September – Harvest time!

I relised I had not posted on this site in a while. No excuse just like many others, getting to grips with our new normal, though I believe there is no such thing as a normal routine, not any more.

However September is here which should mean, slow lazy gardening days, collecting, gathering an generally enjoying the fruits of our busy summer in the garden. It was going well until the brocoli incident.

You would think we had learnt to be a bit more watchful. But we don’t do anything easy or simple in this house. The Garden was looking good until we learnt that Doug loves …

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Brocoli, Peas, Beans, Courgettes, Carrots, Tomatoes (red and green) in fact Doug just likes to eat! The result was flattened areas where he harvested his greens, and reds.

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Missing – Dad and Bob.

Of all the things I have ever written this is the toughest.

As this is Bob’s blog I will explain his story first.

On the 23rd of April, my best 4 legged buddy passed away. Bob has always been with me as I type my blog entries. His favourite position was to sleep on my feet and snore softly as I typed. It is an overused statement but – I miss him.

We were told, as many of you know, in March of 2018 that we would be lucky to have him with us for another month or two.

For me my emotions are like a daily rollercoaster as only four weeks before Bob, my Dad passed away. I was starting to come to terms with that loss when Bob left us.

I am still recovering from the shock of losing two strong well-loved individuals, (yes I know that Bob was to most – only a dog) who played such a big part in my daily life. In fact, in the past four years, my life has been centred around them and visits to Doctors and Veterinarians.

For Ellie, life has become a confusing place. She always had Bob with her except when she was working and even then when she arrived back home, he was at the back of the car ready to welcome her. Now when she gets out of the car she tends to stand and look around the yard as though expecting him to amble around the corner to say hello. She is not the only one who does this.

I really don’t want to stop writing the blog as I am still learning and working with dogs, but I am open to suggestions from the few who read my ramblings. But without Dad and Bob, the world has tilted.

I have visited the vets many times, as I stated above, but on that horrible evening, there was something that sort of freaked me out. The only four-legged client at the surgery was an Elkhound pup! Norwegian Elkhounds are not a popular breed here in Meath.

As always any and all comments are appreciated by me, and Ellie.

Happy Christmas

2018

We got him (Bob) this far, thanks to our great team of vets. As you can see he was the only dog happy to show off his Christmas hats.

Training in extreme weather

Irish heatwaves are a rare thing, but 8 weeks into extremely sticky heat and we are experiencing problems. For me and the four dogs, training now takes place at unlikely hours or at unlikely venues. We try to vary it as much as possible. Most days they are each given a task to do and so trained individually but then if the two-legged handler sleeps late, training takes place in the river. The dogs love this but I don’t as I generally end up the wettest of the lot.

 

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Ellie is on the left on the last photo in the slides she prefers to stand on the bank and manage the recovery – this collie only gets wet as the last resort.

 

Our favorite things, by Bob & Ellie

Some of this list will not be a surprise to many people.

Bob’s top 5 favourite things

1. A soft cushion to lie on – important for aging creaking bones – even if I sometimes roll off it.
2. A bone to crunch on – the crunching reminds our two legged friends that we are still here.
3. Sunshine and kids, – Sunshine provides much needed heat and the kids provide much needed treats. (M has me on a diet again.)
4. Dinner – I dream in food in particular, strawberries.
5. A hug – who doesn’t like a hug?

Ellie’s top 5 favourite things,

1 . She doesn’t care what size or colour but specifies there should be plenty of tennis balls

2   Play time –

dav

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3. Working, particularly in wooded areas

 

4.  Boat trips, they come in handy for collecting lost in the river tennis balls.

5.  Bob!

Say Yes and …

I was asked to enter Ellie in a contest called Nose of Tralee. The idea behind the contest is to let people see the amazing lives these animals who are re-homed or rescued can have with their new forever families.

Saying yes, was the easy bit because then I learned that a photograph or photographs of her were needed. That meant giving her a bath, which means I have to catch her, bath her, blow dry her and then clean the bathroom and finally clean me.

So it was done. Then to my surprise many people voted for her and she is now her County Nose of Tralee. Great I thought, until the sash arrived and more photographs were needed, which meant another bothersome bath. Being Ellie each photo session meant more and more items were gathered by me to persuade her to sit still until I ended up with this…

 

It took forever to get her to look at me but when it was done, I went in search of the main man -Bob. He had given up waiting for his photo to be taken and was snoozing. I woke him and this is the awful look he gave me!

Go away, I am not moving.

 

If you have a moment, because after all the washing and bathing I would appreciate a vote, the link to vote for her is: Ellie

Thank you,

A place to hide

Lately we have noticed that in the hotter days of Summer (yes, we do get a few here in Ireland), both dogs appear to disappear.

So I investigated. His loud snoring does have one advantage. He is easy to find.

When i did I discovered a really neat house.

The weeping willow has grown and its drooping curtain of branches forms a perfect hideaway for both dogs. Though, I did get the impression someone was not happy that I discovered their secret.

 

Bob on exercise

We took the (home made) agility gear out and Ellie did her usual, raced over jumps, through the tunnel and kept on going for a few laps until she had taken the tunnel apart.

the best way to use buckets.

We spent quite a bit of time trying to persuade the Bob to have a go. There was no treats in my pocket so the best he could manage was – a roll over!

dav

Dogs are always pups

For some dogs never grow up and we have plenty of shredded evidence. I bought Bob a soft rug . It lasted two days, so I resorted to making dog duvets for him from old (washed) duvets. 

Now I don’t know what to try next, as you can see she (Ellie) shreds everything. And  Bob? He patiently waits to see if he will be left with anything to lie on.