In the Bleak Mid Winter

The winter solstice is one of the best times of the year for walking the hounds.  The winter sun is low on the horizon and if it snows then all you can see on your walk are big rabbit footprints and the tracks of chilly bird feet.  The dogs love it - they can run for ages without over-heating, cooling down by flinging themselves into snow drifts so that all you can see are their heads and tails.  Last year, when we had really good snow in Scotland, we were treated to the sight of a massive hare on a snowy hillock checking us out.  He was as big as a dog and stayed with us for quite a while.  The dogs were kind enough to ignore him and he went on his way, one very lucky chap indeed.  Deer are another matter however, and I have to keep a keen look out for them so that I can get the dogs on the lead before its too late.  After years spent living in London it feels like a real privilege to walk out into the countryside every day and I never tire of it.  Neither do the dogs!  Whilst every one else is wishing it was spring we are running in the fields sucking in the cold air and hoping for more snow.

DoodleOng

The Kizzy dog has been in season for a couple of weeks now and Brodie, one of the Labradoodles, has been flinging some considerable woo at her.  His enthusiastic courtship has provoked a series of changing moods from the object of his affections.  These have ranged from barking, chasing and tail whipping.  Today however, things took a turn in his favour and it suddenly dawned on both me and the Labradoodle man that we might need to break the two star crossed lovers up.  This started a discussion between us about how, in these days of designer crosses, a labradoodle/longdog  might do.  In the end we decided that nobody in their right mind would buy a dog that could run at forty miles an hour all day long, was highly motivated to stuff its face with food at every oportunity and who really wasn't that bothered about coming back.  So sorry Kizzy and Brodie the romance is off, your DoodleOng puppies will just have to wait.

Chocolate Drop

Dogs aren't supposed to eat chocolate.  It's got some chemical in it that is poisonous to them so no matter how much they look like they want it, don't be tempted.  Having said that, during Kizzy's first Christmas with us I was hiding a lot of presents up in my study.  Some of them were from my family and already wrapped so I didn't know what was in them.  After coming back from the shops one day I wasn't greeted at the front door by the usually exuberant Kizzy, instead all was deadly quiet.  Suspicious, I called her name and she slunk out from her bed in the kitchen looking very guilty indeed.  I had a scout round downstairs and couldn't find anything amiss, but still Kizzy was slinking around with her head down, so I went upstairs only to find what could only be called carnage - a mess of wrapping paper and half chewed cardboard and, no kidding, two empty boxes of Thornton chocolates!  All the next day I was waiting for the upset stomach that should have followed after a such a binge, but got nothing.  That little gypsy's dog has got guts of steel.  The trouble is, having tasted the forbidden fruit, she is obsessed by its existence and desperate to eat more.  You can't unwrap a bar of Cadbury's without her appearing from nowhere looking half starved and forlorn.  The breaking open of the Christmas Truffles last night prompted her instant arrival, the laying of her head on my knee and the sad look of the last dog to be picked up by the Dogs Trust.  Every truffle I ate prompted a long minute of staring and then a slow drip of saliva onto my leg.  After watching me eat, Kizzy started keening in the back of her throat and tapping me with her nose.  But I have nerves of steel and eventually she gave up and went back to her bed.  Whilst all this was going on I hadn't noticed that my sugar addicted husband had been eating two truffles for every one of mine and when I went in for my final truffle I found the packet......empty.

Aerodognamics

There is no better dog 'fit for purpose' than the Longdog.  As running dogs go they are pretty much perfect.  They are so aerodynamic that even their ears form back into a point on the backs of their heads when they are running.  Their back legs are like springs driven by pistons and they have powerful shoulder muscles that can carry them up a hill in a few seconds.  Bet what you didn't know is that a male running dogs testicles are placed in a line instead of hanging adjacent so that they don't 'clatter' when the dog is going at speed.  Now wouldn't that be handy Usain Bolt?