banned from PetsAtHomeSmart....

Very embarrassingly Scooby nearly got me banned from the big pet shop.  Big shop not necessarily for big pets.  They have fish.  I don't think they have ponies...

Anyway, he did one of his 10-minute-wees.  In the middle of the shop.  I tried to catch the attention of the nearest polo shirt person but thought it was safer to keep Scooby in the one place for the duration...his bladder has an enormous capacity.  On a cold day several villages can be engulfed with the steam produced by one of his 10-minute-wees.  His very own pee-souper fog.

I did find a 'wet floor' sign thing and placed it approximately in the middle of the yellow ocean until I could find someone suitably qualified in mopping.

And then...well once he was more comfortable he tried to get in the rabbit enclosure.  He noticed there was no roof on the rabbit enclosure and I caught him working out how to jump in.  If it wasn't for the £102.27 I spent in there I'm sure we would have been escorted out.

Lulu

It's not just Scooby's staggeringly expensive food (that promises so much in the way of energy, nutrients, wet noses and lack of the Mr. Whippy's) but there's Lulu's too.  Now that she's 8 and a half and her lovely brother died recently I'm compelled to get her the expensive cat food for mature cats.  

This presented me with a bit of a dilemma in itself.  I couldn't bring myself to buy the  '3 for 2' offer that was on for fear of jinxing the little Lulu.  So, like taking an umbrella out to guarantee a dry day I got her 'two for £15' of some other stuff instead.  Phew.  Glad I sidestepped that one.

Scooby in the twilight zone

It's been great taking Scooby out in daylight everyday over the last week or so but you do see some weird stuff sometimes.  What does the doll's head in a tree mean?  It's in Woodbank Park.  Does it mean something sinister?  Is it art? 

witchcraft at woodbank?

Whatever the reason I won't go there in the dark now the dog-walking-by-moonlight is starting again as everything gets back to the normal routine in the bleak winteryness. 

Scooby in the dark rocking his disco collar

I don't do the sentimental guff that's evident at this time of year.  Sometimes there's a really good reason for auld acquaintances to be forgot.  In the same vein having a facebook friend clearout can be very cathartic.  If you're doing the looking back and looking forward thing, please be kind to yourself.  And don't get dizzy.  And be careful crossing the road.  You might want to stop (looking forward and looking back) while you cross the road.  Look left and right instead.

Scooby sleeps as if he doesn't have a care in the world.

So should you.

Unless you've done something bad, like killed someone, in which case you should go to the police station and hand yourself in.

Scooby having a cool yule

Scooby's had a great couple of days and is very sleepy and content.

Yesterday we met Casper in a local park for a Christmas Day run about.  They ran each other ragged and were both very tired by the time they were packed up in the cars for the journey home.

Casper en route to a Christmas Day bath

Because of Scooby my car smells much worse that you could possibly imagine.

The effect of the walk lasted all day and Scooby didn't move from the settee, until bedtime. 

Scooby being festive

Even his own present couldn't get him interested enough to get off the settee...

After an early night and a lie-in Scooby was recovered enough to face another walk.  Lots of running around and pond-dipping and then we bumped into the lovely Freddie.  Freddie is a gorgeous, very friendly 3 year old husky we meet occasionally. 

Scooby and Freddie are very similar in size and sensibility.  Whenever they meet up they have loads of fun wrestling and doing the big dog daft things that other dogs don't get.

Freddie the husky in all his fluffy loveliness.

Freddie is an absolutely lovely dog but he's a bugger to take pictures of as he's always moving.  The only pictures I have are either blurred or partial.  He's a stunning dog and I can well understand someone asking his owners to pimp him out as a model.

Freddie's nose and toes

Freddie and Scooby doing the foraging husky thing

Scooby is a very tired and happy bunny....and on the settee for the forseeable. Lovely :-)
 

Lulu gets her festive freak on

Lulu ho ho ho

Lulu is the most festive character in our house.  Scooby doesn't count because he's super excited about everything.  The rest of us make pre-epiphany scrooge look like Father Christmas.

Ironically Lulu's is the first present I bought (a radio-controlled mouse) but I can't find the thing now.  I can't imagine I felt the need to deliberately hide it from her.  I'll probably find it in a few months.

If I had written this before I'd had a bath it would have been called 'Another day, another dose of pneumonia' but I'm feeling slightly less hateful now.  I'm still feeling manky though.

Despite my severe dose of consumption, Scooby's had a good run in the park today and met loads of dogs to run around with and did lots of paddling.  He's been nice and knackered ever since.  Result.

Apropos of nothing, here's a picture of  Scooby in a hammock.

ice ice baby

The sun is shining and the sky is blue but I feel manky so it's raining in my heart.  I doubled up on my thermals and took the Scoobs out for a walk to one of our local places, as I couldn't be bothered getting the ice off the car.

There were loads of dogs out and Scooby had a big run and play with several of them.  As for me I alternated between feverish and freezing.  Bah!

All's well that ends well as we're both on the settee, with a blanket and watching old films.  Scooby is asleep already and I think I'll be there soon.

