googling!

new and improved

2009-10-06T09:58:00.000-07:00

well, i'm delighted to say that google is back to her old self! she has finally forgiven me, and condescends to share my bed again - victoria stilwell would be appalled....

she is, however, absolutely FILTHY! which leads to the perpetual problem - i.e. i don't have the dosh to take her to the groomer's, and she is still psychotic about baths! it takes two people, minimum, to bathe her, and she fights like a possessed demon. so, i guess we have to wait until the money's there, and take her to the lovely lady who sorts her out. she will be horrified when she sees the grubby, dark grey little scruff turn up!

after a loooooong absence.....

2009-09-11T13:37:00.000-07:00

for some reason, posting has been the last thing on my mind for a while.

mainly, because i've been waiting to go into hospital, and when the day arrived, i STILL wasn't really ready for it! however, my younger daughter, who had a hideous accident while on holiday, and broke her 5th metatarsal in three places, very badly indeed, was off sick from work, and went to her sister's, for some days, to be looked after. my elder daughter very kindly said she could bring Her Majesty with her, so she did. after younger daughter returned home, google was invited to stay for a further week. that made three weeks separation.

too much really.

oh BOY, did she punish me when she came home! she was mildly pleased to see me, and i was a quivering wreck of emotion at the sight of her, ready for her to leap into my arms, blah blah....

nope.

she retired immediately to her bed, and made it Perfectly Clear that she wanted as Little To Do with me as possible!

it's taken the best part of four weeks for her to forgive me.

i've tried treats, love, letting her 'come to me' - no response - and finally just waiting.

that worked.

schnaustie!

2009-07-17T11:06:00.000-07:00

it's been SO hot here, that i had her ladyship shaved right back to a very short coat, leaving her head westie style.

everyone laughed! she looks like a cross schnauzer and westie! but she LOVES the freedom of being short-haired again, and has spent this afternoon misbehaving in the woods!

where i go with her, there are many, MANY rabbits, and i think she found one today, bless her wicked little heart. she vanished smartly into the undergrowth, and i strolled down towards the spot where we usually stop for her to have a drink, etc. and called gently.

nothing.

absolutely NOTHING.

for half an hour, i bellowed, yelled, bawled, and eventually cajoled.

nothing.

i was beginning to get slightly desperate, when a totally unconcerned google strolled briskly up, and laid down to have her lead on!

there are times when she tries my patience to the absolute LIMIT!

trouble is, i should have remembered that she lulls me into a totally false sense of security for a week or so, and then bunks off! and i forgot completely!

we returned home, after she had drunk lots from her folding bowl (which is a huge relief, as she spooked at it, for ages!) in frosty silence. she snarfed a giant bowl of food, and i ignored her.

she's just been readmitted to my company, and is now sleeping soundly on the sofa, the absolute picture of innocence!

foodie google

2009-06-12T04:16:00.001-07:00

i wonder how many other people who are dog-owned have foodie dogs?

google has a definite taste for chinese food, anything with chutney, and ham with mustard! if i dare to have a sandwich without sharing, she gives me the evil eye until the guilt is appalling!

lately, she has been so good i am amazed. still won't use her paddling pool though, so we've given up on that one. she's also stopped digging everywhere, which is wonderful, as it gives the plants a chance to grow!

ahem!

2009-05-23T14:37:00.000-07:00

lately, she has been SO well-behaved.

i KNEW she was lulling me into a false sense of security though.

we had a lovely walk through the woods. well, i did. herself took off, and WOULD she come when i called?

no.

eventually, twenty minutes later, i was fondling another dog, when i spotted a casual little white creature, sauntering unconcernedly up from an area which is supposed to be Totally Dog-Free!

we hastily donned lead, and left........

little bugger!

2009-05-07T08:53:00.000-07:00

oh BOY has herself taken me for a ride lately! she has, of course, elevated Being Good to new heights, but she got me good and proper the other day.

we had a lovely walk, exploring all sorts of nooks and crannies, and ALMOST catching a rabbit, and then, without warning, she dematerialised!

i hunted high and low, enlisted the help of my ex, and we combed the woods. the little swine appeared to have vanished like smoke on the wind.

she finally appeared, happy as a sandbaby, and trotted up, asking wtf all the noise was about! i could have cheerfully strangled her! she went straight on the lead, and we went back to the car in stony silence.

i discovered, quite by chance, that she absolutely LOATHES being ignored, so that is her punishment. if she misbehaves, i ignore her, and she turns herself inside out to capture my attention!

voluntary deafness strikes again!

2009-04-23T12:33:00.000-07:00

google has been suspiciously Good lately. in fact, she has taken Being Good to new heights. when we have been wandering the woods, she has kept me within sight, and checked in from time to time, and even Come When Called.

she's definitely lulling me into a false sense of security!

lately, she has been rolling with increased delight, and come home an assortment of colours, but i am at a loss to explain the bright yellow patches she is currently sporting! heaven only knows what produces them, but they are positively fluorescent!

the other day, however, herself decided that it would do me good to take a walk alone.....we headed for our usual path into the woods, and i was marching briskly along the path, occasionally hollering for her, but - nothing! i completed the nice, long circuit without spotting her once, and that is not usual.

having done the full walk, and then gone back several times, hollering and bawling for her, i was disconcerted to come out of the trees and be greeted by two small boys who advised me that she had been found on the allotments!

and so she had! the little bugger had decamped briskly in the direction of the allotments, where there are plenty of rabbit holes to explore, and a huge amount of people-stopping blackberry tangles! she had trotted up to them when they called her, and gone back to the car with them. little stinker!

yesterday, she repeated the exercise, sprinting like a rocket for the blackberries, and was most annoyed that i followed her, and found her! she blithely ignored me for as long as she could, until i became stern and unyielding, and insisted that she Come Now!

at that point, she gave in, and came to have her lead put on, and we returned to the car.

why, though, do people insist on calling a dog in a pink, diamante studded collar, HE?

duh!

frogging!

2009-03-11T11:25:00.000-07:00

google and i were visiting, the other afternoon. it's something she enjoys, and she amuses herself in the large garden, while i talk to the person we go to see.

he has a pond, with four fish, and a quantity of frogs. well, he had a quantity of frogs, but i rather suspect they may have packed their bags and departed! google was suspiciously quiet in the garden, and on invetigation, was found to be flinging a frog into the air, and then hotly pursuing it! poor little thing was absolutely exhausted, and my little wretch was enthusiastically hurling it up and down, and chasing it! we rescued froggy, and she was most annoyed!

a lovely thing happened the other afternoon,though. we took her to our local meadows, which she absolutely ADORES, and while there, we met the usual complement of other dogs.

an owner, chatting and wandering with me, said thoughtfully 'what a HAPPY little dog! you can see her smiling!'

i was SO delighted! it's true, actually. google does have the most winsome smile, and is the happiest, sweetest natured little soul imaginable. there is no fault in her that i can find, barring her absolute terror of being bathed! she will paddle, swim, generally play in water, but does NOT like going in the rain, nor will she tolerate a bath! she screams like a banshee!

google in love!

2009-02-22T09:48:00.000-08:00

cupid has struck! google is in love with baggy, a younger man with an almost inexhaustible supply of energy! they spent fifteen minutes simply running rings round each other today! baggy is a delightful little westie boy, with one of the sweetest natures going - a kind of male google really!

so.....my little girl has a toyboy!

getting there, but slowly

2009-02-01T08:38:00.001-08:00

well, the norovirus has, i think, left, but it's done me a bit of damage, and poor old google has not had her usual exercise. added to that, it's too wet in our local park, and i am a little nervous of falling over, as my foot surgery took a hell of a long time to heal, and now the right foot has collapsed rather ungratefully, and is going to have to be fixed. which means another YEAR out of commission! GGGRRRR!!!

luckily, google has not done TOO badly for exercise, as she has access to a large and interesting garden, which also has foxes living there.....of course, fox mange is a consideration, but she is strongholded every month, and i check her like a forensic scientist every night! she also knows that squirrels regularly visit, as they live in some of the huge trees overlooking the garden, and it keeps her chasing and occupied for HOURS! when it's drier, we go for walks, of course, but am having to be a bit careful, as my right foot is not at all good, and if i damage it, walking, in future, is going to be round the block! and that is NOT enough for a busy, interested westie!

she is switching over onto a diet of plain boiled chicken and turkey, with brown rice, and a total vitamin and mineral supplement, and rather likes it, to my amazement! a visit to the animal hospital showed that she has a yeast between her paws, and in her groins, which makes her quite itchy at times. not all the time, but fairly frequently. apparently westies are really prone to this. oh dear.

the trouble is, she absolutely adores treats, and has been over-indulged at times, and the whole idea is to cool down her system by not adding chemicals or E-numbers. will have to hunt for some natural ones without any of those.

luckily, though, changing her diet has worked already. she does not chew as much as she had been doing, and her paws, although rusty from her saliva, are not anywhere as irritable as they were before.

now, all i would love to do is know how to interest her in TOYS! i cannot seem to teach her anything, such as HOLD, FETCH, or anything which requires her to retrieve something and bring it back to me! whatever she gets, is HERS!!!!!

google is SO patient!

2009-01-03T14:37:00.000-08:00

she really is a dear, patient little soul. i cannot imagine any other dog putting up with the past twenty days!

the norovirus struck, with a vengeance, some time before christmas. woke up feeling rotten, and the vomiting began, and then the other end joined in. oh yuck! google kept me company whilst i laid in bed, weeping quietly, because the pain was so terrible, and cuddled up like a darling.

for a little dog used to going for long walks every day, she has been a perfect angel - not complained or moaned, but simply laid by me, looking at me with loving black eyes.

son and no. 2 daughter came and took her for christmas, and she had a wonderful time, and they have taken her out a couple of times since then, but generally she has, bless her, had to put up with rambling around the garden (which takes a nan0-second, it's so small) or lying next to me in bed.

have to admit that this virus has absolutely wiped the floor with me. so far, i have been out for three hours in twenty days, and that was only to do REALLY important things. after which, i retired to bed again, and went straight to sleep!

so, christmas was cancelled, ditto new year's eve, and life is hideously quiet at the moment. the virus is still in residence, and apparently can take three weeks or more to entirely eliminate. gods, i hope it goes soon! it's vile.

she who must be obeyed

2008-12-17T12:20:00.000-08:00

well, my little angel has made it PERFECTLY clear who rules this house! she does!

i unpacked a parcel of fleecy blanket and polar bear toy, gleefully deciding that this would be a good prezzie for granddaughter and the throw would keep my feet warm. not so! google promptly appropriated it to herself, and spent the night snugged up in the middle of it! my feet froze........

haha!

2008-12-11T09:16:00.000-08:00

having been assured by son and daughter that google is ALWAYS good for them, i was a little smug when they brought her home from a long walk, and told me she had been a little sod! apparently, she had vanished smartly up the bridle-path, and refused to look at them, respond, etc.!

i'm rather ashamed to say that i promptly said 'TOLD YOU SO!'

she's away for christmas - three days at number one daughter's house, with the beloved german pointer, and an unknown quantity - a boston terrier! hope she will be okay - she will be sleeping with number two daughter, or son, so i won't need to worry about her being scared at night.

lately, she's taken to spooking at something in my bedroom, and it worries me that it bothers her. she is normally a balanced little dog, but whatever it is really alarms her.

we-elllll........

2008-11-28T20:51:00.000-08:00

not sure, but i think i may have cracked the vanishing act!

having decided to take herself for a wander in the woods, i thought i would try NOT calling her. to my astonishment, she stayed within sight, checked frequently, and CAME WHEN CALLED!

am i being lulled into a false sense of security? gawds, i hope not! but it worked, so will continue.

right now, she is confused at the sudden vanishment of the two cats who used to live next-door. it has, however, led to a CONSIDERABLY quieter life, as she now only has the other side's moggies to bark at, and they tend to spend the evenings inside!

she's currently sporting her ultrasonic flea repeller, and learning to run without nutting herself with it! i was astounded at how large it is, but if it helps keep her flea and other insect-free, then it was worth every penny!

ho hum!

