Rigg the Pig

Kim has been staying in our kennel for the past few days and it is so nice to have her here as I have been getting loads of fuss and attention and we’ve had some more adventures.

After her experience with the sheep, Kim didn’t want to go for any more walks where there are sheep so Whitevanwoman told her about some walks she could do near our kennel where there are no sheep. I’ve been going with Kim on her walks, just to make sure she doesn’t get lost again and we have had some lovely times together, playing fetch with the tennis ball, and wandering round the village and some of my other haunts.

 I have taken Kim on one of my favourite walks, down to my special swimming pool area in the river (I’m sure I’ve blogged about this before in Volume 1 of my memoirs). To get to my special swimming pool area, you have to climb down the side of the bridge over the river and then go through a tunnel, scrambling over rocks, and then on the other side of the tunnel you come out by the river, right next to a lovely little rock pool on the side of the river. The river current is very strong round there and there are big waterfalls underneath the bridge, so I’m not allowed to play in the river there in case my tennis ball goes over the waterfalls and I go over the waterfall too, chasing after the tennis ball.

to get to my special swimming area, you have to come through the tunnel on the left the waterfalls which I'm not allowed to go near

Yesterday we had a really busy day, as me and Kim and Whitevanwoman went to the market to sell some junk out of Whitevanwoman’s kennel. We had to get up really really early (I don’t mind getting up early but I think Whitevanwoman and Kim didn’t find it easy to get up so early) and then went out in the white van which was so full of junk in boxes, that I had to squeeze through it to get to my bed in the white van, and couldn’t see out of the windows as my bed was almost buried underneath it all.

It was great fun being at the market – Kim and Whitevanwoman took me round all the stalls a few times and I kept my nose close to the ground, especially when we got near the burger vans in case there were any leftovers on the ground, but I didn’t find much. I was allowed to stay near Kim and Whitevanwoman’s stall all day, although I had to stay on my lead and wasn’t allowed to go and say hello to the people on the other stalls. But loads of people came over and said hello to me and I got loads of fuss and attention and cuddles so I didn’t mind being on the lead. And Whitevanwoman got me a bone to chew on – actually, I took her to the pet stall and sniffed out a good bone which I liked the smell of and decided I wanted it so I got Whitevanwoman to cough up a few pennies for it. After she’d paid for it, I carried it in my mouth all the way round the market back to Whitevanwoman and Kim’s stall before settling down for a good chew.

Whitevanwoman and Kim were very smiley when they left the market at the end of the day because they had made lots of pennies so we had a treat afterwards with a KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken) - I got the leftovers

We were all very tired when we got back to Whitevanwoman’s kennel but after a good night’s sleep I was ready to go again this morning so I took Kim and Dan (who had come to take Kim home) for a long walk back across the river, through the field with the nasty sheep in it (Kim wasn’t scared this time as she had Dan with her) and then along the country lane along the other side of the valley. We went up the fell to a wood where Kim rang Whitevanwoman, and Whitevanwoman took some photos of us from her kennel.

waving at Whitevanwoman who was taking photos from her kennel

showing Kim and Dan the way to the river

Then I took Kim and Dan back down to my special swimming place in the river as Kim wanted to show Dan and so I showed Dan how good I am at fetching tennisballs in the water. Dan is a dog person, he used to have a Spaniel (they are usually even more enthusiastic about fetching things and more bouncy than even I am) so he knows what dogs like (walks, fetching, swimming, food). I definitely approve of Kim’s friend Dan

I don’t want Kim to go back to the Madhouse today, I want her to live in our kennel for ever, as it is lots of fun having her here. Me and her have a special game that we play – playing tug of war with my tongue. But she has to go back because she starts University tomorrow (which is a bit like when I used to go to dog club and had to work hard in my dog training classes). I hope she will come back and visit our kennel soon, but me and Whitevanwoman will go and visit the Madhouse again soon so even if Kim doesn’t come to stay in our kennel again for a while, at least I know I will be seeing her again soon, and I will make sure that I take my tongue toy with me so that me and Kim can play Tug the Tongue again (that’s now one of my favourite games).

Today me and Kim went for a walk and had an adventure

I took her down to the river where I jumped in and showed her how deep the water was (not really, I just wanted to get really mucky). We then walked over the bridge, and I could see lots of white blobs in the field. We got closer and I realised that they were sheep.  Whitevanwoman always tells me not to look or go near sheep, so I stayed away from them. Kim tightened my lead a little so I stayed really close to her, then she started to run! I thought we were having a race so I ran real fast to show her I was a fast runner.

But we carried on running for a long time, across a really big field with lots of hills and then over a gate which I jumped across (and Kim took an awfully long time to get over because she isn’t as good at jumping as I am!) After Kim finally got over the gate we played with the tennis ball for a while, and it went really far because Whitevanwomen had given Kim the tennis ball throwing stick, so I was really tired. I walked with Kim for a while, she was on the phone to Marymoo telling her we had just been chased by a sheep. Oh dear!  I thought we were racing – I’ll show those stupid sheep next time!

A really nice boy called Greg walked us back across the field with the sheep in. He wasn’t scared like Kim (and me, but I shouldn’t tell anyone that because I have a reputation to keep up!). We finally got back to Whitevanwoman’s kennel safe and sound and I played tug of war with Kim for the rest of the night.

(PS. I really like having Kim staying in our kennel – she has helped me write this blog post and I really like playing tug of war with my toy tongue with her).

