result?

well believe it or not he was very well behaved.. not that he settled down and snoozed as I hoped he would - too much food around at first and then (like a toddler) too much going on, but didn't eat anyone's sandwiches and once I gave up on my chair and sat on his blankey with him he did lie down and allow me to rub his tummy..

PS the opera was amazing, I cried! (so what's new, says richard)

summer activities

apologies to my non-existent readers for the recent lack of communication.. been pretty busy, me the dog and cat. This afternoon I have to go to the supermarket to pur-chase the ingredients for a smooth evening.. we're taking the dog to see the opera! - no, I'm not buying tranquilisers, for me, the dog or the performers!

It's on the big screen in the park so we're (well I'm) getting a picnic together (must remember to get wine with a screwtop this time!!)..I'll rum Murphy down to the park and Richard'll take all the food, his bowl and water, (and blankey and food and a treat and a toy), chairs etc down in the car. Hopefully the dog will have enoiugh of the fidgets shaken out of him that he'll snooze without trying to (a) eat anyone else's picnic or (b) rumble around and sniff everythin/one else... watch this space!

back again

OK you'd be forgiven for thinking I've fallen off the end of the world, but no I've just been busy.. and anyone who reads this has been told all Murphy's latest doings anyway so no loss..

He's promoted himself is the most obvious one - he now lives on the sofa except when I'm actually in the room! And a stern look no longer works to get him off...

gotta go, getting hair done (mine, not Murphy's although sometimes you'd be hard put to tell the difference)

the obedient hound

had to take the dog to the garage this afternoon - no it's not what you think he didn't need his undercarriage seen to - it's just Murphy's law - once I got home and made him wait while I ate lunch I couldn't just leave him in the house while I took the car to the garage, it wouldn't have been fair on him.. so I got his blankey out and laid it carefully on the back seat and in he shot. I tried to fasten him in with the seatbelt harness I bought but yet again it bamboozled me so I had to leave it. He was very good til I got to the garage and as it was sunny thought I'd better not leave him in the car while I found someone to look at the dog. Unfortunately I had forgotten his lead so off he bounded, sniffing his way round all the cars and the resident dog - the garage is on the edge of the country so there's lots of grass around. He showed us all up though when I found a garage man to come and look at the car, I then spent what felt like 10 minutes chasing Murphy round the cars (in high heels - me not the dog) while he had a good old explore and completely ignored me.

The mannie got it right with his comment as I finally returned with murphy by the collar - "he's an obedient one, that yin." Hm!

Still, he only left one dusty pawprint on Richard's pristine leather back seat so I'll forgive him (but Richard doesn't know so keep it under your hats!)

dogs for courses

football just ain't Murphy's thing, really! He doesn't chase them (unless they're so saggy he can bite into them to lift them up) and doesn't like it when Richard watches it. Probably partly cos Richard goes mental while watching England games.

But he spent the whole Arsenal/Man U game fast asleep on the kitchen floor and now it's finished he's dragged himself through to his bed behind the sofa.

Whereas this afternoon he spent a most enjoyable hour in the rain going through the woods and finding every mud puddle he could - I managed to get him to dunk himself in a relatively clean burn to wash off the worst but he then started digging under a tree root and got even muddier! funnily enough he wasn't at all keen on the hosing down he had to get in the back garden after all that - he prefers his water to be more of the countrified variety! (ie in the ground)

fight!

well we missed all the excitement this morning.. got back from our walk and all the back doors were open, there was grit, dirt and fur all over the kitchen floor... wha'???

turned out some random cat took advantage of Murphy's temporary absence and sidled in the cat flap - met Gizzy who took exception and the fur began to fly...

when Richard came flying downstairs (well, I never let truth get in the way of a good story) the door into the utility room (where the catflap is) had shut so the poor thing coldn't get out if he'd wanted to. They had levitated to the windowsill and the plants were suffering... Richard opened the door and the intruder promptly ran into the window!

things were settling down when we returned so Murphy did the round of the boundaries (barking at each one) and Gizzy skulked in the garden for a while to make sure the coast was clear. Then we all went to work. (welcome to the week!)

Funnily enough, she spent the day upstairs on our bed with Murphy on guard at the bottom of the stairs...

murphy disgraces himself again

oh dear! I had him out yesterday and we had a lovely walk along the side of a burn for about 40 minutes or so, he was very well behaved... til we were almost back at the car, which was parked on a side street. He wandered casually over onto the road, all innocent-like. I warned him to come away from the road, equally casually. Then he sauntered over the road, and into someone's garden. I stepped out smartly to get him out of there - by this time he was on the front lawn, staring fixedly into a bush.

As I stepped into the garden to put a (loving yet) restraining hand on the hound's collar, he pounced on the bush. A cat shot out and - I swear - he got it in his mouth! My heart was in mine! cats are cats though - it wriggled round and lay on its back and got the claws out, hissing and spitting, then wriggled back and shot off over the garden wall - and bounded over the next 3 gardens, closely followed by Murphy... I can still see his backside and tail disappearing over that first wall!

Over they went, me following on the pavement, doing my usual sotto voce "Murphy! come here!!" (while trying to pretend he was nothing to do with me) The cat shot up a handy tree in garden 3 and Murphy, realising the game was up, turned round to (finally) do as he was told. I thought he would come out but no - (well the gardens were all gated) he jumped back over all the walls and sauntered out to see me.

As we left the poor cat was still up the tree trying to figure how to get down. I wanted to stop and help but thought we'd maybe done enough damage...