Lots of Walks and Stuff - but no more chicken runs!

AD and Unc. have hardly left us alone for 2 weeks. We've been everywhere with them. We've had loads of lovely walks in parks, we've been to the pub loads of times too - Mum and Dad don't take us to the pub!

We got quite mucky sometimes, but it was ok, we still look cute.

This is me after a good day out.

We had a great time with AD and Unc. and can't wait for Mum and Dad to go away again!

Oh, what a time we had.....

Mum and Dad were packing to go away. We know the signs. They weren't taking us too.

Brandy and me got talking one night. It's cold at night and we know when Mum & Dad go away, we get taken to kennels. No comfy settee to sit on and no TV to watch. We needed a plan, but neither of us could think of anything.

The day arrived when our bowls and toys and blankets and food and brush and leads and......  and.......  and.......

Hang on a minute, they never take all that stuff when we go to kennels.

I told our Brandy not to get his hopes up but maybe, just maybe, we were going with them. No, he said. Mum's got their passports out but not ours. My hopes faded.

We were sent out to get in the car and Brandy, who's always dead good at going to the car went straight over for Dad to lift him in. I thought if I could hide they wouldn't take me to kennels so I ran across to the other side of the car so they couldn't see me but Mum followed me and took me back for Dad to lift inside, next to our Brandy.

There was no hope now, no going back.

We drove for a while but when we stopped we couldn't hear the other doggies barking. When we got out of the car we weren't at kennels, we were at Aunty Dawn & Uncle Stewart's place, with the chickens.

We ran up the drive and into the house, where it was lovely and warm, and they have settees and TV. Mum and Dad didn't come in straight away so I went back out to see where they were. Aunty Dawn had taken my lead off but not closed the door so I could get out dead easy. I could hear her shouting after me 'Ben, Ben' but that's not my name so I ignored her and carried on until I found Mum. Mum and Dad were laughing at Aunty Dawn shouting our big brother's name after me, Ben isn't around anymore but it seems in a panic, Aunty Dawn forgot. Mum was a bit cross that I'd managed to get out so easily but Aunty Dawn said it wouldn't happen again.

Anyway, Mum and Dad stayed for a while and we knew it was more than a normal visit 'cos all our stuff was there too, but it still came as a shock when Mum and Dad went and left us there.

I sat by the door for ages but they didn't come back. Then Aunty Dawn (AD from now) and Uncle Stewart (Unc. from now) put our collars and leads on us and took us for a walk. When we got back they gave us our dinner and then they took us up to bed with them. It wasn't home but it was way better then kennels, our Brandy said maybe they were going to look after us while Mum and Dad were away. I hoped so, it was so much nicer than kennels.

Next morning I got up early with Unc. Our Brandy didn't move but I wanted to know what the plan was. Turns out he was only going to work, no fun for me so I went back to bed. After a bit AD got up and let us out into the garden. After a bit she called us in for breakfast and while we were inside she let the chickens out.

Now, for those of you that don't know, there are 2 chickens, Felicity and Margot. I can't tell which is which but AD can. These 2 chickens live in a shed in the garden and have a wire mesh run at the front. We've watched them through the glass doors and even barked a few times, but we aren't allowed to play with them.

Anyway, after breakfast our Brandy needed to go into the garden again, so AD put the chickens back into the shed and let us out. After a few minutes I saw one of them had come out into the run. I didn't know it then but it turns out it was Margot. Well, we just had to go and say hello, but Margot didn't seem to like us being so close and started dashing all over and somehow she managed to open the run door. Well, we thought she wanted to play chase as she ran away across the garden dead quick.

Our Brandy and me ran after her and she was really sneaky as she kept changing direction. Then suddenly we heard AD shouting and when we looked round she'd joined in the game of chase as well. It was great fun.

After a few minutes Margot headed for the house and tried to make her escape through the back door, but we was quick and followed her into the kitchen. As we got to the hallway, AD caught up with us and managed to close Margot into one room and us into another. Margot didn't half make a lot of squawking noises. Turns out it wasn't the only thing she was doing a lot of in the other room, she did a lot of pooping too.

Well, our Brandy and me had really loved our game of chase but we were tired out so we went to sleep while AD put Margot back in the chicken shed and cleaned the carpets. We couldn't wait to do it all again.

And now we are 4.........

Well, we're still 2 - in that there is still just me and our Brandy, but we had another birthday this week and we're 4 years old now. Mum and Dad took us for McChicken nuggets at our local drive through as a birthday treat 'cos we really like nuggets. Well, I do. Our Brandy's quite picky with his food and he prefers his nuggets without the batter. I've told him, without the batter it's just chicken and we get just chicken at home all the time, it's the batter that makes them nuggets - but he says not and won't be told.

