Buddy, You're A Big Dog Now..

Oh yes he is. A great big gangly, awkward mutt now. Okay, so he's not massive in size (I'm kinda hoping he's still got some growing to do because I always saw myself with a German Shepard - I think the mix of 'wee wumin and big dug' can be quite charming sometimes) and there is actually more meat on a butchers pencil (a particularly skinny pencil at that) but in comparison to when we first got him, he's now very big and a bit clunky. You wanna see? Okay then!



The above photo was taken at Rouken Glen park, where Buddy first proved to be a bit of a park terrorist, especially when there are balls involved. Buddy loves nothing more than annoying other park users by attacking their footballs, so it's safe to say that he wasn't the most popular puppy in the park that day. We did, however meet another beardie, and we were so excited we dashed over to meet him & his owners. He was a lovely dog, with one blue eye and one brown eye. His name began with a Z, I want to say Zeus, but I think that might be wrong. Those could be two of the most boring sentences ever typed on a blog. Let me redeem myself by showing you a pic of the other beardie, codename Z




So what else has been happening? Well, Buddy has been teething. We know this because we've been finding his teeth on the ground. Yeuch. We just had a new kitchen fitted (which meant that the 5 human Johnstons and the canine Johnston had to move into my mum's for a week) and when we came home, we had dust and bits of kitchen everywhere. One day I bent over to pick up what I thought was a little bit of plaster and it was actually one of Buddy's teeth *shudder*. Horrible. Anyway, I think he's had the decency to keep his teeth in his head now so hopefully all his adult teeth are through.

The teething doesn't come alone - oh no, it comes along with teething pain, which means that Mutt Man wants to chew everything. We've lost a phone wire, numerous toys, countless pencils and the dining room chairs have taken a bit of a battering too.

And then, we had Tick-Gate. Oh, the hulabaloo that ensued one Saturday night when Lucy found a tick on Buddy's cheek. I knew what it was straight away, having seen them once before on Raffi many years previously. On that occasion, I took Raffi to the vet and paid him (some would handsomely, others would say obscenely) to remove the little blighters. In those days, we didn't have the gift of t'internet you see. Scott began to Google tick removal while I spirited Buddy up to my friend's house,who had told me that her neighbour was an old hand at removing ticks. Her neighbour wasn't in - what a cheek. So it was back home, armed with the information super highway and nerves of steel to get the tick safely off the hound. In the end, we succeeded by roasting my tweezers on the (new) gas hob and then placing the burning hot tweezers on the parasite until it contracted enough to be pulled out slowly, taking all its legs and its horrible little head with it. Once the tick was removed, my tweezers went straight in the bin and I've resembled a pre-make-over SuBo ever since. The sacrifices we make for our pets, eh?

And so, with the image of me sporting SuBo's eyebrows lingering in your consciousness, I shall draw to a close. I shall leave you an altogether more pleasant image - this is Buddy post walk and pre-bath...




and this is him all white and fluffy again.



What a cutie. Goodbye, take care and remember that if you ever meet buddy, you better have treats in your pocket...

Cheese!

Whoever said that dogs can't smile hasn't clapped their eyes on this pic of Buddy and a very toothless Charlotte:

Crouching Charlotte, Smiling Buddy



And if you needed any further evidence, here's a pic taken about six years ago of our girl Lucy with The Best Dog In The World - Raffi. Raffi lived with me from about 9 weeks old until he was four and then went to live with my brother Barry and his girlfriend, Jo. He was a truly brilliant - if not overly-intelligent- dog and when he passed away, he left a huge hole in all our hearts. Here he is, smiling on a sunny day with Lucy after a walk up the Braes



So - back to the Bud Miester. After graduating from the Puppy foundation class at Wizard of Paws, we've progressed onto the Novice course! Last night was the first class and we were reinforcing our relationships with our dogs by getting them to pay attention to us from periods of 2 seconds up to about 20 seconds. I think Buddy successfully managed three seconds with our going to try and get a wee fly sniff at the Labradoodles' derriere. So charming. I can see that Buddy has the makings of being a really, really great dog - we just need to be consistent and regular with his training to get him there! But, if we stick with it, you never know, he could end up resembling a real dog after all...

And we're back.!

We're back - by popular demand. You're not rockin' with a one-man band. Okay, those might have been the lyrics from 'Street Tuff' by Rebel MC, but I feel they're rather fitting. Mainly because, y'know - we're back. And it is by popular demand - okay, it was my mum that asked me to update the blog, but still, that counts as demand, okay?

So yes - we're still Lucy-less but hopefully that shall be resolved tomorrow and Lucy will be back home with us, locked in her room listening to Galaxy FM on her radio. It will be like she's never been away.

