Well I've had a very boring week. I've spent a lot of it tied up! The men who have been visiting all week have been nice to me but I'm not allowed to help, they won't play with me and they say I get in the way! How rude, it's my house.

There was a man who came and put funny-smelling pink mud on the walls who I liked a lot, but he was only here for a day. He was telling me about his dog, I don't see so many other dogs now, apart from Toby next door. Usually when I go out with Anna there's no-one else out which is a shame because I like other dogs even though I have to growl at them sometimes if they do something I don't like.

So I was really happy today when Anna asked me if I wanted to go out for a walk with my friend Quonnie (I don't know if I've spelt it right, it's a funny name, and I'm just a dog). Quonnie works very hard as a guide dog, her human Sarah needs help to get around safely. I don't really understand but I think Sarah can't see, and she certainly can't smell as well as us. Anyway we went in the car and drove for ages, I was really excited because I knew I was going to get a good walk!

When we got to the house Quonnie very kindly brought me one of her toys but I'm not really interested unless it's a ball! But there were loads of new things to sniff, and then we went to the park. The park was great, you could see for miles over something Anna called Sheffield and there were loads of dogs to say hello to. There was a smaller dog who was a bit nervous of us but I didn't take any notice, I knew she'd be pleased to see me but she wasn't! She growled at me and then Anna shouted. Silly dog. And a boxer who growled at me too, but I didn't do anything wrong. And another dog who tried to get a bit too friendly with me so I had to growl at him! But mostly the dogs were nice, and quite a few people stopped to fuss us too. And loads of smells!

As usual when we go out, Anna kept looking at birds (she didn't see many though) and stopping and saying things like, "You hear that? That's a greenfinch!". I don't know why she bothers, you can hear birds all the time, why listen when there's so much to sniff?

The meanies got some nice-smelling sandwiches to eat in the park, and I didn't get any. Just biscuits and water. Not fair.

I was quite tired by the time we'd finished in the park, but then we had to walk back to the car too. We did stop outside a cafe though, the humans drank some fruit stuff and we had some nice clean water and a rest under the table and some stroking from people who walked past.

And when we got back to Quonnie's house I got to play with a ball for a while, but just as I was getting down to the serious business of destroying it, Anna took it away. Meanie. But I was a bit too tired to care much, so I shared Quonnie's bed for a while and had some love from Sarah. Sarah likes me, she keeps telling me I'm waggy and beautiful but she doesn't like me pushing past her up the stairs, and sometimes she doesn't know whether it's me or Quonnie coming up to her. She says we'll go out again, and next time Quonnie's friend Una and her human Hayley will come out too! Una is a guide dog as well, and I'm looking forward to meeting her. I'm glad I'm not a guide dog, I like to sniff at things while we're walking but Quonnie isn't allowed to do that.

So it's been a tiring day. I've spent most of the evening sleeping on a pair of Anna's jeans in their bedroom - I was quiet so they couldn't hear me but they found me after a while!

Hopefully next week will be nice, Michael said he'll be home at least one day so maybe I can take the two of them out somewhere.

Right, I'm off to bed again now.

xxx

My first post!

My pet human Anna has been telling me that she knows a dog called Emma who has a blog - I thought, if she can do it so can I!

As you can see, I'm a Labrador. I'm 6 years old, and Anna's been living with me since I was just a puppy. A few years ago Michael came to live with us too, I like him, he plays fighting games with me. But Anna lets me on the settee and the bed more often though. There are a few other creatures that live here too - a couple of fluffy fast-moving things that I'd love to chase, but I get shouted at if I do that. And two strange-smelling prickly things that hurt my nose and won't play with me - there's another one of those outside as well.

I don't get to go out for walks as often as I'd like (Anna says she's busy and tired, but obviously that's no excuse!), it's a good job I have a big garden to sniff around. Sometimes I push through the fence and explore other gardens too, especially my friend Toby's garden. He has lots of lovely toys that I can steal - Anna's mean and only lets me have toys for a while before she takes them away, she says I'll chew them up, but isn't that what toys are for?? I don't think she has much sense. But she does give me biscuits, so I forgive her.

I've had a bit of a stressful week. Strange people keep coming and doing things I'm not allowed to see in the kitchen. Bits are missing and it looks and smells so different. I don't know what's going on, but I'm not allowed to watch or talk to the people very much, I have to stay with Anna while she looks at a book or plays with that plastic thing that makes funny noises. She's got a new one that she calls a wee or something, I don't understand it at all. And she looks at the box that sometimes makes noises like a dog but doesn't look or smell like one. She's weird!

But I did have a nice afternoon today, I took Anna and Michael for a run at Holmebrook Valley Park and they let me talk to some other dogs! First there was a little puppy who wanted to play with me, but Anna kept saying I was too big. Then an older dog who jumped on me so I had to growl at him but he behaved after that and we ran around for a bit. And a couple of hairy dogs who didn't pay me much attention. But best of all was the river!














I love to go in the water, especially if it's muddy and smelly. Gits, as soon as we got to the lake where all the ducks are, they put my lead on again! It's not fair, I wanted to chase the ducks, and they always stop me - then they stand still for ages looking at them when I want to carry on!














It was a good walk though, I was really tired when we got back to the car.

And when we got home they let me play with my BALL!! I love that ball, I could chew it for hours, but they always take it away eventually.

Yawn, I'm off to sleep now, it's been a busy day.

xxx