The sun's back - yippee!

We've had some rotten weather this week. On Tuesday we could hardly get out of the door for a pee 'cos it's just bucketed down ALL DAY! And, mum's found out it rains 'cats & dogs' in spanish too - está lloviendo a cántaros (apparently!).

Then, when the rain finally stopped it got really windy again and cold and cloudy.

And then we got up today and we have the sun back - and we can play outside and life is good again.



We have both got a new toy to play with. Mum says it's a serviette with a knot tied in it. We can play tug-of-war, we can play chase and we can play fetch with them. If they get mucky mum can wash 'em dead easy and we don't get in to trouble for chewing them because there's no stuffing to pull out all over the place.We think they're great. Trouble is, although we have 3 in total, Brandy always wants the one I have and even though I tell him to go and get his own, he never does, he always wants mine! Still, I can run faster than him so he doesn't always get it.

Mum says the sunshine is here for a few days so we should be going for a long walk tomorrow around the golf course with Sophie - can't wait!

We've had our hair cut.

We've been growing our fur for a few months now, since well before Christmas and we needed to because it's cold in Spain in winter. But we're starting to get some really sunny days and it gets quite warm so Mum said it was time we had a haircut. Also, it's now when there are lots of insects about that could get stuck in our fur when we are out playing on the Campo. And also, when our fur gets long we get lots of knots in it and it 'urts when Mum and Dad try to get rid of them.

So, Mum's had the scissors out. She doesn't use them clipper things anymore 'cos me and our Brandy don't like the way they feel when she switches them on. I got done first and then our Brandy. Well, our Brandy didn't seem to mind at all 'cos Mum turned him on his back to do his tummy and his legs and feet, and what did he do? He only went to sleep. What's that all about? Mum'll be expecting me to do that next time and I don't like being on my back, it's not comfy. My favourite position is laid on my tummy, next to my Mum with my head on the keyboard of her computer when she is typing, I like all the tippy tappin' she does and I like to help when I can.

Anyway, Mum seemed to clip a right lot of fur of us both, I'm sure she could have made a whole new puppy from what she took off us, but I certainly feel a lot better and Mum says we look really smart so tomorrow we're having special photos taken and I'll stick one on here when it's done.

We've had pancakes for tea!

Mum says it's Shrove Tuesday today and so we have to have pancakes. Dad's very good at making them and we had ours with banana puree, fresh orange and lemon juice and a dash of whipped cream.

Our Brandy took a bit of convincing but not me, I got stuck into them straight away, they were double yummy (that's me at the back)

Our Brandy came over to check whether my pancakes were better than his - but he wasn't getting a look in.

A sneaky check to see if our Brandy's left any - but nope, his dish is empty too! They were pretty good Dad, thanks!

Hey bruv, not the most flattering photo of you, smile next time!

Why are girls so giddy?

I'm not sure why, but a lot of the other doggies we meet are girls. We do have Zak next door who is another boy but he's massive and we are too scared of him to make friends 'cos he barks really really loudly and has huge teeth (mum says he's a German Shepherd - don't fancy being a sheep if that's the case).

Anyway mum and dad's friends all seem to have girl doggies and the two we see most often are Rusty and Sophie. Now they are both, what's called out here, Campo doggies - or strays as you call them in England. They were both found and taken to doggy refuge centres and found there by their new mummies and daddies. So whether it's because they've lived in these centres or whether it's because they've had troubled lives when they were younger, I don't know, but boy, are they giddy kippers when we first meet up with them.

Today we went to see Rusty, and she must have known we were coming because she was at the gate waiting with her head stuck right out underneath so we could see her when we went round the corner. Well as soon as her mummy opened the gate to let us in Rusty went mental. She was tearing up and down the drive and wouldn't stand still long enough for anyone to say hello. She's like this when we go inside her house, jumping onto the sofa and then down again. And as soon as we go into the house she runs and eats all her food - as if she thinks we don't get fed and would steal it - but we're much better behaved than that! (Well, sometimes we are!) We just sit very properly on the sofa with Mum and Dad.

We like Rusty 'cos she settles down after a bit and we can then relax because we don't have to keep waiting for her to start again.

And Sophie is just the same. We went out for a lovely long walk yesterday with Sophie and Mum and Aunty Lucy were both there as well. We ran all over the campo and down to the golf course where nobody plays and we ran right through the sandy bits and made lots of footprints for the greenkeepers to fix, or so Aunty Lucy said.

Now, Sophie doesn't like it when her mummy goes out and leaves her in the house on her own. Her last owner left her and didn't go back for her so she's frightened that Aunty Lucy will do the same and when she is on her own she cries and barks a lot to make sure people don't forget she is there. We keep trying to tell Sophie that Aunty Lucy wouldn't do that but Sophie doesn't understand much english yet so she can't understand what we are telling her.

Anyway, last Friday Mum and Dad and Aunty Lucy were all going out for a pizza so Mum asked us if we would mind if Sophie came to stay with us for a few hours so she wasn't on her own. Now when we are on our own in the house we just watch the telly or play with our toys or go to sleep so I asked our Brandy what he thought and he said he couldn't see why not as we all liked to go for walks together so it should be ok.

