Good Bye and Good Riddance 2021

Photo Description:- A head shot of Boris the black Cocker Spaniel wearing a black headband with the words Happy New Year lit up in a bluish/white colour

What an awful year 2021 has been for us as a family

It's been a massive learning curve with many changes in dynamics and everybodies role within our family. Some of which I've blogged about, but a lot of which I haven't

Christmas Blues

This time of year is extremely difficult, on the outside I'm all smiles and Happy Christmas, but on the inside I just can't wait for December to be over

Photo Description:- Boris the Black Cocker Spaniel and Eko the Golden Cocker Spaniel sitting side by side in our kitchen facing the camera. Boris is on the left wearing his Santa hat and Eko is wearing his Reindeer Antlers

For most of my adult life I've opted to work on Christmas Day and avoid it altogether if I can

𝐖𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐚𝐛𝐞 𝐏𝐮𝐧𝐤 𝐑𝐨𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐫

Top knots - They're a part of Spaniels you either love or hate

Boris standing in the woods wearing his green fleece jumper and royal blue collar, his head is turned to the side and his top knot is sticking right up in a punk style Mohican

Personally I'm not a fan of them,

Halloween 🎃🎃🎃

Happy Hallowen everypawdy 

Hope you all have a grand evening, although we'll be staying in with mum and dad as it'll be too scary for us pups to venture outside with all the noise

Photo Description:- Boris wearing red devils horns and holding a red trident in his mouth, the background is black with red flames leaping up behind him

Boris 
xxx

This post is linked too:-

Cats are predictably unpredictable 

Ink Torrents Graphics -Wandering Camera

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Eyes on the Prize

Recently we've been working really hard on Eko learning to focus on my face rather than my hands, as I attempt to fade out the hand signals and lures when practicing our Heelwork to Music moves and assistance dog tasks

Photo Description:- A head shot of Eko sitting in the garden looking up at the camera with good focus, his mouth is open slightly and his eyes are relaxed as are his ears

I hadn't realised just how much I move my hands around to lure Eko until I watched a few videos of our training sessions

Jackanory Part 13 ~ Liberty

I found this old post in my drafts that was never published

I've decided to add it to our Jackanory Stories series as it was written several years ago about Liberty, a lovely elderly girl we fostered for a few weeks until her forever home was found

I assume she's now probably crossed the Rainbow Bridge, as she'd be approx 17 years old by now 

Liberty deserves to be remembered as she was part of our lives

We fell in love with Liberty even though she wasn't with us for long, she arrived a few weeks after Badger Boo had crossed the Rainbow Bridge, we'd decided to try fostering as Boris really missed Badger Boo, but I just wasn't ready to get another full time dog as Badger's loss was still so raw. It was so difficult when it became time to take her back to the kennels, but it was also a happy time as we knew she had her forever home waiting for her

Photo Description:- Liberty a dark brown brindle Boxer cross laying on some grass looking at the camera, her muzzle is very grey and she has very distinguished grey eyebrows

It's tragic that so many dogs are unwanted in this country because people keep

Self Care is so Important

Boris says

We're back home after the most amazing holiday and back to walking on our favourite common once more

The holiday was to give mum some much needed respite from caring for her own mother since her stroke in April

Photo Description:- Boris sitting on grass on the common looking very content wearing his grey collar with a rose gold buckle. Behind him in the distance are the trees and a beautiful clear blue sky with a few white clouds

It's been a very stressful time since it happened and has been making mum

Mum Update

I've been taking some much needed time for myself this week and feel so much better for a few days back at East Wittering with the two crazy boys and Himself

 

This getting old lark isn't much fun

A Mini Break

Last weekend we finally managed to get a quick overnight trip to East Wittering, it's been two years since we last had a day out at the beach, what with being in lockdown for 2020 because of Covid and my mum having a stroke in April of this year

Boris was so exited when he realised we were packing up to go away in the camper van, he kept zooming around the house, barking and getting in everybodies way, the beach is probably his most favourite place of all time to visit

