murphy thoughts from abroad

hello from Norway! We're here visiting friends in beautiful Stavanger to see the New Year in and the only down side is we had to leave Murfs at home. Although he wouldn't like it as they celebrate Hogmanay by setting off fireworks (there were crowds -of men- 6 deep at the firework counters today!) so Murphy would be quite unhappy.

But we have a guest appearance instead from Shannon, Steve & Tina's wonderful Bernese Mountain dog (and 2-year-old Katie's pal, she's rechristened her "Shabby") so we at least do have canine company, if not quite so lively. She's about 8, a good age for her breed, and very fit and healthy; she's a very good leaner, she always comes and leans on you to allow you to clap her.

The old year...

well, poor old murphy is ending the year as he started it... hirpling about with us spending most of our time trying to get him to stop licking his wounded paw...

His limp has become more and more pronounced all week and now he whimpers if you take his paw too roughly so as I was working today I phoned the vet and made an appointment for Richard to take him in (a bit too early for Richard's liking but hey ho, I was up at 6.40am!) and he's on antibiotics and painkillers, to be administered in his food. It's never a problem getting Murphy to take drugs, he thinks everything is a treat - I have to fight him off in the mornings, he wants me to give him my vitamin pills!

Hopefully he won't have to get the lampshade back on to stop him licking it, or we'll all be minus a few kneecaps soon.

Christmas day was lovely, wasn't it? Someone must have heard us all moaning on Christmas eve that we never get white Christmasses anymore, so we woke to a hard frost. Fantastic! I failed to find a church service (difficult to check timings for Christmas Day when you're away the weekend before) so took Murphy a long walk in the woods (at 9am very quiet) and sang christmas carols instead. Not when anyone was about, of course!

Merry Christmas everyone! woof woof!

greetings from Glasgow

Hello from the wet west coast! It was lovely coming down on the train, I much prefer it to driving. I'd love to bring the murfer down with me but the thought of him lurking under a table or trying to sit on everyone instead rather puts me off taking him on a train.

Poor fellow has been in the wars again - his paw was bleeding quite a lot this morning so I cut short his walk (it was only 5 minutes, he was NOT impressed!) and took him home to bathe it in salt water. He doesn't seem to feel any pain but appears to have pulled out one of his claws... don't know whether he's done it previously and it's opened up again or whether he just did it this morning... as usual it's an awkward time with everything closing for Christmas (he stood on glass two years ago in Glasgow at New Year - as you do - and we had to wait a few days to get him to the vets). Richard says he's fine though, so we'll see how it goes. But I don't want bloody pawprints all over the carpets!

Christmas

I introduced Murphy to the crib this morning - it's on the littlest coffee table next to the tree. I sat him down in front of it and pointed out the baby Jesus, and the kings, and the shepherd etc. He listened carefully and had a good old sniff at them all.

"hmm...not food" he thought, and wandered off....

Sunday

ohmygod, stoopid dog! We put the Christmas tree up and decorated it on Sunday - Emily wrapped tinsel round Murphy's neck, he didn't seem to mind and pottered around for a while til I took it off - we needed it for the tree! He hates the (broken) reindeer antlers when we put them on, he stops and scrubs at his face with his paw til he gets them off.

Then he was lying around looking quite woebegon and tired so we thought, "poor Murphy! We've christmassed him out already!"... til Richard came in from the garden with an empty packet, asking if there was supposed to be anything in it - I recognised it - I'd taken it out the freezer to defrost for breakfast then ran out of time...

No wonder he wasn't looking himself - he'd polished off half a packet of frozen bacon!!

so far so good..

well we've had quite a quiet time of it so far.. unlike last year when Murphy managed to embarrass me on 3 levels all at once..

I'd been at a Christmas night out the night before so changed into my PJ's in the bathroom upstairs so as not to wake Richard; at 9am the next morning the doorbell rang and I legged it downstairs, opening the door and keeping a hand on Murphy's collar (he likes to investigate all potential visitors) - it was the usual parcel delivery man so there I was in my vest and PJ bottoms (wishing I'd put a dressing gown or jumper on), listening to him tell me about how the last time he'd left a parcel round the back Murphy jumped on him and knocked him over - but that really the dog was just being friendly, wasn't "she"...

...when out came the monster himself with something in his mouth (he'd obviously got bored with the tale of his past doings). I didn't have my contact lenses in so had to screw my eyes up to see.... horrors!... he was trying to give my bra to the postie!....

home again

Well, we went off for a busy weekend in London and left poor old Murfs behind. He didn't mind, he got to go stay with Lou, the dogwalker and his favourite person (besides us. of course) - she lets him sleep on the bed! She asked me once if we eat at the table all the time - she obviously doesn't cos she said was having a chinese with a friend one evening when she had Murphy and "if he was any closer to me he'd have been sitting in my lap!" .... the main reason we eat at the table...

nice try...

...Murphy! We've been looking for the anti-barking collar all week, Richard turned the house upside down on Monday night, kids hadn't seen it and the dog-walker didn't have it when we asked her. Then I checked the garden this morning and there it was - cunningly stuffed under a bush.

