Merry Crispmas!

It’s the day before the big day! We spotted our presents already and now we are taking it in turns to try and steal them. Got to keep the peoples on their toes!

Arthur already opened one of his (that was actually Arran’s) and Squiggly half opened one of his too. Maybe next year they will get hidden better! We are excited for the day as we know there are pigs ears wrapped up for us.

Sadly, our rabbit sisfur Faline went to the bridge in October so she didn’t get to be in the photo this year, but Molly is still going strong at 13 and a half.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a Good night!

Crisp Mas Again!

Crisp mas is here, Crisp mas is here!

It’s me, little Scamp! I don’t think I really have a favourite time of year and although Crisp mas is fun, I do not find the actual present day as fun as my brofur Ludo did as I find having to guard my presents so no other dog gets them a little bit stressful.

Dog Agility

Hurro! Arthur here!

We sure kept you waiting a long time to find out where we were in this last photo! Mum got real busy all of a sudden. I think it happened at about the same time Squiggly learnt how to walk… but I could be wrong.

We were actually at Agility! Every year Mum goes to a big agility show called Lune and Dad comes along and we all get to stay in a hotel. I have stayed in one hotel before in Scotland and I really liked it. Now, since this photo I have stayed in four hotels! Hotels sure are funny. They are like being in your own house, except you have to go on a car ride to get to them. You are in a big house with other people where they sometimes bring you food. You all get to stay in a bedroom together and you eat your dinner in there instead of in the kitchen. In fact, you are not even allowed in hotel kitchens, can you imagine that at home? I don’t know if my peoples are allowed in them, I have never seen them go in there but who knows what they get up to when they go out by themselves!

Anyway, back to agility. I have been doing agility shows since the start of summer. I started off pretty well and I even got this thing that I am not allowed to play with but Mum seems to like. Arran has already got some and now I have one too.

I really like agility. It is SO exciting. First we have to wait and watch the other dogs run around which makes me want to run around and then me and Mum get our turn and  we run and jump and bark together. I am supposed to listen to the directions Mum gives me, but it doesn’t really matter if I don’t. I get a bit too excited sometimes whilst waiting my turn and I bark at other dogs in the queue and Mum says then my excitement is turning to stress. We need to work on that a bit. But Mum thinks I could be really good one day.

The other good thing about agility shows is that I got to meet up with some of my siblings at them. This is my brother Theo.

And this is my sister Luna.

Can you tell which black and white collie I am? Mum can tell me from a line up because of the back smudge on my nose.

I think we might get to do one show over winter, but if not, that’s it till April now!

Sorry that we have been absent!

Love, Arthur!

Where Are We Wordless Wednesday?

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On Helping and Diets

Hurro, it’s me, Little Scamp!

I wanted to talk to you about how helpful I am and yet I have still been put on a diet. Have you heard of diets? It is where you get no extra food, less dinner AND you are not allowed to take food from the baby or eat the things he drops on the floor. What good is a baby if you cannot eat the things he drops on the floor?!! It is all that Ladee called Mum’s fault because she keeps saying I am over weight. I can always rely on Dad to sneak me some bits though.

Here are some reasons why I should not ever be on a diet.

1. I love to eat food.
2. It will be winter soon and I need insulation as I am moulting all my fur just now.
3. I am very good at helping with the dishes. Much better than squiggly who just takes them back out again instead of licking them.

   

   Just put it on the floor Squiggly

4. I am very helpful by guarding from intruders and barking at strange noises. We have had building work going on near our house for nearly two years now and I still make sure I am as vigilant as ever. Back when Squiggly was a little squiggly sometimes he would wake up and help me make lots of noise. I don’t know why this made Mum cry sometimes though…
5. I am a good baby sitter.

   

   Don’t you think you should go get him Ladee?

6. I am very good at being brushed. I never bite the brush like Ludo used to.

   

   It’s make a new Arran season

7. I am very handsome. I get told all the time that I am. 

8. I am still very good at helping with the chores, like chasing the vacuum cleaner or chewing up socks.

What do you think, if I present my case to mean old Ladee will I get to not be on a diet?

~Lickies, Arran!

 

Happy Birthday Arthur!

Hello |Efurrybody!

It’s me, Arthur. Do you know, I had another gettoopenthings day. Just like that Christmas thing we had not to long ago apart from only I got to open things! It was called My Birthday. Now I am two years old and all grown up. I still get called puppy though, no matter how big I get.

Guess what was inside my thing to open?

Happy Birthday, Arran!

Hey, it’s my birthday! I am 5 whole years old!

I didn’t get anything to celebrate. And I got less dinner, because I am on a diet apparently. I looked in Arthur’s bowl and he got more than me. More more than he usually gets, which is a lot more!