So, Buddy the Bearded Collie is now 19 weeks old - how about that. We've had for 11 weeks now and it's safe to say that the FLuffmeister is now very firmly a part of the family. But wait - I said Fluddmeister. That's not entirely true. Mr Buddy has decided to begin shedding his adorable puppy fluff in favour of a more grown up look. Yes, the dog is re-inventing himself, Lady GaGa style. If he starts wearing telephone headpieces, we know we're in trouble. Buddy's new image is a bit more rock and roll than his 'fluffy puppy' look. It's wiry, a lot greyer and he's got more of an edge. The very strange thing is that it not a gradual change - far from it. Last week, we all went on holiday, Lucy with her Grandma and Papa to Gran Canaria and the rest of the Johnston contingency to a caravan park in Embo with Gran & Grandpa (our kids have more grandparents than you can shake a stick at - explanations of the bizarre family dynamic are available on request. i would try and explain it now, but I don't want to get all 'Jeremy Kyle' on your ass). Our caravan was booked in 2009BB (Before Buddy) and as it was a specifically non-pet caravan, we couldn't take our four legged friend with us. No fear, he was booked in to stay with the Kearns clan, fellow Bearded Collie owners. And just any bearded collie, but the beardie that inspired us to go for the breed over a boxer. Ten year old Sam is The Best Beardie Ever - it's official. Chilled out temperament, great with the kids and looks brilliant - yes, Sam convinced us that a Beardie was the way to go. So we packed Buddy off along with all his accoutrements (indoor kennel, bed, blanket, toys, bowls, food, lead, training line, brush come - Buddy had more luggage than Diana Ross, but a better attitude) got him settled with Aunty Julie and off we went.

I only phoned once during the week we were away to see how he was and if he was frying Julie's brain - I think I did very well. And so did our boy - Julie said she loved having him although she's gone off the idea of getting a pup at the moment. 'Nuff said Jules;)

When we got home and went to reclaim our puppy, you could have knocked me over with a feather. His front legs and body down to where his waist (if dogs have waists - can anyone confirm or deny?) would be were all different but his back legs, rump & tail were still fluffy. It is the strangest looking thing. He actually looks as though he's wearing furry trousers from a distance. It's ridiculous but endearing at the same time. But as his coat changes (from the front to the back) you can see him becoming more and more beardie-like all the time. And just in case you don't know what a full-grown beardie looks like, I have most kindly supplied a pic.



Gorgeous, isn't it? I'm really excited to see what he's going to look like when he's fully grown, although I certainly don't want to wish away his puppy days - they seem to be going so fast already.

AS you can see, he's going to have a cracking coat and we'll need to decide whether we'll keep it long or get him clipped. Part of me really wants to have it long, but then there's the extra maintenance to consider. Bu here's the thing - I adore grooming him. Really, really love it. I don't know what it is, but I find it very therapeutic and relaxing. At the moment, I get enough fluff off him to stuff a cushion when I comb him - which I do every evening. I really look forward to my 15 or 20 minutes sitting grooming him and I love how he looks afterwards. He has a few 'sprouts' of hair which are growing over his eyes which worried me as I though he wouldn't be able to see properly, but Peter from Wizard of Paws explained that those 'sprouts' (sorry for the rubbish word, I'm not at my most eloquent right now) will help to form the 'beardie look' round about his eyes - once they grow longer, they'll grow up and fall down roundabout the eyes and won't be in the way. So they're staying put just now.

It's also worth noting that Buddy has rediscovered his hatred/fear of the car and reverted to his horrendous slevering and occasional sickness whilst in the car. MY car. I do love the mutt, but to be honest, he's walking a fine line now.

Here are some piccies of Mr Budacious.

Try to ignore his Kerry Katona tongue-sticking-out pose. Buddy does sometimes puke in the car and piss on the floor, but he's far more appealing than KK.


I love how he's looking out of the corner of his eye - very suspiciously...


Love from me, sloppy puppy-licks from Buddy x

*sneaks in through the back door*

We're still here- still bringing up baby. I mean Buddy. A full and frank update will follow shortly, but more important matters first - my darling daughter Lucy is stranded in Gran Canaria because of that stupid flaming volcano carry on. Thankfully, she's with her Grandma and her Papa who are taking extremely good care of her and Thomas Cook have very kindly put them up in a fabby rinky-dinky all inclusive hotel until they get a flight home (hopefully Monday, which means she will have been AWOL for one whole week)

We're all missing Loopy Loo very, very much - espeically Buddy Boy, who is very much missing his best pal and Chief Trainer. Lucy has asked that I upload some pics of the hound onto the blog so she can see them, so here we go



Another action shot


Scary beast, on the prowl




We can't wait to see you Lucy, try not to eat all of the Magnums in Gran Canaria!

Still here...peein' on the floor...

