I have a New Coat

Person says Zara is a Good Girl.

Zara is such a Goody Goody.

Zara is such a GREEDY Goody Goody.

Zara is always Looking For Something To Eat.

Monty the Mont used always to be Looking For Something To Eat.

But Monty the Mont has been in HOSPITAL.

Monty went to Hospital because he was no longer Eating Quickly.

I don't Eat Quickly. I Eat SLOWLY.

I Crunch Crunch Crunch. One bit at a time.

Monty, Milly, Pickle and Zara watch me and DROOOOOOL. Especially Zara.

Anyway, it's snowing outside.

Person has bought me a New Coat. 

It's because I'm Skinny. 

And because I am a Good Boy.

Monty the Mont is now Eating again. 

Monty isn't Skinny.

The Persons Next Door

My Person says Sue and Peter are Neighbours From Heaven.

Their garden isn't a Dog Proof garden so we aren't allowed to go in there.

Peter is an Artist. He has SCULPTURES all around his garden. They aren't real things at all (not like digging forks). When we look up at Sue and Peter's garden from the field there is a row of Sculptures along the fence, guarding it.

Our garden doesn't need Sculptures to guard it. My Persons have Me (and Monty the Mont - and Marmite).

Peter's Sculptures don't keep the black and white CAT out though! I'm much better than a Sculpture for keeping the Cat out. (They have tried using smelly spray stuff, they have put spikes on top of their fence and they have a little box in their garden that makes a funny noise - all to keep the cat away. None of them work). The cat frightens the birds and Sue and Peter feed lots of birds. They can even tell the difference between different kinds of birds.

I think they need ME in their garden to CHASE the Cat.

The other day Cat nearly caught a fat Pigeon - on their bird table. Sue saw it through the window.

I quite like chasing pigeons too - and geese - but I can only fly when I'm lying on the sofa dreaming in my sleep (my Person says I make funny squeaking noises and my legs twitch). CATS are best to Chase because they are so ANNOYING.

Cats sometimes just Sit and Stare, out of reach. CAT is free to go anywhere it likes, in other people's gardens or over the road or into the field, but I'm not.

Sue and Peter like Birds more than Dogs - even more than me. They like Birds much much MUCH more than Cats.

Each afternoon Sue calls out to my Person "Tea or Coffee?" and Person goes through a little gate and leaves us. That was when I chewed the remote control the other day. Person was also doing Tea or Coffee with Sue when I did my Wound.

Sue hasn't come round into our garden for a long time. That's because she has had a Hip Operation. (My Person's friend has a golden labrador called Robin who had a Hip Operation because he had Hip Dysplasia).

My Person loves Sue (and Peter). I think they love her as well. Sue and Peter also love us really, but not enough to let us to chase the Cat around their garden.

Monty the Mont, my black labrador step-brother

Today I shall tell you a little about Monty the Mont, my black labrador step-brother (I told you a bit about myself yesterday, so I shall now introduce you to my pack).

I keep hearing my Person telling the other Persons at Person Training Classes (they call them Dog Training Classes ha ha) that Monty the Mont is neurotic. She says it's all because of WHAT HAPPENED when he was a tiny cub. His mother (funny - she was a yellow colour, his father was brown and all the puppies were black), well his mother had a big bandage on her leg when my Persons went to fetch Monty at 8 weeks old. The Rottweiller who guarded the farmyard where Monty was born used to get out during the day and attacked his mother and went for the puppies.

When Monty came to live with my Persons in their pack I wasn't born. There was just a German Shepherd living here and she was called Magic. Well, soon after Monty came here at about 8 weeks old he tried to suckle Magic. She didn't like that! She nipped him quite gently but he went balistic as though the Rottie was after him and ran around the room SCREAMING. Because Monty was running and screaming, Magic turned on him like hunting a rabbit and both my Persons had to fight with her to save him. He wasn't actually hurt, but he was so traumatised that he slept for a whole day and a whole night and wouldn't eat.

The Persons kept them apart for a while and then watched over them when they were together, and Monty and Magic soon became the best of friends.

Unfortunately Magic died when he was only about a year old. That was his third big TRAUMA. For days he kept looking for her all the time. He cried and wet on the floor if he was ever left alone even for a minute (I would never do that, would I).

So, that's when my Persons got Marmite (who has the same father as Monty - so she's his half-sister), to keep him company and so they could go out and leave him. Monty is still a bit wary of new dogs he's not met. My Person says he's 'on the defensive'. Sadly, being 'on the defensive' failed him his Bronze Good Citizenship test (Marmite and I have got both Bronze AND Silver now so he will need to catch up won't he).

Monty the Mont is the He-Person's favourite but I think my She Person loves me best. She says she loves us all the same. At our classes the other dogs love Marmite the best.

I'm Pip, a sort of Lurcher I think

I'm a mix of saluki and golden labrador and I'm now 16 months of age.

With me are Monty the Mont (black labrador age two-and-three-quarters), Marmite (chocolate lab, 22 months).

Don't be fooled. We all know how to look good. Any moment the wild geese that fly over at this time of year, honking, will have us out through the open door in a flash; I'm first because I'm the fastest, followed closely by Monty who keeps trying to get in front of me but I won't let him, and last comes Marmite who only has two speeds - slow and very slow (the vet told our Person to feed her something called lite food because she was looking like a walking coffee table. Poor Marmite. She loves eating even more than I do).