Correction to my last blog. The Pint Pull is Thursday not Wednesday as previously stated.

Rain

Hi from damp 3dogs plus me.all our beautiful hairdo's are now curly and we are drying out in front of a fire! What a brilliant day we all had on Sunday...........whoopee, over a grand!!! Well done absolutely everyone dogs included. They were the stars, of course! BBQ sounds tanfastic...go for it! dogburgers as well! For those of you who know Jo Hart..........she made the Marathon on Sunday! Well done Jo, that was a supreme effort, and you must be rather proud of yourself.........Fin and Zak send you their undying admiration! Carry on raining....we need it...but only today Ha Ha

Finally found how to post( I think I left the few brain cells I have, up the hill)
Well, didn't we have a lovely day the day we went to Haughmond Hill, the few showers didn't dampen our fun. The total so far is (drum roll) £1012-25 pence yes folks not £300, not £500 but the amazing £1012-25p.
The dogs were stars, so many and as far as I know no trouble. Roden brought some lovely dogs for a visit I was very tempted with the staffy cross she was so friendly but I don't think Tally would be too happy at the moment. They managed to sing up a few volunteers as dog walker.
Tally had a great day she was on duty with Dewi by the tree helping to tie ribbons on and bouncing (on little kids in particular) There were a few tears up at the tree and I think the dogs helped to reduce the tension
I think the hang glider was a bit bemused when the hill was invaded by dogs and families. Lets hope he had a safe landing.
We sold all but 6 of the 150 dog bandannas and didn't they all look great. I saw a number of dogs that had managed to change the colour from pink to black, embarrassed or what. I also saw a number of husbands who had refused to let their dogs wear pink, being made to wear the bandannas themselves
Wasn't Elvis fab but I thought he was bringing Johnny Cash with him . But he sung his heart out all for free.
I went up the hill on monday just to clean up and take the ribbons down I was surprised how clean it was
We re- raffled the 1 minute behind the bar at the Dog and Pheasant (known by the in crowd as the D and P) and raised £100 which pushed us into the £ 1k bracket. Hot news -Andy the guy who won the raffle will be 'pulling' next wednesday and hopefully the Star will come and take some pics.
I am still amazed at how generous and supportive people have been. So from the organizing committee thank you all.
Off to the hill today before the rain comes
Jill
Ps my camera wet on strike and I need to send some pics to the Breast Cancer Campaign can you email any specially nice ones, the one with cadbury, friend and tree. Really want a good one of the tree jillwestcar@yahoo.co.uk

My goodness, who's this cheeky little chap emerging from the woods in his dog motif Terry towelling T-Shirt? Er... it's me, in one of the old photos my mum likes to send me occasionally, I'm not sure of her motives. Either she is reminding me of what a handsome, well norished, style savvy little boy I was back then or, more likely, she is trying to warn my wife Katie that if she does ever bear my children, they are destined to have pudding bowl hair cuts, painfully thin legs and dreadful fashion sense!
I've added a new video clips section to the blog this week, I hope you enjoy them, and if you have any clips you'd like to include, just send me the link and I'll get them added.

Hi, this is our first posting onto the blog, the picture shows Cadbury and his girlfriend Juno, sitting perfectly for a photo meant purely for this site, I must have taken a hundred useless shots of them chasing each other all the way up the hill and then bingo! even got the tree dressed in all her lovely pink ribbons.

This morning Cadbury met Didi with Fin and "sorry cant remember the other little one", along with Ben and Cody, while we were out with my little boy Charlie on his thomas the tank bike.

