Keeping it in the family

It's the Lady Of The House here, making a brief return to blogging because Bill - who I think has been doing a fabulous job of getting to grips with it all - says I can share some exciting news with you.

First of all, Monkey's doing well and gaining confidence every day. He's also happily heading to his bed at night time thanks to the chicken treat bribery many of you suggested.

Yesterday his paperwork came to us from the Retired Greyhound Trust where we learned that his racing name was Autumn Fusion. John and Judith at Crossing Cottage had already told us he had run 129 races in his career, but now we were able to look him up on greyhound-data where we found out a bit more about his races and his family tree.

Given the way he chose us SO clearly on that visit to Crossing Cottage at the start of this month, perhaps we shouldn't have been surprised to see that he was related to our Winnie on both his mum's side AND his dad's side. Yes, we have another Honcho Hound in the house. See this Facebook Group - https://www.facebook.com/groups/110335212384824 - for owners of dogs descended from Head Honcho.

What was a surprise was to find that he was ALSO the grandson of the superstar Australian greyhound Brett Lee - who I wrote about on our Lost and Fond website.

Here's Monkey's potted family tree

Of course, we realise that greyhounds at stud have LOTS of puppies so lots and lots of dogs share common ancestry with Brett Lee and Head Honcho - but maybe now that we know there is DOUBLE greyhound Royality in his family tree it explains why he still likes to have his dinner brought to him in the living room.

Perhaps that confused look in his eyes in recent weeks was actually him saying: "Don't you know who I am?"

Today we took Monkey out in the car for the first time since we brought him home. We didn't want to give him too many new experiences all at once. We just took a short drive to a local park that's near a busy road (another test for Monkey). It was also his first time without his muzzle and he had a WONDERFUL time.

The sights and smells made him skip with joy and he didn't seem to mind the traffic noise at all. We also ventured on to the canal towpath to test his reaction to ducks. Not bothered at all. So more car journeys and muzzle-free walks loom large in Monkey's future.

Now on to the Saturday Pet Blogger Hop!

Seems a long time (because it is) since I did one of these so bear with me if I get anything wrong. If you just want to use the links below to find new blogs to read and follow - that's fine.

If you want to join in and add YOUR pet-related blog, you should use the Linky tool provided to sign up. 

Please also follow your three host of this blog hop - Life With Dogs, Two Little Cavaliers and Confessions of the Plume. who are in positions number 3. 4. and 5. on the listings below.

Scary monsters

What we have learned today.

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.

Wordless Wednesday: I LOVE scrunching through autumn leaves

Winnie the greyhound and the great rabbit rescue

So here's a story that the Lady Of The House wants to tell you.
I don't know why.
But over to the LOTH.
I'm going for a lie down.


Thanks Win.

So, me and Win were taking a gentle walk through the housing estates near our home one morning when she suddenly got her 'cat face' on.

This involves her ears flying straight up like flagpoles and her eyes focusing forward in a steely gaze and is usually immediately followed by one loud warning bark before she attempts to fly forward as far as her lead will allow in the attempted pursuit of a cat she's seen ahead.

But this time it was 'cat face' x 10.

I'd never seen her so intent on the chase. And what was more worrying I couldn't see a cat - or a squirrel.
I was hanging on to the lead and wrapping it round my hand as she barked incessantly and fought like fury to get at something.

Her attention was focused on the base of a tall hedge beside a path between a couple of houses.
I suddenly saw that tucked under the hedge was a large, beautiful, brown and white pet rabbit looking slightly startled but thankfully not taking flight.

But I now faced a problem.

The chances were the rabbit has escaped from one of the two houses nearest to the hedge, but Winnie was going so completely batty there was no chance of me getting closer to either house as it meant getting closer to the rabbit and I didn't want to spook it. I also was beginning to suspect that Winnie might pull me off my feet if she got any closer and any more excited.

I hoped help was at hand when I saw a woman walking down the path towards us beside the hedge.
"Excuse me," I shouted to her. ""Have you seen that rabbit. There look, under the hedge."
She glanced over her shoulder and then smiled at me. "Oh no," she said. "I hadn't" and she speeded up towards us and passed us (giving mad Winnie a wide berth).
"I wondered if you could...." I started. I'd been hoping that she might knock on one of the house doors for me..... but she was clearly not keen to get involved and was away before I could finish the sentence.