Hello! You thought I'd given up, hadn't you? Thought I couldn't handle this blogging malarky. Well baby, I'm still here and so is Buddy Boy Bingo.

So WHY have I been AWOL for so very long? Well, I was hit by a lurgy. Two days of illness and general ickyness. We were also slap bang in the middle of the Magners Comedy Festival in Glasgow during which Scott & I usually manage to swing a few child-free nights to see some gigs. This year we saw Frankie Boyle who was - to put it politely - really crap. In fact, I would say he was rather vile. We also saw Sean Lock who was fab and the fantastic Rhod Gilbert - he was the mutt's nuts (which I feel is a rather phrase for a dog blog).

But no-one is really interested in all that chat, are they? Noooo! It's all about the Buddster on here.

Buddy has now completed his Puppy Foundation Course at Wizard of Paws. He's a foundling, officially. He even has a wee loveheart tag with a paw on it to go on his collar to prove it, so it must be true.

Tonight we tried our hand (or more appropriately, paws) at a bit of recall. The whole recall thing is very important to me because I get very nervous when Dog McDogface is off the lead. On one hand, I love nothing more than watching him bound across open fields, his puppy fluff streaming in the wind behind him as he streaks off up the hill like a ferret up a trouser leg. It' a truly marvelous sight. Then I get all panicky thinking 'he won't come back! He won't come back!' and I start shouting on him with my nerves screamingly apparent in my voice. and guess what. He doesn't come back.

I will document our recall class on this very blog but not tonight Jospehine - Mama's very tired and must got to beddy -bye-byes.

Later, dog dudes

x

Ain't No Mountain High Enough...

This is a quick non-Buddy related post just to let you know that Scott and I will be climbing Ben Nevis, the highest mountain in Britain, to raise money for Camille's Appeal, a charity which helps children under five who have suffered from brain tumours. If you were ever looking for a worthy cause to donate to, this would the one.

We'll be climbing Ben Nevis on August 7th, so please, if you can donate to our Just Giving page. We don't care how much you donate - every penny will help.

Thanks very much!

A New Loch Monster? No Worries, Nessie...

Another weekend, another family day out - with the Hell Hound. WE decided this week to see if Bud was a natural in the water, so we let Mother know we off on another jolly adventure, asked Cook to pack us a picnic with thick cut cut honey roast hams sandwiches and lashing and lashings of ginger beer... Sorry, I came over all 'Enid Bylton' there, but since there's now five os us plus a dog, I'm worried we're starting to morph into The Famous Five. Do let us know if we start to sound like dear old Eind, won't you? There's a good chap.

Where were we? oh yes, picnic. I packed ham sandwiches, cheese sandwiches, ham AND cheese sandwiches (variety is the spice of life y'know)and a Weightwatchers friendly (if somewhat tasteless) lunch for me. I hit my 'official' goal weight at WW, although my unofficial goal weight is still a few pounds away, but I was going to be damned if I was going to let a few crappy cheese/ham/butter laden sangers get in the way of my weight loss. Not when there's things like wine and chocolate to knock me off kilter. big bottle of fizzy orange (Orangina to be precise, diet of course) some Pepperamis for the kids, some Monster Munch crisps and we were good to go.

after much debate about where to go (Ayr? The kids have a pathological fear of the playground. Saltcoats? The weans love it there, but the parking's not so great. Largs? Too rocky. Troon? Too many condoms on the beach and we ain't picking them out of the dogs teeth - you get the general idea) we plumped for the exceedingly pretty village of Luss on the banks of Loch Lomond

Being 'The Johnstons', the first thing we did when we arrived was to demolish our picnic. We found a picnic bench and Lucy secured the Bud-meister to it by tying his lead on to it. It was a great spot with loads of dogs running about, but we didn't feel confident enough to let Bud off the lead, so he had to content himself by looking at the other dogs and staring at the ducks who were mooching about for the odd crust to be chucked in their direction.

.

Once we had chowed down, it was time to do what i had been looking forward to for the five weeks since we got bud - taking him swimming. As Renfrewshire Council have a No Bearded Collie In The Pool policy, Wee Buddy would have to make do with the Great Outdoors.

We made our way down to the lochside and expected Buddy to bound into the water. It didn't quite happen that way. It was more a case of a wellie-clad Lucy dragging him into the water and Buddy not particularly enjoying it. He came out of the water with his mighty fluff on his head and body intact, but his little tree trunk legs were more like scrawny matchsticks as they were so wet. I think you need a photo


So it turns out our puppy's not such a big fan of the water. No matter, we still spent a good few hours in the village, specifically the play park playing with the kids, watching the pup bounding about around chasing sticks and leaves. It was a glorious afternoon and one which I'll remember for a very long time. Here are some pics...