2008-11-21T10:34:00.000-08:00

no matter how dearly i love google, there are moments when i could cheerfully turn around and walk off, in sheer frustration! i would NEVER actually do it, but, oh, the thought runs through my addled brain!

particularly when she has decided that she knows PRECISELY where I am, and so doesn't need at all to bother to let ME see HER!

which is precisely what happened yesterday, when she and i went for a long walk in the woods. we took the usual path, and she was having a wonderful time, fossicking among the undergrowth, tracking like a demon.

we were in there for an hour, and it was becoming a little dark, so i decided it was time to leave. would she come when i called? would she HELL! i searched high and low, through every path in the woods, up and down like a lunatic, bawling like a lost sheep.

it took half an hour to find her, and the little stinker had been happily playing somewhere else, while i was tearing my feet to shreds in the bushes! so back on the lead she went, and we went home, me in a filthy temper, and herself absolutely thrilled with her marvellous day!

strangulation, anyone?

2008-10-31T11:30:00.000-07:00

today, i could cheerfully strangle Herself.

we went to our favourite place, for a good, long, unwinding run. as usual, google and decided to go over the bridge, and head for the next field, which is mown, and easier for this poor ole broad to walk through.

all went well until we reached the far end, when the little bugger took off, vanished smartly into a tangle of undergrowth, and i lost her completely!

i searched and searched, called and called, and ultimately a couple of lads on bikes came up and enquired if i had lost my dog? on confessing that i had, they offered to go and search for her, which i thought was SO kind, and took off on their bikes.

still bawling her name, i tramped back to the bridge, to see if she was there.

nope.

by this time, i was beginning to suffer Lost Dog Terror, and had visions of having to go and get her from Battersea, and kennel cough, and all the associated stuff which we had been through with our first dog.

yelling at the top of my voice, i tramped round the far end of the field, went into the woods, quaking a little, and STILL no sign of her.

to my joy, the two boys rode back to me, and told me that she was found! Himself had called her, whistled two or three times, and the little swine had galloped out of the bushes and straight up to him!

that's all very well, but i need her to respond to ME, not blithely ignore me!

i called her, she came to me, and knew immediately that she was going on the lead again. we hobbled back to the car, and she was in dire disgrace for some time.

as i write, she is sprawled on the back of the sofa, as innocent as only a dog can be, with an expression of total bliss.

NOW i'm going to sit down and watch the training dvd, and, hopefully, LEARN.

i was absolutely bloody petrified today, and i don't mind admitting it!

quiet day today, thank dog!

2008-10-30T13:45:00.000-07:00

today, lovely son and best mate came down, and appropriated google for a delicious run out. they went, of course, to foots cray meadows, otherwise known as five arches, and had a wondrous time! google has an almost standard pattern of walks there....straight down towards the bridle path and river, first peeing on every mole-hill possible, then up the bridle path for a crap, and into the river!

she loves that place so much that it must be dog heaven! it was good to NOT have the little monkey around for a couple of hours, because it gave me time to do a few things that she usually expects to help me with, which means they got done instead!

back from the walk, she scarfed an ENORMOUS dinner, belted into the garden for a quick pee, and dove into her bed. where she has remained ever since.

oh dear.

that means she will be wide awake at midnight!

quiet day

2008-10-20T12:21:00.000-07:00

google and i decided, by mutual agreement, that today would be a quiet day! i am hobbling gingerly, with arthritis and sore foot, and she is just flat-out knackered after a day with lucy yesterday! they had a great time, chasing around, and whatever lucy was given, google briskly removed, so she enjoyed life all round!

she has been snuggly as anything today, which is lovely, and also very soothing for sore joints! i am sure dogs weren't designed to be hot-water bottles, but she makes a brilliant one!!!

for some reason, this morning she launched into a flurry of barking. at six a.m.

i was not amused, and i shouldn't imagine my neighbours were, either.

still, it's good to know that if anyone was lurking, she would let me know. although i fear that she might well simply turn over in bed, and ignore them!

how can i put it politely?

2008-10-15T18:30:00.000-07:00

she has been a little bugger today!

behaved impeccably at the park, which is unlike her. played enthusiastically with small, bouncy bichon. fossicked in the woods merrily.

came when called.

amazing!

returned to car without question.

and then....

went to visit ex.

mistake.

the little stinker behaved well until he opened the back door without telling me, whereupon she shot into the garden like an exocet, and it took me an hour to retrieve her from a neighbour's garden, where she was joyously gambolling in pursuit of a cat!

i honestly don't know how to tackle this cat thing.

voluntary deafness

2008-10-14T13:58:00.000-07:00

there are moments when i could cheerfully strangle google!

we went to five arches today - as usual, she pulled like buggery until we got to the water, and then leaped in, paddling with joyous enthusiasm and elan. and we set off for our trek through the woods before the bridge.

okay. no problem.

then we reached the bridge.

something attracted her ladyship's attention, about half a mile away, and she took off like a bullet!

i spent the next hour and a half stomping bad-temperedly through the undergrowth, cooing 'google here!' at her, and occasionally catching a glimpse of an interested bottom investigating something FAR more exciting than her mummy!

eventually, after pursuing her with great determination, i caught the little beast and put her back on the lead.

where she proceeded to behave immaculately.

there are times..........

success at last!

2008-10-09T09:11:00.000-07:00

have finally found dog wipes that WORK!!!

herself rolled in ecstasy in fox-shit yet AGAIN, but i was better prepared, and as we walked through the door, i grabbed my bag of dog wipes and scrubbed her.

she wasn't thrilled, but it is better than a bath, in her ladyship's opinion, so she put up with it. not only did they work VERY well, but she smelt wonderful afterwards! what a change!

today, of course, she has found another aromatic patch and rolled and rolled, but i am no longer worried!

behaving well!

2008-10-06T14:59:00.000-07:00

to my total amazement, google has behaved impeccably at our local park!

this was the place where she learned to go walking with a pack, and it was a joy to see a little white bottom bustling in the midst of other dogs. and then, of course, she misbehaved rather severely, and had to go back on-lead for a looooong while!

but, for the past two days, she has been there again, and i have, with some trepidation, allowed her to run off-lead. she immediately bolted for the woods, in pursuit of an interested rabbit, but she came back when called. well....when called FREQUENTLY!

i am astonished!

however, it remains to be seen how we do when i have perused don sullivan's dvds on dog-training, which assure me that i will have an impeccably trained dog in minutes.

hmmm.

more on this, later.....

eau de reynard

2008-10-03T15:36:00.000-07:00

so we took herself to five arches, her favourite adventure playground.

this is a vast area where google is allowed off-lead, and runs and runs until her legs are ready to drop off! in theory.....

we got down there safely, took her off the lead, and she promptly vanished ACROSS THE ROAD! i caught up with her, gambolling gaily up the middle of the road (fortunately, it is a lay-by type of road - a small lane, really) and bellowed at her to COME HERE RIGHT NOW!!!!

she came, and went belly down on the ground, which made me feel AWFUL, of course, and we set off for our marathon walk. first, straight into the river, beneath the lovely old willow which weeps into the water, for a brisk paddle, and then out and along the bank.

fine.

and then....

across the bridge and into the next enormous field.

she was galloping around, chasing moorhens, and having a WHALE of a time, rolling enthusiastically. and rolling. and rolling.

and i suddenly realised that the white dog i had brought down with me was, no longer. i had a small, absolutely FILTHY westie, who was blissfully happy, and who stank to high and holy heaven, because she had found EVERY bloody pile of fox-shit and ROLLED!

we finished the walk, with this aromatic beast on her lead, and headed home, where i desperately rang my son to plead for his help. meanwhile, google, as high as a kite odour-wise, snored blissfully in her bed.

son arrived, i removed bed and bedding and bunged in the washing machine, and we bathed her. this dog, who will paddle happily for hours, screamed, yelled, and generally behaved as if we were torturing her!

i have to admit that, never having previously smelled fox-shit, the removal of said pong was WONDERFUL!

never, never, EVER do this!

2008-09-22T06:30:00.000-07:00

memo to self:

never, ever, EVER open an unknown executable file! this has led to an expense i could ill afford, and a good deal of bad temper! google has benefited immensely, though, as she has been walked to within an inch of her life!

we have a new place to go for grooming, which is really lovely, and they have done a truly magnificent clip on her. she looks like a little foxy white unknown at the moment, but it suits her enormously. she was, however, unimpressed by having her anal glands sorted out, while she was there. the things a girl's gotta put up with!

suddenly, much to my astonishment, she has become wonderful at coming in from the garden! this dog, who used to be pursued round the garden until someone said 'stop chasing her - she sees it as a game' (which, of course, she did!) or had to be reeled in on the end of an extendable line, will now return at either finger-signal, or command.

gobsmacked, i am!

she's had much time off the lead lately, and has enjoyed it SO much. she adores bridleways, and will gallop happily up and down for ages, before going down to the river and paddling! once more, she astounds me. this little soul, who behaves as if you are flaying her if you put her in a bath, will paddle and swim perfectly happily! dog psychologist i ain't, that's for sure! i can't make her out.

google imitates a rug

2008-08-29T10:48:00.000-07:00

and she does! rather well, in fact. she looks uncannily like a rug my mother used to have, which was the skin of a wild dog. i wasn't particularly into conservation when she bought it, being rather small, and i loved it, as did the cat, and our resident tortoise! but google loves to lie flat, like a small polar bear, or a flat lamb, and give me the 'take me out before i WITHER AWAY' look!

this is one familiar to ALL dog owners, i am sure, but she does do it rather well!

she has been so patient while i've been ranting around the house, unable to walk without crutches, and particularly while the computer has been down, with TWO major crashes, courtesy of some little monster who obviously got bored and decided that they would invent a virus!

as a result, i got a worm, while exploring the outer reaches of the web, by opening up an executable file which i believed to be safe.

and wasn't.

i won't repeat what i said.

nor will google!

lolling for england

2008-07-29T07:08:00.000-07:00

google is working on her Lolling.

she's getting really expert now. when she first arrived, she was a little tense, but managed to relax quite nicely after a few days. but she never lolled.

now, she can do it with the best of 'em! an exhausting afternoon? you can guarantee that the evening will be spent Lolling in a big way. she has refined it now.

walk in, with that wondrously self-important swagger that most dogs have.

inspect room for suitable Lolling Place.

decide suitable place is ideal because:-

it is annoying to humans

it makes her Look Pretty

it guarantees that i will trip over her at least ONCE!

is there a manual for dogs? how to Own People?

i'm bloody sure there is!

i am amazed

2008-07-25T05:55:00.000-07:00

i am amazed, still, at google's lack of fear where fireworks are concerned! having had life with a dog who was so petrified of firework type noises that she tried to dig out the shower cubicle when we pulled crackers at christmas, i expected googie to be the same.

not so.

on her first fireworks night, i took her round the block to assess her reaction.

great interest.

later, i found her sitting in the garden, watching the night sky with delight, as fireworks burst above her. she didn't bat an eyelid!

but a lorry? or, even worse, something TOWING another vehicle? phew! that's something to bring out the chicken in a dog, apparently!

worse still is a carrier bag. for some reason, the plain blue ones are her worst nightmare. she spooks at them without fail, and absolutely hates 'em. aside from that, she is pretty good with everything inside her perceived area of possession (which is pretty much everywhere that she might be, i guess!) but i do dread a carrier bag flitting across the road, or flapping from a tree.

