Will We Have Snow for Christmas

This is a picture of Molly last March in Scotland in deep deep snow. This is the front garden normally a tatty lawn but after several feet of snow Moll was puzzled and sank up to her tum in the soft bits.

Mind you lucky thing was light enough to skate across most of this. I on the other hand got stuck after two strides.

We are spending Christmas Day with friends who also have dogs so it will be a dog friendly day. Unfortunately, they are mainly greedy labradours and you have to watch the food on various tables as it does go missing however hard you shout to "leave".

Mind you after several glasses of The Widow Cliquot you don't actually care what the dogs do.

The next day clearing up you certainly mind. A whole ham went last year. Sadly, it was the ham I'd brought to the feast and although I haven't said anything I think it was Molly who brought it down off the kitchen table when we were all slurping and munching in the dinning room with the log fire roaring.

Quite a fun Christmas.

On Boxing Day we are entertaining here with non-doggy cousins. They love Moll but don't like it when she jumps up or retrieves something from a present heap.

A Happy Christmas to all who read this blog - precisely no-one at the moment. I wonder what you have to do to get a blog following. I am not going down the shock horror secret expose route - although I did use to work in the film industry and often thought of writing my memoirs and to blow the lid open on several scandals!!! Perhaps that's for another blog.

I like my dog blog.

Who is Fenton?

Everyone who owns a black labrador is in on this! Who is Fenton? The black labradour with a suffering "posh" owner who screamed "Jesus Christ" when it was obvious his dog was going to not only round up the deer in Richmond Park but he was going to chase them to the end.

My suggestion for what its worth is that they don't live in the park area. If they did someone would have earned a fortune from the press by naming them. By now probably the poor dog has had a name change. Mind you its earned the bright young man who took the film lots of dosh through YouTube.

Molly often chases deer when she gets the scent (see those above who she did go after when we surprised them) but she is so well behaved that when I shout at her - very loudly as she was in the zone - she stops and comes back.

You have to be on the ball as when a dog gets "in the zone" its totally deaf to any shouting, calling, or entreaties so you have to keep an eye out and as soon as they get into "chase mode" you have to know your dog to spot it - AND STOP IT.

Did you live nearish to Richmond Park? Did you have a visitor that weekend with a black lab?

BONE SCOFFING NOT A GOOD IDEA

This morning when I came down Molly was unwilling to jump off the sofa and looked very 'umbled in a Uriah Heap sort of way.

This usually means she's been up to something.

Looked around and couldn't see anything amiss. She still refused to budge off the comfy sofa. Wouldn't look me in the eye. Wasn't pleased to see me at all as she usually is. Heart in mouth moment. Was she sick?

The test of that is to give her food. If she refuses it then she is probably sickening for something. I got the usual breakfast and rattled the bowl in the kitchen. A thundering down the corridor and a skid into the kitchen. Nah......... she was fine.

But she still looked sheepish.

I went back into the TV room (where she sleeps on the sofa). There is a patterned rug so it was difficult to see anything wrong. But when I had a really close look (rather than being blurred by sleep) I spotted a brown goo. Ugh. Whipped it up with kitchen roll and inspected the mess.

In amongst the brown gunk was a small but very pointed bone. Molly had picked it up from somewhere the day before and had been sick.

I am NEVER ever cross when she is sick- Labradors eat anything so its an occupational hazard - but for some reason she knows its not a good thing and has this sheepish and contrite look. Its the same look she gives me when she slinks off after nicking something from the kitchen.

Mind you its lucky she was sick. The sharp bone could have pierced something inside and that would have been nasty.

Phew................

POOR DYING CORMORANT

Just up from this rather pretty tree path is a man made lake made by a rich neighbour! Have to say its been done well and been there nearly ten years. There are lots of different birds and on a passing footpath you often get several anoraks with binoculars.

Went walking there today. By the side of the lake Molly found a bird - her tail wagging nearly giving her lift off. This poor Cormorant was really ill. I think its neck was broken. It could hardly move. But it was alive and the keys kept on blinking whilst its poor body was gently heaving. Miles away from anywhere what was I to do. I have to say I cried a bit about the pointlessness of it all and how fragile life is.

I held its body and it didn't flinch. Poor little thing. The sun was shining and it was a lovely autumn day and this bird was dying.

I walked away and said to myself that if its still alive when I get back I will take it to a vet.

I walked back and it was barely still alive. But whilst walking I thought more about it and I thought "what would I like if it was me". A pretty daft thing to think about but would I want in my last moments of life to be carried by an alien being, moved about a lot, stressed out a lot, and then poked around by another alien being. Probably dying of a heart attack along the route.

Or would I like to end my days peacefully in the sunshine amongst things I knew.

I moved the head so it was more comfortable and left it.

Don't even get me started about mixie rabbits.

Molly and I continued back home in the autumnal sunshine and both very subdued. Me because I saw my own mortality in the bird and Moll because I was sad.

BAD VET MAN

As you know just back from Scotland where Moll walked LOTS. We went around Loch Muick a short distance from Charles and Camilla's country pad (you can also see Queen Vic's picnic house in the distance). Its our favourite walk. No royals in view. Phew..........

The day after this hike Molly wasn't herself. She was uncomfortable and I thought she was limping a bit. But after an early morning little walk around the Estate where we stay she was beyond excited following last night's scent marks and her limp vanished. But it came back when she wasn't distracted.

I looked and looked at her paw and could see nothing obvious. A small cut on one of her pads I thought was causing her discomfort. MOTTO TO THIS STORY DON'T THINK YOU KNOW BEST. I waited and thought she would lick the wound clean and it would heal and not be a problem.

It seemed to get better (or was it my mean streak kicking in) until at about 10.30pm when she couldn't settle down to snooze at all and she was in pain. We go up to Scotland a lot but have never visited the vet. This time I was on my own and the thought of getting up in the middle of the night with a sick dog filled me with fear. I called the vet. He agreed to meet me at his clinci which was (this is lucky for the Highlands) only 15mins away.

As soon as he saw her he said he knew the problem. Pop her up on the table. We both had to do that. And then he told me to hold her down. I held her tight whilst he examined her paw. He turned to the left grabbed something aimed for her paw and pulled. She squealed, struggeld and leapt off the table. I nearly fainted with shock at the squeal. Poor little thing she was terrified. The vet was holding this torture implement with a white strand of something attached.

What the hell did you do? She had a split claw, he explained, and it was causing her great pain and it had to come out. Don't you do anesthetic? Or a pain killer? Nope he said its easier like this.

The only consolation was that it only cost me £35.00 which I thought was really, really, and really good. Down in our part of England a night call out with treatment would have gone over the £200 mark!!!!

But in the coming week she was the star of the show. Everyone was horrified that the vet didn't give her any pain relief BEFORE the PULL.

In two days she was fine.

Again, the moral is that if you can't see something wrong it doesn't mean that there isn't. And split claws are the most painful thing for any dog. If your dog has a split claw its the most difficult thing to spot unless its hanging off..........and particularly if the dog's claw and paw are black.

To my many fans - precisely one - just to say we are back after a two year absence !

I've been working hard and being part of the sandwich generation so not much time to write the dog blog.

Molly is enjoying herself in the Scottish Highlands - see above - and although she is a bit greyer around the muzzle she is still enoying life and we are now back with the pack.

Watch out for more information and stuff...............lotsa tips for dog owners and please wotch out for my regular weekend rants about animal cruelty and making sure you know what you are doing with your best friend.