Foggy
Posted: Sun 4 February, 2007 Filed under: Animals Leave a comment »The weather here has been utterly manky – we were going to go to the beach with Hound, but the visibility was so bad, it just wouldn’t have been worth it.
Instead, we went to Knettishall Country Park, which we’d heard about, but not got round to visiting.
Anyway, Hound is now happy, having run round like a prat for 1½miles, including diving in and out of the waterway on the walk. In short, she had a great time, so all told, very successful.
Fencing
Posted: Tue 30 January, 2007 Filed under: Animals, Domestic 2 Comments »When we moved into the current place, we realised that the landlords had a rather different idea of what a “dog-friendly” or “enclosed” garden was than we did. By which I mean that we discovered that the fence and hedges had a number of holes in them that would allow Hound to explore the gardens of our neighbours.
She’s had a great time exploring, as you can imagine. About a month ago, we bought some wire fencing and posts, and put them up in the places where she was getting through to the neighbours.
So she found other places. Cowbag.
Over the last two weekends, we’ve bought more bloody wire fencing and fenceposts. The entire side and bottom of the garden is now pooch-proofed, and the other side is a stream, so she’s not going to escape that way. Well, she’d fucking better not, anyway.
So we’ve spent about £100 on extra fencing and posts. Of course, we can take it with us when we move to the new place, but it’s still a pain in the arse at the moment.
Still, it’ll be interesting to see where Hound escapes to next.
Dog Timekeeping
Posted: Sun 28 January, 2007 Filed under: Animals, Domestic, Weirdness 1 Comment »I’ve written before about how Hound is very time-driven, which is always a bizarre experience. While I know she’s actually fairly autistic, and has her patterns that she gets twitchy if they’re not fulfilled.
But at the same time, she’s still time-driven. Last night, she was wanting to go out for a walk at 8:15. For a variety of reasons, it wasn’t oing to happen ’til half eight. So I told her to wait 15 mnutes, and then we’d go out. (Yes, I know the insanity of talking to one’s Hound like this but he, there we go) She went off to lie down. The next time she got up to nag for her walk was…. 8:30.
However, I do wish that she understood about weekends. Weekdays, we leave the house at about 7.30, and Hound goes for a walk once Herself has dropped me off at the station. Weekends, well, it’d be nice to have a lie-in, but Hound usually thinks that it’s still time for her walk at 7.30, and bounces on the bed.
I have to say, getting dog-breath in the face as a wake-up call is so not a good first experience of the day.
Cat Fun
Posted: Sat 27 January, 2007 Filed under: Animals, Domestic 2 Comments »Ah yes. another tale of the Psycho Cat.
A while back, the stupid little fluffy git fell off the kitchen worktop, and bashed his eye on a cupboard knob on the way down. It blew up like a football (well, a cat-sized football) immediately, and resulted in a feline black-eye that took about a week to recede. But after that all was well,
He came in earlier this week, and the same eye was all squinty and closed. It wasn’t causing him pain or anything, and in fact he didn’t even object to us touching the area around the eye. And that is how we knew he really wasn’t well. So Herself took him to meet the local vet.
He had damaged his eye, but it’d got better. Then he did something else to it – obviously no-one knows what – and now it’s ulcerated. Roughly the size of half a 5p piece. (probably about 5mm across, for non-UK readers) Nasty, in other words.
So we now have eyedrops for the fuzzy little fucker. He’s supposed to have them twice a day. This has led to some great fun, as you imagine. Psycho Cat is NOT a happy cat. And because of this, he’s stalking the bed at night, waiting for any sections of flesh to fall within range of his claws and/or teeth. My leg looks like a pin-cushion.
Dogs and Health
Posted: Mon 22 January, 2007 Filed under: Animals, Domestic, Health Leave a comment »In general, I can’t say I’m surprised at the ‘revelation’ that Dog owners (and, I suspect, pet owners in general) ‘lead healthier lives’. Particularly in the case of dog owners (or at least responsible ones) part of that is due to the enforced exercise regime – also known as “dog walking”.
Currently I’m not as good on this score, because Herself takes Hound for its morning walk while I’m sat on a train going to work – although on weekends Hound decides that it’s back to being my job. Which is fair enough.
Once we’ve moved, though, I suspect we’ll also be back to doing a lot more Hound-related exercise. In the current place, we mis-assessed the situation, and we’re actually not very close at all to anywhere that’s good for Hound-walking. There’s one small area that’s semi-close, but for a border collie it’s just too small. In fact, I’d say the designated ‘dog walking’ area is actually smaller than our garden. Once we’ve moved, though, there’s just fields all round, so I’m sure we’ll be doing a lot more, even in the evenings.
It’s also well-known that stroking one’s dog or cat is, in general, good at reducing stress levels, blood-pressure etc., and as such is usually quite healthy.
Then again, the people who created this report had obviously not met our two, as Hound is great at inducing heavy levels of stress when she’s in irritating (AKA “Barky twat”) mode, and Psycho Cat is great at guessing when you’ve just relaxed while stroking the furry little fucker, and then biting your fingers at the opportune moment…
New Year
Posted: Sun 31 December, 2006 Filed under: Animals, Charm School, Domestic 1 Comment »
Bloody Hell, is it really New Years Eve? Maybe I’m getting old, but it really doesn’t feel like it, does it?
And chuff, that means I’m back at work in two days time as well. (Along with the rest of the world, I know, I know)
Anyway, New Year is another of those things that we don’t really do much for here. Partly it’s because we’re both fairly anti-social, and for me I just don’t see the fun in being in a pub or club with a bundle of other people just to celebrate midnight. Again, maybe I’m getting old, but New Year is just something else I’m not into. Ah well.
The other excuse, though, is a far better one – Hound. Of course, we don’t yet know what the firework situation is going to be like in the new place, but last year we had fireworks from about 6pm through ’til 2am, which meant a very stressed Hound by the end of it. And as this property is rented, well, it’s probably better that we stay in, and she can sit at our feet, or under the bed, while we just get on with it.
Other than that, though, Happy New Year, and all that toss.