lately, also, she has developed a great interest in bats. at night, she spends hours in the garden, waiting for the pipistrelles which fly around the washing lines. i'm sure she thinks she could catch one if she really tried. bit like me believing i could be a prima ballerina....that sort of level of reality suits us both fine though!

irritatingly, she found a cat beneath a car, when we went out the other night. which now means that it is obligatory to inspect, with absolute precision, EVERY bloody car which may be parked on or near the road. it is trying. to say the least.

heatwave

2008-07-25T05:51:00.000-07:00

we are not good with heatwaves. neither of us wish to do anything more than lie around, preferably beneath a fan, and dream idly. only the gods know of what google dreams, but i suspect it has to do with sitting in the garden with her mouth open, waiting for a cat to fall in!

it is so hot that we are not going walking until the evening, which is not really great, as the roads are not terribly well lit, but it has to be this way, because both of us would fry if we went out in the daytime! it's blazing hot right now, and google flatly refuses to sit at roads while the ground is burning her bottom!

aside from that, she is being hideously noisy, although she is a bit like my granddaughter, who, when a bit naughty, promptly put herself on the 'naughty step!' google's version was to burst into a frenzy of yapping and yelling, and then hare indoors like greased lightening, before i could materialise at the back door looking severe! i couldn't stop laughing, but i had to go and do it in the bathroom, because she gets very offended if i laugh at her.

hi ho - the summer holidays are here

2008-07-18T04:32:00.000-07:00

the park will be pretty well out of bounds then - school broke up, and our usual walking place is jammed with dear little souls playing football, hanging out, and generally hurling abuse at anyone stupid enough to walk their dog therein. so google and i are off to pastures new, to seek out new civilisations - to boldly go where no dog has gone before....oh, beam me up scotty, for pity's sake! we could march around mars, or dip in the sea of tranquillity, and it would be wonderful!

it isn't that we don't like children - either of us. google is wary of them, as is no surprise, given her start in life, and i have simply outgrown them. i liked them when mine were small, and more when they were growing up, but now - i don't have enough contact with my grandchildren to be used to small people racing around.

so we seek serene places, where there are few people about, and go and wander around the odd field, or, occasionally builder's yard (where we shouldn't have been!) or anywhere which is quiet and peaceful.

google has been very, VERY noisy lately.

she has found her voice with a vengeance, and if one of the family comes round at night, the racket is indescribable. which is all very well, but my lovely neighbour upstairs is a postman, and has to wake at the most ungodly hour to go to work. so trying to shut her up is a monstrous task, because an excited google is a VERY noisy google!

slow learning

2008-07-14T16:56:00.001-07:00

well, i think we may be getting there...... google is slowly learning that i cannot walk fast, and is now adapting her pace to mine. which is a huge relief, because, as i walk with one crutch still, i have been pulled along by this very small, sherman tank of a westie! lately, she has been much more sedate, which is far easier, and i don't feel too guilty as she gets a good unwinding at weekends, when son and daughter take her to her favourite place, where she runs and runs and runs!

they had a great day out yesterday, with her cousin lucy, in thetford forest. the dogs chased each other solidly all day, and were exhausted by the time bedtime arrived! lucy is huge now, but google is still top-dog, having been introduced to lucy when she was a very small puppy. it's quite funny to see google give her what for, and lucy going belly down immediately! she towers over google!

2008-07-10T04:54:00.000-07:00

she knew, the split second we walked into the petshop, that she was going to be bathed. the sixth sense that dogs have had cut in immediately, but what she did NOT know was that she would come out far more comfortable. and she did!

i left her, with that heart-in-mouth feeling that mothers have on the first day of school, and collected a shaved piglet an hour and a half later! google was absolutely thrilled with her haircut, and spent the next hour rolling in ecstasy in everything she could find!

when she goes to her favourite stomping ground, for a good off-lead run, she no longer needs to be in and out of the river, so i am pretty sure that she must have felt like an unshorn sheep - very hot and bothered! now, she is prettily close-cut, and looks like a cross between a mutant jack russell and a schnauzer, and she is over the moon with delight!

she still dislikes rain enormously, and led me briskly straight round the block in the donwpour we had yesterday. not only did we barely stop for sniffs, but she marched me straight to the front door, and then into the kitchen to get her towel and DRY her PLEASE!

the gremlin has landed!

2008-07-03T11:40:00.000-07:00

it absolutely had to be done. whether she hated it or not, the bath was calling...but not, this time, with me, nor with the lovely lady who looked after her for a while. now she has to go to a local groomer, in a shop, and she absolutely HATES it! i strongly suspect that there is a Dog Mafiosi, which organises their owners to ensure that the most fearful amongst them are present when Herself visits the Bathing Fairy!

google backed firmly out of the shop, but was led in, equally firmly, and handed over. i felt exactly like a first-time mother, on a first day at school! a smouldering look was cast over one shaggy white shoulder, and she vanished from my ken.

we retired to the local 'caff' for a coffee, and had a bit of lunch as well, whilst waiting for Her Ladyship to reappear on the scene....it was like sitting in a dentist's waiting room, watching the minutes tick by. we retired still further, up to himself's house, and tapped fingers on the garden table until it was time to pick her up.

HOW i kept a straight face, i will NEVER know! all i can describe her as, is a fearfully startled gremlin! she was all ears, eyes, and a little square, piglet face! it will be vastly improved in a couple of weeks, looks-wise, but for now she is lovin' it! rolling everywhere, paddling around, and generally having a wonderful time! it must be like having waist-length hair cut, and feeling that glorious relief when the heaviness and heat has gone.

oh...wait! that's right! it is!

which plant?

2008-06-29T10:44:00.000-07:00

my little angel not only has a mind of her own, she has a pretty good spatial sense! i was in the garden, pottering, the other evening, and sat down for a cup of coffee and a rest, when i realised that something was missing!

google had, with all the delicacy of a Stealth Dog, chewed completely through the plant which i had been trying to identify, and which was stopping her from lying on the cool, damp manhole cover! i have to admit that i hadn't been paying too much attention to her, as she was lying down at the time! what i didn't realise was that she was quietly working on it, while i was wondering whether my shed would EVER be able to go up!

next minute, she was seductively arranged in her 'carpet' pose, atop the cover, and the plant was on its side, connected only to its roots by a sliver. it was not recoverable! did she care? nope. not a whit!

that damp, dark corner

2008-06-18T08:06:00.000-07:00

google was absolutely thrilled to find the frog behind my waterbutt! she has now spent part of every evening since the little bugger arrived, happily frogging! i don't know if she intends actual bodily harm to the frog, or whether it is just an amusing toy in her eyes, but she is quite delighted!

i have to say that i was NOT delighted at ALL! i like frogs, but preferably NOT outside my back door, and heading towards ME! google, however, was entranced, and i had to haul her bodily indoors - did you know, incidentally, that a westie CAN increase his or her weight exponentially? you want 'em to come in, and they don't want to? they will then weigh approximately as much as, say, a small sherman tank!

i hooked her in via her collar, and bundled her over the doorstep, desperately trying also to avoid treading on said f.r.o.g. which was leaping about like a deranged toy, obviously horribly frightened, and hastily shut the back door! for the next two hours, every time i budged from my sofa, i was accompanied by a small, panting, desperately enthusiastic westie, hellbent on getting outside to go frogging again!

you would think that she would have learned, after falling into a pond.....but no. not at all! she still teeters on the edge of my ex's pond, frogging like a good 'un, and my heart remains firmly in my mouth! mainly because she has such a giant aversion to having a bath! she still screams as if she is being murdered, and tries to climb out of the bath via anything she can reach, which is, usually, my arms. i haven't yet achieved growing a third arm, so attempting to bath her singlehanded isn't viable yet. particularly as i cannot kneel yet, because it puts too much pressure on my operated foot, and causes pain like nothing imaginable!

we did resort to dog-bathing wipes, but, frankly, they didn't touch her! she put up with them, but didn't look perceptibly different afterwards! so auntie cheryl's is beckoning again!

no squiggle, after all

2008-06-17T15:52:00.000-07:00

after a huge amount of navel-gazing, pondering, and watching google carefully, i've decided that to bring a kitten into this household would be tantamount to a death sentence for the poor little mite!

since google is an avowed cat hater, and spends her entire life - wherever possible - on the lookout of people of the feline persuasion, the thought of presenting her with a kitten had become one which was a constant nightmare.

added to that, i don't really have a method of keeping kitten IN, while google races in and out like a lunatic, as is her usual way of going on! not to mention the fact that with the enthusiastic excavations constantly going on up and down my fencelines, i can just visualise what would happen.

kitten permitted in garden for short time.

google enthusiastically ushering her through one of the holes, and under the fence!

nope. squiggle is not to be, unfortunately. it's so sad, because i had begun to dream of having a cat on my lap, and a dog by my side, but in reality it would be far more likely to be a cat on my head, and a small white dog leaping up and down, foaming at the mouth, and barking as if there was no tomorrow!

ah well....onwards and upwards! she's already discovered the f.r.o.g.

shudder!

hmmmmmm......

2008-06-12T09:40:00.000-07:00

i am beginning to have serious second thoughts about the kitten! i caught Herself lurking at the end of the garden in hunting mode.....a move every ten seconds, with cartoon-like slowness, and a steely gaze fixed on....YEP! next door's cat!

i do fear that if Squiggle comes to live with us, i shall wake up to find parts of her scattered randomly, and i'm really worried about it! shall have to discuss this with daughter number two, when she arrives home, sun-tanned and relaxed, from Menorca!

as for the sandpit.....well, google has danced around it, barked at it, and flatly refused to go in it! i give up! perhaps i should provide her with a bucket and spade?
or just employ her as a fulltime gardener?

i know i am deluding myself in thinking that she is even REMOTELY trained! she has me wound round her smallest claw, as surely as if she had clasped my heart between her front paws and held it. i cannot get cross with her.....only have to see those cute little boot-button eyes, and i'm melted.

she did, however, get a HUGE treat for trashing my ex-husband's garden, in conjunction with her favourite dog in the entire world - lucy locket - they spent the afternoon over there, and ex's present partner was not happy.

shame, that.

sandbaby!

2008-06-04T16:04:00.000-07:00

we went and collected google's sandpit tonight. when we arrived at the house, i was disconcerted, to say the least, to find that it was a LOT bigger than i had remembered - the sandpit, i mean, of course - and, as we were using the Mini, neither my son nor myself thought we would fit it in! however, by some miracle, he managed to persuade it to go in, plus the sand, and we brought it sedately home!

google, to my astonishment, knew PRECISELY what it was! she was DESPERATE to play in it immediately, but as the sand was wet, i decided to keep the cover on overnight. so, tomorrow, she will get her first go in her very own sandpit! i live in hope that this will stop her from digging bloody great holes along the fenceline.....

she is VERY cuddly at the moment, which is lovely. although she no longer comes to bed immediately, i always wake up with a little furry back pressed to mine, which is really sweet and comforting.

today is not a good day, and she has been a delight. cuddlesome, loving, and naughty, in pretty equal parts. and i minded not a bit the naughty part!

gaspode clone

2008-06-02T11:37:00.000-07:00

the master of humour, terry pratchett, writes frequently about gaspode, a small and smelly dog, who lives on the discworld. well, i have his clone!

no matter WHAT i do, ionic grooming, deodorisers, google still smells atrocious! dear little soul, she is a natural grub, and spends so much time seeking out the dirtiest places, and, of course, anywhere where the local foxes have rolled are favourite! my grubby little oik finds 'em all!

i have to admit, though, that she is far superior to the average hot water bottle! lately, she has taken to refusing to come to bed when i tell her, so i simply say goodnight, and leave her to it. and, every morning, i wake to a little furry back pressed tight against mine! either that, or she is wrapped firmly in my arms! very comforting on cold winter nights!

she was two on June 1st, and i am so proud of her! she was such a nervous little soul when she arrived, with no idea about house-training, and an odd appetite. now, i am perfectly trained to provide her with precisely what she decides she would like to eat, and i leap from my seat at the insistent WOOF! that means she wishes to go in the garden!

she has brought nothing but pure, unalloyed joy into my life. i am so lucky!

excavation earth!