Well, from the moment she came in she was all over the place like Aunty Lucy had put new duracells in. Aunty Lucy said she had been on a long walk with Sophie so she should settle down when they had gone.

Errrr, NO SHE DID NOT!!!!!

She was running all over, she emptied the rubbish over the kitchen floor, she somehow managed to move the cage from the bottom of the stairs so she could get up to the bedroom and even though we told her we weren't allowed up there when Mum and Dad aren't in she didn't listen and went upstairs. Then when she came back down she was jumping about everywhere and we couldn't lay down and watch telly 'cos she kept crying and barking so I went into my basket out of the way. After a while even our Brandy had had enough and he got in the basket with me - and there's not really that much room in there anymore since we grew up a lot.

Mum and Dad came back after a while and we were really glad because Sophie really doesn't like Aunty Lucy leaving her and we were just so stressed out. Mum told us that Sophie is still quite young, the vet says she's only about a year old and as she gets older she will calm down (er, remember what I told you about Rusty? Well she's a few years older and she's not a lot calmer although can be left in the house on her own ok).

Anyway, we walked Sophie down the drive and saw her into her car just to make sure she had really 'left the building'. Gosh, what a tiring few hours. It must be awful to think your mummy isn't coming back for you and I can't imagine how hard it is not to be able to understand what Mummy says to you. We do try to be good friends to Sophie but I just wish she'd calm down a bit. Are all girls this giddy?

We have a new friend.

Meet Kelly! She's just been to visit us for a few days and we really like her. She gives us lots of cuddles and kisses and best of all...........

....... she sneakles crisps to us when mum's not looking. She's just been to stay here for a few days with Craig and they went home yesterday. I know we won't be getting crisps from mum so, we'll have to hope Kelly comes back soon.

Jab time!

Now, I love my mum but there are times when I just don't get her logic.

Last week me and our Brandy got taken in the car to the vets in Aguilas. It's not a bad place and the ladies there are very nice to us. We had to get on the weighing scales first and then the vets were talking to mum and we just started having a wander around. Then I saw one of them with one of them needley things that they jab into us. I warned our Brandy and we looked for a way out but they'd got all the doors shut and there were 3 of them as well as our mum so we were a bit outnumbered.

Anyway, they got us both, jabbed us both and it seemed ok, and then it started to tingle and it got worse and worse. I scratched and scratched ever so hard but it just kept tingling.I thought it would never stop but eventually it began to calm down and by the time we got home it was ok again, but not very nice at the time.

So, I asked mum why we have these jabby things. I know we have the collars on all the time to stop the bugs out here making us poorly so why do we have to be stabbed as well.

'Well', she said, 'it's all to do with our passports' she said. If we ever need to go back to Sheffield we have to have our passports up-to-date and one of the things in there is our rabies injections. Although the passport says our last rabies injection we got in February last year is valid for 3 years, in Spain they say we have to have one every year - so there's no sense there. And then, I asked mum when we were going back to Sheffield 'cos if we're having all this done we must be going soon - but she said we're not, it's just incase! Can't we only be stabbed when we ARE going and not all the time - just in case?

It's alright for 'er, it's not 'er that's getting stabbed all the time! If we're not getting pounced on by Sophie we're getting stabbed by vets - it's right tough living 'ere! Time for a sleep!

Mediterranean Dog Food - What?

Mum always make's sure we have plenty of food in our bin under the sink, yes trust me, we have a whole dustbin full of food under the sink .................we've seen it but it has a locked lid and we haven't worked out how to get into it!

Anyway, when she came back from the shops last week we noticed the bag before she put it away and it was different to before - it's all in Spanish. Now I know we've lived here a while but we've always had food where the labels were written in English (I think mum brought a load back with her when she visited her Dad).

Anyway, at least when the labels were in English we could tell what she was feeding us but now......the only world we can recognise is 'Mediterranean'. When our Brandy looked it up in the dictionary it said

'Mediterranean
Adjective
of the Mediterranean Sea'

What she feeding us now? Fish? We're not cats you know, mum!

So, we've only one option we need to become Spanish Campo doggies and learn the lingo!

To start with we checked our names - Brandy in Spanish is, well, Brandy and my name isn't in the big book of words - so not a lot learnt there!

Next we looked at what words were on the bag of food:

And that was when we noticed it - our new friend Sophie, who hasn't told us where she's from, how she got here or what she's done before she arrived is actually a photographic model. OK, she looks a bit less well groomed now than she did in the photo - but she's probably been air-brushed to lose a few pounds, had a few high-lights and had hair extensions to make her ears longer .......

But it's deffo her!

Hey, hey, hey - we're hanging out with a glamour model. Wait 'till we tell the others, they'll be dead jealous.

Sorry? What do what spanish words stand for?

Who cares anymore? We have a star in our midst! That's enough excitement for one day!