right time to press publish post...hope this works see you in the park...Sarah

In the wars

It seems like spring madness has caused a few of our canine friends to injure themselves recently, the cash register at the local vets must be singing. First it was Max the Greyhound gashing his leg chasing a cat, then Lily decided to split open her paw, Coco ripped her dew claw apart yesterday, and not to be left out, the ever accident prone leg cocking calendar boy that is Dylan decided to cut his paw too - bang goes the no claims discount Stuart! Talking of Dylan, on Haughmond yesterday I may just have discovered why his picture is never out of the top five of "most viewed" photos in the Cast of Characters. It seems he has an ardent fan club in the form of a charming young man named Edward, Kate and Scott's son. Edward really loves Dylan, and pestered Scott all the way to Haughmond yesterday with, "We are going to see Dylan aren't we?". And who can blame you Edward, Dylan is a fine looking dog, keep clicking away, and who knows, when mom and dad finally move back into the Castlefield fold, they may consider getting you a Dylan dog of your own.
I hope the Haughmond walk raised lots of wonga for Breast Cancer Research, it was lovely to see the event so well supported, well done Jill et al for making it happen. But now the events section of the blog is looking a bit forlorn, but watch this space because I am hatching a plan for a monster Castle Walk BBQ in the summer, details TBC.
On a final note, Radio 4's The Unbelievable Truth programme made me chuckle tonight, it was asserted that guide dogs for the blind were colour blind at crossings, and merely waited for a break in the traffic to cross safely, which gave rise to the question, "Is that why we don't have Greyhounds for the blind?".The answer came that Greyhounds would make excellent guide dogs for blind, but only for blind people in real a hurry!

Coco under the knife!

Hi All,

Coco has snagged her dew claw.. I thought she was acting strangely.. more than usual. Sarah took her to the vets today and it was decided she should put under the ether and operated on. I have had just had a report from concerned dog parent Sarah that Coco has come round and all is well. Our main worry now is coping with Coco in her deranged drug addled state.. we know, we have seen it before.

Dylan also has an injury, a split/cut pad but it doesnt seem to be bothering him much so leaving it for now. Giving Dylan drugs is like fighting fire with fire.

Sandy is making the best of it and the stress of the injury to her sister doesnt seem to have affected Sophie's appetite.

Castle Walk on Tour

It's late on Sunday and I've been working on four new additions to our little gallery, but I could not leave the blog today without thanking Jill and everyone else involved for a lovely day out at Haughmond Hill. Lots of dogs, owners and even the King himself played their part in a wonderful fundraiser in aid of Breast Cancer Research. The day should provide us with lots to blog about this week and hopefully some good photos to share. The image on the right is one of many taken today, so watch this space for a few more as the week progresses. It is, however, a school night so I can't hang around. Thanks again to Jill et al, and welcome aboard to Cadbury, Wellie, Bertie and the new, cute kid on the block... Pappy, or is it puppy...?

Lynn/Sophie

Hi Furry Friends & owners!
Great weather,I've been over with mom running around as I occasionally do(you may have noticed I'm a fair weather girl) I've seen Lotty and Finn,Zac & DiDi,Chizzy(who is not into my neck anymore thanks chiz)pete and today I met Cody,I like him as he's not rough ,mom says he's lovely and he's only 12 weeks old.I'd better be good!!!
I did not do myself any favours today,NO brownie points at all,we had a soot deposit in the front room and mom & dad cleaned it up,? why it happened,well mom heard a flutter today and there behind the fire was a pigeon,still alive 24hrs later! dad got hold of it & set it free BUT I heard nothing,smelt nothing knew nothing so i'm offically a waste of space today!! but in the nicest possible way!
I hope the weather keeps fine for you all tomorrow on Haughmond Hill,unfortunately we will not be able to make it Scott has a request to purchase raffle tickets for me,thanks Scott we appreciate it,so my furry friends enjoy your romps and mooching and i look forward to hearing all about it when we meet on the CastleWalk,woofS & slurps until then,Sophie!