2008-05-27T13:23:00.000-07:00

i don't know why, but google appears to want nothing more than to dig her way out of my garden! she excavates at every possible opportunity! sadly, this means that my clumps of sweet violets have vanished, as have several other precious plants!!

so, in desperation, i went on to my freecycle group. what a marvellous idea freecycle is! lucky me, i've been offered a sandpit, with lid, which should sort her out nicely! she adores playing in the sproggles' sandpit, with lucy, so to have her own will be wonderful!

she has been SO naughty today - having decided that voluntary deafness was the order of the day, she decamped into someone's garden, and spend a happy ten minutes vandalising it! i was so mortified! so now she can only go in my ex's garden on the lead, which she loathes. she WILL learn!

getting nervous now

2008-05-18T08:21:00.000-07:00

seven weeks before squiggle arrives! this is the name i've decided the kitten is going to have, and, frankly, i am really, REALLY worried at introducing a kitten to my felinophobic dog!

misty, next door's exquisite little grey boy, is DESPERATE to come in, and appears over the fence regularly, but herself won't let him near the house!

i am giving serious consideration as to how to deal with the idea of a kitten in our house, but it's going to happen anyway - my daughter is absolutely DETERMINED!

CATS!!!

2008-05-15T05:32:00.000-07:00

well.....cat.

yes. we are getting a kitten!

my younger daughter rang last night and had decided that the perfect way to stop google from loathing cats was for me to have a kitten!

of course, weak as jelly, i immediately said yes!

now, we are going to have a female kitten, and i am PRAYING that she will stop google from being such a hideous monster with felines! she really hates them with a passion, so if a kitten can tame her.....

i'm not sure, but willing to give it a go!

the dirt magnet

2008-05-14T10:08:00.000-07:00

google has not been particularly good today! we went round to my former partner's for lunch, and so that she could play in his big garden. usually, she is as good as gold, but a chance squirrel zapped any remaining braincells, and she was offski!

retrieved, we gave her a second chance, but she vanished again, so spent a good portion of time there on the lead, lying under the table. she knows perfectly well when she has misbehaved, and was very sheepish!

eventually, i let her offlead, and she spent a happy remainder of the afternoon frogging! his pond is home to many frogs, and she is intrigued by them, spending ages watching. it cannot be long before she falls in.....

as it was, she returned absolutely COVERED in duckweed, twigs and assorted seeds and things! she leads an interesting life, and my daughter says, when i moan about her dingy dirty coat, that she is a dog with hobbies!

boohoo!

2008-05-13T04:17:00.000-07:00

really sad to report that yahoo will NOT be coming to live with us. my son and daughter decided that it was unfair to their elderly cat, who is relishing being an only cat rather greatly, and absolutely terrified of google, who makes his life miserable when she visits!

google is still recovering from an amazing weekend with lucy. they played constantly, and were barely seen by anyone in the house!

lucy has just been spayed, however, and so googie won't be able to go play this weekend, when granddaughter's riding party takes place. it's a shame, because they do love each other, but i think they are visiting in a couple of weeks, so there will be much joyful reunion then!

and the family grows.....

2008-05-10T12:52:00.000-07:00

we're not quite sure how google will take this, but the family is going to increase by one!

my daughter is getting a westie who has been living entirely in a pen, because her mum can't cope with her now, and, when offered her, simply said 'get me that dog!' very firmly!

she will be called yahoo, and if she does not upset my daughter's elderly cat, she will live with me, and daughter will pay for her food and anything she needs.

it should be a really great arrangement - i will have her during the day, and she will go home at nights. google gets to have a playmate, which i think she will love, as she gets on so well with lucy, and another westie gets a happy new home!

paws crossed here............. i haven't told google yet!

spreading a little sunshine

2008-05-06T14:21:00.000-07:00

further memo to self:

NEVER leave shoes where google can find them.

i had a horrible operation last year, to shorten some bones in my left foot, and am finding shoes almost a thing of the past! i can wear clogs, provided they are wide and deep, as my foot aches almost unbearably at times. so, you can imagine, i was absolutely thrilled to find some really comfortable pediconfort clogs, plain black, with no seams on the inside, for the very reasonable price of £20.00.

well.....i was thrilled.

they lasted two weeks.

today, i went to find them, and discovered a substantial part of one - the left, of course - in very small, chewed pieces, on my bedroom floor!

yes! herself had been bored, obviously, and if i was stupid enough to leave them lying around, well.....i couldn't blame her, could i?

she looked sheepish, when i yelled 'GOOGLE!' in disbelief, but as she hadn't a true clue about WHY i was yelling, there was no point in continuing. i shook the clog beneath her nose, and she gave me a bored look and you could see whatever! crossing her mind!

she has, however, been marginally better at coming when called. after a hideous visit to a friend's house, where she briskly decamped and would NOT return, she has been in his garden on the lead each time.

yesterday, she was brilliant! absolutely brilliant! did as she was told, came when called, and was quite delightful. we had a barbeque, and she was in her official Food Inspector capacity, testing and tasting, and i suspect that had a LOT to do with the recall!

today, again, she was terrific!

there are times when she just beats me!

what do i know? i'm only human!

only a Material Girl!

2008-05-02T10:09:00.000-07:00

memo to self: never, NEVER leave ANYTHING WITH BUTTONS where google can reach it!

i had done some washing, and hobbled into my bedroom, left it on the bed to fold and put away, and promptly forgot it.

some time later, i heard an interesting noise, and, on entering my bedroom annexe, discovered everything had been artistically scattered.

i subsequently found that Herself had EATEN a portion of my favourite blouse, in her anxiety to totally remove those nasty buttons!

today, she has been unbelievably defiant and naughty! she legged it from my friend's garden (which has no fences) and around the back into someone else's garden, where there were her two favourite creatures for hunting......a squirrel, and a kitten!

it took us half an hour to persuade her to come back, and from now on she will be going out in THAT garden ONLY on a lead!

the beautiful little grey cat from next door is desperate to come and visit, because he obviously spotted a sucker at thirty paces, when he began adventuring. but i fear greatly that google would do him an injury. she is vile with cats. absolutely vile! i have no idea at all how to fix this flaw.

bored, bored, bored!

2008-04-23T16:24:00.000-07:00

she's been unable to go out for a decent walk for two days now, and is SOOOOOO bored! this means, in translation, that anything is fair game!

it's a racing certainty that she will have:-

1) rearranged the sitting room

2) pulled the washing off the radiator

3) removed at least two socks from my bedroom, and chewed them

4) deposited large amounts of something horrid all over my bed, because she's been rolling at the top of the garden....

any, or quite possibly all, of the above!

i hate to admit that it is more likely to be number four.....as it is her prime launching site for cat-chasing. of course, every cat in the neighbourhood is perfectly well aware of this, and makes sure that they drop by to pee or leave a small opening deposit! so the soil up there, which is uncultivated at the moment, is rank....and google knows this!

as it's her avowed ambition to nuke any cat which has the temerity to venture into Her Garden, they make sure that this is a night-time operation, of course. which gives the agricultural end PLENTY of time to mature!

my heart sinks to my boots.....and.....it's bedtime. what is going to be tonight's misadventure? won't be long before i find out!

visiting day

2008-04-20T12:24:00.000-07:00

today, google has been up to ely, to visit her new best friend - lucy locket! lucy is a german short-haired pointer, and absolutely beautiful! she belongs to my elder daughter, and son-in-law, and is delightful!

she and google got on very well indeed when they met up, and spent hours playing in the snow. a few weeks later, she came down to my younger daughter's, and google and lucy had a playdate! they spent ages haring around the garden, and going out for walks, and generally got on so well that i was amazed.

google very rapidly established, however, that she is TOP DOG! lucy is biddable, and when she overreached herself, she got a mouthful from google, and promptly fell on her back!

it's so lovely to see them playing together now, because in a very short time, lucy is going to be ENORMOUS! she has huge feet, and if they are any indication, she will be a very big dog indeed! she has a sweet nature, so far, though, and everyone loves her. my daughter is very good at exercising her, too, which is great, as apparently they need to go out about four times a day! i would be exhausted!

little minx!

2008-04-18T11:44:00.000-07:00

little minx that she is, google has just hared indoors, leaving a GIANT pile of earth behind her! oh dear. this means that she is still.....STILL determined to Get That Cat!

i've never known a dog so profoundly cat-hating! don't know if this is a characteristic of terriers, but she is an absolute monster where cats are concerned!

i think it may well be the thrill of the chase, but absolutely dread to think what would happen if she caught one.........

although, happily, a couple of weeks ago, she did encounter Sweep, a beautiful black and white gentleman, who considers that he owns the entire row of houses where my daughter lives, not to mention the stretch of greeland in front of them!

he has promoted himself to Official Greeter, to all who venture along the path, be they rottweiler or human!

google met him while she was on the lead (thank you gods!) but was disconcerted, to say the least, that he not only did NOT run, but whipped round and swore roundly at her, then offered her a bunch of claws! she did a brisk about-turn, and assured us that she Saw No Cats....nope....No Cats At All! and then proceeded sedately to the car.

little white dogs! they are a law unto themselves!

i wonder......

2008-04-16T13:37:00.000-07:00

does everyone's dog 'talk' to them? because google has devloped quite a vocabulary now! she tells me, or my kids, very, VERY clearly, precisely what she wants!

although, saying that, she has also honed the Intense Stare very precisely!

she will come and plant herself squarely in front of me, and look meaningful. usually, it's PLEASECANIGOINTHEGARDENNOWWWWWWWWW!!! but sometimes it's WANNAGOFORAWALKNOWWWWWWWWWW!!! and occasionally it's MUMIWANTOGOHOMERIGHTNOW!!!

for a species which does not have the power of speech, the amount of meaning put into what she does say, well, it's extraordinary!

cat patrol yet again!

2008-04-16T04:35:00.000-07:00

i'm watching her, in the garden, and it's making my blood run cold on behalf of felines! i honestly think that google would slaughter any cat she could get her hands on, if she had the chance!

it goes as follows:-

out the back door, immediate recce on left and right, to see if either of the moggies have dared to show their faces. straight to top of garden, brisk about-turn, and steely glare at both neighbouring houses.

really, she's like a fighter pilot - she has the 'sweep' from side to side, and around! she also keeps a wary eye on the bird table, in case one of Those Things With Wings should venture down for their mealworms and seed!

don't quite know what to do about it - i dread the thought of going outside and finding the remains of a cat....

the would-be assassin

2008-04-13T13:24:00.000-07:00

a very elegant young man, in a grey coat, with white paws, attempted to visit today.

misty, next door's kitten, is desperate to come in, and i would love to have him visit, but Herself would be apoplectic!

as it was, she was bouncing up and down in fury, and yapping furiously, because misty was peering curiously over the fence at her! i stroked him, and google couldn't BELIEVE it! she threw me the filthiest look, and tunneled furiously at the fence. am going to have to collect some heavy rocks and put them along the fence, or she WILL be through! little monster!

today, she has been unable to go for a walk, as the weather was awful, and number one son was having a p.j. day. i can't walk far enough yet, either, so she had to suck it up, really. so today she has been truly naughty! not only has she done everything she can to repair the damage to her pride that last night's bath did, but today she waited until i had emptied my little vacuum cleaner, and then promptly removed what had come out of it, onto the carpet!

she is currently trying to get my attention, and i am sedulously ignoring her.

crossword

2008-04-13T03:55:00.000-07:00

well, noughts and crosses....you could play 'em on my chest and stomach, after the clawing i got from Herself!

it was all worth it, though. we had a night's sleep, pleasantly scented with baby shampoo, and it was SUCH a relief NOT to sleep with someone who honked so badly that it was more like sleeping with a small, furry pig!

she did her best to improve her smell last night, by visiting the end of the garden and digging - but was perturbed to find that i can now get up there after her!! so she belted indoors, with that preoccupied expression that i swear only westies can achieve, and retired to bed in a huff!

can't believe it's the same dog......she is SO white! not the impeccable white that the grooming lady achieves, but she IS white! but not her paws! they are STILL rusty. i give up.

the deed is done!

