Doggie timing!

How do dogs always manage to time things so perfectly? Or rather imperfectly? For example, Goldie loves body cream! Yes I do mean the kind of moisturizing cream that you rub into your body to keep the skin nice and young. You would be right in thinking this is not usually something that\'s edible but Goldie doesn\'t care about that little fact! I do admit it\'s my own fault because when I first brought him home he seemed to be itching a lot in his legs and under his tummy, so on the spur of the moment I got a tub of E45 cream and started smearing it on him. It lasted for about quarter of a minute before he\'d licked it all off again and in doing so became addicted to the taste of body cream. I\'ve never put it on him since but of course I do wear it myself and every day when I come out of the shower or bath, despite the fact that I vary the time each day as I don\'t have a set routine, he still manages to sneak into my room just as I\'m STARTING TO RUB THE CREAM INTO MY OWN LEGS! Out comes his tongue and he tries so hard to lick it off before I\'ve even started rubbing it in! The point is how does he manage to time it so exactly every day? Saffie has an even worse good timing habit! She loves to roll, usually quite inocuously, just for the joy of squirming on her back, but sometimes she chooses the most disgusting things to roll in! Horse manure, Cow dung, fox poo are hardly nice fragrances! And she always does this when the walk is about to be followed by something important. For example, I took her out once at 9.15 am for a quick walk before the guide dog trainer came to put Marilyn and Saffie through their paces. At 9.45 I was calling the dogs to return home and Saffie ran up absolutely covered in fox poo! my heart sank big time! why did she have to choose just that moment to do it? I tried my nest to get it off but she still stank when the trainer arrived!! Now this week she has done it again, rolling in yuk just before we were due to get the train to meet a friend for a day out! what do they have within them that gives them such a perfect/imperfect sense of timing?

Rest and play

I love the dogs capacity for rest and play. Saffie and Goldie so adore playing together. I throw their favourite toy, a squeaky rugby ball and they surge after it, so excited and full of glee. Saffie pounces on it first and runs away with Goldie chasing her. they run at top speed up and down the lounge and kitchen and then Goldie drops panting on the lounge floor. Saffie still has the ball in her mouth and starts to circle round Goldie provocatively dangling the ball just above his nose! He rolls over onto his back and then lumges again and this time manages to catch it. Lying upside down, all his paws waving in the air, he looks daft and even dafter when Saffie proceeds to then pull him around in a circle , backwards, around and over they go and then Goldie returns the compliment and drags Saffie in his turn. They play like this intensely enjoying it and going at it full tilt, then just as suddenly break apart, lie wodn and go to sleep! They sleep without a care in the world, Pennie too who has cancer and has us watching her and agonising over if she is still well enough, she is not bothered in herself at all. She is just relaxed, loving to sleep, to play, to be loved

Rest and play

I love the dogs capacity for rest and play. Saffie and Goldie so adore playing together. I throw their favourite toy, a squeaky rugby ball and they surge after it, so excited and full of glee. Saffie pounces on it first and runs away with Goldie chasing her. they run at top speed up and down the lounge and kitchen and then Goldie drops panting on the lounge floor. Saffie still has the ball in her mouth and starts to circle round Goldie provocatively dangling the ball just above his nose! He rolls over onto his back and then lumges again and this time manages to catch it. Lying upside down, all his paws waving in the air, he looks daft and even dafter when Saffie proceeds to then pull him around in a circle , backwards, around and over they go and then Goldie returns the compliment and drags Saffie in his turn. They play like this intensely enjoying it and going at it full tilt, then just as suddenly break apart, lie wodn and go to sleep! They sleep without a care in the world, Pennie too who has cancer and has us watching her and agonising over if she is still well enough, she is not bothered in herself at all. She is just relaxed, loving to sleep, to play, to be loved

