What Easter means to a dog

This weekend is an extra long weekend which is great because I get to play with Dave and Louise more.  Sometimes weekends are longer because on the Mondays the banks decide everyone should close, and so it's called a bank holiday.  I don't know why the banks get to choose but I'm not complaining except the buses don't have to stop, which is a shame as Dave's out driving a bus in Stockport over Easter.

These bank holidays are very confusing to me.  This particular holiday is called Easter, which is a holiday invented by someone called Christian celebrating how people can eat a lot of chocolate.  Someone called the Easter Bunny brings everyone eggs made out of chocolate, which is even more confusing as bunnies don't lay eggs, chickens do.  Dogs don't eat chocolate but I'm sure Louise will buy me treats instead.

I like the look of chocolate...

... But Louise and Dave have treats for dogs instead!

I hope everyone enjoys their Easter too. I've been for walks with Dave and Louise and played fetch, the snow is mostly gone so there were birds to chase, and then had some naps.  It's very light and Louise says it's because the clocks have gone forward, although I've checked and they're all in exactly the same place.  As I said, Easter is confusing, I think I like Christmas better because of the presents.

Destroying Something Purple - For Louise

Louise says yesterday was Purple Day.  Purple is a colour for girls so to start with I wasn't very interested, but she says it's to show people we can about people that have something called epileptic seizures.  Louise can have these even if she takes the white sweets she eats to stop them, so then I was very interested.  Louise wore a purple top and Dave wore a purple tie so that way we could show we care about everyone that has epilepsy like Louise.  Not everyone has a dog like me to help them and that makes me feel sad, and I hope that other people help them instead.

I'm a dog and don't really like wearing clothes, not even coats like my friend Rupert wears.  Also, purple is kind of a colour for girls and it doesn't matter how much I love Louise I'm not sure I want to walk around Disley wearing a girl colour.  Instead, Louise has got me some purple balloons to play with; my teeth always make them go bang!  Today I will destroy something purple, for Louise, and all the other people that have epilepsy.

Disley Dog vs Disley Ducks - I will be victorious

The ducks at the canal in Disley are being especially mean to me at the moment and I'm worried that Dave thinks they're pushing me around.  Dave is very big and strong; no one pushes him around and I was to be just like him except with 4 legs, because I like having 4 legs.  To show him how big and strong I am I chased and barked at them and Dave filmed me on his cleverphone, which is like having your picture taken lots and lots of times so fast that you look like you're moving on the screen.  It's very clever and Dave is very clever for being able to do that.

Me and Dave have the same colour hair, which is ginger, so we're alike like that too as well as being big and strong and clever.  I can't work a phone camera like Dave can but I can work a pedal bin, which is where Louise keeps the spare food.  She gets a little cross when I go in the pedal bin but I hate to see food wasted!

Why snow and being a ginger ninja dog is cool.

It's very snowy here, which means walks are cold but extra fun.  Me and Louise went to the park yesterday, Cheshire's very pretty in the snow and I posed for Louise in front of a big old hill called Mount Kinder, which is a really high mountain near Disley where we live.  Mountains are hills that are so big that there's snow there more than other hills and they get their own helicopter.  We don't walk up that hill because Louise says she's getting too old for that (bad word) and I'm worried we'd get stuck up there and we'd have to use that helicopter and I don't have a passport (which you need when you fly anywhere). 

Me in front of a snowy Mount Kinder; my tail got cold

Helen and Stephen were in the park too with Samuel and Lois.  Stephen must like snow a lot because he played tig with me.  I won but I have 2 more legs than him; I feel bad for people only having 2 legs, one of the best things about being a dog is having 4 legs.  It means you can jump higher and run faster, although it means I can't do other cool stuff like play the piano.