2008-04-12T12:32:00.000-07:00

well, today turned out to be the day......b.a.t.h. day!

it was, largely because i dry-shampooed her first, and it made so little impression that it was patently obvious that she HAD to be properly washed.....

i duly ran the bath, collected Herself, shut the bathroom door, and ignored her while i stripped off. then we both climbed in the bath.

let me rephrase that.....

i climbed in, clutching a dog who was absolutely determined that This Was Not Going To Happen.

the racket that ensured would have sent the RSPCA down on me like a ton of bricks, had anyone heard it. she screamed, whined, and generally created merry hell!

determination won, though, and between screams, she got as thoroughly shampooed as i could manage, single handed.

i would rather bath a jersey devil!

the colour of the bathwater was disgusting, a sort of filthy brown with grey streaks!

she has ruined both my lovely white bath towels, and left me with a deep score on one arm which hasn't stopped bleeding yet, but she IS still speaking to me!

i can't achieve the results a groomer can, but oh BOY does she smell better!!!

the sofa houri

2008-04-11T14:24:00.000-07:00

i often think google is practising to become a courtesan! she drapes herself over the sofa, taking up most of it - a three seater, mark you! - and when anyone walks by, instantly rolls onto her back and lifts one leg, to enable sensitive areas to be more easily scratched or tickled!

being such a little trollop indoors, it never fails to amuse me inordinately when we go anywhere and a male dog approaches.....google will immediately sit down, and give him an affronted stare!

she didn't get her bath last night, because i wasn't feeling too good, and it doesn't seem to have bothered her, but, oh boy, this evening, after a trip to her favourite spot, an elephant would smell of chanel compared to my baby! aroma de google rounds the corner well before she does!

terry pratchett has a character named foul ole ron, whose smell has a life of its own, and i suspect that herself has been reading about it! hers is certainly becoming more adventurous!

she has discovered the joys of a foxhole, chased a stoat, NEARLY got a rabbit, and taught innocent westie pups to roll in mud.

bad influence?

google?

nah!

just a dog with hobbies, who leads an interesting life!

reorganising our wardrobe.....

2008-04-09T15:06:00.000-07:00

there is a leather fetishist living in my house!

i had a bit of an epiphany the other night, and realised that clothes lurk in my wardrobe which will never be worn! i'm just too damned mean to let 'em go.

so.....logged onto freecycle group, offered 'em up, and then had to Do the Deed.

i sorted out a vast pile of stuff, all in immaculate condition, and laid it on my bed, ready to put into a sack. together with a beautiful, woven leather belt.

bad move.

two hours later, i went to the bedroom, plus sack, and found shreds of leather all over my bed! the leather fetishist had struck!

cesar millan says that dogs live in the moment, and have short association with actions spans.

rubbish!

i held up the belt, said OH, GOOGLE! despairingly, and she shot, like a rocket, into her bed, and sat bolt upright, paws neatly together, ears back, and she absolutely and plainly KNEW WHAT I WAS TALKING ABOUT!

how can you be cross with a dog, though? it was entirely my fault.

but i did love that belt!

oh good grief!

2008-04-08T15:47:00.000-07:00

i've put it off, and put it off, but tomorrow she is simply going to HAVE to have a b.a.t.h......

it's not the fact that she is the scruffiest little oik you could wish for, nor that her paws are rust coloured. it's the eau de westie that is becoming unbearable!

on the grounds that i am the mug that wakes up with a smelly little forehead pressed against mine, every morning, i am simply going to have to grow an extra pair of arms and do the deed.

we tried a couple of weeks ago, and she managed to back clean out of her collar, so it was pretty well brute force at holding her, and shampooing and rinsing. i was certain that she would loathe me forever, but she forgave me once out of the water!

i've asked my best friend, AND two of my children, and none of the blighters will help, because they are sure that she will NEVER SPEAK TO THEM AGAIN! rotters!

oh, and she has to be introduced to her uncle's cat.

that should be something to blog about, with a vengeance.

we are referring here to the dog who considers cats are an absolutely alien species who have NO RIGHT WHATSOEVER to inhabit the same earth, or breathe the same air as any self-respecting dog! it should be interesting, when she meets the cat.

i really wish that she could have met Pyewacket, my vicious little monster kitten. only on the grounds that Pye didn't give an inch to ANYBODY, and would probably have willingly attacked a lion, and she would have made mincemeat of google!

on the other hand, i recently met a dog who had lost an eye to the family cat, and i don't want THAT to happen!

my sweet-natured, loving little westie is going to have to come to terms with the fact that cats ARE here, and she IS going to have to rub along with them. at the moment, when she goes out, she is on permanent Cat Patrol! oh, and Squirrel, Rabbit and the occasional Stoat Patrol, also.....

my knees are knocking!

yappyknickers!

2008-04-07T01:26:00.000-07:00

Herself has a new title. Yappyknickers.

after nearly a year of virtual silence, she has not only found her voice, but she has achieved what all small dogs do, effortlessly.....yap!

i hope it isn't driving my neighbours crazy, and i DO try to stop her, but once she has the bit between her teeth, she's off with a vengeance. i've tried the victoria stilwell method of quiet and reward, and it works effortlessly indoors, but once in the fresh air, the vocal chords operate without ceasing.....if there is a cat in the neighbourhood!

i am absolutely certain that she would nuke a cat without any second thought, which fills me with dread.

so, with heart in mouth, i've decided to introduce her to my friend's cat, who is an indoor moggy, and lived with two golden labradors, bossing them about effortlessly.

i'll let you all know......gulp!

out of the electronic wilderness!

2008-04-04T13:45:00.000-07:00

oh wow! back online again! for a while, there, i thought that it wasn't going to happen.....

after my surgery, which was vile, but necessary, i got very dependent on the web indeed. to the extent that google would frequently come up and butt me with her nose, to force me off the computer to play with her.

and then, one wondrous day, my younger daughter rang and asked me if i would like sky. would i? oh yeah! so, of course, i said yes please, and thank you, and it was duly installed.

which meant that, for the offer, i had to lose my previous ISP. and instal sky.

aah.....

now THIS has been a problem.....i duly got my MAC code, presented it to sky, and was allegedly activated.....but then i couldn't work out HOW to instal the broadband, and was reduced to gnashing my teeth and wailing. a lot.

googie, in the meantime, became a total couch potato during the day, because i was returned to draping myself on the sofa, with bad foot up, which meant that there was just SO much lap to lie on!

she has been rediscovering the off-lead joys of walks though..... since the trainline debacle, i had been wary of letting her off the lead at any point, but my son and daughter decided that hotdogs would be the perfect enticement. and they worked!

they take her to a wonderful park a few miles from here, where she meets lots of friends, dashes into the water to paddle and chase river-fowl, and generally has the most brilliant time! tonight, she found a fresh and steaming pile of fox scut. and rolled.....

tonight, for the first time in weeks, i had visitors.

so, of course, there was a fragrant westie, sprawled on the sofa, legs apart, without a care in the world..........

by fragrant, i don't mean smelling of chanel no. 5 either!

i did dare a bath for her one evening, and it was, frankly, a total nightmare! she backed clean out of her collar, and as not one of my children would actually help me, on the grounds that she would HATE THEM FOREVER, i had to do it singlehanded.

what fun.....

not.

you would honestly believe that i was about to remove her skin, inch by inch. the terror in her eyes, and the desperate scrabbling to get out of the bath, coupled with the fact that i didn't have three arms, meant that we ended up VERY wet indeed!

fortunately, she didn't hold a grudge.....

oh MY, we are getting better!

2008-03-11T11:56:00.000-07:00

i didn't realise that it was possible for a dog to be depressed, but that's definitely what was wrong with google!

while she was recovering, my son and daughter did not come to see her. they are both as soft as butter with her, anyway, and could not bear to see her in pain. she got lower and lower in spirit, until, brilliant day! her favourite folk came to visit!

from that day on, she began to improve, and now she is back to her old self, albeit balder around the nether regions!

she still loathes rain! didn't much appreciate going out for a walk tonight, as it had been wet, and she is a trifle low-slung, so wouldn't exactly NOT get damp! she had cabin fever, though, after a day in yesterday, when the winds were tearing through here.

i have caved completely, and now she has cesar little boxes of food, and scoffs every single bite! her particular favourite, needless to say, is chicken with WILD RICE!

just the mere idea

2008-03-08T19:18:00.000-08:00

even the idea of being without google fills me with a sort of appalled horror. it is as if she has been with me forever.

every day, i vow that i will be a good pack leader, and every day i look at her and melt into a puddle of love. that funny little face, the westie two-step shuffle, her eagerness for life.....it all infects me with absolute love and adoration for this little soul.

i have been very lonely for so long, and now i am not. simple as that.

when i divorced my husband, i had friends who stuck by me, and were wonderful, absolutely wonderful. and the one i thought would remain my friend - we had known each other for so long i couldn't imagine she wouldn't - simply blanked me if she saw me.

my beloved best friend died suddenly. that was the greatest shock and pain i have ever experienced, i think, and i miss her with every heartbeat. she was like a sister to me, and we loved each other dearly.

but, sadly, the others have drifted away, and now there is nobody except the friends inside my computer.

thank the goddess for you all. you are a blessing.

but most of all, thank Her for my little white furmonster, whom i love dearly, and whose life is in my hands to make as comfortable as possible, and as happy as possible. i cannot wait to be able to take her out again, for nice, long walks!

wonderful!

2008-03-06T06:39:00.000-08:00

she's back to her old self, is my little one!

annoyingly, though, she has now decided that she absolutely LOVES cesar dog food, which is quite expensive! i tempted her with various things, and this was what she would eat, so, of coure, that's what she got! i don't really care, though, because i would move heaven and earth to make her life good.

she waggled off to the park with my daughter yesterday, and had a wonderful time! they walked for about an hour, and she came back absolutely shattered, and crashed out on the sofa.

about three hours later, she was up and alert again, and looking for mischief! her favourite trick is, when she feels i am not paying sufficient attention to her, to race into the kitchen and drag something off the drying rack on the radiators! she gets a growl, and then a huge hug, and we are both happy!

her relationship with my son and daughter is wonderful. i love to see her greeting them, because she has found her voice at last, and is quite vocal now! the person who owned her before, allowed the next door neighbour to pour white spirit over hecause she barked, and it burned her skin. she was as silent as could be after that, but now she alerts me to visitors instantly!

i bought her a jumbone today, which she ignores......fussy little madam!

light at the end of the (short) tunnel

2008-03-01T11:08:00.000-08:00

to my intense relief, google is getting better! the spay knocked her sideways, and neither the vets, nor i, know why. she developed an infection after her spay, refused to eat, barely drank, and was very ill indeed. after a night on a drip, in veterinary ICU, with someone with her constantly, she came home, and became very depressed and low, and lethargic.

today has marked her first really better day! she is bouncing around again, and much, much happier. the relief is so tangible you could cut it with a knife!

the invalid

2008-02-27T14:15:00.000-08:00

my poor little angel is NOT well at all. she contracted an infection at some point, and isn't recovering as expected. she is currently wrapped in a towel, in bed, looking very sorry for herself indeed.

she is now on painkillers and antibiotics, and i am crossing everything that they work. she has had a mouthful or two of cold meat, as she didn't want anything else, and finally drank water, which was wonderful to see.

poor angel - dogs are so innocent, and it is so agonising to see them suffer in any way. she does not understand why her belly hurts, bless her, and i have to watch her like a hawk to see she doesn't pick at her stitches. she was given an elizabethan collar today, which she promptly backed out of! she doesn't like it at ALL, so it is a last resort.

last night wasn't good, so am hoping this one will be better.

guilty furmother!

