Not very exciting

Anna's been sad again. I don't know why.

Still it means she lets me onto the sofa for a cuddle much more often. But it didn't stop her going out again last night! She usually just sneaks in late when I'm asleep so I don't bother to get up, but last night she knocked on the door and made me think we had an exciting visitor! And Michael had to get out of bed to let her in. Very selfish if you ask me.

I tried to sneak past and go upstairs to sleep in their bedroom, but Michael made me go back into the kitchen. Meanie.

Other than that, life's very boring. Anna spends more time looking at the birds than she does with me, especially now the noisy ones she calls "baby robins" are flying around everywhere.

Maybe I'll take her out tomorrow.

xxx

Sniffs

Anna was out last night. She goes out every two or three nights, and she usually comes back smelling of dog so I have to have a good sniff at her! Good job I'm not jealous that she talks to other dogs.

Humans are strange sometimes. They don't sniff things like us dogs, I don't think they're any good at it at all. Except sometimes when I smell really really nice, they make me have a shower! Like the other week we went out and I splashed around in the river and got nice and muddy. As soon as we got in I wanted to have a good rub on the carpet and the sofa but instead they took me into the bathroom... I don't really mind the water but it always takes ages and I get fed up. Still, once I'd dried I got lots of strokes because Anna said I felt all soft.

While Anna was out, I let Michael outside. He had some of that nice crunchy food with him that I like, but he didn't give me any. He gave it to the two prickly things that are outside in a pen now, and to the other one that's in the other pen. But there was another one of them outside the cage, wanting to get to the girls! Michael was a bit confused and he had to check that one of ours hadn't escaped. Silly Michael. Anyone with a nose could tell that it was a different one, it smelled much nicer.

I wonder if they make the prickly things have showers too?

Anna's been all excited recently about the bird that's sometimes outside the door. I've seen him inside the house a few times trying to find the wriggly things in their box, and Anna sits in the doorway and puts wriggly things on her hand and he sits on her hand and takes the worms away. She calls him "Mr Robin". I usually go and lie in the utility room in disgust. And I don't understand. Why has she got the wriggly things if she doesn't want them? They aren't good to eat. There's another bird too, it's black like me, it runs to the door and eats the wriggly things but it flies away if it sees Anna. Must be scared, but it's much bigger than the other one. Silly, doesn't it know that Anna won't hurt it?

Well, I'm off to see if I can persuade Anna to let me play with my ball....

xxx

It's been a strange day today. The men who were doing stuff in the kitchen haven't been here since Monday so it's been quiet.

Michael's mum and dad came to see me earlier, which was nice. They always fuss me, but today they paid more attention to the new stuff in the kitchen than they did to me!

Anna is very upset because the fast-moving things I'm not allowed to chase have stopped moving. Michael hasn't said much, but I know he's unhappy too. But I got to eat almost all of Anna's dinner of pasta, which never happens, usually she's mean and only lets me have a little bit when she's finished or she eats it all herself.

Here's a few pictures of the fast-moving things. I guess I'll be a bit lonely when Anna goes out and leaves me now.

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