Flower power

This fine weather we have been enjoying has certainly kick started things in the garden this week. The weeds are doing very well indeed, but in amongst them are some of my favourites, the Tulips, and this Apricot Parrot pictured here never fails to impress.
Lily has been enjoying the garden this week too as she recovers from her minor procedure at the vets on Wednesday, which resulted in a not so minor bill, but hey ho, she's on the mend and should be back to chasing all her chums around the field in no time. Look out for some new faces appearing on the Cast of Characters soon too, as Anth has been snapping away furiously this week trying to bag shots of a few regulars who have so far eluded him. And welcome aboard the new kid on the block, an adorable Dalmation pup who's name we're not sure of, but he sure is cute, so Kobe you better watch out!. Anth has also captured a fantastic video clip of Missy the Black Lab launching herself into the river recently, resulting in several sightings of the Severn Bore further down stream! No offence Missy, but it was quite a spectacular belly flop and very funny to watch. Sadly, there was no photographic evidence from last night when Sarah's Coco decided to lay claim to a six foot long 40 pound tree branch and proceeded to attack it like a speed fueled beaver, reducing half of it to dust within minutes!
It looks like there's going to be a good turn out for the Haughmond Hill walk tomorrow, so if you're going don't forget to put a few quid in your pocket as it is a fund raising event for a very worthy cause.

Lily goes all psychedelic.

It's been a tough weekend for Lily, she managed to split the webbing on her back paw quite badly on Friday and we had to wait till today to get it checked out by the vet. So off we hobbled first thing this morning to find out how serious the damage was. On examining the wound, even the vet winced and said, "My, thats really deep, it's a wonder she hasn't lost her toe altogether". It felt like the moment a mechanic looks at your car, shakes his head and sucks air in sharply between his teeth, I knew it was going to be an insurance job. For now though all that could be done was to bandage her leg up in dayglow orange, complete with smiley faces, administer two injections and prescribe four different tablets. I'm glad it wasn't too serious.

In the interest of future endorsements and advertising revenue, I can not reveal which veterinary practice we visited today. Suffice it to say, the vet himself looks for all the world like a member of Boyzone, complete with bleached blond hair and eye-poppingly tight trousers. The irony is, as I lifted Lily off the examination table and lowered her to the floor I heard the most terrible tearing sound, which turned out to be my trousers splitting at the seams! Boyzone-vet-man gave me a knowing look and smile, oh the shame.

So with a Wednedsay appointment set to sew what was left of Lilys foot back together and a pocket full of expensive drugs, off home we went, with her stomping along on her big orange smiley face foot and my arse cheek hanging out of my trousers, what a sight.

Lyth Hill on Sunday

Hi, we have just returned from a picnic on Lyth Hill, the plan was to have a relaxing afternoon in the sunshine with some lovely food and wine (well, wine for Sarah as I was driving). Unsurprisingly our picnic did not go to plan, all was well at first, we found a lovely spot overlooking the shropshire hills and country side near a few trees, the sun was shining and Sarah had a vice like grip on the bottle of wine.

However, Coco, Sophie and Sandy decided to create an imaginary safety perimeter to our picnic "camp" and patrolled it constantly, Coco on point watching and waiting for any intruders. Completely oblivious to the military operation unfolding planet Dylan wandered around aimlessly weeing on everything and generally bounced around to everyones bemusement. Once our unrequested and unrequired sentinels were in place any movement on the horizon was met with barking so the castlefield dog close protection team had to be put on leads and made to sit at the picnic hamper.

Have you ever tried to read the newspaper and butter bread whilst having a dog lead around an ankle and another round your wrist, words that come to mind are, annoying, spillage, breakage, shouting, stressful, Dylan, No, Please, I want to go home..

Once everyone else had left the hill for the day things calmed down and we could relaxe but then the Sun had gone in, Sarah's wine was finished and my tea was cold. I cant wait until the next sunny day!

New faces at the races.

Some new contenders for you to look at in the rogues' gallery as I've finally got round to adding a few characters who have been around for a while but who, for one reason or another, I've been unable to get good shots of. Official welcomes then to Ben, Angus, Leah, Louis and Maggie. The keener-eyed amongst you might also have noticed a portrait of Coco (of Coco, Sandy and Sophie fame) as well as a new portrait of Sophie. I decided to change this as it reflects her rediscovered confidence, in so far as she's stopped staring in the direction of home quite so much... hope you like it Lynn. It may be a while before they challenge the irrepressible, one eyed hunk calendar boy that is Dylan, but I hope you enjoy them anyway. On the subject of welcomes, it's great to see Danny joining the ever-growing list of contributors. It's also great to see the blog steadily growing, so please tell your friends and as Nick says, get in touch if you want to get involved. All of the above, by the way, is to be read in my accent (see previous post - cheers Nick!) and in an effort to boost Archie's popularity and win him some cute votes, I thought I'd share this photo of him from days gone by. Enjoy the sunshine...