Anyway, now we are 4 Mum says we're all grown up. She still treats us like puppies though and that's ok. We still get lots of cuddles and walks and treats, which are good things and we still get our ears brushed a lot, and baths and haircuts which are not such good things.

Our favourite thing though is snuggling with our Daddy infront of the TV. Daddy does great cuddles.

We've been to the seaside.

We love going in the car for 2 reasons. First, we enjoy being in the car, Second, we enjoy going new places.

Last week Mum said we were going to the seaside. We didn't know what she meant but we trusted her when she said we would like it.

We were in the car for a long time but finally Dad stopped the car and we jumped out of the car. It was very soft under our paws and felt squidgey. Mum said it was sand. They had found a huge beach where we were allowed to run about without our leads on. There was lots of other doggies also running around with out their leads on.

Brandy and me kept running a long way away from Mum and Dad, and then we ran all the way back to them. Then, we ran away again.

The sand was really nice to run on, and we could explore little rock pools as the tide was out.

After a while , when we were tired out, we went back in the car and Dad took us into Cleethorpes to look at the pier

and to see the Donkey's on the beach.

There were some kids having rides along the beach on the donkeys, but we weren't allowed to. We just sat outside a cafe and had a sausage while Mum & Dad had a coffee. It was nice sat there watching everyone walking past, but then this little dog got a bit too close and I thought he was after my sausage so I chased him away. But I forgot I had my lead on and it went round the table leg and pulled the table over, and Mum's coffee went all over Mum.

Oooops!

Still, that doggy didn't get my sausage!

Ha Ha Ha! Brandy's been Scalped!

Mum always keeps our coats short and while I hate having it done, it is better than having to go through a daily combing when our hair is long.

So, every few weeks she gets the clippers out and we have to endure half an hour of sheep shearing.

Yesterday it was time for the clippers again. I'm not sure why I was done first but I am SOOOOO glad I was.

After she had done me she cleaned the clippers as normal and then got our Brandy on the table. I heared the trimmers start buzzing and then I heard Mum scream and shout Dad.

I ran in too but I couldn't see what all the fuss was about 'cos our Brandy was up on the table and I was on the floor.

After a while Dad took me back into the room and Mum carried on doing our Brandy. Everything seemed normal.

Until our Brandy was finished and came into the room, looking really cross.

Normally Mum uses a guard on the clippers that leaves our fur about a No. 5 length, but she'd forgotten to put the guard back on when she cleaned it after she had done me and so instead, our Brandy had a No. 1 on his head.

He isn't best pleased.

One word - Gorgeous!

Posted by Mum for a change........


Brandy poses for a new photo:




And so does Brinkley.

Aren't they just so gorgeous.

There and back again .....A pups tale!

Me and our Brandy are used to having our photo taken but sometimes the place we have them taken change a lot. This one was taken here:

This is our new back garden. The last few weeks have been very strange for us but we've been with Mum and Dad all the time so we know that everything is OK.

It all started a few weeks ago when Mum left us alone with Dad for ages. She was gone so long we didn't think she was coming back, even though Dad kept saying she would.

Then, when she did come back, we were back into boxes appearing everywhere. Been here before so we knew what was going on. One morning a big van came and they put all the boxes into the van. Then Mum told us to go and say goodbye to the Meerkats and Big Dog so we took them all a biscuit from the cupboard and said goodbye.

We all got in the car and Mum and Dad have made it really nice for me and our Brandy on the back seat. We had loads of room and a nice furry blanket to sit on.

Mum said we were going on a long journey, like a holiday, and we would be stopping in hotels at night so we had to be good and not bark too much.

Me & our Brandy like staying in hotels. We get sausages for breakfast and lots of people make a fuss of us.

One night Dad drove the car into a big metal box and we stayed in there for a while and then we drove off again. When we got to the hotel that night suddenly we could understand what people were saying to us. Mum says it's because we were back in England where we come from.

Now we live in a new house that has a garden that we can't get out of but Mum takes is on lovely long walks.

They're nicer walks then before 'cos there aren't all those horrible spikey seed things that got stuck in our fur and had to be tugged out so they didn't get into our skin and make us poorly. We don't have snakes and big centipedes and scorpions to worry about either, all we see is big garden gnomes sitting ever so still with fishing rods and other dogs who are usually really friendly.

It's colder here as well so me and our Brandy can run about and not get really hot and have to lay down all day. mum says it snows here the same as in Spain but not as much so we will still be able to walk.

We have loads of room to play

and we're happy anywhere as long as we're with Mum and Dad.

And as long as we're together!