My beautiful Dotty Dog

This is the hardest blog post I have ever had to write to date.

You may have noticed I have been a bit quiet on the blog and on Facebook, but on Monday we said goodbye to our beautiful spaniel Dotty Dog.

We got Dotty in 2007 from a local rescue centre.  We originally went there looking for a male Jack Russell, but there was none, and none of the other poor dogs in there made any connection.  As we were preparing to leave the lady showing us around mentioned a spaniel they had just got in who "needed lots of love".

We went to see her, she weed herself in fright when we spoke to her.  She was thin, her hair was matted and tatty, and her nipples were so baggy they almost touched the ground.  She was in a bit of a state.
The refuge explained that she had been dumped on the M6 motorway and that a chap had stopped and picked her up.  They reckoned she had been part of a puppy farming business and had been over-pupped to the point she was no longer useful.

Hubster and I just looked at each other and he said the immortal words "We'll have her".

It took us a while to decide on a name, we wanted a proper lady name for her.  We were still deciding a couple of days later when we opened a box of Shreddies, in the flap it stated that the Shreddies had been knitted by "Dorothy", so Dorothy became her name.

It was another 2 weeks before we finally got her, with trips to the vets and some strange rescue politics that we won't go into on here, but then she was ours and she jumped into the car like it had always been the way.

It took a little while for her to get used to being in a house, I guess she had been always in an outdoor kennel.  It took a few days for her to realise that it was not polite to do her business in the house and how if she ran to the back door it would be opened for her to go do her stuff in the garden.

She quickly learnt that she was expected to share her bed with Charlie the cat.

It took her 6 months to learn how to play.  Her first toy was a grunty pig, so we spend ages waving it in front of her saying "play with piggie".  Eventually she took that pig and carried it everywhere.

We bought her a ball, but she wouldn't play with it, in the end we told her it was a piggie and she took it.  After that, every single toy she got was thereafter known as piggie, which might explain to people why she might have been carrying a soft duck and we would be calling it "piggie"

She became the "Shed" dog, customers used to come in just to see her.  Such a kind and gentle soul, it was hard not to love her.

We had the pleasure of having her for 7 years, the refuge reckoned she was around 7 when we got her, which would have made her quite an old lady.

During our time with her she walked Hadrian's Wall - all of it.

In all weathers, she didn't care as long as she was with us (and that we had taken her a nice packed lunch)

After the wall walk we started walking The Wainwright hills of the Lake District, she joined us on all those too.  Hail, rain or shine.

I remember one hill where we had gone out of our way to keep her clean, we had been out of the car for nearly 5 hours and were on our way back.  We were about 10 minutes away from the car when she found a nice muddy pond to jump in, and that was that!

Such a mud magnet.

Eventually old age and all it's symptoms caught up with us and we took the heartbreaking decision last weekend to let her go in dignity, in her own bed, at home, surrounded by the people who loved her most, and her piggies  (of which there were lots)

The pain is unbearable, we are heartbroken, as is many of our friends and families, she was such a huge part of our lives and it is going to take us a long time to not get upset when we mention her name.

Hubster hit the nail on the head though when he asked the question:  "Would you give up this pain for not having known her".

The answer is no, I would go through the pain again for some more time with Dotty Dog.   Tenfold.

Goodnight my beautiful, gorgeous spaniel.  We will never forget you.

A summers walk

What was the weather like with you yesterday?  Here in Carlisle it was hot, hot, hot!

Our first thought was we will walk up a Wainwright  (a collection of 214 fells in the Lake District) as we have already walked a few and plan, in our lifetime, to complete all 214.  We are up to 16 at the moment, so a long way to go  :)

We haven't been out walking this year at all and we miss it, there is nothing quite like blowing the cobwebs away from the top of a windy Lake District fell.

Sadly though, we made the decision not to go based on the heat of the sun would you believe?  We moan when it's cold and we moan when it's hot, there's just no pleasing us sometimes  :)

But, Dotty Dog is getting on now, her hearing is failing, her eyesight is failing and she has a touch of arthritis too - poor old girl.  So we thought dragging her up a fell in the blazing heat would just not be fair, and we couldn't bare to leave her at home, it just wouldn't be right!