We had a busy weekend, spending the whole day with our Dad and Squiggly with no Mum around. She went off to judge OTHER dogs doing agility. Then the next day we got up early and went to an agility show ourselves. I got spooked about the weird getting up early and tried not to go. I hid. But Mum made me go and I liked it once we got there. I even won a trophy for one of my runs and I got treats after all of them! I have had a bad leg so Mum was pretty pleased with me.

Arthur had his first show and he did ok I guess. But he didn’t get any trophies!

We did get to go to the beach, so I guess that is something. But really, I should have had a cake. Don’t you think?

Where is my cake!

In fact, where is my 5 cakes!

Sigh, diet’s are hard work.

Happy Birthday to me, Arran!

Carry them with you

Last weekend we had a very important walk at one of our favourite places. It was the longest walk we have done for quite some time and we carried something very special with us.

We went to Ennerdale to scatter TND’s Mum’s ashes. She passed a few years ago and TND wanted to walk around the lake with her as it was a favourite place of hers. First, I think, we just weren’t ready to let her go and then Ludo got cancer, just as she did. Then Arthur was too young to go on such a long walk and then Squiggly came along and it felt right that we should wait to all go together.

We walked a lot in quietude and sometimes we talked about Mum, about Squiggly, about the place we were walking in and the people we passed. It was nice. I realised that we are getting to that stage where we can talk about her with fondness and that lump of regret for how quickly and unfairly she was taken is taking a back seat to the memories of her life and her place in ours. I don’t think the lump will ever go, but I think it’s getting smaller.

I said to Squiggly as he was carried around the lake by his Dad that he also carried a part of his Grandma in him and so she was never really gone. We carry our loved ones with us. In our genes, in our memories and minds, we keep them alive as we think of them and they shape our actions.

As we walked we passed groups of scouts out also walking around the lake. They were sitting, eating their lunch and we thought of Ludo.

We laughed about how he would have been mugging them for sandwiches. Thinking ‘ah, a nice bunch of chumps for me to turn my cuteness onto.’ He loved walks where we stopped for lunch. TND used to make him his own sandwich. No wonder Ludo loved him straight away when he joined as as ‘The New Person’ in our lives.

I carry my baby. We carry him, not just so we can go on long walks. Squiggly needs to be close sometimes. Lots of times!  I like to think that he’s returning the favour. Wherever he goes I go now.

I hope he takes me to some interesting places. Hopefully we’ll get to take him to lots first.

-Dee (the hu-mum)

Black and White

Hello, It’s me, Arthur!

Ages ago, Ben, from Mucky Boots and Flawless Paws. Invited me to join in with the Black and White photo challenge he was doing. Because I am black and white!

I was just born this way. I didn’t have to do anything special. I do like being black and white because I stand out nicely against the landscape when I am playing Where’s Arthur. Apparently it is the most common colour of border collie and that makes me a classic. It was very nice of my pawrents to make me this colour, especially when peoples do fancy things to their photos to make them just like me. Don’t you think?

Anyway, thank you to Ben for inviting me. I do like being invited to things because then I get to go places. Places are the best! I haven’t done the challenge the proper way, because we don’t blog that often and you are not supposed to say words with the pictures. Arran says I am being a rebel. But I am not really very rebellious. I like to do what I am told and to be a Good Boy.

I got Mum to help me make my photos look just like me. All black and white. And grey!

I picked photos that show off my character.

Here I am all wild and mysterious and ruggedly handsome!

Here are my hidden depths. Hey, Mum, I am not even in this one!

Here I am playful (and sandy, that happens a lot)

Here I am relaxing

This is me as a pup, looking very soulful and thoughtful. I have brown eyes, so Mum left them so you can look deep into my soul.

That about sums me up, I think! Except, there are no ballies in the photo.

If you would like to do the challenge too, please do. Ben did a different picture each day, so maybe you could do it that way if you like.

Love, Arthur!

 

Posing Puppy Bloopers

Hello, It’s the Hu-mum Dee posting today.

Well, the boys would never admit to having any flaws, but to take a leaf out of the politicians in this country, I think we should be ‘fair and transparent’.

The post about watching Arthur grow might have been a bit deceptive in making you think that Arthur and Arran were perfectly behaved each week. I was just clearing out some old SD cards that were full up and thought I should share this small sample of the many takes it took to get the growth photos. Part of the reason I stopped is that our very own TNP photographer got fed up with taking them! Can you believe it?

Arthur is about to pounce at me in all of these.

Arran would like to point out that he is being a ‘good boy’ in all of them and it wasn’t really fair that he still only got one treat.

In other news, Squiggly is officially on the move. Which means he can get into all kinds of trouble and requires a bit more attention. I’ll try and get round to reading some blogs for the boys soon!

-Dee

Pee Ess,

We didn’t have the blog at Christmas, but you don’t want to know how many takes this one took!