Me beating Stephen at Tig

 

 

 

 

 

Samuel had a toboggan, which is a baby sledge like Santa has, although Samuel's doesn't fly like Santa's.  Samuel said I could have a play and I thought about it but decided against it, so I just checked it was safe for him.  It wasn't that I was scared, I mean Samuel does it and he's only 4 and I'm 5 and a half, but I thought that if I fell off I might mess up my hair and embarrass Dave by looking scruffy.  Dave puts wax on his hair to make it stick up which is weird because wax is what makes colouring crayons and his hair still stays ginger like mine.  Having ginger hair is what makes you a really good fighter because it rhymes with ninja, who are really good fighters.  I don't fight, but knowing I'm a dog ginger ninja is cool. 

Checking the toboggan is safe for Samuel

Pringles are good - Postmen are bad

Louise is very happy with me today because the vet says I am healthy.  Well, I already knew that, but Louise has been very worried about this little bump on my side.  The vet says it is a fatty lump, which I thought was a bit rude but he meant the bump was a fatty lump not that I am a fatty lump.  I was worried that if Dave thought I was a fatty lump that he wouldn’t share his crisps any more, which would be a shame as I am particularly partial to Pringles.  Pringles are special crisps that are all the same shape, so they must be made with funny shaped potatoes.

Looking for the Postman - we don't want your junk!

While Louise has been worried about me, I am more concerned about our postman, who is posting more than ever through the hole in the door.  I said that we should plug the hole up but Louise said no in case we miss an important Bill, although I don’t know anyone called Bill let alone an important one.  Louise calls it junk mail, and when I looked up ‘junk’ it said ‘useless material.’  Why our postman would choose to post us something useless I do not know, so I am responding by shouting at him every time he posts anything.  Hopefully soon he will get the message that we don’t want his junk and give it to the woman next door who has a snooty cat called Ollie.  I don’t like Ollie because he can sit on fences and window ledges when I can’t.  I don’t get on with most of the cats in Disley; they are like bigger meaner squirrels.

Me and Ollie - the snootiest cat in Disley

Vets are people too

It's been a very busy week.  On Monday I got to go and see the vet, which was great.  A lot of dogs I know don't like the vets, but I really like it there.  I get to stand on a high shiny table without getting told off for jumping up, and the vet and the vet nurse give me lots of fuss; they're both very friendly and not scary at all.  This time I had to have a couple of little injections but I was very brave and I could tell Dave was very impressed. Louise was impressed too when we got back to Cheshire (the vet lives in Stockport which Louise says is in a different country, which is strange because I though it was in England).  She was still asleep because she said something she ate made her poorly.  I had the same thing when I ate leftover stuff from the bin once; Louise said dogs shouldn't eat curry.

I was hoping for lots of treats seeing as I was good, and so I hung around the kitchen when Louise cooked.  I can sit on the stairs if I'm quiet, and when I sit there I can still hear what's going on upstairs; Dave can get into mischief if you leave him unsupervised for too long!

Looking for treats...

... but listening for trouble

Last night we went to see Helen when Dave was watching the football.  Helen must make Louise drink very slowly, because whenever we go there, Louise says she's only going there for one drink but it seems to last forever! 

I'm an Unofficial Seizure Dog!

Louise takes care of me a lot, so it's good when I take care of her too.  Dave is very healthy except when he gets the flu that is especially for men or hurts his leg playing 5 sided football (I have never seen a football pitch with 5 sides, it sounds very interesting).  Louise gets poorly sometimes though with something called epilepsy, which makes her fall down and get confused.  This makes me feel sad for her but she eats little white sweets that keep her well most of the time.

Today I could see that she was a bit ill but she couldn't tell and was walking around just like normal.  I was worried she'd fall down and so when she went to the stairs to go downstairs to feed me (which is normally good news) I was very worried, so I called her back into the living room and she sat down.  She seemed cross, like I was being silly, but then she looked very ill and confused.  After a short bit she breathed out and looked much better.  I laid by her feet to check she didn't try to get up too quickly, I figured breakfast could wait a bit.

Keeping an eye on Louise

Louise was very very grateful.  She sent Dave a message on his cleverphone to tell him too (it's a cleverphone because it takes photos and orders shopping.)  I hope that Dave will be just as happy with me. 