Digestive Biscuits and chilli crisps

Saffie and Goldie have just shown off their true selves! They are criminals, starting with petty thieving but that can all too easily lead to the bigger stuff!
We are staying away from home. i went upstairs to get changed for an event and saw first Goldie and then Saffie in the double bedroom. Saffie was invisible at first because she was almost hidden in the corner . I thought what's she up to. both had their ears pricked in happy but slightly guilty expressions, or was at just me reading guilt in their faces? Then I saw the cause, right under Saffie's nose was a very wet and chewed up empty packet of chocolate digestives belonging to our friends! Goldie and Saffie both got a smack and a tell off. And all was then ok, or not quite ok actually! Later on when we got back from our event we gave them each a nice dog chew as they'd been very good during the event. I thought they'd take about 30 mins to eat it but Goldie ate his in 5 mins! That was the start of a chaotic few minutes starting with Goldie being very sick then as I tried to clear that up Saffie secretly found and ate her way throuh a big bag of chilli pepper crisps that we'd opened earlier to enjoy as our own treat! She did it so quickly and furtively no one even heard the rustle of the bag! What an evening menu! Choccie digestives followed by their usual dinners followed by the drama of Goldie being sick and both of them shunted speediy outside, followed by chilli crisps! You may laugh and think 'oh dogs will be dogs' and that's very true, but its me who will have to chase them round with the poo bags tomorrow!
But nevertheless I love them all to bits!

Doorbells

The doorbell rings and a river of gold surges down the hall.  I haven't personally heard it but guess someone must be there.   Just last week I attended a residential course on listening skills and we were thinking about the importance of noticing body language!  Well it's not too hard to interpret this body language! But I can't go to the door yet.  Will Goldie remember to ignore  the other 2 dogs and come to tell me the door has rung?  I stand at the far end of the kitchen and wait, hoping the person outside will have the patience to wait too!  Three excited golden bodies rush and surge by the door.  Will he remember?  Ah joy!  A head turns round, gazes back up the hallway, meets my eye and revelation dawns!  Next moment he is hurtling back toiwards me.  A huge wet nudge with his nose on my leg and as I say, all puzzled, 'What is it?'  back he rushes to the door again.  With tail wagging and excited sniffing he rejoins his friends.  I push my way through the golden sea and open the door.  Relief!  the long waiting visitor is still with me.  'Good Boy! You've done it!  A treat pops into his waiting mouth, always open like a baby bird's!
It's quite a feat even for a human to ignore what is natural and expected and go against the tide to do something different.  On this occasion Goldie got 10/10! 

Ear drops

Just spent a squirmy half hour trying to give Goldie ear drops!  I asked him to sit and then tried to get his left ear in my hand and gently pull it back to expose his ear hole so I could drop a drop into it.  But Goldie wasn't having it and started batting me with his paws wanting to play!  He then saw the little bottle of drops in my hand and decided it was a treat, so every time I moved my hand trying to get the bottle near his ear, he followed the movement with his mouth and tried to eat  it! I then got him to lie down thinking that the bad ear would be on top so I could just pop a quick drop in the hole as he lay there quietly......lay there quietly??? He lay there for 2 moments but as soon as I got the bottle near he rolled over so he could get to this lovely treat with his mouth!  I then knelt down and put one arm under him to hold him in position and with the other hand I held his ear back so the hole was exposed and all was ready.  Only problem?  I didn't have any more hands to actually put the dfrops in with!
I then asked him to sit and tried to tilt his head sideways but as soon as he saw the bottle coming, up came one paw on my shoulders then 2 and suddenly I'm in a Goldie embrace which is very sweet but still no nearer to getting the drops in!  I finally managed it by using my leg to hold him in right position and thus having 2 hands free ish, I managed to do it.  Massaged ear to get drops well in and there we are all done at last!!  I didn't look exactly elegant but only had Goldie to see me so never mind! All this accompanied by lots of tail wags, nibbles and licks!  Putting ear drops in anyone has never been so fun!

Looking back -last 5 months with Goldie

As I sit here Goldie is lying in his bed about 2 feet away from me.  I can't imagine now not having him close by.  I miss him if he is not near me.  6 months ago I was ministering at the Isle of Wight when I had an email from Hearing Dogs.  It was the email I'd been waiting for so long to say that they ahd a dog for me, a male golden lab/retriever called Goldie.  I was so excited and kind of stunned as I never thought it would actually happen!  When they brought him to visit me a few weeks later I fell in love with him.  He is quiet and calm like Pennie is but seems to love being loved too and giving hugs which he does by plonking one paw on my knee, then 2 paws, then suddenly rising up into hug mode!  He sound work has been rather hit and miss but gradually he is getting there.  This Blog will be a kind of photo and story journal of life with Goldie and together with Goldie, with Pennie too and now the new guide dog to come, Saffie!
Here is a pic of  Goldie having fun in the snow!