The race is on!

Just flickering through Anths fantastic photos and noticed that there's a bit of competition at the top of the table for most viewed dog. In first place with 48 views is the adorable, and not so little anymore, Kobe, but hot on his heals in second, with 47 views is the ever bouncy Dylan. Who will make it to 50 first? (to be read in Anths' accent), "you decide...".

It's lovely to see that so many people are viewing the blog, long may it continue, but what we really want is more authors. You don't have to limit your posts to dog related stories, just any thoughts or muses on life that you wish to share with the rest of the community. It's simple to join in (unless your name is Sophie!) just email me or Anth and we will send you an invite so you can start posting.

As the weather hots up, I may be tempted to post some killer barbeque recipes up here for you all to try, so watch this space.

Lynn/Sophie

Hi Furry Friends (& owners!)
Well my mom has finally got the posting sorted, many thanks to Nick & Anthony,she says it was a user defect!! I'm saying nothing!!
So the view from my eye level! It was a shock to come accross a pair of ankles belonging to Helen,Ben was indifferent(i'm sure he's playing on the deafness lark at times) but Helen in a skirt, summer is coming YES!running & dips in the river lovely & Nick you are tall but thanks for coming down to my height to fuss me,Anthony i hope you got my " regal look"one has to keep up apperances you know and it was nice to see you looking better after the weekend.Lily love i hope your paw heals quickly i love to see you running for us all & please, please try to be careful our mom's & dad's fret loads,honestly.Tally babe i love the new look of the scarf very cute,very you and Archie after a good nights sleep you'll be fine tomorrow we're allowed to have an off day just like our owners ha!ha! I've had my pre tea dog nap,posted the blog & now off to have my tea as theres abit of lamb lurking there and a mad few mins with my rubber duck and mom,as you do! Woof until next time,Sophie!

Found you at last, been so busy organizing the walk on the 25th(Be there or the dogs will get you)
Just off to the hill for a good walk and bacon butty. Was hoping that the bluebells would be out but now looks doubtful. Need to check insurance and stuff
Don't know if Tally will wake up or if I can convince her that the are rabbits are waiting for her
Got some great raffle prizes for the walk including: Full car valet from Peugeot, a minute behind the bar at the Dog and Pheasant (Beer only)3 course Sunday Lunch for 2 and bottle of wine at the Coach and Horses, champagne, single malt whiskey, paintings and the list goes on and on
Tally has been trying out her new bandanna ( on sale on the walk) and very fetching she looks too ( its about the only bit of fetching she will ever do)

Africa calling

I havent posted anything about Dylan recently mainly because of my own laziness but also because he seems to be settling down a bit. No more bin dipping, banditry or general craziness around the house. Sure he cannot be left alone without me returning to find notes on the door mat from neighbours about the crying, whining, howling and look of complete and utter sorrow and abandonment from the window, all this and I had only gone to get a paper!

Ok its not all good, he managed to get off the lead this morning and chase a cat up Severn Street, Hannah managed to catch him plus the cat lived so a happy ending. Back at home Dylan went upstairs and cried in front of James until he got out of bed, it was gone 10am so Dylan had a point.

Anyway, the point of this post was dogs overseas. We are a dog friendly workplace and currently have two canine members of staff namely Dylan and Serin (and eldery yet sprightly Springer Spaniel who has been at the pies), but we also have a dog in one of our overseas offices. I would like to introduce Zanzibar or Zanzi for short, she is about 1 year old a mongrel, dingo style dog that is very common wandering the streets, one of the lads found her abondoned and she is suffering from mange in the pics, she is now in good health since she was sorted by Vets Sans Frontiers who is a neighbour.

Maybe we should have him as a penpal for Dylan, they have the same build and brain power.

Growing up fast...

