I made a pasta dish tonight; I made twice as much in order to freeze half. So there were the two tubs with the leftover pasta, sitting on the counter top cooling.
You know what happened, don't you? You're right. Richard came through and asked how many tubs there were? - cos there was only one now!
So on top of three pieces of pizza, she also had a tub of pasta today.
She's a bad dog! (as she looks up at you with those big eyes and the tail slowly wagging)
PPS - it occurs to me that this may actually be my fault (apart from the obvious, of leaving the tub too near the edge) - I've been cutting her food back a bit so she's probably a bit hungrier than normal - and with Maddie, that means she goes looking herself!
05 April 2017
Proof
I'm sure nobody questions Maddie's ability to track down and remove various items of footwear (I'm sure I've talked previously of her growling at a shoebox of mine and removing one of my purple suede boots from it) but thought I'd just put some evidence up here....
...if I can get the damn video to upload!!
...if I can get the damn video to upload!!
The Incorrigibles
Then I attempted to avoid the school carpark on the way back and crossed some waste ground next to it, taking a short cut back to the play park. I should have known better. While I was concentrated on Murphy, who didn't see us going that way and couldn't find us, Maddie found a treasure of her own - a pizza box. And not empty! I've never seen 3 pieces of pizza eaten so fast. She knew fine she shouldn't have been eating it and ran away behind a whin bush (gorse) till she was done. Grrr/...
Murphy then stopped by the doughnut-thing in the play park to investigate the possibility of there being further cat-treat-containing bags (see picture) and all in all, the walk was longer than anticipated - which was a bit of a problem as I was supposed to be picking Richard up from the airport. Luckily the plane was late and it took me half the time to get there I thought it would, so all was well.
Welcome home, Richard!
 |
| (The return of the Prodigal Son!) |
Favouritism
It's not that I take offence, but I'm a wee bit put out that Murphy is so blatantly pro-Richard. Richard was away overnight last night and Murphy spent most of the evening lying in the hall, obviously waiting for him, till he eventually gave up and came and begrudgingly spent some time next to me before retiring to his bed!
04 April 2017
Life is never dull
We had an interesting time today on our pre-dinner daunder. Took the dogs on a wee trip up past the primary school playing fields, round the playpark and back. And it was supposed to be that simple; only Murphy decided to step up his career in social embarrassment and general thievery.
There were a couple of girls at the playpark - we ignored them and they ignored us. However, as I wandered round the edge, I realised Murphy was stravaiging across the middle - with a purpose in mind. As I stopped to call him he reached some kind of big doughnut-shaped thing on legs (play equipment, not an obese child) and went for something in the middle of it. Much to my horror, I saw it was a leather satchel (pale pink so obviously one of the girls') - and he was rummaging around inside it!
Needless to say I made a beeline at speed but by the time I got there he had a bag of cat-treats clenched in his jaws. Cue a wrestling contest and some wheedlery with a dog biscuit under his nose (he ignored it). All I can say is thank the lord humans have opposable thumbs which can be used as leverage!!
I was able to get it off him before he got into it and, having attracted the attention of said owner (who must've been about ten), ascertained that she was luckily quite blasé about the whole thing. I wiped the bag free of dog-slaver and handed it over, she said it was OK, her cat did that all the time, and off we went, Murphy quite oblivious to any of the comments on his character I directed at him.
Half way home, (the dogs now safely on leads, being no respecters - or even recognisers - of the front garden boundaries in these new fenceless estates) we turned a corner and saw not one, but two cats! One was on top of a fence and one was on the pavement directly beneath it. And the latter looked a lot like Gizzy. Upon closer viewing it turned out to actually be Gizzy as well - clearly taking advantage of the milder weather to start exploring the neighbourhood and make new friends.
I carried on and Gizzy decided this looked promising on the food front and trotted calmly ahead of us. Maddie wasn't impressed by this lack of fear but there was little she could do with me hanging onto the other end of the lead like grim death! We passed the fearless feline (who had paused at a reasonable distance from the line we were taking along the road) near home and she followed us instead; the girl from two houses along (one of my erstwhile Brownies, as it happens) who came out her front door in time to see this was intrigued enough to follow us round the corner to watch.
Luckily I maintained a firm grip on the leads and any further late afternoon excitement was averted, with the dogs' attention turning to more easily-available food sources, like their bowls! Gizzy kept a discrete distance until the dogs were eating and then trotted past them in the kitchen. Home for tea.
Could've been worse!