2008-02-25T10:13:00.000-08:00

today was spay-day. i frankly and freely admit to not sleeping last night. the thought that i would be inflicting pain on this innocent little thing tormented me all night. nicotine and i were good friends over the wee small hours, while herself slept blissfully in my bedroom.

this morning, she was not even remotely bothered at not eating or drinking, nor did she want to go to the loo. we set off, after the usual preamble of putting on her harness, which she absolutely and utterly loathes, and the warning signs must have gone up, because she was fine until we came to the bridge before the clinic! at which point, she began to shake. so did i!

she did NOT like meeting the vet, who is absolutely delightful, and cast meaningful looks in my direction while having unmentionable things done to her nether regions!

having left her there, i went home and quaked with fear that something might go wrong. and sure enough, it did. she was groggy and lethargic, and they decided to keep her in overnight, on fluids, while she recovered. gloom.

i heard that she would be staying in, just as i was about to leave to collect her, which was a good thing, as it is an hour's drive to get there. chantelle, the vet, said that she had just given her a cuddle, and she has perked up, but is so sleepy that they want to keep an eye on her, but the surgery has gone well.

it feels so strange without my little one here.

google discombobulated!

2008-02-23T11:53:00.000-08:00

this was glorious to hear!

google came back from her walk looking a tad disconcerted.....apparently, she had been out and about with son, and a cat had bounced from beneath a car, and walked up to her. google's reaction would, i know, have been to chase it, had it shown even a smidgen of fear....but this cat was obviously well-used to dogs, as it marched up to googie and affectionately headbutted her! i would LOVE to have seen that!

she was extra-vigilant on back garden patrol that night!

spayday!

2008-02-23T11:42:00.000-08:00

google's spay is monday, so tomorrow she goes for a bath! we were pretty well appalled to see how filthy she had become, and as the mere idea of bathing her here is equivalent to a total nervous breakdown, auntie sheryl has the joy of doing it!

my dear little girlie is, frankly, disgustingly dirty again. daisy, her new best friend, was also filthy, but she doesn't mind baths at all, according to her owner, while google most emphatically DOES! it takes two people to bath her, and i cannot kneel while recovering from the operation, so.....

i have to say that the rub-down towelettes are okay, but not enough to cope with the grime that madame acquires during her races around our local park. today, she has had a glorious time chasing through fox-scut, paddling (yes, paddling! IN WATER!) and generally behaving like the little hoyden that she is!

i am praying that the time will come when she can be bathed at home, and will not find it such a nightmare.

i have a new neighbour, and managed to walk upstairs to visit him the other evening. google took one look at the stairs and declined! so the furry steps i bought for when she got older and found it hard to jump are not likely to be much cop!

ah well!

hmmmmmm.....

2008-02-21T11:12:00.000-08:00

i don't know if this is common to all rescue dogs, but Herself has suddenly begun to demonstrate somewhat stroppy behaviour at times. she is currently ignoring me, whilst lying on the back of the sofa (her favourite place) and avoiding any contact. i suspect this is because she was forced to remain in one place, while i carefully used a dog bathing wipe on her. at the moment, she is most assuredly sulking! on the other hand, it could well be because she was a Bad Dog this afternoon, and she knows it!

my friend came for me, and we decided to take her up to town, while i got a little shopping, and she waited with my friend. on coming home, i got my crutches from the car, managed to take her inside, and removed her lead. to my absolute horror, she did her best to vanish smartly into next door's frontage! i suggested that she NOT do that, and she came back - good girl - and then promptly tried to leg it the other way! now, this may not sound like a hanging offence, but i live on a main road, and it is hideously busy, so she cannot wander at will, and nor should she. it has always annoyed me when people open their front doors and just let their dogs wander where they want to, and i am not going to let google develop her own thoughts in that direction!

having been reprimanded, and brought indoors, she was firmly told that she was a Bad Dog. now, this little soul has a VERY good vocabulary, and she knows that she did something she should not have done, and no mistake! she retired, with offended dignity, to her bed, and sulked, but managed to look contrite whenever i looked at her - don't know how she does it! i went into the garden, and as i'm still walking very carefully with the crutches, took a minute or two to get onto the patch of concrete i laughingly refer to as my patio....THIS YEAR IT WILL BE DONE.....whereupon she rocketed between my legs and up the garden! she is fully aware that i cannot go up to where she plays and fannies around, as i cannot yet put a shoe on my bad foot, and am still wearing the surgical bootie - so attractive, and SO not mud or waterproof - so she simply stood there looking at me with a defiant stare!

sadly, i lost my temper, and yelled at her to come indoors NOW! frankly, i didn't expect it to have any effect, and was absolutely gobsmacked when she shot down the garden, straight indoors, and into her bed!

later, she went to the park with my son, had a wonderful hour out, running everywhere, and only just avoided a large pile of fresh fox poo! my son assured me that he removed her from temptation immediately! she is still so utterly terrified of water in a domestic situation, that bathing her while i cannot kneel, and without help, is just impossible. ho hum....she does....a bit!

someone's mother isn't using omo.....

2008-02-19T15:08:00.000-08:00

anyone of a certain age might remember the ad? three little people in white shirts, and the one in the middle is very white because THAT mother WAS using omo - an ancient washing powder, beloved of housewives in the fifties and sixties....

well, the fact is that google is the living personification of that advertisement when you stick her next to another westie! she is probably now the filthiest she has ever EVER been, despite rubdowns with special towelling cloths which GUARANTEE to remove dirt, odours, etc.... well....no. not hers. so i'm faced with the task of terrifying her by bathing her, or shelling out money i don't really have available to take her to the groomer. and i fear it will be the latter! she bears a striking resemblance to a puppy called what-a-mess, beloved of children everywhere! her moustache is rakishly upright on one side, and as it should be on the other, her ears are a light shade of brown, and the rest of her is pretty much the colour of an old mud puddle, lightly mixed with a little horse-poo.

and she sleeps next to me.....

phew!

2008-02-18T13:00:00.000-08:00

google does NOT approve of my having had the surgery! it means that we have to spend such a lot of time at home, and she, therefore, does not get to take me for my daily walks!

she's become very vocal recently, and i cannot decide if it's a good thing or a bad one! when she wants to go out, she plants herself firmly in front of me and gurns, and chats and whines until she realises that it ain't gonna happen yet! at which point, she resigns herself to the fact that she is going to have to wait a little longer.... i still cannot walk outside without crutches, although i am getting more confident in the house, now that my plaster cast is off, although the foot still hurts like hell! it will, apparently, take between six months and a year before i regain a 'normal' foot, but it will be worth it, i hope!

in the meantime, madame is having to wait until the evening most days, when my son comes and takes her for a nice, long walk, or my daughter comes after work and whips her out of the house for a wander. there is a huge mutual admiration society between number two daughter, son, and google, so she doesn't mind too much, and in the meantime she has the garden, thank goodness!

her one desire in life is to lay paws on the cats which live on either side of us. i find this really odd, because our previous dog was wonderful with the cats, but having been reminded that they were, in effect, her 'pack', and she came low in the pecking order anyway, i've had to rethink this. so, right now, i just bring her in when she begins to terrorise the grey kitten from next-door, or the older cat, because they are beautiful, gentle animals, and i don't want my little horror to attack them and am very afraid that she might well do just that!

the cats on the other side are a slightly different matter, as they are both male, B-I-G and look as if they will be quite capable of taking care of themselves anyway! but i bring her in when they materialise on the fence, because, frankly, the racket she makes, and her desperate attempts to dig under the fence and get at them, are awful! i retrieved a wriggling white rear end from half-way through her tunnel, and filled it in again, a while ago, and was appalled to realise just HOW close she had come to success!

tonight, she has suffered the supreme indignity of being 'washed' with some rub-downs! they've taken some of the grime off, but i know that another visit to sheryl will be happening soon! she really is a little oik! having met up with her best, BEST friend, daisy, on sunday, and had a simply wonderful time rolling, chasing, diving, and racing around, according to number two daughter and son, she was absolutely disgustingly dirty when she returned home! so - naturally - she dried herself on my bed, and then sofa-dived until comfortable.....well, what's a girl to do?

the waterdog

2008-02-03T03:26:00.000-08:00

sodden.....and as happy as a sandbaby, she came back from three hours out with the kids yesterday! my waterphobic pup just LOVES to paddle! has she a split personality? or is it just that i'm too soft? i wonder....

our first family dog, topsy, was a waterbaby par excellence, and adored swimming, and number two daughter has always entertained the hope that google will be a swimmer. now she is convinced of it!

i wonder? time will tell.....

in the meantime, Herself does NOT like wind, which is doing a great job of bringing her in immediately after going to the loo! phew! what a relief! although at night, i admit that i do, now, put her on the flexi-lead, and winch her in when she has had her last pee! thank you graham for that suggestion!

we all thought she would crash and burn after such a long time out yesterday, but nope.....she was in the sleep for a nano-seconed and I'M AWAKE! this lasted until we retired to bed, when she flaked out as if she had been sedated!

how we LOVE Fed-Ex!

2008-02-01T13:59:00.000-08:00

the fed-ex guy called this morning, with madame's new harness, all the way from america. google was WILD with excitement! she knows, i swear, when something in the post is for her, and could hardly wait to get it out of the pack.

it is a vibrant pink soft vest-type harness, and it took me the ENTIRE DAY to work out HOW to fit it on her! it is, however, much more successful than the other one, although the only drawback is that it is not designed for use as a seatbelt. but it's much easier to put on, creates less hassle, and doesn't annoy her half as much as her original - although, by the time i had worked out HOW to put it on her, she was disappearing every time i got it out of the packet!

she had cabin fever today, with a vengeance. she doesn't understand that i cannot take her out yet, and asks me so beautifully that it makes my heart clench. i long to be able to walk with her again, but there are weeks to go yet. she is the most extraordinarily patient little dog, though, and on the days when she can't have a walk, she accepts it with such good grace.

i am so lucky to have her.

posh paws

2008-01-30T06:16:00.000-08:00

i succumbed to temptation last night, and purchased a beautiful new harness for Herself. she absolutely LOATHES her harness/seatbelt, and although this one cannot be used as a seatbelt, it seems that it will be easier to put on, and hopefully she will learn to love it! it is in a vibrant pink colour, and is a step in, so fingers crossed! it also has a four foot lead with it, free, which is rather lovely, so she will look amazing when we go out!

last night it was my turn to keep HER up, as, for some reason, i needed to get up and go to the loo four times in the night (and you wonder why i am divorced?). google stared blearily at me, and you could almost SEE her thinking 'stay THERE, it's BEDTIME!'

my, i'm beautiful!

2008-01-29T14:18:00.000-08:00

my word i'm beautiful! it's the eyes that say it! and she is! pristine and white, my little grub has been transformed.

so, of course, we are now having a battle of wills, because she believes that her beauty means that she can do whatsoever she wishes - such as sit in my seat.
we have had a few pack leader moments today, and no mistake!

exquisitely beautiful!