Kim is staying with us in our kennel this week, she has just got here this evening and me and Whitevanwoman are really pleased to have her here. I have showed her round the place and showed her my favourite toys (tennisball, tongue and squirrel) and was trying to persuade her to play “throw and fetch” but Whitevanwoman told Kim that I’m not allowed to play that game in the house because things get broken. I also showed Kim how I can find a tennisball when it is hidden under a cushion and how I speak when it has rolled under the settee and I can’t reach it and I need her to get it for me. I also showed her how I throw my squirrel toy on the floor so that the biscuits inside it fall out and I then hoover the floor with my tongue to get the biscuits, pick up the squirrel and then throw it on the floor again. I think she is well impressed.

We don’t have people staying in our kennel very often because Whitevanwoman says it is more like a building site than a home but she knows that Kim doesn’t mind what kind of state the place is in. Kim is the big sister of my mate Ryan and she lives in the Madhouse and she wanted to come and stay here because she needed a break from life in the Madhouse. Whitevanwoman has known Kim since Kim was a little girl of about 5 years old (she’s 18 now which is miles older than me) and I have known Kim all my life, in fact, Whitevanwoman took me to visit the Madhouse only a day after I’d gone to live with her when I was just a young pup of 8 weeks old.

It’s going to be so nice having Kim here, as she has already said that she wants to go for walks with me and I am planning to take her down to the river and maybe up onto the fells. She is going to be staying here till Sunday so it’s going to be a really fun week.

my mate Kim

The good thing about all this DIY that Whitevanwoman is doing at the moment, is that the front door is open all day because she is painting it

So today, I took advantage of this fact, whilst she was outside in the backyard hanging out the washing, and decided to take myself out for a stroll. It was a lovely day and I thought that maybe the children would be playing out in the street and I would be able to join in with them so I set off down the street to see who I could find.

Baldy Dave was there but he was busy cleaning the windows so I didn’t bother stopping to say hello and carried on down the street looking for the children. I thought I might head for the pub as there is usually someone outside who I can say hello to, so I decided to go down the back of the houses in that direction. There didn’t seem to be anyone around so I kept going. It was Blue bag day but the Blue bags had already gone so there was nothing outside the back gates to sniff at or have a chew on so I just had a good mootch around the street with the vague idea of checking out the pub if I didn’t find anyone along the street.

Just as I was about to turn off towards the pub I saw my mate Tony (the one who I found outside the pub when I escaped when I was just a youngster and who I spent the afternoon with until Whitevanwoman came and collected me – me and Tony have been good mates ever since) and I was so pleased to see him that I legged it over to him, tail wagging and ears flapping.

Just then I heard Whitevanwoman shouting and whistling for me and Tony set off walking towards our kennel. He told me to go home and I saw Whitevanwoman standing at the far end of the street looking a bit cross. Uh-oh, I thought, I’d best go back to Whitevanwoman. I was a bit sorry not to have spent a bit more time with Tony but I knew that Whitevanwoman was going to have a grumble at me, and I didn’t want to make things worse for myself. I legged it back towards her, as fast as I could so that she might be pleased with me for coming when I was called instead of grumbling about escaping. But just from the way she was standing I knew that I wasn’t going to get away with it so I went back to her with my ears back and my tail down between my legs trying to look sorry. She just looked at me and said “Go home” in such a strict voice that I slunk off straight away back to our kennel. Baldy Dave was outside and I stopped off to say hello to him but Whitevanwoman told him that I was in disgrace and told me to go inside so I did, because it is not worth arguing with her when she’s in that kind of mood. I put myself straight on my bed and stayed there for a while trying not to catch Whitevanwoman’s eye. She had a grumble when she came in after me, but then got on with doing DIY and forgot about it.

I think I got off with it pretty lightly actually but, although the door was open all day, I was careful not to make the same mistake twice and although I did manage to sneak outside a bit later to see girlfriends Molly and Poppy who were outside, I stayed just outside our kennel and went straight back inside again when Whitevanwoman told me to. Although I do like to take the opportunity to escape when I can, I know that there are consequences and that sometimes it is just not worth it, however tempting the opportunity is. Avoiding being sent to bed without dinner is more important than a few minutes of freedom.

Today me and Whitevanwoman have been doing some DIY. Well, actually Whitevanwoman did most of it whilst I kept her company. I had an important job to do – to pick up the tools that she dropped whilst she was up the ladder and bring them back for her to save her from having to keep getting up and down the ladder. At first I didn’t realise that she actually wanted me to put them in her hand and so I would fetch it and then drop it at the bottom of the ladder for her, the way I drop tennis balls at her feet when I fetch them. But after a while I began to realise that she wasn’t reaching down to give me a pat, but for me to put the tool she had dropped, into her hand. Once I had sussed that out, I think Whitevanwoman was quite pleased with me for being so useful and helpful.

Seeing as how the front door to our kennel was open all day whilst she was painting the frame and plastering the wall, I also did guard duty outside to make sure that no-one sneaked into our kennel whilst the door was open. Ewan (who is one of my favourite neighbours because he always plays fetch the tennisball / stick / rubber tongue toy with me) came to help and after he and Whitevanwoman had finished plastering the wall, I pursuaded him to play fetch the tongue with me for a while which was a nice way to pass half an hour or so.

Whitevanwoman did some DIY in the back yard too, and filled in some of the holes in the concrete where I’d been digging for rats. I wanted to make sure that everyone knows that this is my kennel and my yard so I left my signature in it…

Rigg was here

 I’m not sure if Whitevanwoman was all that pleased because she had a bit of a grumble when she noticed but it was too late by then