Instead, we decided on a little flat walk around the local park, so she could have a swim in the river (it seems to ease her old bones).  Do you wanna join us?  Let's go.....


We parked the car in Rickerby Park in Carlisle, Dotty always knows where we are before she even gets out of the car, so the tail was wagging furiously.

From there you can walk down by the riverside where on a sunny day lots of people go for a paddle.  Even the cows!

We wandered down to the edge of the water to let Dotty play. There was a couple of teenagers there, in the grass bank, just sitting having a drink, but when we appeared they decided to treat us to a show of pretend sex, which was nice!  What I really wanted to do was to go and throw some river water over them, but instead I ignored them - wasn't I grown up?

I sit and watch, Andrew throws stones.  It's his job.

When she was starting to tire we took her out of the water and back up onto the grassy bank where she could run about and dry off.

Soon we were at the suspension bridge where we were to cross and walk back down the other side of the River Eden.  This bridge is part of the route if you were walking Hadrian's Wall.

I've seen kids jump off this bridge, but it's not a clever idea as the water is way too shallow.  I held a young boys foot together once when he jumped off, whilst waiting for the paramedics to make their way down.  It was most unpleasant!

Over we went and down the other side, which trails through Stoneyholme Golf Club.

What's that I spy?  Oh, a pub, how fortunate, should we have a cheeky wee drink?  Would be most rude not to.

And it was just a little drink as I have a bladder the size of a walnut & really didn't want to have to find a bush to squat behind on the way back !  - nettles and stuff.

While we were are the pub though a family sat on the table outside next to us, the lady went into the pub as the meals arrived.  While she was away her poppadum blew off her plate and across the bird poo covered table.  Her chivalrous fella grabbed it and put it back on her plate, said nothing, and let her eat it.

We did laugh!

Back to the walk then as Dotty was getting agitated eyeing up some blokes gammon steak, we walked behind the Sands Centre to Eden Bridge that would take us back to the other side.

Over the busy 4 lane bridge, where doggy leads are a must.

And down through Eden Bridge Gardens to get back to the river-side.

There is a nice big open part here where Andrew tried to play "fetch", but it was a case of "You threw the ball, YOU fetch the ball!"  While Dotty watched.

I see cars, we are back at our starting point.

Now, time to go home for tea, Linda McCartney 'Scampi' and salad, washed down with another cider, coz I can!

Pet photo competition

Or not?

I was a little excited to spot a "Pet Photo Competition" in my local paper. But on closer inspection it did turn out to be just that - a Pet PHOTO Competition.  In other words, you take your pet along to one of the photographers on their list, pay a small admin fee, get them photographed, and the picture is entered into the competition.

Booo!  I wanted to enter my own photograph.  This one....

Dotty Dog is an excellent model (especially when she has spent the previous two hours padding up a Lake District Fell and is totally bushed) and last year I got some cracking photos of her - or, at least, I like them.

I use a Nikon Bridge camera Coolpix 8800, liberated from Daddy L's attic.

Daddy L is a photographer, before his retirement he had a shop that sold art-prints and photo frames, also offering a bespoke framing service - he had a workshop in the garage and in the olden days, a dark room in the garden!  You can check out his photos on his Facebook page - Lawrence Graham Photography.

In my childhood I hated being dragged around the countryside every weekend to take photos (at one point all he wanted to do was find and photograph red barns!!)  Now though, I can appreciate the attraction  :)

This was the very first photograph I took with this camera.  It is from my own strawberry bush, but it looks like someone (or something) got there first.

This next photo is one of my all time favourites, it was taken at one of the highest points on Hadrians Wall looking South.

I also love this one, I had to snap this quick to catch it all.  Pity about the shadowing spoiling the effect.  What I wanted to capture was the essence of Essaouira, Morocco   The modern motorbike with one of the many stray cats that hover around the souks in Morocco, but just behind stands the little boy, so deep in thought while he collects water from the well in an old tatty bucket.

If you like, you can see some of more my attempts on my Facebook page - oddly named Photography By Sooz.

Pets

Tonight's post comes with a little sadness.  We have had to put "Hamster" our...em.... hamster, to sleep.

