Lovely walk with a bit of foraging

Bliss in our favourite field

Piggle and I had two lovely walks today. See here for some pics.

I did write a post about them, but I pressed the wrong button and lost it. Suffice it to say that this was the first truly warm day of the year up here, and we made the most of it. Gorgeous!

My Terrier – The Wimp…

I dunno…

Piglet’s non terrier-like wimpiness seems to be going from bad to worse. Last night I nipped up to the Post Office for a loaf and a bottle of wine, intending to tie Piggle up outside in the usual way (it’s safe to do that here). However, we found a most belligerent-looking black cat insinuating itself amongst the pot plants and railings outside.

As I approached the door with Piglet the cat shot out from its semi-concealment in the foliage and established laser-like eye contact, and as I dragged Piggle backwards and forwards on her lead in an attempt to shake the cat off it shadowed our every move, growing closer and closer and slowly drawing back its top lip to reveal a row of sharp, white teeth. (OK, so I may have imagined the tooth bit.) Eep! I tried waving my hands at it and making shooing noises, but it completely ignored me. I’m not sure which of us was more nervous, but it certainly wasn’t the cat.

In the end I had to pick Piglet up and carry her in under my arm like a wee bedraggled sack. When I explained to the Post Mistress that there was a ferocious-looking cat outside giving my little dog the Evil Eye she almost fell to the floor laughing. She went out to see what it was, and it turned out to be her 8 months old kitten. Um… The cat was carried into the back of the shop and placated with some sort of edible treat (hind leg of Rottweiler, perhaps), and I managed to fasten Piglet to the railings after all.

Sometimes I wonder whether I have the daftest terrier in the world…

Poor Piglet!

Poor Piggle has been in the wars this week!

Late yesterday afternoon we set off to climb Whernside. It was a wonderful walk, straight up the wall from near Ingleton to the top, and down again. Piglet had a fantastic time dashing around all over the place. She’s pretty good with sheepses, though I do put her on the lead when I can see some on the path ahead of us.

The only fly in the balm of the evening walk came right at the end, when we found that there were cows in both of the fields through which Public Footpaths run, connecting the walk with the road to Ingleton. I don’t take Piglet into cow fields, and so we therefore had to trespass through a sheep field instead. At the bottom of the field we found a stone wall with barbed wire on top, and in order to get out I had to lift Piggle over the barbed wire covered wall into an adjoining field, from which we made our escape back onto the road over another wall; this time wireless.

We got home about 10pm and Piggle and I enjoyed a late dinner. We then snuggled down on the couch together to watch a bit of mindless TV, but at about 0030 Piggle suddenly sat up and started engaging in “I’m going to be sick” behaviour, i.e. lots of lip licking and uncomfortable looks. I dived under the stairs to get an old newspaper, but I was too late to prevent Piglet from puking up a mess of tinned Chappie and Laughing Dog mixer biscuits all over the carpet. I went to get some kitchen roll, but by the time I got back Piggle had re-eaten her meal. Ugh

Over the course of the next hour Piglet puked at least 10 times, and also had an attack of Dire Rear in the yard. Until I saw the liquid poo I thought perhaps it was my fault for having given her dinner so late after such an exciting walk, but at the Dire Rear stage it became pretty clear that she’d eaten something horrible during our walk. Poor wee dog! Eventually we settled down again on the couch, and I hoped that she’d begin to feel a bit better. She was trembling and unhappy, though, and just before 3am she puked again twice more.

At that stage I rang the vet, because a Google had suggested that something very serious might be going on. The vet thought it was prolly just a reaction to having eaten something vile, but naturally he couldn’t be sure without seeing her. He said he had another dog coming in from Morecambe and that he’d be willing to take a look at Piglet, and so I drove her over to Kendal at 3.30am to have her checked.

Fortunately it wasn’t something terribly sinister, and the vet confirmed that she must have eaten something toxic while we were out. He gave her two injections, and gave me two sachets of electrolyte powder to be administered in water on our return home.

This morning Piggle was loads better, and now she’s very unhappy at not having been fed. I’m going to make her some chicken and rice for dinner, and I think we’ll lay off walking for today.

Coincidentally, my neighbour asked me this afternoon whether it’s okay with me for her gardener to put weedkiller on the weeds in our shared yard tomorrow morning. I’ve spoken to the gardener about the product he intends to use, and I’ve rung two vets and Googled extensively. The product (Glyphogan) is said to be safe for pets once dry, but I’m really not happy with the idea of it all over the yard. Piglet likes chewing on grass there, and Puss-Puss likes to roll around in the borders. I think I’m going to have to volunteer to dig the weeds out by hand instead.

p.s. Hmmm… I think my neighbour thinks I’m called Sheila…

Piglet attacked

Piggle has just been attacked by another terrier We met it on the field behind my house, and Piglet ran over–tummy scraping the ground, submissively–to say hello. The other dog sniffed her, and suddenly grabbed her by the side of her face and hung on! Piglet was screaming and turning in circles to try to shake it off, but it had too good a hold for her to dislodge it.

