Tuesday, January 24, 2006

What Is Your Daemon?


DOG - Your daemon may be a dog if you are loyal and caring, and like to know what is expected of you. You probably are very family oriented, and have a small group of friends that you are very close to, rather than a large group of acquaintances. You dislike confrontation, but you will stand up and fight for the people and issues that you really care about. You may prefer someone else to take the lead in a situation, although you would rather take the lead yourself than have the situation fall apart. You probably enjoy routine and order, but that doesn't mean you don't like to have fun. If anything, your friends probably know you for getting intense, child-like pleasure in the small things in life.

What Is Your Daemon?

Whos Been Sleeping In My Bed Then???

Jules and Bailey - Jan '06

Oi....who's this in my bed?? Jules is only just small enough to fit in here! She is such a cuddle junkie!

Monday, January 23, 2006

Buses, Trains and Trams


Woof, Bailey here! Guess what I got in the post this week? An invitation to my cousin Stitch’s first birthday on February 1st! The problem is that I cannot go there until April which is when my rabies sots are six months old. Shame, it looks like its going to be a riot.

I guess you read about the plastic bag incident – how embarrassing! I then had to have my elbow x-rayed. Some floating bone or something. I was out cold for hours. We are now waiting for a specialist to tell us what surgery I need …. Not looking forward to that.

On a lighter note we had a brilliant run on the beach on Sunday. My bosses were running all the time, I cannot really understand why they were in such a hurry and they looked bright red when we got to the car! Today Nessa and I went to Den Haag to go play with Lucky and Boofie in the woods. Man, what an adventure, bus, train, tram and all the same back again. We got pushed off a tram, nearly lost an arm in a tram door (Nessa not me) and it was not very nice. We managed though and I am getting quite handy getting around the city now. Tomorrow it’s Amsterdam – wow!

Friday, January 20, 2006

The Last Family In England


I have just finished reading The Last Family in England http://www.matthaig.com/home.htm and enjoyed seeing the world through the eyes of a Labrador. I thought I had got it pretty right, but I had not realised how much of my imaginary conversations with Bailey now make sense!!! In any case, she has certainly not learnt all of the Labrador Pact and sniffs for pleasure….Henry would not approve Bailey!

Here is a synopsis, Meet the Hunter family: Adam, a teacher, his wife Kate, and their children Hal, seventeen, and Charlotte, thirteen. And Prince, their black Labrador. It's Prince who is the narrator and protagonist of this tale. An earnest young dog, he strives hard to live up to the tenets of the Labrador Pact. (Labradors believe in 'Duty Over All', that duty being to remain loyal to their human masters, to serve and protect their Family at any cost. Other dogs, led by the Springer Spaniels, have revolted. Their slogans are 'Dogs for Dogs, not for Humans' and 'Pleasure not Duty'.) Mentored by an elderly Labrador called Henry, whom he meets each day in the park, Prince takes his responsibilities seriously, and as things in the Hunter family begin to go badly awry, his responsibilities threaten to overwhelm him. It all starts when a new couple move into the big house overlooking the park. Soon Adam is besotted with Emily, the beautiful aromatherapist, while her husband Simon seems to have played a significant part in Kate's past... Hal is tripping on acid and the house is invaded by his rowdy friends for a party; Charlotte's fallen out with Adam over her new boyfriend and tries to end it all with an overdose. And down in the park it's even worse: Henry has disappeared; Emily's dog Falstaff wants to lead Prince astray; has the terrifying Rottweiler Lear killed Joyce, the Irish wolfhound?

Monday, January 09, 2006

Who's A Clever Girl Then???!

I see the paw prints on the key board; however, Bailey failed to mention that she achieved maximum points (180) in her recent Gerhoomzam Hond exam!

Theor and Bailey braved the hail, snow and rain in mid December to do the test with Jules and I cheering from a freezing shed! Although we wonder where all this learning has gone sometimes, we are very proud of our girl! NOTE: She is not in prison here... it is her bed and she is there a lot!
The 'Man In The Hood' with his hond !!!!

Sunday, January 08, 2006

Hello 2006 .. snow and football


Happy New Year! My bosses have been running around like cats with wind under their tails since the start of the year, so I thought I would put paw to pad and let you have an update from a brown pooch’s point of view!

Well, I am IN LOVE!!! I had the most the most amazing 10 days in Amsterdam when the two legged family went to England for Christmas. Thanks to Sonja and Huig I got to see a side of Amsterdam that most visitors never get to… the coolest and most social meeting spots around. I got to romp around with the big city dogs and they were sweet despite being so street-wise! From the start Sonja and Huig’s big white carpet drove me wild and I still cannot work out why they had a glittering tree IN the house – but hey it was nice to look at. Talking of white, what is it with this SNOW stuff!! However much I ate of the stuff, it never ceased to amaze me – wicked – shame it’s gone so quickly though. On the last day I get to cuddle on the couch with the lovely Sonja and even Huig.. Just as well I get to Sonja at Theor’s work most weeks so I can see her. J

When the time came to go home, we went to Schiphol to pick up the bosses and Jules of course, and swap cars. That was a little weird but it was good to get home. We were all up to 2 am so nice long lie-in before hitting the road to a village called Ane which is up next to the German boarder in a province called Overijssel . We were there to welcome in the New Year with Paul, Sasja, Jos, Corinne and I got to play with all their kids the entire time which was excellent. I was in trouble as I could not resist a few toys and Suus’ slipper, but hey, they still laid on the cuddle which makes it all cool, I invented a new sport too. FORREST FOOTBALL – come on FC Labradors! I learnt to tackle and to block the goal and even a great trick of grabbing trousers to really get those two legged players to the ground. Tijn really didn’t like that. Man I was exhausted but it was the best romp of the year …. So far that is.

Finally, we went for a walk in the dunes today. Real cool, on the beach too and got real close up to those really long legged animals – horses. Man they are amazing. I raced every other Labrador I could find and Theor took some more pics of me, I must say looking mighty fine!! Phew, time to sleep …again… woof!