Today's weather...perfect for penguins

Scooby and Scrappy (aka Jess)

It's the weekend, so an opportunity for a big walk, in daylight!  Scooby and I met up with a little dog we know.  Jess, 4 years old, is another rescued dog and despite being a fifth of the size of Scooby she's a persistent little thing and happily keeps up with Scooby.

She's also another dog that bosses Scooby around.

Scooby and Jess at the hot chocolate stop at the end of a very wet and cold and muddy walk

The weather was absolutely horrible and it rained the whole time.  It was also really cold and incredibly muddy.  Poor Jess being so small practically disappeared in some of the bigger puddles.

Scooby and Scrappy...erm Jess

Scooby didn't exactly escape the mud and needed a bath when we got home.  He hates baths.  He'll happily run into the coldest, dirtiest ponds in the dark in the middle of winter but give him a warm bath and he's miserable.

Poor Scooby about to face the torture of a warm bath

After the bath there's the inevitable shaking of 'parfum de wet dog' all over the house and then the settling down on the settee for an epic snooze.

Scooby reflecting on how hard his life is?

Don't worry...be Scooby

We got our first snow of the winter today and Scooby is very happy.  He loves the snow, I think it's the Husky half of him.  He jumps around in it and can't resist grabbing a mouthful occasionally.

During last winter's mega snow-fest he'd trail his nose in it as we walked along.  Strange dog.  To be fair I do like seeing his big clean feet punching holes in the virgin snow. 

He's also very good to throw snowballs at...I mean to!

I think we're due some more snow and definitely a really cold snap.  On the way home from our afternoon walk the puddles were beginning to freeze over and the forming ice crystals were sparkling on the pavement.  Pretty if they weren't so slippy.

Which brings me to the issue of worrying.  I'm not sure where I got the idea that doing something to scare yourself everyday is a good thing (possibly by someone sponsored by the valium industry?) but there have been a few spooky walks recently.

My son has insisted I take his massive metal maglite torch with me when walking Scooby in the dark.  He says I have to take it "because you can beat people over the head with it".  I'm not convinced.  Either that I could beat someone over the head with it, or indeed stop someone from beating me over the head with it...

The things I do to prevent myself being murdered in the park in the dark are as follows:

1. walk purposefully - apparently little old ladies that stride are much less likely to be mugged than ones who dodder, as they look like they could put up a bit of a fight.
2. Try to remember to call Scooby 'Killer'
3. Try to remember to not call Scooby 'my good boy...oh yes you are' and 'my little pumpkin' etc.
4. I have rehearsed (in my head) a convincing warning about Scooby being very protective

This list is not extensive and I may add to it.  Suggestions are welcome!  I draw the line at night vision goggles though.

Or...maybe I should just take a supremely chilled out page from Scooby's book...and be happy, be Scooby.

all he wants for christmas

Scooby's had an exciting week this week.  He met some policemen.  He loves policemen.  They weren't so sure about him and said Scooby definitely had presence.  I think this may be code for something...

To make up for the cold, rainy moonlight walks during the week I took Scooby on a big trek today.  Because of the rain all week it was really muddy and the river was very full.

Deep squishy mud as far as the eye can see

The stepping stone to cross the river are underwater as the river was very high today

Scooby was happy running around, getting filthy and dipping in and out of the river.  Fortunately there were lots of other mad dog owners with their dogs out too, so Scooby had lots of dogs to play with.

He was absolutely filthy by the time we got home, not so happy being rinsed down with cold water before I let him in the house.



As for Scooby's presence/presents...all he wants for christmas is a dog bed he can fit in.

Cat is called 'Tabby' and lives down the road!

I had a phonecall from Cat's rightful servant this morning after he saw the poster in the corner shop!  There were indeed some heartbroken people missing Cat.  They are now happily reconciled.

 Naughty Cat is actually called 'Tabby' and lives down the road

They were very eager to come and collect her, which is lovely.  Cat (aka Tabby) lives on my road and I can actually see her house from my house.

I'm not convinced Tabby was actually missing at all.  She was just on holiday.  At my house.

If I was cat and wanted to go on holiday I'm not sure I'd pick a house with a massive dog and one cat already in it.  As has been said previously, she probably saw a couple of soft-touches she could train up to pander to her every need (i.e. me and son).

She's a lovely friendly little thing and it was great to see her servants so happy to have her back!

Farewell Tabby, live long and prosper!

New Old Cat

New Visitor (aka Cat) is fine and well.  She's bossed Scooby around and he knows not to mess with her, which is good because she has a fondness for his food.

 Cat eating Scooby's food

I keep opening the front door for her in case she wants to go but she just sits there, unimpressed.

I did take Cat to the vets tonight though to see if she was microchipped.  She isn't.  She's very old though, the vet reckons she's  10 or  11 years old.  Her heart seemed to be ok and despite being very skinny he thought she might just need her teeth cleaning at some point.

After giving her the once over he says to me "So, are you holding on to her?"  What else could I say but "yeah".  So what if she's an old lady, she's more than welcome to live a few more years comfortably here.

I will post her details on some lost and found websites and stick a poster on a couple of lamp-posts, just in case there's a heartbroken person out there pining for her.

Another thing I found out.....she's very car-sick.