play. Mum had to come too as I was still on my lead, & she slipped (mum: or was pulled by a certain little monkey he should say) on the banking and got muddy hands, hehehe!

After some chasing about with the two other terriers & then some ball fetching I was absolutely pooped. Mum put my short lead on so she could practice some heel work with me on the way home. She had it easy as I was too tired to do much other than trot along beside her!

I had my dinner, plopped onto my bed & snoozed the evening away, zzzzzzzzzz.

Licks

Oscar x

The Surprise!

Sorry to have kept you all in suspense about my surprise but I've had such a busy weekend. I had my surprise which I'll tell you about in a minute, my doggy class, dad's girls here all weekend to play with, walkies, eating..the busy social whirl of a 9 month old ya know!

Anyhow, when I got up I saw the postman had left a brown parcel, so I naturally assumed this was for me & was my surprise. Postie is my new best friend as he always stops when he sees me out on my morning walkies to give me a biscuit. I'm a celeb in postie world cos I like the posties & don't bark or try to bite their ankles & because of all my letter & parcels!

However, despite trying to wrestle the parcel out of mum's hands so I could open it, she insisted it was for her not me & that it was too fragile to be near my gnashers! She had entered a competition & won! She won this book about a lady & her 3 Airedales. Mum has read to chapter 3 so far & says it's very good. It's a true story about how the lady got divorced & lost everything except her doggies, and how her 3 lovely Airedales saw her through all the bleak times & made life great again. Sounds like an Airedale to me!


Anyhow, once mum had inspected the book (yawn), I could finally go outside for my morning ablutions. And guess what? The fence was folded down so I could go on the grass! Yes, after months of being denied access I was finally able to feel the wet lawn underfoot, sniff the plant & do a bit of dog-diggedy in the flowerbeds (well, what's left of them after the ravages of puppy Oscar in the autumn & the nasty winter weather!)

But that wasn't the best thing, oh no! Look what was outside! My own mini agility course!! Now I'm sure you've heard me harking on before about how much I want to do agility & now that I am nearly old enough (you have to be 12 months old to start training with an agility club in the UK) mum & dad decided to get me a few bits so I could start to learn the ropes. Didn't see any ropes though, hmm...

How fantastic is that?! Dad made me the practice weave poles. I can use these a little now, but really need to wait a couple more months until my bones are stronger so I don't damage them. I did try it out with dad but I was pretty slow. I've seen the agility dogs on TV fly through these so I know I have a way to go! He still needs to paint them alternate bright colours so they are easier for me to see & use.

Dad also made me this adjustable jump, clever dad! The top section can be clipped on or off. It's very lightweight so that if I knock it, it will fall & I won't get hurt. Excuse the state of messy garden. As I said, we moved here in autumn & mum & dad decided just to fence of the garden & decide what to do with it in the spring. I hear next weekend is a big gardening weekend. I've already volunteered to do the digging. What a helpful boy I am!

Mum gave me some instructions about jumping the fence. As you can see, I was listening intently (mum: or avidly watching the piece of goat's cheese in my hand more like!)

I gave it a whirl & whee! It was quite easy actually! Action man Oscar! Again, I can't do too much jumping until I'm 12 months +, but I can have little practices for now, and the grass is nice & soft to land on. Dad has always had Border Collies before & as you know, they tend to be fabby at agility, but I think he was quite impressed at how quickly I picked it up & how confident I was. Never under-estimate an Airedale dad, tsk!

Dad is also going to make me a long jump & a mini see-saw type thing. Cool! He's a regular Handyman my dad. I think we might have to take the equipment to the field next door when we want to practice as the garden isn't big enough for all this!

Here are some of the videos mum took of me:

At first I was more interested in sniffing over the garden seeing as I hadn't been on it for months (well apart from a couple of times when I broke through the fence, hehehe!)

I was a bit puzzled by all this new stuff in the garden. Mum & dad thought I might be apprehensive or even bark, but I was a good, good boy.

I tried out my tunnel pretty quickly. Sorry it's sideways, mum sometimes forgets you can't hold the camera that way when filming, durr!

The tunnel is so much fun! I can go through pretty fast now. I have also stored 2 of my balls & my chewy bone in there nice & safe!