Louise says that she read that there are other dogs that can do this.  They're called seizure dogs and normally dogs need to go to school to learn how to help people and they earn a special collar and coat.  I learnt all by myself.  I can't have a proper collar and coat because I haven't been to the school, but Louise says I'm definitely an unofficial seizure dog.  I'm pleased with that because I don't really like to wear coats.

Louise took care of me back by taking me for a walk and buying me Rodeo treats, which are very nice treats.  She bought herself dieting cola and has eaten some lunch so she must be feeling better, I've eaten some Rodeos; life is good. I'm kind of tired from all the excitement so I'm taking a nice, long weekend nap.

Weekend naps - they rock

Squirrel Hunting and Splashing in Cheshire

I’ve been so tired this week that I’ve only just had a chance to look at all of the pictures Aaron took of me at the weekend!  There are so many, and he’s put them all on Facebook so all of my friends can see them.  There’s a lot of me and my friend Scrappy having fun.  We played on the meadow and did lots of running and hunting for squirrels.  Every time I thought I smelt a squirrel I would call Scrappy and he would come and give me a second opinion of whether it was definitely a squirrel or just a funny smell.   

Hunting squirrels with Scrappy

There were other dogs there too, and they all liked jumping in the river.  I’m not normally keen on the water, I don’t like it when my little legs can’t touch the bottom and the ducks on the canal in Disley are mean bullies.  The water on this river didn’t look too deep though so I tried it and it was very fun and all the other dogs were very impressed with my splashing skills!

Splashing

It was all quite tiring so I was happy to get back to Aarons house and hang out on the sofa with Scrappy.  We sat there and chatted all night until it was time for bed; I told him all about the problems I have with the local ducks and he was a very good listener.

Late night chats with Scrappy at Aaron's house

I could tell Scrappy was sad to see me go home, but it was nice that Dave and Louise were so excited to see me back again.  They were both feeling quite tired but we all had a nice cuddle and then went to watch the football, which was brilliant because Tottenham won.  Lois gave me lots and lots of Cheddars, and then Helen, Lois’s mum, says I can come round on Wednesday to hang out, which doesn’t really involve hanging, just sitting.  I’ll have to bring Louise too, as she gets very noisy if you leave her on her own too long and the neighbours complain.  She can be a lot of responsibility sometimes. 

Wise things Dave and Louise have taught me - It's nice to be nice and size isn't everything.

I was a bit troubled yesterday because Poppy was very sad; she had an argument with Rupert. They're both my good friends (and Poppy's very pretty) so that made me worry.
Rupert had left when I got there and Poppy was lying quietly looking sad. To start with I thought it was because Christine, who runs the pub, had run out of biscuits. That had made me sad, but then Christine is very busy looking after lots of people in Disley so I didn't mind. Then Poppy said Rupert had barked at her and she didn't know why. Poor Poppy.

Poor Poppy

I asked Dave why Rupert would bark at Poppy. He said it could be because Poppy is getting bigger now she's not a puppy any more and Rupert is a bit intimidated, which is like how I feel when I see the yellow dog in the park that can fetch better than me (I don't see the point of fetch, I mean if they want the stick back so much why do they throw it in the first place?)

I told all this to Poppy who woofed me a thank you because she felt a bit better. Then Sarah, Poppy's Mummy, picked her up and gave her a big cuddle and she must have felt much better because she wagged her tail. This is normal; lots of people, mainly men, look happier after Sarah gives them a cuddle (she should cuddle more, she mainly cuddles Poppy's Daddy, the man i'm a bit scared of when there's music; when he dances, he kicks).

Next time I see Rupert i'm going to tell him not to feel bad that Poppy's getting bigger than him, that like Dave says; size isn't everything, and like Louise says; it's nice to be nice. Then I'm sure they will both go back to being the happiest dogs in Cheshire!

Big Hug!