Celebrating friendship - with blogs and a bag

I never cease to be amazed and delighted by the bonds of friendship that are created through blogs.

When the Lady Of the House started me blogging soon after I arrived here in my forever home (two years ago last month) I never dreamed where it would lead. Our lives feel so much richer for the people we've met through blogging and the laughter (and tears) we've shared. I feel as if many of you are real friends - even though we've never met.

For a few weeks now the LOTH and I have wanted to do something to celebrate how thankful we are for that friendship. So this is what we've decided.

One of the LOTH's bestest ever friends is called Carol - and she is VERY clever when it comes to quilting. She made the LOTH a lovely quilt and a bag for her birthday and she makes lots of bags both as gifts for loved ones and as raffle prizes to raise money for charity.

She made us this beautiful bag and said we could use it however we wanted - so we thought it would be nice to offer it as a gift to one of our blogging friends. It was made with love by Carol and it will be sent on with lots of love from me and the LOTH too.

It's just a little gift, and it can only go to one person - but I'd like it to represent the gratitude we feel to all of you who have supported us over the last 24 months with your comments and your friendship.

If you look closely you can see quite a lot of the dogs whose blogs we visit - I can see Dachsies, and Scotties... and is that a French Bulldog among others?

Carol said she did try to find some material with greyhounds on - but didn't find any that she felt did us justice. I quite understand. Besides, I might not have let the LOTH give it away then.

So if you are a follower of my blog - and you'd like to receive this bag as a gift of love and thankfulness from me and the LOTH - just leave a comment below in the next week. We'll send it anywhere in the world (it's very light).

Today is also a special day for one of the best friends any pet blogger could have - PIP!

You can read all about his special day here on Frankie Furter and Ernie's blog and also about the special day when Pip came to his forever home - here. It's a lovely story about the triumph of love and hope. Enjoy it.

And last but NOT least...one of my great blogging friends is Suzy. Her son Marc has TODAY started a coast to coast walk in aid of Greyhound Gap - a small but very important UK charity which rescues and rehabilitates and then rehomes greyhounds and lurchers across the UK who are otherwise at risk of being put to sleep.

You can follow their progress over the next 10 days at Suzy's blog, or on their Facebook Page. If you can spare them even just a few pennies, there is an online page HERE where you can donate, It would mean a lot to Greyhound Gap.

A nose for news

The ground is my newspaper. There's something new to read EVERY day.

Today's frosty Winter edition was REALLY interesting!!

Wouldn't you like to know..........

Making a sock toy with Alyson and Frankie

Our friend Alyson was very surprised that people and pups liked her sock toy that I wrote about yesterday.

Alyson says she just makes them up as she goes along and no two of her sock toys are quite the same.

So here, in response to your requests, are Alyson's instructions of how she thinks she made my sock toy.

1. Take one short sock and two knee-length ones.
2. Scrunch one short sock up to make a ball (If you wanted to make a bigger toy scrunch two socks up together it doesn't matter if they have holes in, or are odd colours or anything).
3. Stuff this balled-up sock into the toe end of a knee-length sock.
4. Stand on the (ball) end and pull it really tight, twisting it at the same time (better to do on when you're on your own as it looks a bit strange!)
5. Do the same twisting thing with 2nd empty knee-length sock.
6. Then 'plait' the two knee-length socks together tightly and knot them at both ends.

You could also put a tennis ball into a sock instead of making a 'sock ball' but you'd have to take it out to wash it.

Alyson is quite shy, so here is a picture of her lovely girl Frankie (being unusually quiet).

Hope you can persuade your folks to make you a sock toy out of odd socks. If you do, PLEASE post some pictures for us to see. Pictures of your people making them might be REALLY fun.

Sock it to me

I love my new sock toy made for me by the Lady Of The House's friend Alyson. She made one for her dog Frankie (who is very tough on toys). As you can see I am MUCH more gentle.

Like every home in the world (it seems) Alyson found she had a fair few odd socks lying around so she thought making them into dog toys was a good use for them.

If the brother of this sock turns up she's not having it back now I'm afraid.

Thank you Alyson! (The LOTH says to tell you she's not holding a grudge even though your team, Arsenal, knocked our team, Leeds United, out of the FA Cup last night).

Happy New Year - and a look back at Christmas

I've had a lovely lovely Christmas and New Year break with the family and done lots of eating, playing, walking and just lolling lazily about.

My first blog post of 2012 has to be a quick look back at Christmas morning in our house to share with you my excitement about the three great presents that Santa brought me.

The first one was the most exciting and special (I thought). Forgive the blurred photos below but they capture the speed with which I moved to protect the great gift.

The Lady Of the House read out the tag and told me Santa had sent it from her cousin, Laetitia, husband Melvin and their lovely daughters Katie and Rebecca. I KNEW it was something great so I tried to help her open it QUICKER.

It was a Christmas reindeer in a Santa hat! The LOTH wanted to get the cardboard and the plastic off it - but I thought this might be a trick so SHE could keep it and play with it herself.

We had a little tussle.

I knew I had to move FAST.

So I grabbed my dear deer and headed out of the room to safety.

Only when I was sure that I had made my point did I come back - and then I kept my paw on my new toy for a long, long time.

My other great presents were - a toy frog....

....and a squeaky, cuddly, turkey.

When you are not playing with him he makes a great pillow.

I hope Santa brought you all you wanted and that 2012 is a great year for you all. I'll head off now to visit some of your blogs and catch up with your Christmas and New Year fun and games.

Winnie's fourth Christmas carol

Today's festive song reflects on one of my most embarrassing moments of 2011.