Hamster came to us around 2 years ago when Adam (son #2) took it off one of his friends as they were, not mistreating him as such,  but annoying and irritating him.  So, hamster found a home with us.  He was supposed to be 18 months old then, we think that might have been a fib, as they generally don't live until they are that old.

He has been getting a little shaky on his feet and tonight he looked decidedly 'old'. Off to the Vets for a check-up, but he was dehydrated and dozy so the decision was made to let him scurry off up the rainbow bridge.

While we are on the subject of pets, let me introduce you to the rest of our menagerie.

This is Charlie - or his full title is "Professor Charlie Babbit", also known as Mr B.

I paid £5.00 for Charlie back in 2001, he was a very cheeky little kitten, my first Tom cat.  He acts like a dog, gives you a paw and 'speaks' if he wants your attention.

Next is Millie.  We were 'persuaded' to take Millie in in 2003, she was just 4 weeks old when we got her and so so tiny.  Her mother had hidden her kittens in a tyre and a farmer drove over the tyre killing them all but one - she came to us with a damaged paw (now healed) and a crinkled ear.  As she is hand-reared she is a very different cat to others, she demands attention when she wants it, if you ignore her she will bite.  She can't scratch, probably as she has never learnt.  She has the word "Hostile" on her Vet records.  But really, she is very cute and lovable (on her terms).  She likes to chew on cardboard boxes.

Now for Dotty Dog - I had nagged Andrew for years to get a dog after my Jack Russell Milo had passed away.  It took about 3 years and he finally agreed to go to the rescue centre to look.  It HAD to be a boy Jack Russell, definitely had to be a boy Jack Russell.

I told Andrew to look in their cages to see if they had soiled neatly (to show they could be house trained)  When he spotted the mankiest looking Spaniel (a girl) with stupidly sad eyes.  He spoke to her, she weed herself with fright, and he said the words I had been dreading to hear, "We'll have THAT one".

Oh blimey, a smelly Spaniel with matted fur and nipples so close to the ground.  She had been dumped on the motorway, but they reckoned she has been in a puppy farm, kept in an outdoor cage and bred until the Kennel Club would not recognise any more of her puppies.  Then she was dumped.  They thought she was about 7 yrs old.

She took a few weeks to house train, a few months to learn not to chase the ducks at the local tarn, 6 months to learn how to play with a toy, 5 years later we still have not mastered a bark.  She will NEVER be a guard dog, but we love her  :)

David is our guinea pig,  bought for me, along with his brother Jason who died after a year  :(  He is so mellow and polite, a lovely pig.

Unlike "The Gingers".  These little buggers are like the Kray Twins.  They are rescues (previous owner had no time for them) They hate being handled and are quite stroppy.  I have to keep them separate from David as they..... well, how can I put this?  They corner him and shag him - lots!   But they have a 10 foot covered run in the garden, so they get lots of lovely grass to eat and loads of fresh air.  They LOVE playing in the hailstones.  It's so funny - rain, they hide in the hutch, but hailstones they go mad jumping about in the run.

Lastly I must mention Bramble.  Her story is awful. She was dumped on my sisters doorstep, just as she was going to work - she couldn't put her in the house as she would not be there and she had 5 other cats, so she asked me to take her overnight.  I didn't think she would make it through the night, she was in such a state, and so wobbly on her feet.  The visit to the Vet the next day showed she had been badly treated, badly fed (he thought a Vegan diet) and she was totally blind.  £170 later and I decided having spent all that money I would just have to keep her  :)

She was a beautiful natured cat, her blindness didn't stop her investigating everything, although we did have to be careful about leaving bedroom windows open as she would sniff the air and think she could get out.

She died horribly, being the target practise of some little bastards with a lurcher.  Witnesses said that they had deliberately let their dog off the lead to go after our cat, but in court it was argued and they got away with it.  Apparently you cannot own a cat and therefore the laws are tricky as to what they can be charged with.

RIP Brambella, we still miss you.

Would you like to see the latest additions to the family?  Shona wanted Axolotls for Christmas.  She calls them Phillip and Patrick.  Click HERE to see a video of them  :)