And last but not least my jump! As you see, the first jump was a bit sloppy, the next 2 not bad, then my puppy legs got a bit tired. Still not bad for a first attempt though, don't you think?

So, good surprise I think! I'll have to tell you about the rest of the exciting weekend next post.

Licks

Oscar x

Roger The Reindeer

Let me introduce you to my most favourite toy in the world. His name is Roger the Reindeer. Mum & dad named him that because I like to erm, show him some lovin' if you know what I'm saying! It makes them chuckle. Hoomans are so easily amused.

I got him after Humphrey the Horse went to the glue factory. Yeah, I liked to show him a good time too...He lost both eyes and an ear in the heat of my passion. Roger has also lost one antler now, and he lost his eyes within minutes, but he's in pretty good shape otherwise.

I have never humped any hoomans, & I don't hump doggies at all any more, so mum & dad figure it's not too serious that I hump my toys now & again.

See, don't you think Humphrey looks like he had a happy life with me?

I don't know if it's because I am still a puppy, or if I am just a toy orientated guy, but I just love playing with my toys, especially my soft toys. They are so much fun to chew, squeak, shake about & toss in the air. I have never actually destroyed any of them on purpose. For a guy with some big old teeth I am actually quite gentle and not that terrier-like with toys. The only one that mum & dad had to throw away was old Humphrey, cos his head came off after playing tuggy with Paddy Poodle a bit too violently, oops!

Here's a little film of me playing with Roger (don't worry, no need to avert your eyes as there's no humpy humpy action going on). There was no way evil mum was getting her paws on him! Do you see how I sit on the sofa? I mean like actually sit ON the top of the sofa, hehehe! Oh, & it absolutely wasn't me that left one of dad's work shoes in the middle of the floor, OK?

Mum says when I get up tomorrow there will be a big surprise waiting for me! What can it be? I can't wait to find out! I'll let you know as soon as I do.

Happy weekend to you all. May it be full of walks, trips to bark parks, good food & great times with your families.

Hey, and don't forget to add yourself to my map at the bottom of the page. It's cool to see where you all live!

Licks

Oscar x

Dead Bed

Do you notice anything missing from where it usually is in this photo? Nope, no points for guessing my "boy bits"!

As you can probably tell from this photo, I'd been having a fun old time getting most of my toys out of my toybox. Exhausting stuff all that playing I can tell you! Well, this toy box is normally out of my reach & mum & dad choose a few different toys for me out of it each day...

I'll give you another clue...

Yes siree, I am now officially a grown up boy as my crate is gone, gone gone! My toy box normally lives on top of it as dad has this crazy idea that he should rotate what toys I get to play with so I don't get bored of them. As if! It was on the floor for a few days while I had bed changeover, but now it has gone away again, sigh.

I know I told you quite a while ago that I now longer went in my crate if mum & dad were out during the day, but I've been quite attached to going in it for night time snoozies. This was fine while I was a wee pup, but as you know, I am now a big, big boy & it was getting pretty cramped in there. Especially as I liked to have the door shut. I would cry & wander around downstairs if the door was left open & bark for mum or dad to come & shut me in. Yeah, I know I'm weird.

Well, mum & dad decided it was time to get me used to sleeping without my crate as we have a few trips to visit people planned where I might not be able to take my crate, plus they're definitely going to have to buy me a bigger one if I keep on growing.

For the last week or so they have been gradually weaning me off my crate. At first they left the door closed but not locked, then started leaving it more & more ajar. Next they moved the crate out of my usual corner, & finally just put my bed where my crate used to be. And it worked! I have now had 3 nights of sleeping right through the night just on my bed with not a whimper. I have even stayed sat on it until mum came down to get me up, which she finds most amusing!

There is only one small problem...you see this stripy cushion? Well, this is the middle bit of my bed. It fits inside a brown squishy square with sides to make a nice comfy bed. or should I say did...