But not far enough, Murphy, eh? Guess you'll have to dig a hole and bury it next time!

history

...I thought I'd give you a wee bit history of our bold hero and found this picture of him as a puppy, just after we got him.

Aaaww, doesn't he look sweet? Doesn't he look as if butter wouldn't melt in his mouth? Don't you believe it!

Exactly that did indeed melt in his mouth, just as soon as we had to put him onto doggy weightwatchers (of which more another time) and he discovered the kitchen worktops to be a hitherto unexplored source of delight, including "abandoned" food - not that he waits to confirm the abandoned assumption - he just scoofs it up and then sits around looking innocent. the first thing that went was butter... we couldn't quite believe it and it seemed quite funny.. til I came in one evening to find Richard had left my dinner out for me and all that was left was a (very clean) plate siitting there, with a scattering of peas and carrots sprinkled around it - bang went my shepherd's pie - not so funny then..!

When we got him he was the same size (NOT the same build) and roughly the same colour as Eddie (the cat, remember?) so he naturally thought, coming from a large cohort of brothers and sisters as he did, that here was another one to play with. Eddie knew he was a cat, but Murphy thought he was a dog, and Eddie never disabused him of that. For a year was chased around the house and they wrestled, Eddie would chew Murphy's nose, legs or anything else he could get his paws round. He never used his claws, though. When he had had enough he would head for the high ground (moral and practical).

The trampoline in the garden provided him with a safe haven for a while - Eddie would stand on top, thinking he was safe as Murphy at that point was too wee and round to get onto it. But Murphy the puppy wisnae daft, and could see Eddie's shadow from underneath - so he ran about under it and jumped up, headbutting the cat from below! Eddie was most discomfitted, and backed off until he was at the edge of the trampoline - at which point Murphy popped up again behind him with his front paws on the edge - "hello! it's me!" You can see why Eddie took to the trees in time-honoured cat fashion.

The neighbours got a kitten too (Spencer - you may as well know the cast's names) - a disciple of Eddie's, he used to lick his feet when they met, and the two of them would drive poor old Murf mad - they would take a tree each and just sit there, watching as he bounced up and down underneath, barking, trying to get them to come the heck down and play! - it never worked.

Now he just stands underneath trees that contain anything from cats and birds to squirrels and barks at them, or just sits with his mouth open - I don't know if he thinks they're just going to fall into his waiting jaws but hope certainly springs eternal on that front!

Next time I'll explain the subtle difference between Eddie and Gizzy (our current cat) in their dealings with our hero.

Saturday

Saturday - Murphy had a great time last night - he went off for a sleepover with my stepdaughter (Emily) to a friend of hers who has a puppy - I dropped them off and he looked very smart in his best bandana, waiting at the door to get in. Meanwhile Gizzy our current cat and Murphy's boss (in the house) thoroughly enjoyed her evening without him.

He had a good run down by the river today - he loves water. For once he didn't chase the swans (very much) and didn't even eat the bread some little old lady was throwing to the ducks - unusually good behaviour!

But then things went wrong - he was invited up the stairs (he's not usually allowed) and came rushing up and into the bathroom, delighted with this - til he caught sight of the bath itself and realisation dawned... help! A quick turn around to shoot out the door again... and fetched himself a light bang on the head - too late, the door was closing!

After a brief struggle to get him in the bath (four legs are all very well but it just makes it more difficult to get them all in the bath at the same time) he contented himself with shivering and hanging his head out over the side while we did our worst... only one break for freedom and four towels and several changes of clothes for us later, it was all over. I think we're forgiven, til next time... and the bathroom always dries out in the end.

But whether he'll forgive Emily's plans to buy him a pink coat for Christmas is another matter - especially as his pal Archie the Airedale (who got a No. 1 all over last week) now has a green burberry coat with brown cord trim. Watch this space!

hello

I know from experience that it's not really a good idea to link the names of pets, as it seems to increase the chance of something happening to one of them. We had a kitten called Eddie, so when we got our puppy, called him Murphy... get it? Well, poor Eddie turned out to have absolutely no road sense at all and only lasted about a year... broke our hearts..

Murphy, on the other hand, has grown up to be a (currently 3½ year old) hale and hearty golden retriever and Murphy by name, Murphy by nature! He's a bouncy, enthusiastic numpty of a dog (unless there's food involved). His life revolves around food, walks and hugs - not necessarily in that order.

As you'll have guessed, he's the love of my life (as my poor husband - of 2 months - acknowledges with a sigh, particularly when I get his and the dog's names mixed up).

He gets up to all sorts of mischief (Murphy, that is) and I am forever regaling my long suffering friends and aquaintances with his latest doings - so I thought I'd cut out all the repetition and start a blog about it. I'll try to keep to the funny stuff so as not to bore anyone who'se already bored enough to have come across this!

Well I'd better go for now, I'll think up all his best past doings for the next few entries...