 

 Eko on the other hand took it all in his stride and sat watching Boris with a confused look on his face, probably because he's only been away to

Allotment Flowers

Beautiful Sweet Peas picked from my allotment first thing this morning, the scent is just amazing, I always prefer to put them in a clean jam jar as they never look right in a vase

Sweet Peas are one of my favourite flowers, so many beautiful varieties, my favourites being the purples, pinks and whites as they have the strongest scent. This year we've planted six different varieties down on the allotment, and can't wait to see them all in flower

Throwback Thursday

On this day 6 years ago the worst thing happened that can happen to any dog owner, I was devastated and it took me several days before I was able to write the hardest post  I've ever written on our social media

I had to inform every body that Badger had passed away in my arms and had crossed the Rainbow Bridge. I thought we were prepared, but in truth you're never prepared to lose your very best friend

It hit us really hard, even now I'm struggling to write this post, Badger was the first dog we got as a couple, my first Cocker Spaniel after almost a lifetime of having Rottweilers

He was so different from any dog I'd had previously and because he only weighed 9.5kgs he got away with all sorts of things my other dogs had never been allowed too, he slept on our bed and furniture, he pulled like a train on the lead and suffered with fear aggression after being involved in a nasty incident as a puppy

After several years of love and positive training we eventually got him over his fear aggression towards other dogs and he was once more a jolly little Cocker Spaniel called Badger

Using up those Odd and Ends when crafting

We all have them, those little odds and ends we make then put too one side, as they didn't quite work in the project you'd originally made them for. Mine all live in a big Kilner Jar on my window sill, every day they sit there looking at me willing to be used.

 

This week I tipped out the jar and started sifting through the bits to see what cards I could come up with. I tasked myself not to make any NEW cards until I'd used as least some of these items up.

 

This Thank You card was a simple one, I'd made the sentiment a couple of weeks ago, but decided it was too large for the card it was intended for. The flowers were a something I was trying out I saw on Pinterest, where you colour the stamps with watercolour crayons then dampen with a water spray and stamp. I dismissed it as too scruffy so into the jar it went so I could use the other side of the card for something else. The sentiment and stamp landed side by side and looked great together, so I dug out some pretty backing paper and bakers twine the card was done

 

Jackanory Part 12 :- Love at First Sight

Welcome back to our Jackanory Stories series where you can catch up on the many parts of our life when we weren't blogging, you can search this series at any time just by using the word Jackanory, oddly they come up in a totally random order but they're all there, plus the odd unexpected post that we may have referred to our Jackanory Stories in

Today we travel right back to the beginning of Ekos life, to the very first time mum saw a photo of him at only 24 hours old and fell head over heels in love with him. Back then Eko's name was Wash as he was part of the Fireflies litter

National Dog Photography Day #nationaldogphotographyday

Today is National Dog Photography Day which was started by our good friend Kerry Jordon of Fur and Fables back in 2018 which you can read about here

Kerry is an amazing photographer and has photographed us on many occasions for various companies and products that she's worked with and needed a nutty Spaniel for. We love working with Kerry as she always captures the most amazing action shots of us, instead of your run of the mill sitting and posing photos

But I digress

Mum takes so many amazing photos of us as well as some pretty bad ones occasionally **roars with laughter** how is she supposed to find that one perfect photo of us to represent National Dog Photography Day, it was a tough one that's for sure

It's Hot Hot Hot

We're currently experiencing a mini heat wave here in the UK, we don't have them often but when we do so many dogs suffer because of the heat and people not taking it into consideration

Every year dogs get left in boiling hot cars which is unthinkable the suffering they have to endure, dogs are constantly seen being walked during the hottest part of the day on red hot pavements, or out playing Fetch over and over again on local playing fields

