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...