There were a couple of girls at the playpark - we ignored them and they ignored us. However, as I wandered round the edge, I realised Murphy was stravaiging across the middle - with a purpose in mind. As I stopped to call him he reached some kind of big doughnut-shaped thing on legs (play equipment, not an obese child) and went for something in the middle of it. Much to my horror, I saw it was a leather satchel (pale pink so obviously one of the girls') - and he was rummaging around inside it!
Needless to say I made a beeline at speed but by the time I got there he had a bag of cat-treats clenched in his jaws. Cue a wrestling contest and some wheedlery with a dog biscuit under his nose (he ignored it). All I can say is thank the lord humans have opposable thumbs which can be used as leverage!!
I was able to get it off him before he got into it and, having attracted the attention of said owner (who must've been about ten), ascertained that she was luckily quite blasé about the whole thing. I wiped the bag free of dog-slaver and handed it over, she said it was OK, her cat did that all the time, and off we went, Murphy quite oblivious to any of the comments on his character I directed at him.
Half way home, (the dogs now safely on leads, being no respecters - or even recognisers - of the front garden boundaries in these new fenceless estates) we turned a corner and saw not one, but two cats! One was on top of a fence and one was on the pavement directly beneath it. And the latter looked a lot like Gizzy. Upon closer viewing it turned out to actually be Gizzy as well - clearly taking advantage of the milder weather to start exploring the neighbourhood and make new friends.
I carried on and Gizzy decided this looked promising on the food front and trotted calmly ahead of us. Maddie wasn't impressed by this lack of fear but there was little she could do with me hanging onto the other end of the lead like grim death! We passed the fearless feline (who had paused at a reasonable distance from the line we were taking along the road) near home and she followed us instead; the girl from two houses along (one of my erstwhile Brownies, as it happens) who came out her front door in time to see this was intrigued enough to follow us round the corner to watch.
Luckily I maintained a firm grip on the leads and any further late afternoon excitement was averted, with the dogs' attention turning to more easily-available food sources, like their bowls! Gizzy kept a discrete distance until the dogs were eating and then trotted past them in the kitchen. Home for tea.
Could've been worse!
06 March 2017
Still daundering on
Murphy's birthday is 2 weeks today - he'll be 13. A good age. We obviously hope he'll have another couple of years with us but you never know. I make an effort to treasure all my interactions with him now.
He's certainly slowed down, and is starting to become a bit "feil" (as they say in Aberdeen). It kind of means otherworldly and on occasion he does seem that way. He's more easily confused, forgets what he's doing etc. He's also getting very deaf and will happily trot on ahead, not hearing your yells to alert him to the fact you're going another way. Eventually you get his attention and he turns to look and instantly speeds up back. Mind you, he's always had a touch of selective deafness! As the dog walker says, you have to keep him close!
He is more needy, comes for bosies when he never used to and gets upset sometimes when Richard leaves the house. He's even started barging into the bathroom on me, or barking outside the door! That's just in the mornings before their walk.
He eats a LOT slower; I'm considering not using the "Go Slow" food bowl any more as he goes slow enough anyway! On occasions he doesn't finish and of course Maddie is waiting to polish off any leftovers! It's a lesson on how to eat properly watching him - where before he (and still Maddie) would inhale the food as fast as possible, now he eats a bit, looks around, eats another bit, looks around some more... you get the picture.
However he still loves his walks and is not averse to a bit of growling at other dogs (if they start it) - particularly where there's a fence in the way! He'll still want a ball thrown into the sea to fetch a few times, before wandering off and refusing to give it back. He keeps a watch over the house and if we've been out, is always found, upon our return, standing at the doorway into the conservatory, barking madly! (the sound of the car obviously comes clearer through the conservatory windows and he thinks that's where we're coming from).
He has Jake and Duke to contend with - young whippersnappers, bouncy and desperate to play. As he's always done, including with Maddie, he ignores them as much as possible and they've got the message now and leave him pretty much alone. I think I've described here before how he would get up and walk over to them and growl at them if they were mucking about together and making too much noise!
So all in all our Murphy is in the twilight of a long and (hopefully happy) life and is aging fairly gracefully. He has some skin tags and a couple of fatty lumps, is very white around the muzzle and head and spends a lot of time snoozing in the living room (more often on the floor than before - does he find it harder to get on the sofa?).
But we love him dearly and he's daundering on...