Pictured right are three of the younger members of the Castle Walk Pack / Gang / Cast of Characters having a right old time on the field this morning. It's really interesting to see how the different age groups and breeds respond to each other. As you might expect the younger dogs discover each other pretty quickly and

Elsa the Rhodesian Ridgeback, Molly the Chocolate Lab and everybody's favourite puppy Kobe, continue to learn some valuable lessons as far as social skills are concerned each time they visit the field. Archie hasn't got a lot of time for the younger dogs and although happy to referee any tussles and keep a certain level of order, any pups that get too close usually get a bit of a growl and that usually gets his point across. This said, I like to think he's got the best interests of all concerned at heart and it is just him demonstrating his typical Border Collie desire for everything to be organised and ordered. Lily, on the other hand, responds to the younger dogs in a far more playful way but has an interesting take on the limits of play sometimes... Once again though, it's all good, clean fun and never gets out of hand. One dog that behaved totally differently around the boisterous youths this morning was Missy. She was loving it and was a kid herself all over again, charging around like her life depended on it - great to see. All in all, another very pleasant trip to the field and one big load of fun for some very lucky dogs.

Long walks and home made aeroplanes...

Lily an me hooked up with Anth and Archie this morning and decided to make the most of the glorious weather by walking the loop of the river, stopping to let Archie cool off with his own very special style of swimming. When we got home two hours of the day already evaporated,  so it was time to  to turn my thoughts to more practical matters, like building something. 

That something was a patio heater which we had received as a wedding gift last year and which had been languishing in its over sized box, taking up half the shed for nearly a year. Tools box at the ready,  I started to unpack the bewildering assortment of components. There seemed to be enough stainless steel rods, sheets of aluminium, valves, nuts, bolts and washers to build a modest light aircraft. I didn't even want a patio heater, never had, but I would not be defeated. The instruction manual had been faithfully translated from Chinese into a language that vaguely resembled English, but only just. "Step One : Removing from the box and seeing the 4 discs of reflection K10.4, attach to main house K10.5 using the bolt, washer and screw K10.6 assembley in Figure 1." Figure 1  was in fact illustrated by the same hand that had written the Lords Prayer on a grain of sand, only smaller. And so it continued, but an hour later I had a gleaming tower of stainless  steel patio heater... 5 leftover washers, 3 bolts and a headache.

So it was good get out and see a few familiar faces down on the field, Archie of course, Lotty, "Big Head" Ned, Lola, Missy and a rather trim looking Joe were all out doing their thing tonight. All in all a good showing, for what turned out to be quite a chilly evening as the cloud came over, oh for a nice patio heater!

dog pics

AAAARGH! Eventually managed to get pics to dogsblog, but no writing! So here it is......Didi, Zak and "lionhearted" Fin have just conked out after some mad chasing around on the field with a young JR (don't know his name as owner far away) There is also a lovely snap of Ned, taken yesterday. Missed you all today, but will catch up in week.

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Back on the Walk...

It was good to be back on the walk today and good to catch up with one or two people we haven't seen for a while. Unfortunately, due to a software problem (that I should be able to sort out next week), there is no accompanying photo to this post. I have quite a few mugshots to add to the 'cast of characters' and promise to do this as soon as I can. Notable individuals 'coming soon' include super athletic Jack the Jack Russell, not so athletic (but equally cool) Jack the Collie and his partner in crime, Monty who also has plenty of collie in him. Add to this Mel's dog Joe and the gallery will be looking pretty full in the next few days.
Thanks for the comments on all of the photos by the way. Best one so far has to be Richard who thanked me today for showing Missy at her best and "leaving out her hips and waistline". She's a great dog and given the throwing arm of her master should quickly run off any excess as the days get warmer! Speaking of warmer days, the forecast is great for tomorrow so we'll maybe see one or two of you either on the field or on some other fine walk in the Shire. Enjoy it wherever you are!