Fortunately I remembered watching a Cesar Millan episode in which he grabbed an attacking dog by the hind legs and lifted it off the ground, so that it would have to let go. I managed to get hold of the JRT like that and lift it up, and seconds later it released Piglet.

I know these things happen with dogs, but still it was frightening. I’ve not been able to find any puncture wounds, and hopefully Piglet will be okay. I’m sure it won’t do her anxiety around other dogs any good, though.

I bought something called a Dog Dazer a couple of days ago. It’s meant to deter aggressive dogs from attacking. I didn’t take it out with me as I was just nipping to the shops for a loaf, but I’ll be carrying it all the time in future (well, unless I find it doesn’t work, of course).

I think we need to get out now for a walk. Thank goodness it was only a small dog. Things could have been a lot worse

Trip along the pier

Piggle and me on the train on the pier in the sun

Piggle and I took the little train along the pier at home, yesterday, with some pals. We enjoyed the journey very much.

On the way back, Piglet met a dog who told her a story about an experience he’d had out walking in the hills a week or so ago.

Three Men on a Hike

Three men were hiking through a forest when they came upon a large raging, violent river. Needing to get to the other side, the first man prayed: “God, please give me the strength to cross the river.”

Poof! .. God gave him big arms and strong legs, and he was able to swim across in about 2 hours, having almost drowned twice.

After witnessing that, the second man prayed: “God, please give me strength and the tools to cross the river.”

Poof! .. God gave him a rowboat and strong arms and strong legs, and he was able to row across in about an hour after almost capsizing once.

Seeing what happened to the first two men, the third man prayed: “God, please give me the strength, the tools and the intelligence to cross the River.”

And poof! He was turned into a woman. She checked the map, walked one hundred yards up-stream and walked across the bridge.

Ahahahahahahahahaha!

Happy, happy day :-)

Oh, happy, happy day! After such a long succession of miserable-making events, it’s really lovely to have a few good things happen for a change!

First, it looks like things might be looking up on the house-selling front, in which case I might finally be free of this blasted albatross and be able to get on with the rest of my life in a place where I’d like to live it. Yorkshire Dales–here (I hope) we come! I’ve recently de-cluttered my house and painted it magnolia–just as the TV programmes advise–and it appears to be working. Last week’s viewers (the first since I put it back up on the market) are in active email correspondence with my Estate Agent, and today’s have arranged a second viewing for the day after tomorrow. Whoohooo!

Secondly, my sister viewed a flat today and loved it; so hopefully in a month from now she can be rid of the noisy b*stards who’ve been making her life a misery for the last 6 months, since they decided to live their lives back-to-front and spend the whole night partying in the kitchen.

Thirdly, I’ve had an apology from the solicitor representing the LA within whose confines my father is unfortunate enough to reside, explaining why he hadn’t bothered to respond to my correspondence and confirming that a copy of my Lasting Power of Attorney has now been placed on my father’s file. (It’s amazing what a complaint to the Solicitors’ Regulatory Authority can do…)

Also, Piglet is finally coming round from the traumas that she suffered at the groomer’s last week, and has consented to lick me and have her tummy rubbed.

And I’m enjoying my new job!

There’s no significance at all in the words of the accompanying song, BTW: I just really like the tune Here’s where I first came across it *g*

I has not been stripped. Heh…

I has been stripped…

Aftermath

Piggle and I are now home; safely, thank goodness.

We had very sad news this afternoon. My very good friend Dee texted to say that she was awaiting the vet to put her darling Blink, a Cairn Terrier, to sleep. Blink was a friend of Piglet, and Piggle spent several happy weeks at Dee and John’s place with Blink and Buster, while I was away doing the Challenge; living the good life with other dogs to play with 24/7. Blink was always in charge, and kept both Piglet and Buster in their places at all times. She had a long and supremely happy life once Dee and John rescued her from the terrible place where she was born (and where she lost an eye–hence her name).

I wept to hear the news, and my heart goes out to Dee and John this evening. RIP little Blink.

There was bad news for me, too, after Piglet’s stripping, although not of the same magnitude. Piggly has put on quite a lot of weight since she was spayed about a year ago, and I’m going to have to establish her on a strict diet. She also hates having her claws clipped, and I was truly shocked to see how long they’ve become. I felt quite ashamed. She looked to me like a neglected dog, although she isn’t

So! She and I are off now for a 45 minute trot around the pavements. I think a lot of the problem with Piglet’s claws is that she doesn’t get any road walking–it’s all on the beach and in the woods and sandhills, and that doesn’t wear her claws down. Starting this evening we’ll be doing 45 minutes on pavements every day, and I’ll be making sure she gets a good run on the beach in the afternoon.

Wow! Thick snow here — Piglet goes cracker dog!

Piglet in the snowy garden

Well we’ve had a bit of a sprinkling over the last couple of weeks, but no more than that. This evening, though, inches of thick, white snow have fallen in the course of just the last 90 minutes!

We don’t tend to get a lot of snow here, so children are out celebrating and small dogs are racing madly around gardens, kicking up clouds in the snowy grass and trying to catch snow flakes in their hot, pink mouths. Meanwhile, cats watch sniffily from the comfort of heated internal window sills, and wonder what all the fuss is about