He's certainly slowed down, and is starting to become a bit "feil" (as they say in Aberdeen). It kind of means otherworldly and on occasion he does seem that way. He's more easily confused, forgets what he's doing etc. He's also getting very deaf and will happily trot on ahead, not hearing your yells to alert him to the fact you're going another way. Eventually you get his attention and he turns to look and instantly speeds up back. Mind you, he's always had a touch of selective deafness! As the dog walker says, you have to keep him close!
He is more needy, comes for bosies when he never used to and gets upset sometimes when Richard leaves the house. He's even started barging into the bathroom on me, or barking outside the door! That's just in the mornings before their walk.
He eats a LOT slower; I'm considering not using the "Go Slow" food bowl any more as he goes slow enough anyway! On occasions he doesn't finish and of course Maddie is waiting to polish off any leftovers! It's a lesson on how to eat properly watching him - where before he (and still Maddie) would inhale the food as fast as possible, now he eats a bit, looks around, eats another bit, looks around some more... you get the picture.
However he still loves his walks and is not averse to a bit of growling at other dogs (if they start it) - particularly where there's a fence in the way! He'll still want a ball thrown into the sea to fetch a few times, before wandering off and refusing to give it back. He keeps a watch over the house and if we've been out, is always found, upon our return, standing at the doorway into the conservatory, barking madly! (the sound of the car obviously comes clearer through the conservatory windows and he thinks that's where we're coming from).
He has Jake and Duke to contend with - young whippersnappers, bouncy and desperate to play. As he's always done, including with Maddie, he ignores them as much as possible and they've got the message now and leave him pretty much alone. I think I've described here before how he would get up and walk over to them and growl at them if they were mucking about together and making too much noise!
So all in all our Murphy is in the twilight of a long and (hopefully happy) life and is aging fairly gracefully. He has some skin tags and a couple of fatty lumps, is very white around the muzzle and head and spends a lot of time snoozing in the living room (more often on the floor than before - does he find it harder to get on the sofa?).
But we love him dearly and he's daundering on...
03 November 2016
The perils of a reputation
This, of course, is about Maddie. Both dogs have coped well with our move to Inverness. We've got our morning walk sorted and although Maddie has rediscovered the delights of chasing Gizzy round the garden, the cat has in her turn discovered the various safe spots where Maddie can't get her.
Anyway, apart from the swiping of half a sandwich Richard had left at the edge of the kitchen counter, Maddie has been good (other than a propensity for humping Murphy's head - don't ask!) I should mention that she's been on a diet and has lost half a kilo in the past couple of weeks so is more than usually predatory in the kitchen department.
I was cooking something requiring grated parmesan cheese the other night, and suddenly noticed that the pile of cheese was somewhat depleted - and where was the grater? Surely she hadn't gone off with it?! I sent Richard out into the garden to look for it, torch in hand. It was raining a bit too, so he wasn't best pleased. It was lucky I found the grater in the dishwasher shortly thereafter or he'd have been really unhappy! - and no, Maddie hasn't mastered the art of cleaning up after herself, I'm just getting a bit forgetful (she had eaten most of the parmesan, though).
Yesterday I came across her in the living room, chomping at something and looking unimpressed. I then noticed a roll of toilet paper in front of her she'd been absent-mindedly chewing on (still in one piece but with toothmarks). I think it was too dry for her, she didn't object to my removing it and she hasn't been back into the bathroom to re-retrieve it!
The more of the tale is that she hadn't been as bad as I immediately assumed - her reputation precedes her!
Anyway, apart from the swiping of half a sandwich Richard had left at the edge of the kitchen counter, Maddie has been good (other than a propensity for humping Murphy's head - don't ask!) I should mention that she's been on a diet and has lost half a kilo in the past couple of weeks so is more than usually predatory in the kitchen department.
I was cooking something requiring grated parmesan cheese the other night, and suddenly noticed that the pile of cheese was somewhat depleted - and where was the grater? Surely she hadn't gone off with it?! I sent Richard out into the garden to look for it, torch in hand. It was raining a bit too, so he wasn't best pleased. It was lucky I found the grater in the dishwasher shortly thereafter or he'd have been really unhappy! - and no, Maddie hasn't mastered the art of cleaning up after herself, I'm just getting a bit forgetful (she had eaten most of the parmesan, though).
Yesterday I came across her in the living room, chomping at something and looking unimpressed. I then noticed a roll of toilet paper in front of her she'd been absent-mindedly chewing on (still in one piece but with toothmarks). I think it was too dry for her, she didn't object to my removing it and she hasn't been back into the bathroom to re-retrieve it!
The more of the tale is that she hadn't been as bad as I immediately assumed - her reputation precedes her!
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