Lynn/Sophie

Woof to all my furry friends, it was nice to see you earlier tonight on the castlewalk and you may have noticed i seem to have spring fever!!! NO lead and NO running back home!
Mom(Lynn) says it's lovely to own me again! I act daft but she thinks i understand everything she says which i do,but when you see her just humour her ok!
It was my birthday on easter Sunday and i was 5 so i decided i'd better show my age but i'm a fine weather girl really and we all love a run and romp and a chase after the ball in the sun don't we mates.By the way i've missed Archie lately so if your on your hols i hope your mom & dad are behaving and your having a good time?
Nice to see you Jack your more ball mad than any of us there and Lily you can run for Britain,well i'm off for a full stretch behind the settee and abit of a kip as we all do,so until tomorrow woof woof,slurps, Sophie!

Fostering Coco - Day 6

It's official, Spring has sprung, and the May blossom in our garden was just so beautiful against the clear blue sky this morning. So after breakfast we all took a slow walk down the river and through the Quarry, stopping for coffee in The Square, with the sun on our faces for the first time this year, just perfect. Well not quite, our week of fostering Coco was over and we faced the reality of having to drive her back to the Moorlands Rescue, neither of us were looking forward to the prospect, yet it was just not practical to entertain ideas of keeping her. This beautiful little dog, discarded by the racing industry before even her first race, with an ever wagging tail and pretty face had made us smile so much this week, we were going to find it very difficult to say goodbye.

When the time came, Coco was as eager as ever to get in the car, and as she lay in the back looking up at me with her big brown eyes, it would have been a much tougher man than not to shed a few tears. With great sadness in our hearts, we delivered her back to Moorlands, with a few of favourite toys of course, and headed for home.

The sun was still shining when we got home, so there was only one thing to do to lift our spirits, we cracked open a bottle of Champagne in the garden and reflected on our hectic yet rewarding 6 days. Coco, I hope you enjoyed your weeks holiday with us half as much as we enjoyed your company, you are a very special girl, sleep well tonight.

Fostering Coco - Day 5

Just a brief blog as emotions are running quite high in our house tonight. Tomorrow is Cocos last day with us, as we must return her to Moorlands Greyhound Rescue. If only we had a bigger house, car and bank balance she would be more than welcome to stay, but we only set out to foster her and must stick to the task. She is an amazing little dog, so bright, so loving and so ready find a permanent home. Sure, she was very naughty to start with, just due to anxiety, but the change in her over the last 5 days has been nothing short of miraculous. Tomorrow she will have some nice roast chicken in her breakfast as a last day treat, followed by a long walk up Lyth Hill, and then back to Moorlands. But we couldn't return her without her favourite toy Fanny the Flamingo (Katies choice of name!), pictured above. 

Fostering Coco - Day 4

This was taken on our morning walk through town and the Quarry, we met the most beautiful black rescue greyhound called Hella, also from Condover, her owners seemed quite taken with Coco when we told them her story. Who knows, they may just be tempted to make room for another?

Our photographer in residence Anth and the ever present Archie are off up North this week to spend time with family. I for one will really miss his posts and additions to the growing 'Cast of Characters', fabulous images Anth, you must have a really good assistant!

Our evening walk today was not without incident. As Coco can not be trusted off the lead, we took her to one of the few local fields that we know to be totally enclosed to let her have a run. We closed the gate behind us and let her and Lily off, neither were very energetic, so after 20 minutes of sniffing we headed back to the car. At this point Coco started to really motor towards the gate. I was 30 yards from it and she was about 100, but really flying. I had seen her leap  over a stable door at the kennels,  so just wanted to get there first to be on the safe side and block her path. Obviously she got there first, and to my horror I saw that the gate had been left open by a young lad who had entered the field earlier. Open gate, flat out greyhound and very busy road to run on to, not good, my heart was in my mouth. I headed through the gate and saw her running ahead of me on the pavement, as calmly as I could I called out her name, she stopped dead,  pricked up her ears, and ran towards me. That bit of recall training we have been doing with her this week probably saved her life tonight. 

The Long and the short and the tall...

