Shirley's gone to Amazonia

It's a bit of a sad and quiet day here today. Shirley left very early this morning to fly to Peru where she is joining the Amazon Hope 2 for a medical mission trip down the Amazon. She is there with our friend Dawn and a big team of friends.

Margaret is a bit sad - and tired too from getting up at 3.45 a.m. but she is flying out there in ten days with Linda so that the four friends can visit Machu Picchu and Lake Titicaca.

I cheered Margaret up by getting her to take me for a walk at some silly hour but unfortunately we got completely drenched. Apparently I don't smell so good when I'm wet but I don't notice it.

Been hibernating

The thing about being a dog blogger is that I depend on my humans to write in here for me. I have no excuses for their laziness except perhaps that in the winter they seem to sleep a lot... as do I.
Anyway, here we are again. It's early spring in Bathgate so it's raining most days. We go for long boggy walks in the morning and Margaret wears her wellingtons and swears. When we get home she shuts me in the ktchen until all the mud drops off then she comes in and swears some more. I'm only 17 months old so I think someone should speak to her about her language.
Last week she was away from Monday to Friday working in somewhere called Sheffield. Shirley and I stayed at home together and I kept her safe by barking at anything that moved outside.
On Sunday Margaret groomed me and I ended up looking like a ball of fluff. Gorgeous or what?

Grrrrrr

Margaret and Shirley write:
We heard Hamish growl for the first time the other day... well it was more of a grumble than a growl. We were dragging him towards the shower and he was digging all his paws into the laminate floor trying to get a grip to avoid the inevitable when we heard him muttering doggy obscenities under his breath. He really doesn't like getting showered! Suppose he's just like any other adolescent....

Swimming in Loch Lomond

We've just got back from a weekend by Loch Lomond. It was great! I'm a brilliant caravanning dog - I know that because I heard Margaret and Shirley talking about me. I slept all night in the awning without making a fuss or running away and waited until they got out of bed (late) to take me for a walk without complaining at all. The best bits were walking in Ben Lomond National Park and swimming in the Loch.

This was my first time swimming and I loved it - except for that moment when the cold water got to my tender bits. Ouch!

Family Antics

My family: They are lovely but a bit strange. On Saturday July 22nd Adrian, Rachel, Chris and Mary came to our house for a barbecue. They drank a fair bit and played lots of silly games. I'm used to that kind of stuff so I just settled down in the middle of it all and went to sleep. Next morning they all got up and went back outside to eat breakfast. What's that all about? They obviously don't know that breakfast is meant to be eaten inside the house. Anyway, suddenly Rachel brought out two big bags of fluffy pink and white things (marshmallows?) and they all put as many as they could into their mouths and started saying 'fluffy bunnies'. This is very strange behaviour for humans - and completely unheard of in the dog world. They laughed a lot until Rachel spilled her marshmallows all over the place.
Things improved a lot in the afternoon because Adrian and Rachel took me for a long walk in the woods. Now that's sensible human behaviour - given time I'll have them all trained but it's not easy. Does anyone know of any human training classes in West Lothian?

Home again

Hamish here - I have been away staying with my friends Katy and John while Margaret and Shirley went off on holiday to France. I missed them quite a lot - they thought I was thinner when they got home. I'm glad to say that I've managed to make up for lost time by eating lots and lots since they got back.
Today I was given a shower in the front garden - they used the garden hose and that doggy shampoo that smells great to them and rotten to me.
Here is a picture of me all clean and beautiful. It's very warm weather so I was dry before I managed to roll in any mud - shame.
Margaret says:
France was wonderful. We spent the first week at Taize where we enjoyed the simple life and tried to get used to praying three times a day and eating with only a spoon and a plastic bowl. The second week we were in a fabulous gite near Saumur with our own pool. We ate lots of wonderful French food and put away a considerable amount of wine.
For a small fee, close friends and family can hear about the skinny dipping incident.
Bye for now

Here I am

In this picture, taken in May I was 7 months old. I am now almost 9 months old and getting bigger all the time.
At the moment I weigh 26 kg and stand 24" to the shoulder.

Quiet around here

Things are very quiet here today. Rob and Julie, Iain and Becca went off in the cars yesterday with Shirley and Margaret and lots of luggage and only Margaret and Shirley came back. Margaret told me they'd gone to America. Shirley and Margaret were very sad and so was I because Iain wasn't around to play with or to come out walking with us.
Last night Margaret & Shirley went out to Libby and Hilary's Civil Partnership party but they were very tired because they'd been up since 3.45 a.m. They should sleep more like I do.
The small furry thing they call Phoebe has got back into the house because it's rainy and windy. She's no fun to play with but I do like to steal her food.