This blog started when the Pritchard family adopted retired racing greyhound - Winnie. It still carries her name. Winnie died at Christmas 2012. This blog has now been archived and is no longer updated
Monkey has added a couple of things to his ‘I’m scared of this as well' list.
On today’s walk he reinforced his dislike of transit vans and added a bus shelter – just the one so far – and wheelie bins.
He also decided that the swooshing sound a car tyre makes when it goes over a wet patch on the road – not a puddle – just a wet patch, is enough to make him jump forward.
He also discovered last night that he would like to be Scooby-Doo. Walking on the green in the twilight he moved away from me by a lead’s length – about six feet (two metres) while he was ahead of me I stepped on a twig. You could almost hear the yikes as he jumped up in the air. Luckily he didn’t try to jump into my arms!
Anyway back to today’s additions to the list. The bus shelter we pass most days is open fronted
Today’s evil bus shelter is one we have passed on the opposite side of the road several times without any fuss. However, walking on that side of the road necessitated a run round behind me as we approached it
Go figure.
Wheelie bin day leads to all sorts of shenanigans as some bins are on drives to our left – others are on the edge of the pavement to our right.
If I could get Monkey on skis I swear he could win Gold in the downhill slalom at the Winter Olympics.
Today is a special day when many pet bloggers are focusing all their paws-itive thoughts on a very special lady called Judi.
Judi writes the SASS blog featuring her four rescued cats - Sammy, Andy, Shelly and Sierra.
I can't pretend that I know her very well, but I know from those who DO know her that she is one in a million - generous, kind, loving, supportive, talented, and a friend of all furry and non-furry friends.
I have also seen the beautiful websites she has designed for my blogging friends like Mr Pip and also the fabulous "hatted" pictures she has created of pets in hats.
Miss Judi is facing some pretty serious health challenges right know, so we want her to know that she is surrounded by love, support and MOST IMPORTANT OF ALL - HOPE.
So, Hats of Hope it is.
I am honoured to do my bit by wearing a hat for Miss Judi.
The Man Of The House decided to be my personal stylist and dresser while the Lady Of The House took the pictures. Allegations that I was a bit of a diva about the whole thing are a complete exaggeration.
Me: "NOT THAT ONE!!! I'm not a trucker - and no-one can see my face!"
Me: "Les Miserables?!? Very funny. Take it off - NOW!"
Me: "Cream chiffon and flowers - with just a hint of the adventurous explorer. I love it. This is the one. In fact, I may wear it on my next archaeology dig in the back garden."
Dear Miss Judi, although I don't know you personally I hope the Hats of Hope blog surprise has made you smile and feel the love that's beaming all around the world for you today.
Thank you to Ann at Zoolatry for creating the Hats of Hope badge I am proud to wear on my blog and the other pet bloggers who made this possible and got the word out. You know who you are. Please visit the bloggers below on the blog hop who are all sharing their love for Miss Judi today.
I have turned off comments for today and would like you to leave messages of support for Miss Judi here instead please
Just a quick post to say that I've had a few problems with spam comments on my blog since I took OFF the word verification earlier this week (after Blogger made it REALLY hard with two Captcha words that were super-difficult to read), so I am now going to TRY moderating all comments for a bit and see how that works.
But I DO love hearing from you so PLEASE don't think I'm ignoring you. I'm just ignoring the silly spammers.
So please bear with me if your comments might sometimes take a while to appear.....it probably means I'm taking a nap.
I am very pleased and proud and I do hope that you don't think I was ungrateful for not mentioning it before.
The Liebster Blog award is given to help promote young and growing blogs. To accept the award properly I have to pick my five favourite blogs - with less than 200 followers and pass it on to them.What a lovely idea!
In return for the Kreativ Blogger award I am supposed to tell you 10 things about myself that you wouldn’t know and pass the award on to six other bloggers.
Hopefully it's not cheating TOO much if I just pick five blogs with less than 200 followers (and one with more!!) If any of the blogs I nominate have already had one of these awards, please feel free to accept the other one.
Flora, Fauna, & Food - is a new blog I've only recently started following. 'Garden Girl' explores the world through nature and food and also shares lots about her three wonderful dogs (and her two cats).
Finn's dog blog - is a blog I've followed for a while because two-year-old bulldog Finn just has the handsomest face ever (and I love him - but please don't tell him I would be embarrassed).
Grey hares on my sofa - is a lovely blog about re-homing, fostering and adopting retired racing greyhounds (like me).
The Circus Dog - is another bulldog blog. This one tells the adventures of Lola, and American Bulldog.
Kind Hearts - is one of my all-time favourite blogs that I followed soon after I started blogging. In north east England Grumpy Bobby and Dippy Pip watch foster dogs come and go and the blog is always full of love and laughter. Grumpy Bobby is my Boy Of The House's favourite dog in the world (after me of course) and he loves watching the videos they often post.
My sixth choice - which has MORE than 200 followers - is Homer the Golden Retriever, international jet setter and another very very handsome boy who makes my heart flutter a little.
Ten things about me then......Hmmm. You may well know some of these, but here goes....
1. I can dig for England (in fact I may well be digging for Australia at the rate the hole in the back lawn is developing)
2. I love Cheese and Marmite biscuits made by the Bespoke Dog Bakery (who do NOT pay me for my endorsement of their products!)
3. I like to dig in my loose blankets and make a warm and cosy nest for myself.
4. I bark at cats, would love to chase a squirrel (if I ever got off my lead) but if I see a wild rabbit I just stare at it silently.
5. I get so excited when the Man Of The House or the Lady Of The House comes in the front door that I put my paws up on their chests.