2008-01-28T11:50:00.000-08:00

this afternoon, Herself suspected Something Was Up. it was patently obvious, too. she retired to her bed, and viewed ALL attempts at cajolery with deep suspicion. when i put her harness on, she walked around with her head down, looking as if she had been beaten into submission!

oddly, when we got to auntie sheryl's, she was red-hot to go in! she heard alfie and mabel (i've been calling alfie archie!) barking in welcome, and that was it! off she went to play!

number two daughter and i retired to the local hostelry for a bite to eat (delicious!) and then collected google. AMAZING! the transformation always leaves me speechless, and it did today. this exquisite little snow-white dog, smelling of baby powder, bolted out to reach us and covered us with kisses!

i LOVE having a dog again!

hmmmmm!

2008-01-25T11:43:00.000-08:00

i am jealous!

google will sit on anybody's lap but mine! when my daughter or son arrives, she is on them in an instant! beg, moan, whine, plead.....she won't do it for me!

however, due to a bad back and a VERY comfortable sofa, where i have spent a few nights now, plus my snuggly new sofa snug, she will deign to sleep on top of me! i woke this morning, after a pretty horrible night, to find her tucked into my legs, snoring blissfully!

she is still aiming her energies at digging through to next door, in an attempt to get at the neighbours' cats. it's driving me to distraction. the hole gets bigger and bigger, and my son keeps refilling it, but it is going to have to be chickenwired to stop her digging any further.

currently, though, google is sleeping for england.......she rouses herself to go to the loo in the morning, eats breakfast, and then retires to the sofa until her current walkers arrive to take her out. whence she returns when the walk is finished! she does it with heart and soul, though, and has a variety of the most appealing sleeping positions!

the dreaded B-day is approaching though. she won't be happy that we are going to be delivering her to auntie sheryl again, but she will look SO adorable afterwards! AND she will have had a chance to play with archie and mabel - sheryl's two westies. i hope she will forgive us again....heehee!

actually, i am beginning to think that i am just going to have to bite the bullet and get some baby shampoo and go for it. she gets SO dirty between grooming visits, that i am appalled. it's like that old OMO advert!

her ladyship!

2008-01-23T05:39:00.000-08:00

i am beginning to feel that i should bow when i enter her presence.....it is perfectly obvious that google considers that SHE is the mistress of all she surveys! she graciously permits me to share the sofa snug i bought, for which i am deeply grateful.....

her tolerance for exercise is AMAZING! she had an hour and a half in the park yesterday, and an hour out later that evening, and was STILL ready to go again!

dear little soul, i love her more than i can ever admit to anyone. she is the heart and soul of my life.

snugglypup

2008-01-22T04:36:00.000-08:00

we've acquired a new goodie! it's called a sofa snug and google thinks it's wonderful! it's rather like a sleeping bag, but slightly more elegant, and as my flat is cold, i love stuff like this.

last night, i dozed off, securely and warmly wrapped in the snug, and awoke to find an ecstatic, upside-down dog, tucked in with me!

she is becoming distinctly bloody-minded about food, though. pedigree just does NOT float her boat! number two daughter kindly introduced her to an upmarket, expensive dogfood, and she thinks it is just YUMMY!

square eyes!

2008-01-20T06:07:00.000-08:00

google is absolutely square-eyed! she actually watches television, intently.

i have heard people say that their dogs are 'aware' of t.v. but nobody seems to have one who actually goes and sits in front of the television, and watches with complete fascination!

so far, she prefers animal programmes, but she is getting entranced by criminal minds...... i think she is in love with mandy patinkin!

from a dog who NEEDED to go out five times a night, she has developed the bladder capacity of an ELEPHANT! now, she goes out for a last wee, comes in and retires to bed, and simply doesn't budge! amazing!

we are encountering food problems again though.....oh well, nobody said life would be perfect!

diva

2008-01-19T12:45:00.001-08:00

well, her ladyship has a new coat! and she absolutely loves it! number two daughter bought it, along with an even longer flexi-lead, so she has, at least, the illusion of freedom. we dare not allow her actual freedom, as she has no sense whatsoever!

today, my petrified-of-water dog went to a new park with son and daughter. and jumped straight into the lake! now, if only this would permit her to lose her terror of water, the chance that she would let me bath her looms a little larger! apparently she met several blindingly white westies, and it was only when they got closer that the kids realised just HOW appallingly filthy she is!

since her entire life is devoted solely to eating, cuddling and digging up my garden.....there is little likelihood that she will be anything else! and since she has NO chance of ever being a showdog - i am FAR too lax to do anything like that - she will probably continue to be a slightly dingy westie!

oh, DUH!

2008-01-18T14:23:00.000-08:00

i've just realised that anyone who reads this would not have realised that i had to have massive surgery just before christmas, which is why i vanished from sight and sound! it took me much longer to recover from the anaesthetic this time, so i shall be well prepared for next time - which will be fairly soon after the left foot has healed and am walking again. will have to ensure that googie and i have many good walks before i disappear into hospital again!

she is proving herself to be a terrier with a terror's disposition! a friend offered her a walk this afternoon, and she went.....all of four yards. at which point, she put her head down, braced all four legs, and flatly refused to go further!

we realised, later, that she almost certainly expected to go in the car!!

google has been a travelling dog since i got her. she adores going out for a ride, except when it ends at a) the vet's and b) the groomer's! other than that, she would be happy to ride to land's end! she loves the window to be open, so that she can smell the kaleidoscope provided for her nose, and to be cuddled on my lap. she isn't as enthusiastic about her harness, which keeps her safe and secure in the back, but she puts up with it!

she's also slightly changed her televisual habits lately. google watches television. and i mean REALLY watches television . none of this, oh, it's an advert she might glance at......when something is on that she wants to see, she will concentrate totally on the screen.

i would like to teach her to do slightly more exciting things, but as both of us are laid up, me by surgery, and she by choice, NOT at the moment!

to be or not to be

2008-01-18T08:24:00.000-08:00

to walk, or not to walk....that is the question. only lately, it's been NOT, more than yes let's go out NOW, mum!

google has a distinct aversion to water. doesn't matter whether it comes in the free-falling kind, or in a bath, she isn't having a BAR of it! just doesn't like it at ALL!

which leads to something of a problem, as she is now beginning to hum a little!

i've said before that she has a predilection for rolling in the most DISGUSTING stuff she can find, and i fully accept that that is what dogs do. but i would love to be able to bath her, and remove the eau de goose, or fox.....any suggestions would be SO welcome!

so far, she has been appalled by her uncle's attempt to bath her, horrified by my own efforts, and tolerates the lovely lady who does her once a month at a fairly expensive cost.

she is also becoming increasingly horrific with regard to cats! next door's timid, but exquisite black cat loves to run along my fence, which leads google to explode into a frenzy!

what i discovered yesterday, however, was that she has been quietly digging an escape tunnel through to next door! and i caught the little bugger just as she was wriggling under the fence! which means that now she can only go in the garden on a lead, until the time when i get and install some chicken wire! urgh!

MEMO TO SELF

2008-01-18T06:58:00.001-08:00

VERY IMPORTANT MEMO TO SELF.....

NEVER, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, INTERFERE WITH YOUR COMPUTER'S PROGRAMMING, WHEN YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT YOU ARE DOING!!!

that said, i have found a wondrous computer engineer who has fixed my blessed machine, and so here we go again.....

google has been incredible since my operation! she had a miserable two nights and a day with her uncle, whom she regards as a mixed kind of person, since he bathed her some time back! she loves him, but is absolutely TERRIFIED that he will do it again!

when she came home, she was wonderful, aside from wanting to lick my toes, which i couldn't permit her to do, because of obvious infection risk. since then, she has been my baby limpet, glued to my side at all times!

the kids are taking it in turns to walk her, and she is having an absolutely wonderful time!

i bought her a staircase. lovely, soft foam, with a fleecy surface. will she use it?

nope.

she went for her spay, and was turned back at the operating theatre door, as she was in season. fair enough. so we have endured another season, which has been fun for neither of us, but which is now, thankfully, over, so it's re-book time again!

she was NOT amused when we took her to be done, though. i have not seen a dog sulk before, but sulk she did, and for ENGLAND! thankfully, next day she was back to her usual sunny self!

lately, however, we have been a tad fussy over food. she does not like beef, and is passionately in love with butcher's tripe dogfood. or was.

suddenly, out of the blue, she is having nothing to do with it! i wonder if this is because she now knows that nobody will remove her food, and that she is also fed adequately. ahem....more than adequately. she has been asking for supper lately! as a result, she is a little bit porky, having put on half a pound! i know that she will burn it off though, as she is rarely still!

hey ho! back to normal, thank the gods!

mastering the sit

2007-12-13T12:07:00.000-08:00

four months ago, herself mastered sitting on command.

and then, as her adolescence arrived with a bang - it all went out of her head, as if it had never been in there in the first place!

and so we are working, once more, on the sit.

allegedly.

in theory, a quick upward jerk of the collar, and SIT command will work.

no.

clicker training? weeeeeelll.....we tried.

it worked for a while.

and then - not.

she KNOWS, but simply refuses to do it.

all the time, that is.

there are moments when she will, and does it beautifully.

but.....

she doesn't like sitting when it's cold.

or wet.

or stoney.

or gritty.

or grass.

she has, however, instantly mastered the hover.

when the mood takes her, she will hover her nether regions about an inch above the ground - sorry - i'm not metric!

back to square one......

HAIL, CESAR!

2007-12-13T09:35:00.000-08:00

please, dear cesar millan, PLEASE come to england. i have a dog who needs your assistance.....or rather google has a human who needs you!

i have tried the calm, assertive role.

failed.

i have been firm.

failed.

google rules, okay?

cesar - PLEASE COME AND CONQUER THE UK!

the girl can't help it!

2007-12-13T09:29:00.000-08:00

she is DEFINITELY a cat in a dogskin! she plays like a cat, pouncing, and following things in the way cats do - and as previous human mama to a LOT of cats over the years, i know this! - so i love watching her.

you see, when she arrived, she had no concept of playing at ALL. if you tried to play tug with her, she would simply relinquish whatever it was, and back away. she did not understand balls, toys, love, anything.....

i must give full credit to my kids, and to my ex-partner who have all spent ages patiently playing with her. the day she pulled back on her twisted rope toy, i had tears in my eyes!

she is the gentlest, sweetest-natured little soul....with the instincts of a trained assassin when she spots a cat!

okay.....we are out for a walk. i am praying that we do not encounter a feline.....and, of course, we DO!

at this point, google attempts to hang herself on the lead, stands on her hind legs, yells in protest because i won't let her go and KILL that furry thing!

following this, we finish our walk, go home, and she is still huffing and puffing and absolutely Full Of It.....this necessitates inspecting every square inch of our house and garden to ensure that NO cats have been within the exclusion zone.....

the next step is to bustle self-importantly up and down the corridor, in case....JUST in case.... a cat should MATERIALISE inside our home!

it's like living with jekyll and hyde!

you VILL do VOT i VANT

2007-12-12T19:17:00.000-08:00

which is why, dear diary, it's three.thirty in the bloody middle of the night, and i forgot to put the lead on, and she's dancing round the top of the garden, and i want to lie on the floor and have a good old-fashioned tantrum!

she's definitely aiming for svengali....i feel it in me water! it's that hard stare....and then the look which says that i am going to do what she wants, no matter if it's three in the morning, or it's pouring with rain.... she sits in front of me, eyebrows waggling, eyes fixed on mine....all doglovers will know this one! that solid, non-blinking gaze which you KNOW you should ignore and absolutely cannot....

and you find yourself rising, as if by magic, and being led to the kitchen, towards the treat box........

how could i have thought it? svengali?

of course not.

rasputin! now THAT'S the bunny!

svengali or houdini?

