Monday 28 October 2013

Bloomin' Rain

Hey pups! Walked to Hampshire today, saw the beginning/end of a rainbow...fairly nice day......until I got drenched with freaking rain!!!!!!!!!!!






I'm so jealous so everyone not living in the UK right now!

Licks and Wags,
Dina

Saturday 26 October 2013

Following Atticus by Tom Ryan

Hey guys! Today it is going to be me, Dina Mom. I'd like to share a book I have recently read and a book that has inspired me. It's Following Atticus. The general jist of the book is that an overweight, forty year old due get s Mini Schnauzer puppy, Atticus M. Finch and he changes his life. Big time. The book is centred around their life in Newburyport where Tom Ryan is the sole employee of the Undertoad, a local newspaper. When their friend dies of cancer, Tom wants to change and fulfil his friend's wishes. They decided to climb the 48 four thousand foot mountains in the White Mountains twice during one winter. Following Atticus is an account of the journey, of the lessons learnt from the mountains, from the hikes and from the little dog named Atticus.





Please do check it out, it is really a worthy read.

Hugs,
Dina Mom

PS. The photos in this post are not my own!!

Tuesday 22 October 2013

(not so) Wordless Wednesday

Hey pups! Recently, I've had a case of cute-sleeping-postionitis.








I hear the collective "Awwwww!"s

Licks and Wags,
Dina






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Two in One

Hey pups! On Saturday it was my Gotcha Day!!! As predicted on my birthday Mom made be treats, this time it was a cheesy goodness named Tail Twists (recipe available if you follow the link).

All mixed: flour, flaxseed, cheeses and thyme

The 'mid-dough' after adding oil but not the water

and ready for rolling!
Mom tired to do the twists but they didn't work out so she just made little balls which is far more logical as they're going to be training treats anyway. What's that you say? Did I like them? Let's just say they got my tail in a twist!



Self- control- oh yeah!
We fully realise that it is also Training Tuesday so I'll say that I am doing GREAT with my roll over trick. I know the command but I still hesitate sometimes before rolling over- we're working on that. I no longer need a lure and fully recognise the hand signal. This has motivated Mom to work on my other hand signals with fantastic results. We think that by the next Training Tuesday (TT) we can be moving on to a new trick, which do you think: bow, peekaboo or paws up?

Licks and Wags,
Dina

Monday 21 October 2013

Ditty Adventures

Hey pups! Yesterday I posted a photo of a dog slightly different from me and you might be wondering who that was. I'll take today to explain. Yesterday morning at around 7:45 am Mama got a phone call from an elderly friend of ours, saying that she doesn't feel very well and that she suspects she had a stroke. Everyone whipped out of bed and got dressed really quickly (all the humans went because the woman didn't speak very good English so she would need help and the humans' church is in the same village).  I got left behind! So I'll let Mom take it from here:

Cheers, Bushy! Well we got there and we called the ambulance; they took her away. (Turns out she had a mini stroke, increasing her chances of having a proper one.) Big Guy and I went ahead to church, while Mama and Middle Guy came later. After church we had to fetch the old woman's dog because we wouldn't know how long she would be in hospital. *Enter Aphrodite (I call her Ditty)* We brought her home and she promptly wet herself. She is a 10 year old Lhasa Apso, with heart problems, diabetes and she is OBESE ties in nicely with Dachshund Nola post. I am pretty pissed at her owner for letting her get that way and the worst thing is she doesn't admit that she is fat. Anyways, back to Dina for the rest:

All right, she peed herself, did Mom mention that? I mean Ewwwww! I grew out of that months ago. When we first met she was totally overwhelmed and just went and lay down. But I wanted to play. I patted her with my paw; she growled and Mom told me to stop. I did it again. And again. And again. She just didn't want to play- how is that possible? I promise you guys right now that when I am old and doddery and 10 years old I will not be so boring! After a couple of hours it was time for walks- yay! Mom walked us together. As soon as I sussed out what was going on I was having none of it. Walk time is Mom and me time (mostly me). Mom gave it a go. We didn't take one step and I snapped. Mom figured I'll calm down. I didn't. We didn't walk for two minutes and I turned from the calm, sweet adorable angel you know to a snarling, biting and snapping bitch. That's it- Mom went home and walked us separately. Yay! I tired playing with her again but it went like this (the noise is the TV):






Have you had a lame playdate recently?

Licks and Wags,
Dina

PeeS. Ditty's Mommy is all right and she is back home.


Thursday 17 October 2013

18km/10 mile Hike

Hey pups! That's right, I did it- I walked almost 20 km and I loved it. Mom's school had a strike with the teacher so there were no classes going on- whoop! We took a bus ride to Farnham and wondered around for 10 minutes while Mom tried to figure out which way we were supposed to go- the map said it was near the railway station so Mom was looking for a sign that was pointing in that direction. She eventually found it and we found a board introducing us to the trail (North Downs Way). The first part wasn't the best way to welcome hikers to the trail in my opinion as it was a run down road but with our luck we met a delivery van. Ugh! However, there was a fun little stream we waded in.



Everything was pawsome- for the first 30 -45 minutes. Then we met the first problem- the lamely marked trails. National Trust: If you want people to walk your trails and enjoy them and not worry about getting lost in an area where they have never been before mark the trails properly!!! How much can one small piece of plastic saying North Downs Way cost? And you can just walk it yourself and screw it in!!! Daaamn! Sorry rant over. We lost a good 20 minutes trying to find the trail until Mom decided to just go to the road and walk along it until she saw an actual path. Thankfully it wasn't far and we went down it- it turned out it was the right way. How were we supposed to know if there were like two or three other paths crossing it?!?!?! Anyways, we settled down after that.

Should I go with this couple of stay with Mom?

We met a young bitch who had her first season- she was so adorable at seven months old!


See small, plastic, cheap!




We then hit a long stretch of trail along a road. It was through a peaceful village but woody trail always beats road, right? When we finally came back to the proper trail it was through the middle of a golf course and we found this very reassuring sign:

Ummm...OK?

We had a lunch stop and of course I had to have some of Mom's sandwich!

Give it to meeee!

And i had some of my own food

We went through a section which was heavily guarded by signs saying that it was private property and not to go off the trail...we're meek so we obeyed. 

Not the sign! Those were far more intimidating- all read and exclamation marked!




Spiky!

We had a couple of slight detours but Mom quickly realised and set us straight! We walked through a village where Mom stole borrowed some grapes and we found a church that has a pet service. In that same village there was an animal rehab centre for all animals including equines. We walked through woods and field until we reached familiar territory. By that time we were both half dead but happy, we hopped on the bus and high tailed it home.



I'm now dog tired but a tired dog (especially terrier!) is a good (and happy) dog!

Licks and Wags,
Dina