It's heart breaking to see and hear about these poor dogs to those of us who are

Why we love the Vidivet App

Approx 18 months ago we saw a post about a start up app that wanted to help pets and were looking for beta testers, we jumped at the chance to trial it and help to work out any gremlins that may be lurking before it was launched

Vidivet has been designed, tested and built by veterinary professionals alongside other volunteers like myself to improve access and affordability to veterinary expertise whenever you need it

Anything you want to know about your pet they're there for you, I've learnt so much more about Boris's rare auto immune problem with his Staph Pseudintermedius Bacteria from Ben our vet at Vidivet who explained it all in a way that was clear and easy for me to understand

Have you ever noticed how dogs have a real knack of becoming unwell or getting injured at the most inconvenient times, which is usually

Happy Birthday and Happy Retirement

Happy Birthday Boris

🎂🎂🎂

It's hard to believe you're 7 already, the time has flown by, yet we've achieved so much together. Who'd have thought that naughty little puppy would grow up to become the most amazing assistance dog

Love This Time of Year

I absolutely love this time of the year when all the country lanes are ablaze with colour, especially all the red of Poppies and the blue of Cornflowers, every year the wild Poppy seeds get spread further and further down the lane to make this splendid display of Poppies that stretches for miles as a blazing sea of red, although I don't think my photos do them the justice they deserve

Over Shoulder Boulder Holder

Today's post first appeared on the other blog I used to write called Me, Myself and I way back in June 2012, it was by far and away the most popular post I ever wrote back then

I used to write openly and honestly about what was going on in my life at the time, my struggles about being forced into medical retirement after an accident at work, my alcoholism and how it still affected my life as a recovering addict who'd already been clean and sober for nearly 11 years when I decided to start the blog, plus many other happenings going on in my life back then, a kind of diary I guess so I would never forget

I'm re-sharing this post here today after a discussion with one of my Instagram followers about the difficulties of finding a bra that's comfortable for us larger ladies up top whilst offering the maximum support

Since I first wrote this post 9 years ago my writing style has changed a lot, I considered editing it to bring it more up to date with my style now, then decided not too

It's Finally here

Today's the day, mum is coming home from hospital at last, it's been 8 weeks since she suffered a stroke in the garden

The neighbours children all got together and drew a lovely Welcome Home sign on the footpath outside of their house for all to see, which was a lovely idea, especially as I'd run out of time to make my own banner because of getting the house ready to accommodate a wheelchair

,

As difficult as our journey has been over these past 8 weeks, it pales into insignificance

Jackanory Part 11 :- Meet Eko

Three years ago on the 16th May 2018 this wee munchkin came home with us and we called him Eko 

Photo Credit:- Auriane Whitmore 

Eko came to us with plans to train him as my assistance dog and a successor to Boris, but he started naturally alerting to his dad's sugar levels at around 5 months old and was reliably

A Rough Month

My mother has been in hospital for the longest month ever since she was admitted on the 16th April having suffered a stroke 

The hardest and most frustrating part for both us as a family and mum, is the fact that nobody can visit her due to the Covid restrictions in place at the hospital

Boris has been my absolute rock during this difficult time, my anxiety is back big time trying to keep on top of everything as well as dealing with my own health issues and pain

Bluebell Woofs

Spring is my all time favourite season of the year

Everything bursts into life and the days start to shake off the chill of Winter

I love all the Spring flowers but my favourite by far has to be the Bluebell as it carpets the woodland floor and turns everything into an amazing blue

I hope one day to be able to do the amazing colour justice in a photograph

 

The British Bluebell is so very fragile and easily damaged that once you find a wood full of naturally occurring and unmanaged wild Bluebells like these in the photo above, then

Mud + Rain = Happy Cocker Spaniels

Lets get another Cocker he said, it'll be fun he said

But seriously don't get a Cocker Spaniel if you haven't got a really good sense of  humour about mud and bad smells

Especially fox poop

Don't get me wrong Cockers are fantastic dogs, but oh my crikey they do love to put your devotion to the test with their love of all things filthy and disgusting 

Spring Has Sprung

Who else is loving this fabulous warmer weather?

