Aug 31
2009

Me and Whitevanwoman are at the Madhouse at the moment. We’ve been here for 2 days now.

madhouse

It’s been brill – I’ve taken Ryan out a couple of times to play footie and fetch the tennis ball. He is like me; he doesn’t mind getting wet and dirty if he is having a good time :-)

Whitevanwoman has taken me out along the Brook behind the Madhouse and was telling me that it was where she used to go with Lanky when they lived round here (a long time ago now, Ryan was only a young pup when Whitevanwoman and Lanky first knew them). She says it makes her feel a bit old now, and that every time she comes back to visit the Madhouse kennel, something else has changed round town.

But Ryan and my mates in the Madhouse haven’t changed :-) I spent a nice half an hour or so rolling round on the floor with Ryan earlier – I really do think we are two of a kind – both of us always hungry, always on the go, always getting dirty, and sometimes getting into trouble but not really meaning to be bad ;-) When you have a character like mine or Ryan’s, you just can’t help getting into trouble sometimes.

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I think Whitevanwoman definitely likes visiting the Madhouse kennel because she gets fed a lovely roast dinner on her visits. I definitely like visiting the Madhouse kennel too, cos I get all the leftovers :-) Me and Whitevanwoman don’t have roast dinners in our kennel :-(

We’re heading back home this evening to see Miss Tibby Tabby – she will probably have missed us and be a bit fed up with having been home alone all weekend so I guess I will have to put up with her climbing all over me when I’m in my bed, and sitting on my head and purring away in my ear, licking my nose and eyes.



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Aug 29
2009

 

Whitevanwoman has just told me that we are going to the Madhouse for the weekend – hooray! We haven’t seen Mary Moo or my mate Ryan Riot for ages and ages and ages and I’m so looking forward to seeing them again. I heard Whitevanwoman talking to Ryan on the phone last night and she asked him if he would take me out onto the footie field to play footie with me to tire me out and he said yes! I can’t wait :-)

I keep nudging Whitevanwoman to encourage her to get going and pack our bags – I have my own travel bag with all my stuff in it and last night I saw her measure out 3 meals of food so I think that means we are going for 3 days – hooray!!! I’m glad we are going away as Whitevanwoman is a bit sad at the moment as it is a year since the Bank Holiday weekend when Old Lanky had his stroke and was never the same afterwards. It was a difficult time for Whitevanwoman as she thought Lanky was going to go to dog heaven when he had his stroke but he did get better and was with us for a few more months although he never really managed to walk in a straight line afterwards and was always a bit unsteady on his legs and not quite right in the head for those last few months last autumn. I know Whitevanwoman will always miss him and there will always be times that remind her of him but I think it is especially hard this first year since he went and I do my best to cheer her up and remind her that I’m still here and will be here for her for a long time to come yet (although she has threatened to send me to Battersea on the odd occasion when I haven’t been my normal angelic self and have disgraced myself).

So I’d better go and start pestering Whitevanwoman to get her jobs done and pack our bags – I know what she is like for sitting around time wasting and the more time she wastes, the less footie time I’ll have with Ryan. I know that if I make enough of a nuisance of myself, eventually she will get fed up and will “spring” (well, maybe not spring, more like “shuffle”) into action. Watch this space for news from the Madhouse :-)



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Aug 20
2009

 

I’ve done it again! I just couldn’t help myself. I’m definitely feeling a bit sorry for myself because Whitevanwoman is cross with me.

Whitevanwoman had been upstairs for ages, leaving me downstairs in the kitchen and because it was windy and rainy, the back door was shut so I couldn’t go out into the yard to check for intruders, or wait for Emma (who lives next door) to come home from work and come outside and say hello. So I got a bit bored after a while, and went lookabout for things to amuse myself. My rubber tongue toy was outside in the yard so I checked the work top for anything interesting and found the compost bucket. A-ha! I thought, there’s food in there.

And there was! There was 2 slices of mouldy bread, 2 half rotten pears and 2 eggshells. The compost bucket sort of fell on the floor whilst I was checking it out and my instincts kicked in and I gulped down the bread, the eggshells and one of the pears as quick as I could. I left the other pear as it didn’t actually taste that good and I thought I’d better leave something for Whitevanwoman.

As soon as I’d done it I knew I shouldn’t have and felt so guilty that I crept upstairs quietly to look for Whitevanwoman to say sorry. I found her in the bath and put on my Poor Dog look, but she didn’t notice and told me to go away. So I stayed out of the way and then after her bath, when she went downstairs, I went straight to my bed and looked at the wall, hoping that Whitevanwoman wouldn’t notice the compost bucket on the kitchen floor.

Unluckily for me she did notice (she doesn’t miss a trick) and there was that familiar sharp intake of breath as she realised what I’d done, before she exploded.

“You horrible dog! Grumble, grumble!”

Then I got sent outside in the wind and rain and darkness (and I haven’t even got a kennel any more to shelter in – see blog post the end of the kennel). I decided that the sensible option was to stay outside for a while, until she decides that she is not cross anymore and I can come inside.

And the worst of it is, I still haven’t had my dinner tonight although I don’t feel too hungry…

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Aug 16
2009

 

Yesterday I went out with Dave, and girlfriends Pippa and Mil, but not Whitevanwoman. She had to stay home alone in her kennel as she hasn’t been very well. Dave had offered to take me out for a walk as we haven’t been out much for a while and I was bouncing with energy. Whitevanwoman agreed that it was ok for me to go, but she gave me strict instructions about having to be on my best behaviour and having to do everything that Dave said. I also overheard her telling Dave to be strict with me and I knew that I would have to behave otherwise he wouldn’t take me out again.

 

We went out up Longlands Fell, round the back of Skiddaw (I’ve never been round there before) but I didn’t have much interest in where we were, I was just so pleased to be out with my friends, even though it was wild and wet and windy. My thick coat protected me from the worst of the cold and wet, although I think Dave was a bit surprised by how thick my coat is and how much of it I am losing at the moment. I know Whitevanwoman gets fed up with the amount of hair I leave lying round the kennel, and she does try and brush it out of me but I’m a bit of a fidget when I’m being brushed and the initial enthusiasm of having a bit of attention and fuss does wear off after 5 minutes of having to stand still in one place.

 

Anyway here’s a pic of me with girlfriends Pippa and Mil earlier today (that’s me at the back)…

Rigg Pippa and Mil at Longlands Fell

 

After our walk, Dave took me back to Whitevanwoman in our kennel and told her that I had been very good and well-behaved so I think she was pleased with me. Me and Mil had a pleasant half an hour playing tug of war with my rubber tongue toy in the kitchen, whilst Pippa just ran round and round us in circles (Pippa should have really been a working sheepdog as she likes running round and round things in circles to make sure that nothing escapes). Mil was trying to pull my rubber tongue toy off me ever so hard but my Staffy genes won’t allow me to let go and so I just held on to it to keep her from stealing it. She is quite quick though, and she is very persistant at trying to get it off me, and sometimes I pretended to be a wild savage dog by giving her some warning growls (although Whitevanwoman spoiled the effect by pointing out that I wasn’t actually being wild and savage, because I didn’t have my hackles up and my tail was wagging).

 

After Dave and the girls had gone, Whitevanwoman gave me my tea which I was ready for and wolfed down quicker than usual and then I decided to have an early night and put myself to bed…

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