It wasn't wise and it certainly wasn't clever and I hope the Lady Of The House never has a similarly silly idea again.

I didn't have to cross the desert - but I did have to cross the parade ring at the Sutton Greyhound Show.

Off we go, to the tune of We Three Kings (of Orient are...)

Me, one dog, from Burton-on-Trent.

I've got the hump. I wish that she'd spent

a bit more money

It isn't funny

My feelings I have to vent.

I am not a camel!

Not a goat!

Not a donkey in a coat.

Fancy dress!

It's just a mess!

Don't sit there and laugh and gloat.

I could've worn pink. I wish that I had

Looking at HER it made me so sad.

Tutu and hat

I could've worn that

This camel idea's so bad.

I am NOT a camel!

NOT a beast!

When will this dishonour cease?

I am a Queen

I think it's mean

Will somebody call the police!

Bloggers with big hearts

I am so sorry to everyone if you think I have been ignoring you recently.

I've not had chance to visit any blogs for AGES because of the Lady Of The House working really hard on the computer on boring stuff she calls work.

But today I've been catching up a bit, and I discovered that I'd been given THREE awards while I wasn't looking.

Both What Remains Now, and Graceful Greyhounds gave me the lovely Liebster Blog Award, while Chancy the Gardener gave me the Kreativ Blogger Award.

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.

Santa's Little Elf-er

Here is my friend Bo, wishing you all a very merry Christmas.

Bo is certainly going to have a very happy Christmas thanks to Emma from Impawtant Pups. You may remember that we blogged about Bo during Mayzie's Rescue Me Week.

He was rescued by Emma from a dog pound where he was on death row because of his incredibly bad skin condition and the fact that no-one wanted him.

Emma brought him back to Burton-on-Trent and has done a great job of nursing him back to health in a couple of months. He's also  been welcomed into the family by her own dogs Chanel, the boxer, and Cesar, the Bull Mastiff (Gosh! He's big and he has a really DEEP bark).

When Bo is a little bit better he'll be looking for his own forever home with other dogs. He loves the company of other dogs and wouldn't want to be on his own.

His skin is SO much better than it was. Here he is a few weeks ago cuddling up to Chanel.

Most of his coat has grown back now, but because he used to wear pyjamas to cover the special cream he needed, he's quite happy to still wear clothes, like his new elf outfit for Christmas.

Looks like he wasn't too sure about the hat at first though.

I love Bo VERY MUCH! And I hope he finds the family that's just the perfect fit for him in 2012. He is such a loving boy. I just thought you might like to hear how he's doing these days. If I wasn't so committed to being an only dog we would love to give him a home. But I'm afraid I am set in my ways now and it's not to be.

Today I am again joining the Saturday Pet Blog Hop hosted by Life With Dogs, Two Little Cavaliers and Confessions of the Plume.

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

We-Are-For-Dogs Wednesday

I can't stay wordless today because something SO lovely happened yesterday that I have to share it.

You may have seen on the right hand side of my blog that I've been promoting the 2011 Pedigree Adoption Drive which aims to raise £100,000 for UK rescues that help abandoned dogs. I know our friends Sue and Song have also posted the button which enables you to take rescue dog Ripley for a virtual walk and raise £1 every time towards the grand total.The Lady of the House also wrote about the scheme on her Lost and Fond website.

Yesterday a lovely little black box arrived in the post tied up with a yellow ribbon - and inside was a Limited Edition pet ID tag with a unique number on it. While the Man Of The House fixed it my collar, the Lady Of The House read the enclosed letter.

It said that the tag was a little thank you and that if we emailed them with the number of our tag before November 11 they would add ANOTHER £40 to the Pedigree Adoption Drive total on our behalf!! So we did.

Look how proud I am of my new tag!

You can also see me and the other dogs and owners who have helped spread the word at Pedigree's We Are For Dogs Facebook page. You can also follow them on Twitter at twitter.com/wearefordogs

There are more than 126,000 dogs abandoned in the UK every year - and remember, compared to some places we're not THAT big a country.

The Pedigree Adotpion Drive is nearly over, but you can still join in wherever you are and take Ripley for a Virtual walk to boost the total, which according to the site stands now at £92,944.

Thank you Pedigree for organising the Pedigree Adoption Drive 2011 and for my smart new tag. I will treasure it always.

Wordless Wednesday - You can lead a dog to water.....

Work work work

I am sorry for those of you who have weather that's too hot, or too cold, or too wet or too dry. But hear in recent days it's been just right.

The Lady Of The House  brought her tiny teeny computer into the dining room to work so that I could lie just outside the doors into the garden and she could enjoy the fresh air and my company.

Sometimes I went a little bit further away from her to lie on the grass.

But I soon came right back inside - just in case she needed my help.

Just shout if you get stuck on writing anything, won't you?

October in England

So here we are, it's the first weekend in October when we're normally all cuddled up next to the central heating radiators going full blast.

Instead of which we've been basking in glorious sunshine.

I've had a lovely weekend with my family. Hope you all have too.

We are making a late entry into this weekend's Pet Blog Hop.

The Pet Blog Hop is hosted by Life With Dogs, Two Little Cavaliers and Confessions of the Plume.

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.

Crazy owners - Please make it stop

Sometimes, when I'm relaxing in one of my little cosy corners, minding my own business, the Lady Of The House feels obliged to come and sing to me.

I don't really know what I've done to deserve it - but it must have been something VERY BAD!

Sometimes she's does a strange little sitting down dance.

It's usually inspired by a song she likes on the radio.

On this occasion it was Crazy Horses by The Osmonds.

Please, someone, tell me how to make it stop?