pavlov response

poor richard - or poor Murphy? because richard is Mr Taxi to Emily and comes and goes when she phones for lifts, usually he's taking/picking her up from the stables so richard's got into the habit of taking the dog with him for a quick walk...

result?

...every time the phone rings Murphy thinks he's getting a walk!

spring?

how weird, now all the snow's gone suddenly it's, like, gone up 15 degrees! It was 12C today, Richard's baring his forearms (settle down girls!)

And I've decided it's now the time to go running in the evenings again, as I have too much other stuff to do in the mornings at the moment. Just about light enough and a particularly good time for chasing deer, as Murphy pointed out tonight (by dint of haring off at top speed after one through a field and not coming back for ages).

Spring is in the air... so I'd better get me diet going again before I have to go down to just 2 layers, eek!

another weekend

well that's another one over. Murphy had a bit of a change, he went with Emily and had a sleepover at her mum's house with Charlie the hyperactive brown lab (who was his partner in crime on our last disastrous outing when he made me kill that poor rabbit). Quite good timing really as we were out for a posh dinner for St Valentine's Day. Apparently he was very well behaved and poor Smokey (their cat at their mum's, quite old) wasn't TOO put out. Mind you that was partly because Ems forgot to take with her the small dog's jumper she bought for him. Fern followed Gizzy round the house with it yesterday but Gizzy was determined she wasn't putting it on... funny that!

pilates assistance?

I started Pilates about 5 years ago after I hurt my back - regular practice apparently reduces the risk of re-occurrence, and did it once in class and twice other times - but gave that up mainly cos it was quite difficult lying on your back on the floor doing "controlled" leg lifts with a cat hanging off one leg and a dog sitting on your chest!

So of course my back re-occurred and I'm back to exercises for that and doing pilates in the morning (well it's too snowy to run just now anyway) - Gizzy (unlike her predecessor) doesn't try to join in (she prefers to curl up on my back when I'm doing the Plank) but watches with interest from on high - paws tucked neatly in and peering down over the edge of her ledge at me. Murphy was far more interested in trying to join in, with the paw on the chest as before. It took me several firm (but whispered) "no!" and "lie down"'s before he got the message and slouched on the floor, dejectedly waiting til I stopped being silly and took him out for his walk.

Hoomans, eh?

winter walk

what a lovely day - it snowed overnight again so he came down the road with me - cos of my back I couldn't have him on the lead so he had a great time investigating everyone's gardens! He did try to race a Land Rover to try to cut across the front after a cat (with me bellowing at him but the car was going slowly cos of the snow anyway) but saw sense and let it pass.

Then he had a wonderful walk with the three of us (Emily with almost-broken fingers after the horse mistook them for goodness-knows-what!) as you can see from the photo he's off at the run!)

mo-snow-ho-ho!

well he struck again we have discovered, but not sure when.. the trouble with having a teenager(s) in the house is that very quickly Murphy's dog instincts have told him that those are the rooms to inhabit - particularly if you're a four footed hoover machine! The evidence this time nearly got buried in the snow but is just visible - the remains of a chocolate digestive packet...

Once the snow and ice goes we'll have to go and retrieve the retriever's cast-offs! Still, at least they're both enjoying the snow (perhaps Murphy more than Gizzy although she was out in the garden this afternoon chasing her tail in the snow, in between licking her paws)

snow -ho-ho

I picked today of all days to have a long lie and not go running - poor Murphy! I got a surprise when I looked out the window and realised it was snowing, and if I'd known I'd've been out in a flash - I love running in the snow, especially that early in the morning when we're the only ones out and it's so silent, leaving our foot/pawprints behind us. And Murphy loves the snow too! He had to make do with his walk with his buddies instead.

phew

in case you're worried, no need this time. He was up and bouncing about as normal this morning, none the worse for his little "adventure"!

I was wrong

.... following the last entry we just discovered he not only enjoyed the chicken but made off with the whole bloomin chicken carcase and polished it off in the garden! not the legs and wings, thank god but the rest is bad enough, I had to phone the emergency vet to see what if anything we ought to do. They said it should be ok, so we've got our fingers crossed..

weekend again

It's the end of the weekend again - where do they go? Murphy had quite a good day, we took him a long walk - not where we wanted to go as I forgot the map and we didn't know exactly where we were going, but the usual hill, still a good walk and a good view. Tried to get a good picture of Richard and Murphy but Murphy was far more interested in something else in the background! (as you can see it was a bit breezy at the top) Then he had lots of roast chicken (well not lots but a fair bit) left over from dinner...