The subject of what is proving to be the most popular photo on the blog made an appearance on the field today and what a lovely looking lad he is. This is Kobe, seen through the legs of Lily, and he's growing up to be a handsome young fella. It was also good to see Missy today and I've added her portrait to the ever-growing cast of characters. As I mentioned in a previous post, the idea is to get as many dogs up here as possible, and hopefully, spell all names correctly. Once again, apologies for any errors. Myself and Archie are off to wander the beaches of the north east for the next few days so we won't be on the field this week. We will also be off the blog radar so hopefully when we get back we'll have a lot more contributors, and there'll be lots of posts to read and images to enjoy. P.S. I hope it's not the last time we've seen Coco either, as she is a lovely dog and deserves a smashing home. Good luck Nick and Katie and see you all soon.

Fostering Coco - Day 3

And... rest! Calm has descended on our house today as Coco adjusts to her new, if temporary home. She has been an absolute babe, so nothing much to report, the chewing has subsided and we are getting to see the real dog as her anxiety fades. Bless you Coco, you are a real poppet.

Haughmond Hill on Sunday

Coco and Sophie looking majestic rather than threatening for a change!

Fostering Coco - Day 2

What a beautiful Spring day, I just couldn't resist posting a picture of our Japanese Maple just coming in to leaf, quite a spectacular sight.

But there was no time to relax this morning as Coco seemed intent on first chewing and then gathering all our possessions together in her bed - wellies, slippers, TV remote, countless cushions and Katies shoes to name but a few. In her world it seems she is a guest of honour at one of Heston Blumenthals edible feasts, and the theme is our house and all it's belongings! We managed to tire her out a bit on a a two hour walk and she actually slept for most of the afternoon upon our return. Coco is one very clever little dog, and if proof be needed, she has responded really well to basic recall training after only 48 hours with us, although she may be forgiven for thinking her name is "Coco NO!!!". All in all fostering has been really good fun so far, I would urge anyone who has a bit of space and time to consider it, but be warned, it can be quite an emotional experience, we had a few tears last night at the thought of taking her back to Moorlands. We just hope that our feedback will give her a better chance of being re-homed soon, she really needs it.

Fostering Coco - Day 1

Well, she's arrived, our new foster dog Coco, and what a little beauty she is. "She loves her toys and is quite a character" was how the Greyhound Rescue described her, which literally translated means, "She chews everything in sight except her toys (does any one know where I can purchase a replacement cable for a Bose sound dock?) and she's got more energy than the National Grid! She's quite a handful to say the least, but she's so affectionate and just wants to be fussed, constantly. It's quite clear that she's ready for a 'home for life' now, probably someone experienced who doesn't mind spending some time training her and who will be rewarded with a really super dog. I'm off to dog proof the rest of the house now, wish me luck and watch this space.

Lazy day...

It's a lazy day in our house too. Had a good run out this morning with a beautiful chocolate lab called Molly and the ever feisty Jack the Jack Russell. Hopefully we'll get them added to the "cast of characters" sooner rather than later. As Archie lies around doing absolutely nothing it gives me a chance to figure out how we can get even more from this blogging experiment. Welcome to new followers and remember the idea is to share this whole space, so get in touch if you would like to be an author. Maybe see some of you later!

Duvet day for Lily

Looks like Lily wants a duvet day today, little does she know we're off to Condover Greyhound Rescue to maybe foster a dog for the week. Fostering just gives the dog a break from kennel life and gives valuable feedback to the center about which home would suit it in the long run. We visited Condover yesterday and chose two possible candidates, Springy, who's a beautiful calm boy with a rather big bump on his head, or Mona, who's lovely and gentle. So today we're taking Lily over to meet them and let her decide. We haven't fostered before so watch this space for an update of how we get on.

More photos from the sideshow circus that is Dylan..

he hated his new collar, but he had to wear it.. well, until Sandy ate it off his collar.. it's more freak show than sideshow really..

Wednesday Night at the Dog and Pheasant

Another very pleasant time was had by all in the Dog and Pheasant last night, it's becoming a bit of a regular event hey Anth? Lily wasn't very happy about having her dinner a bit later than usual, but did discover the joys of occupying a warm comfy seat in the pub on a cold night, good girl Lily, just don't get any ideas at home!