2007-12-12T13:08:00.000-08:00

can't decide if google's aspiring to be houdini - judging by today's escape attempt, it's palled a little bit to be houdini really.....but she's doing a damned good job with svengali!

you know that feeling you get that something is not quite right? maternal intuition? esp? black magic? well, mine has been pretty well dormant since my children grew up and left home, but since herself has been around, it has launched itself back to life with a vengeance!

i get that 'eyes on the back of the head' feeling SO many times, and the prickle that tells me when to get off my bum and investigate, and it's ALWAYS RIGHT! yesterday, i was doing something at the computer, and i suddenly KNEW that she was Up To No Good.....walked into the kitchen, and sure enough, there was herself, removing every single piece of wet washing which i had draped on the radiators to dry......

she was a bit disconcerted at actually being caught, but bounced back remarkably quickly. fast enough to do precisely the same with the other radiator, about twenty minutes later....

it just annoys me a trifle to find her eating my bra, after it's come out of the washing machine....and she doesn't seem to GET this!

right now, she is lying by my chair, making a leisurely job of chewing my favourite pair of socks.....it's just an up yours, mum, kind of thing, much of the time, i know that, but sometimes it's SHEER devilment!

all is forgiven, though, when we retire to bed....who needs a hot water bottle when they have a westie?

THAT'LL teach me!

2007-12-12T11:16:00.000-08:00

MEMO TO SELF: do NOT go into the park wearing shoes without sufficient traction, on damp day.

reason:

well, it had been a fair while since we had had a really GOOD run round the big park, so kindness set fire to my brain, and we went to give her a good gallop.

as usual, our first visit was to the grandfather and grandmother trees, two glorious, twisted old oaks, with whom i have a really good friendship, and guess who had forgotten about ..... cue JAWS music .... SQUIRRELS!

google took one look at a vanishing tail, put her head down, bolted, with me firmly attached to the other end of the lead, and - WALLOP! - i went face first into leaf-mould, mud, the odd paper cup.....get the picture? herself exited smartly into the trees, as i had let go the lead.

i am somewhat ashamed to say that i laid there, face down, and cried.

out of sheer, unadulterated temper!

incidentally, thank you to graham for the suggestion of using an extendable lead to winch the little bugger back in again at night. i will!

having been offline for two days, due to a problem with my ISP, it has been a long, lonely night-time, waiting for googie to stop faffing around up the garden! but i'm back now, and can spread her misdeeds far and wide!

when, oh WHEN?

2007-12-10T18:57:00.000-08:00

it's three in the morning, and once more i am WIDE AWAKE. the summoning bark came just as i was about to doze off, and now herself is exploring the moth potential in the garden, and showing NO signs of coming in.

so i am waiting her out.

ignoring her.

that's what westie groups suggest.

ignore them.

they hate that.

HUH!

it's bitterly cold, she has NO INTENTION of coming back to bed, will almost certainly aim to bodyswerve me when she DOES deign to come in, which means that my spotless bed is going to be adorned with pawmarks again....

there are times......

the googlemonster

2007-12-10T06:25:00.000-08:00

google LOVES to play, and we have a new game now. i change the bedlinen, and she creeps under the duvet and plays monsters! it is very obviously a game, too, because she loves to do it again and again!

as i've done my christmas shopping online, i can honestly say that it has been easier than any other year. google is fascinated with the parcels which arrive, and is quite getting into the 'let's open 'em up' idea! she becomes hugely excited, but doesn't attempt to open them herself, i'm glad to say!

my darling topsy used to sit and quiver with excitement on christmas morning, because she KNEW that there were presents for HER! and there always were! i think that google will have NO problem at all with the concept of christmas trees and gifts.....

she has had her walk this morning, and is now sprawled on the sofa, waiting, i'm ashamed to admit, for jeremy kyle's programme to come on!

she's a bit of a t.v. addict, actually, and has very definite tastes. she will watch any animal programme intently, and really DOES watch. she loves anything with apes in it, and, of course, the dog whisperer is her idol! i think she is in love with one of the pit bulls!

the knicker thief strikes again!

2007-12-09T13:15:00.000-08:00

caught in the act, she had the grace to look sheepish.

difficult, with a pair of knickers hanging out of your mouth, but she did, and wouldn't meet my eyes.....having already retrieved the bra she had swiped from the radiator, i was not best pleased. that dog has my number.....she stood up on her back legs and danced to me! of COURSE i melted....

went to visit son and daughter tonight. google was FINE for a while, and then did the thing that children do when they've had enough. bouncing around, hogging the attention, and peering intently into one's eyes 'CANWEGOHOMENOWMUM???? canwecanwecanwe?'

topsy simply went and sat by the front door when she wanted to go home. google has no qualms whatever about causing a ruckus!

poor bonni-cat had to vacate the house for the garden, though. google knows full well that he lives there, and makes his life hell!

i am lost

2007-12-09T08:48:00.000-08:00

yup. lost. she knows EXACTLY how to manipulate me to do whatever she wants!

i don't know if every westie does this, but google will accurately assess my mood, and if she wants to make me laugh, or go out, or the door opened, will stand on her hind legs and wave her front paws at me! it just, simply, makes me MELT! i am a gooey pool of adoration within a nano-second.

and the little devil knows it! that's the worst part! i watch her sometimes, and i can see her clicking over, and deciding what to get up to next, as clearly as if it was written on her forehead!

she also has independent eyebrows! my first and last dog, my beloved topsy, had independent ears, which looked remarkably like radar scanners. they worked absolutely independently too - oh dear, how many times have i used the word? i can't think of any synonym though! - and googie has completely independent eyebrows, which she waggles meaningfully at me!

even though she hates the rain, i've come to feel that she has decided, somehow, that it is her bounden duty to take mum out every morning! this a.m. it was HORRIBLE - raining, nasty and i knew that mud aplenty laid in wait.

we found it.

two's company

2007-12-07T19:51:00.000-08:00

it REALLY is! i've been insomniac for rather a long while now, and it is a real joy to have someone to share the night with!

google never minds getting up with me, if i am prowling my room, and it makes a hell of a difference to actually have someone to talk to!!

she is currently esconced on my pillow, watching me at the keyboard, and no doubt debating what she will get up to tomorrow!! we will quite probably sleep a little late, and arise in our usual leisurely fashion, she will eat breakfast, and then spend the rest of the morning nagging me to take her out for a walk!

martha stewart - eat your heart out!

2007-12-07T12:28:00.000-08:00

or so i thought.......having cooked a tray of sausages, kindly donated by a friend, with the express purpose of treating herself.

one sniff, and ..... nope. not having ANY of it!

graham, i know, cooks for tilly and always did for prince, and while google WILL happily devour chinese food, a full roast dinner, and anything she can scarf from passing suckers........she doesn't approve of my sausages!

DOGS!

the massage parlour

2007-12-07T09:04:00.000-08:00

her ladyship LOVES to be massaged! absolutely loves it. i found this out entirely by accident, after a stressed day when she had been particularly naughty and disrespectful. we were lying in bed, and i was chiding her gently, and i remembered about tellington touch.

she responded to this like a flower opening to rain. stretched, moved my hands to where she wanted to be massaged, and to my astonishment, i felt her relaxing under my fingers. she had become really tense and knotted up, which i didn't know happened to dogs, and the massage relaxed her beautifully.

she is extremely lucky to have an uncle who adores her, and who is a massage expert, also, so she visits him if she has a real problem!

actually, google has the most incredible extended family! she even has a loving godfather in america! he spoils her outrageously! in return, she writes him rather misspelled emails.....

cross-legged doglet

2007-12-06T15:26:00.000-08:00

i think google has just twigged rain! she was horrified to find it raining at the back door this morning, and demanded that i open the front so that she could double-check. it was raining there, too, so she said thank you SO much, but i will stay in. i kept a weather eye on her, and spotted her about to lower the bot for a pee on the doormat, so popped her outside.

her revenge was to go and roll in the most DISGUSTING patch of mud she could find! and then she doubleswerved, got past me, and once more the kitchen floor is COVERED in pawprints!

as today's been singularly vile, weatherwise, she has gone out the bare minimum, barring the moment when she decided that we HAD TO GO FOR A WALK! so, of course, we did. she pulled me from one end of the recreation ground to the next, with great glee and gusto, walked through every puddle she could find, and once more exhibited suicidal tendencies by doing her best to slide under the fence. fortunately, she was attached to me! she got a hard yank, and a stern NO, and gave me the 'it was worth a TRY' look that all dog-lovers know so well....

i fear tonight will be a long one. she doesn't care at all for the idea of going out for a last pee, so it will be....oh, about three a.m. when she wakes to go! BLESS her.

bless her.

huh!

precious little lump of love....NOT!

2007-12-06T07:48:00.000-08:00

WHY do dogs wait until the precise moment you have cleared the poo from the lawn, and THEN CHOOSE TO GO?

i remain constantly astonished by the amount of evacuation that my little one produces, though....for such a small dog, she has the ability to apparently throw out about the same amount of poo as an elephant! and she distributes it evenly round the grass, which means that, if i go out in the dark, there is an even chance i am going to step in some of it.....lovely!

she's definitely a visiting dog, though! her favourite day is one where we go and visit people, and she has the opportunity to see different places and faces. it's given me pause for thought, actually, and i'm wondering if i ought not to consider taking her to our local old people's home, because she is so sweet natured that she would be a joy to them.

she's currently obsessed with t.v.! absolutely obsessed! if i put it on, i have to make sure that there is an animal programme that she can watch, or she complains bitterly! she particularly admires monkeys, for some odd reason, or apes. when they come onto the screen, she races to sit precisely in front of the television, and doesn't move until the programme is finished! but cesar millan, the dog whisperer, is her first love. she has only to hear his voice and she is moaning softly! i think she may be in love......

search engine mode

2007-12-06T03:38:00.000-08:00

today we are in search engine mode, as befits the name!

now, i don't know if all westies are trackers, but it's a miracle google hasn't worn her nose flat - it's never off the ground at times!

so far this morning, she has made a meal of a washing up sponge, half of a curly thing my son bought for her, and has had a spirited go at one of my socks.....this was not wise.....

we slept reasonably well last night, only getting up once, so that was a HUGE bonus for me. four times up per night had left me feeling my years!

fortunately, i seem to be able to second-guess her a little better now - she is a dedicated chewer, and having worked her way through the cable to my uplighter, has been having the odd nibble at other electrical cables when she thought i wasn't looking! i am beginning to develop a bit of a second sense about where she is and what she is doing though, which has left her a bit disconcerted!

this morning, though, as i am at the computer, she has decided it is time to clear out the cupboard under the sink, and has made a good meal of a washing up sponge, the odd piece of paper (please don't let that corner be a banknote....!) and various other bits and pieces which have taken her fancy! it's exactly like having a toddler around again! the only difference is that i'm not twenty-one, and the joints are creaking a lot. does she care? nope!

it's three in the morning

2007-12-04T19:09:00.000-08:00

and i am giving serious consideration to strangling google!

who is currently cavorting around the top of the garden, with great delight, whilst i shiver on the doorstep, cursing under my breath.

we just have NOT mastered this coming in at night routine at ALL! i don't know quite where i am falling down.... i am firm, commanding, strong.....and it always ends with me pleading!

she has now bounced in, full of it, and taken herself straight onto my pillow. bless her. she has the dirtiest paws imaginable, so it's clean linen tomorrow....again. i missed her by a nano-second, with the towel, and she body-swerved me, and made it to the bed before i did, the little horror!

and now i can't sleep.

and she has gone, immediately, into deep and restful slumber.

bless her.

i've been tagged by graham of grahamandprince - and am slightly embarrassed to admit that i don't know HOW to link to his blog. but i'll put my five weird thingies down here anyway.

1) i wear no make up. when i found out how it was tested, i stopped immediately.

2) i hate dresses and skirts!

3) i talk to trees. oh yes.

4) i believe very firmly in faeries.

5) i don't drive.