6. I love car rides, and if we walk past a car with its boot up I often try and jump in.
7. I have an unusually long nose and an overbite that gives me character.
9. I was humiliated this summer by being entered into a greyhound fancy dress competition as a camel and came 5th (out of 5).
10. I have a scar on my nose from an operation where the vet removed an abscess by going in through the top of my snout (that was before I came here).
Like everyone who follows lots of dog blogs I have been shocked and saddened by news of the devastating fire that destroyed the home of the Houston Pittie Pack and killed five of their seven dogs - including the amazing Shelby, a severely abused dog found in a car park covered in puncture wounds and sores. One theory is that she had been used a live bait for fighting dogs. Bloggers around the world followed Shelby's fight to live and recover from the summer of 2010 onwards.She made it - but has now been cruelly cheated out of her happy-ever-after along with fellow rescue dogs Guero, Coco Chanel, Tiger and Lucky.
Sandra Gonzalez lost everything, but was able to escape with her mother, son and two of their dogs. Bloggers have been raising funds since the tragedy on December 16 through a Chip In fund. You can see a link to it below. Although the initial modest total has been reached, anything you can spare this holiday season will help this devastated family.
It's Tasty Tuesday time again - and I have to share with you these pictures of me investigating something very very tasty that the People Of The House brought back from a Christmas Food and Craft Fair at the weekend.
It was held at the beautiful Kedleston Hall in Derby and our friends Emma - from Impawtant Pups Rescue - and Vicki and Sarah from The Bespoke Dog Bakery were there along with lots more stall holders and craftspeople and hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of Christmas shoppers. I am very pleased the POTH left me at home as I'd have hated being hemmed in by all the crowds. The Lady Of The House said they had to queue to get into some rooms and when you finally got in you sometimes couldn't move because everyone was wedged so tightly!!
Anyway, they brought back one bag of goodies that smelled PARTICULARLY lovely. I wanted to investigate, but the LOTH whisked it away to photograph first.
I knew it was around here somewhere....... but where??
Ah-ha!!! There it is!!
These were delicious Christmas Tarts for dogs. I can tell you that they are made of: gram flour, minced turkey, organic rapeseed oil, dried cranberries, oats, rosemary and egg.
Will you stop messing about now, LOTH, and open the box and let me try one???
So close.....
Well, after all this waiting I wasn't going to be delicate....and before the LOTH could get another picture of me tasting it.... it was just crumbs.
Although they are tiny I am only allowed to have one now and then. The label says they will keep for four weeks in an airtight tin.
We are very excited about the Blogpocalypse 2011 which we heard about first on Kol's Notes.
We'll be keeping an eye on all the grueseome goings-on this weekend (once we have sussed out the difference between their PST and our GMT time zone) and hoping they raise lots of money for Lucky Dog Rescue.
The idea of a Blogpocalypse is all new to me. If it is to you.... there's some more here on the Pawcurious website.
The Blogpocalypse is on a zombie theme and our Boy Of The House is a big fan of Zombie films and Zombie-themed clothes.
But I think we may have a Zombie cat in the family. This week the Lady Of The House's mum and dad went on holiday so I had to put up with the LOTH disappearing regularly to go and look after their 20-year-old cat Mickey in their home. Don't be too sad for me because the Man Of The House took the week off work and we spent some quality time together while the LOTH waited on Mickey paw and paw.
I love Mickey from a distance - but I am not a cat-friendly greyhound in the fur so we can't be together. But she brought back some new pictures of him...... and I am a bit afraid. In fact very afraid.
If you'd like to join in and make new pet blogger friends, please follow your three hosts, add your blog to the Linky and copy and paste this week's new Linky code into the html editor of your own blog. The list will automatically update on everyone's blogs as new sites add themselves over this weekend and we can all hop from blog to blog and find out everybody's news.
Thanks again to our three hosts for putting on the hop!
If you follow a new blog after finding them in the blog hop - please let them know that you found them on the Saturday Pet Blog Hop.
How very kind of Chancy the Gardener to honour my blog with the Noteworthy Archive Blog Award. Thank you SO much!!!
This means a lot to me, and the Lady Of The House, because when she helped me start this blog (it was MOSTLY me, of course) after I came to live here last year we thought that probably only our close friends and family would look at it (if that!).
And in the early weeks (quite a lot of weeks, actually), that was how it was.
But I really wanted to tell people all about what great pets greyhounds make...and correct some of the myths that stop people considering us as pets, so I kept going in the hope that a few more people might find me. Just a few though. I never dreamed that just over a year later I'd have 160 people following my blog!!
The turning point came when my blog was found by some really kind and supportive bloggers who now feel like really close friends. One of the first was 'Houndstooth' from the wonderful Tales and Tails blog. She is still so generous with her time and her thoughtful comments and helpful advice. If there's anyone out there who doesn't read the great posts she writes .... please DO have a good browse through her archives. The LOTH has learned SO much from her and the wonderful Bunny, Lilac, Blueberry and Morgan. I am sure you will too. Their posts will make you laugh, cry and think.
If you have not yet received this award, Houndstooth, I'd be honoured to pass it along to you as the holder of one of the most noteworthy archives I know.
For any of you who are new to blogging....do keep going if you have the time as there's such joy to be had in meeting good friends like I have done - Peggy, Mr Pip, Benny and LilyGrumpy Bobby and Sue and Song to name just a few.
Perhaps your own blog may help another pet find a forever home - or maybe you'll just make someone smile in their busy day.
I think it's good for us all to look back over our blog archives every now and then and reflect on the good times, the not-so-good times and the good friends we have made - and be grateful for every day we are lucky enough to spend with our families (regardless of HOW many feet they have).
