poor Maddie

or maybe poor me! I got the fright of my life when I got home at lunchtime, all set to walk the dogs (luckily having decided not to give blood after all, given the "substantially more than an hour" waiting time) and found Maddie with her face the size of a a melon! Needless to say I panicked totally, shoved Murphy back in the house and tore off with Maddie down to the vets, only to find she was away til 2, so I was directed to the nearest one with a vet and got there in double quick time. I thought Maddie's throat might swell up and she could die but once I got there they said it looked scary but that they weren't aware of that sort of thing ever ending in anaphylactic shock or similar.

So she got steroids and antihistamine jags and we have more pills for her and so far it's gone down quite a bit but not totally. I should say at this point that throughout this, while she was a bit subdued, on the whole she hasn't been massively affected by this.

I think Murphy must have realised something was wrong (he must have picked up on my panic at least) as I was going to work out what was for tea but ended up having a bit of a love-in with the dogs - I had Maddie on her bed and sat with her for a cuddle and Murphy wanted in so I played with him too - but when I wanted to get up he kept putting the paw up "don't go, don't go" so I just had to sit there and stroke him til Richard got home (and read a magazine to pass the time!)

PS I must also say that this picture (taken at the vets) is bad but the pictures don't show how bad it actually was. Poor Maddie.

a streaker!

murphy gave me a bit of a turn a couple of days ago. I was running along the railway line, which passes a golf course at one part - the first tee to be exact - and happened to look down as I passed it. I saw 2 guys who had just tee'd off and were looking down the fairway (luckily). Behind them I suddenly saw the silhouette of our Murphy, streaking across the tee! eek! SO fortunate that they'd already tee'd off as I doubt that would have stopped him on his way to the woods nearby!

the best and the worst

Murphy had an inspired day this week - I had run along the railway line with them and back again and was doing my stretches before heading back to the car. Murphy is patient and sits around with me (most of the time) but Maddie tends to wander off (through the nearest garden!) so I had a brilliant idea and attached their leads together, Murphy's attached to his harness and Maddie's to her collar. Well, Maddie pulled and pulled until eventually she pulled the harness off over Murphy's head.

She then started to edge off along the path; Murphy knew she shouldn't be going and followed her, keeping pace with the harness as she dragged it ever further away. He was quite worried - kept looking at it, looking at me and went and nudged her a couple of times too - all to no avail.
I then saw a cat further up and knew that she'd take off, leads and harness and all, if she saw it - so I started calling to her to come back. She sped up a bit and Murphy still kept pace, clearly getting ever more worried.

By this time I'd finished my stretches and started off after them - Murphy, after thinking abotu it and sniffing at the leads and harness as they were dragged along, took decisive action and picked up her lead in his teeth and put the brakes on, holding her back til I got there. What a clever boy! I was so impressed and pleased with him! Good boy, Murphy!

Til we got home and while I was drying Maddie in the vestibule Murphy started doing that thing that all pet owners know means their beloved is about to throw up - rather than have him throw up onto the doormat which would be difficult to clean, I threw a towel down in front of him and he used that. He'd obviously been surreptitiously snacking on either horse or dog poo - large amounts thereof! - and reaped the consequences, as did we all. Sigh! Towel now cleaned off, hosed down and sitting in the garden til it stops raining enough for me to remember to take it in and throw it in the washing machine. Bad boy, Murphy!

it's a good life

well the day started off well, with me chasing maddie up and down the street..(sigh). I wouldn't mind as it was 9am so nobody around, only she had escaped from the garden (B & Q here we come) and was after the cat. That means she was bouncing through everyone's back gardens, barking away.. not what you want at 9am on a Saturday!

Tonight I took Murphy and Maddie up to the playing fields to throw tennis balls for Maddie. Murphy gets bored with that so ran for the first ball and then spent the time eating it. All in all he lost one ball (or ate it), ate the second and Maddie destroyed the third. (sigh. again.) They weren't proper tennis balls, they're pet toys and they don't withstand much enthusiastic masticating!

Then Murphy decided he didnt want his lead back on so we had a tug of war with it (which he won) before I dragged them off down the road... - dogs, who needs 'em?!

Riverside report

I was a wee bit late this morning so murfs and mads got a bit of a bum deal- they were put into their walking harnesses and put in the car then I had to go and pick up Feen so all they got was a ride in the car then home. Oops- so I took them down the river later on, I ended up very wet and not a little muddy! Still I was getting over it and the walk would have passed off without incident til we got back to the carpark - not the usual one as it was full- and maddie decided to go for a wee wander instead of getting in the car. Unfortunately she's never really learned about hedges so today her lessons began... Tried to treat it as a wall and climbed up it but when her "flyin leap
and a scramble" tecnique got to the top we had a problem. Her weight pulled the hesg away from the wall and she fell down between the two! Never one to meekly await rescue, she tried the same techniqe to get back out, accompanied by a new one of simply pushing... And ended up stuck half way through the hedge with her head poking out! I was considering pushing her back in to lift her up but she decided brute force was the answer and just went for it- freeing herself ( into my arms and thence the car, tout de suite!), leaving a very woebegone and battered looking hedge hanging off the wall and with holes in it. I tried to fix it but not really possible, so I snuck off and hoped nobody was watching. Oops again. I think we'll avoid that carpark for a while!

canine capers

first of all, I acknowledge it's been five months since I put something up here - I've given up apologising as there's probably no-one to apologise to, and what am I saying sorry for? Not boring you for five months? I've been too busy keeping Facebook updated and trying to get my assignments in on time; then when I have plenty of time I always thonk of something else to do (can't think what at the moment).

Now I'm trying to cut down on the dissertation, still 15,000 words to lose... in the meantime Murphy has entered on a new period in his life - gigolo. Having spent about 8 months being bothered, bullied and beaten to the ball by that monster puppy Maddie, she's now come into season and decided she wants Murphy as the father of her own puppies! I haven't broken it to them it would be the miracle birth (or nightmare) and it's certainly not putting Murpy off trying.

I've been typing away on the subject of libraries, theological collections and the aristocracy of Scotland, with the two of them humping away immediately behind my chair... it's very distracting! Yesterday they were in the garden at it (unbeknownst to me) and got into what apparently is a common fankle - coitus interrupted - or not, more like! High drama on a sunny Sunday morning! Why am I always the only one in the house when these things happen? Anyway, I got the two of them apart and they went off to lick their wounds etc. Not that they remember it today, we had to keep them apart this morning. I had them on either side of the glass door at the back and they were lovelorn - nose to nose through the glass... luckily the mood's worn off this afternoon, she's back to chewing Richard's slipper and Murphy's back to dosing by (or on) the sofa.

Tune in next week...

life in leeds

I realise I haven't updated this for a while - I've been kinda busy and still am; plus I'm now away from my beloved Murphy, Maddie et al so no new stories to tell about them. I am in sunny Englandshire and have spent the last 10 days or so finding my way around and trying to get my assignemnts done at the same time as working.. luckily I seem to have got my head around what I'm doing here at work - University of York Library - so it's not taking too much out of me intellectually (luckily as I've spent the last week or so trudging my way through my budget for one of my assignments - and still not finished!)

However I can proudly say that on the seventh attempt, last night I finally got home to Leeds without taking any wrong turns! Every time I go somewhere new I am reminded how truly awful my sense of direction is...

Onwards and upwards!

PS Murphy would LOVE it here on campus, lots of grass, a few lakes and millions of ducks, geese and swans! I'm not sure how long he'd last before they threw him out, mind you.