...The bed is dead! It had a plastic liner base with the brown squishy sides. The base was just so tempting to tear that I've been working on it for quite a while & I finally killed it! As you can see, there is now no base & I can loop the remains of the bed around my body, hehehe. Mum & dad weren't very impressed as I have already destroyed one bed. I had a donut bed as a puppy but the zipper broke & I kept taking all the innards out. Not as unimpressed as me though as they have now taken this brown section away meaning I only have the little central cushion to sleep on, humph! They said it's my own fault.

I suggested that I get to sleep on the spare sofa, but they said no to that too. Meanies. They'll be the ones with the big vet bill when I have a bad back.

Does anyone know any good Airedale-proof beds?

I couldn't stay mad at mum & dad for long though as look what I got for breakfast for being such a grown up boy? A HUGE lamb shank all for meeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Yummy! Sorry for breaking my bed mum & dad (even though it was fun!).

We do still have my crate, but dad says it's going in the attic for now. Hey, maybe that means I'll get a little sister someday, like Maggie & Sunshade's little brothers!!

Licks

Oscar x

Fun In The Fields

As the weathermen are predicting snow today (it's certainly got a lot colder today, brr), I thought we better go for big walk yesterday to make the most of the mild weekend weather.

When we got to the fields I had a look around to see if anyone was about or if anything interesting was going on.

I smelt something across the field so went to investigate. I don't know what had been there but it smelled good. I had a little diggy dig to see if I could find it.

You might want to turn the sound down on this video as the wind is LOUD! I couldn't find anything despite my best efforts. I think it may have been a rabbit Marvin!



I thought I better have a good scout around the fields to make sure there were no more critters hiding out.

I'm on your trail rabbits, you're not going to get away from me!

I did my best stalking to try & creep up on the unsuspecting bunnies.

I had to concentrate hard to stay on the trail.

Darn it, I lost them.

Ah well, another day maybe. I decided I was ready to play. Come on mum & dad, let's go & play now!

I found a glove to play with, but you know what? It wasn't nearly as much fun as it was that time in the snow when I played with mum's glove for ages, remember?

I decided to play fetch with dad instead. Can you see how quiet the fields are? There are LOADS of doggies that live in my neighbourhood, but seemingly none of them get big walks or runs on the fields too often as they always seem deserted. All the better for me I guess, though it would be nice to have some friends to romp about with sometimes.

I used to enjoy having dad throw the ball (not mum so much as she's pathetic at throwing the ball), & loved to chase it, but I wasn't so bothered about bringing it back. Well, I figure if the stoopid hoomans threw it, why should I do their dirty work & carry it back.

However, now I am a mature 9 month old, I have realised that if you bring it back you a) get treats and praise b) get to run again c) get more treats & praise. I think you can see where I'm going here.

First I had to do a bit of warm up though, bounding about like a spring lamb.

Whee, here I come.

OK, now throw the ball, throw the ball, throw the ball!!!

Yay, look what a clever boy I am bringing my ball back dad.

Better get that treat ready dad, cos I'm a comin'

I'm even getting good at dropping it right away rather than standing there chewing it.

Come on dad, again, again!

This is what I tend to do if mum throws the ball hehehe. Dad is just the best, what can I say?



Of course, we couldn't go home without me having to pose for the paparazzi! I'm kind of used to it now, so posed nicely. Here's my profile shot complete with sticky up ear!

3/4 profile of me, looking a bit wistful here. I was daydreaming about Faya.

I thought I'd give mum a cheesy grin.

Argh, a sudden gust of wind meant I was not looking my best! Ah well, I kept smiling through like a true pro.

It was a really fun afternoon. Sorry for the photo overload!

Licks

Oscar x

Top Of The Morning To You!

I'm sure no Irish people really say that, hehehe.

Happy St Patrick's Day to you all!

I hope you & your hoomans have fun & that there are no sore heads in the morning!

I am trying to partake in a pint of the black stuff even though I m underage, but this one is a bit frozen or something (mum: erm Oscar it's a money box!)

For those of you that have asked, I'm afraid there is no news on Sammy & Suzy. The trail seems to have gone totally cold. Grandma & grandad are still looking, advertising & keeping in contact with several shelters, but they just can't seem to get anywhere. I will try & get grandma & grandad to email us a photo of Sammy & Suy so you can see how gorgeous they are. Please keep praying for their safe return.

Licks
Oscar x