Nothing beats a warm Spring day at this time of the year here in the UK

April Collar Cub Box

We absolutely loved our April Collar Club Subscription Box as ever we were not disappointed with our wonderful Aladdin's Cave of Easter goodies inside

We've been getting a Collar club box every month for about two years now and absolutely love them, so much so that we jumped at the chance to become Brand Ambassadors because it's a small business with the ethos and ethics that we believe in.

Off Lead Dogs

That awful moment on your walk when having your photo taken and you get photobombed by yet another loose dog with no recall, its almost a daily occurance now and is very annoying and upsetting 

It took about 5 mins of the owner yelling before they finally got to us to collect their dog

Rainbow Bridge for Unwanted Dogs

Unlike most days at the Rainbow Bridge this day dawned cold and grey, damp as a swamp and as dismal as could be imagined. All the recent arrivals were confused and concerned. They had no idea what to think for they had never experienced a day like this before. But the animals who had spent some time waiting for their beloved people knew exactly what was happening and began to gather at the pathway leading to the Bridge to watch. 

They knew this was something special.

It wasn't too long before an elderly animal came into view, head hung heavy and low with tail dragging along the ground. The other animals on the pathway, the ones who had been at Rainbow Bridge for a while, knew the story of this sad creature immediately. 

They had seen it happen far too many times.

Magic Wand Dog Training Centre

Hello: This is the Magic Wand Dog Training Centre, we are unable to come to the phone but please press or enter the number for your request, we will return your call as soon as possible.

Press 01 to tell me your dog has been asked to leave the local obedience club because he won't sit, wait, down or come when called (even when on lead) so you thought you would try agility.

Press 02 if your Labrador is morbidly obese and you thought you would try agility.

Press 03 if you want 30 minutes of advice and have no intention of paying for it.

Press 04 if you describe your dog as 'a little bit naughty' when what you really mean is that the b*st*rd bites ... hard.

Press 05 if you want puppy training classes but your Boxer is already 12 months old.

February Collar Club Box

We absolutely loved our February Collar Club Subscription Box as ever we were not disappointed with our wonderful Aladdin's Cave of Valentines goodies inside

We've been getting a Collar club box every month for about two years now and absolutely love them, so much so that we jumped at the chance to become Brand Ambassadors because it's a small business with the ethos and ethics that we believe in.

Lockdown Memo

Dear hoomans,

I have noticed over the past couple of weeks you have been staying in my home for extended periods of time. It is lovely having you here but I feel I should set a few ground rules. I would appreciate it if you would follow the rules whilst you are staying with me.

1. When you do pop out you will need to take me with you.

2. You seem to be eating lots of nice goodies whilst lazing about the house. I am entitled to a share of these. I won’t make a fuss I will just sit in front of you and quietly stare at you until I get my quota.

3. Don’t call me for another bath, I am clean now. Just because you are bored doesn’t mean I need a wash or haircut. I suggest you go clean the metal box on wheels outside again. Daddy human has done that a few times now even though it hasn’t moved in weeks.

Letter From a Responsible Breeder

Dear Past And Future Puppy Owners,

I loved them first. I thought of you years before you even realized. I planned for and cared about your baby long before you started thinking of adding to your family. I worried about your future with that puppy before you knew there would be one.

There were hours upon hours spent researching lines for the parents of your puppies. Going over breeder after breeder, choosing not only my pet but looking for a dog that will make you your pet. Worrying if you’d be happy, if I had chosen correctly and your puppy would grow up healthy and happy. Going over puppy after puppy with fellow breeders, running over my program with as many knowledgeable breeders as I can, determined to not miss anything. Tracing lines back as far as I could, learning the ins and outs not only for my knowledge but so that I was informed, prepared to go over every detail with you, to answer the questions that sometimes you don’t even ask.