With no-one else in sight I looked around for a house that looked as if someone might be at home and not at work.

The house level with us has a car in the drive, so I slowly made my way to the front door with a shrieking, writhing and pulsating Winnie on the end of the lead and without ever taking my eyes off the bunny.

I knocked on the door, and did find myself wondering if I looked outside and saw a strange, harassed woman staring fixedly across the road with a mad howling dog spinning like a top on a pink lead in her hand whether I'd open the door to them.

Maybe they thought the same. The door stayed shut.

Thankfully, the commotion has fetched a woman out of her house further down the road to investigate. As she walked towards us I said: "Oh, can you you help me, there's a rabbit under that hedge and I can't get closer because...."

"Oh," she said. "I know who he belongs to. "He's been missing for four days. they will be delighted. Don't worry. I'll sort it."

So I made a graceful-ish retreat in the opposite direction....with Winnie still baying and twirling.

This is Winnie on a later walk, hopefully inspecting where the rabbit had been in case he was back. He wasn't - and I'm delighted to know he's safely back home and we played our little part.

P.S: Relating this story to a friend, she said: 'Did you get a picture of the rabbit and Winnie for your blog?'

I replied: 'Do you REALLY think she was in any mood to pose? It took all my strength to hang on to her! I wasn't going to get my phone out of my pocket and take a picture too!'.

Winnie on walkabout

The People Of The House have been so busy with the real Olympics that my blog's not getting a look-in! More of them and their adventures another day.

Meanwhile, thanks to Corbin for hosting the Walking About the Neighbourhood event in the Pet Blogging games - one of my personal favourites.

Here I am - all alert to anything out of the ordinary that may happen on one of my walks.

Catch up on ALL the events here - and thanks to ALL the hosts who have worked so hard to put these events together.

Winnebago checking in

So, what's been happening?

Well, thanks to Sarge's Nickname game I am Winnebago for the next week.

Secondly, the Lady Of The House has a truly STINKING cold and is coughing and sneezing EVERYWHERE! YUCK!

But she still took me to the greyhound walk that was organised by Perry Barr Retired Greyhound Trust in Burton-on-Trent yesterday.

I got to wear the Winnie the Pooh bandana she bought me at Crufts.

Now maybe it was that, or maybe it was the steroids I've been on since last autumn, but I got very feisty with the dogs gathered outside the library in town and barked at ANY hound that looked at me.

The LOTH was bundled up in a big grey waterproof and her pink scarf and got to talk croak to her friend Jane (in the green coat) who came along with her two greyhounds Jack and Sophie.

I got a bit friendlier when we started walking. The Man Of The House walked with me and the LOTH took charge of Jack. But a few of the hounds weren't too keen when the walk included a few steps.

Jack and one other greyhound had to be carried up. But I was fine.

We also met up with Rolo Hound - who the LOTH has tweeted with but never met before.

Rolo's dad and my MOTH were showing off their matching backpacks from Pedigree - part of the Play Again campaign for JointCare+

Rather than make this post too long I'll share my other news about the lovely Ann from Zoolatry and how she has helped us another day.

Love and licks, Winnebago

Wordless Wednesday - Spring has sprung

Ice Ice Baby

There's been a fair amount of slipping and sliding on the frozen paths around here this week. It's starting to melt - but they've predicted more on the way.

But I'm not one to complain - as you know - despite my sad expression in this picture on the left.

The family braved the worst of the snow on Saturday night to go and watch a charity show organised by the Girl Of The House's boyfriend and his mates. I stayed tucked up in my bed thank you very much.

When they got home they found the family across the road building an igloo in front of their house. They were STILL building it when we all turned in for the night at half past midnight! It looked like this:

When we got up in the morning it was finished and lots of people wanted their pictures taken with it. It looked like this:

But the roof quickly caved in after all their hard work.

Yesterday, me and the Lady Of The House set off to see how the ducks and the swans were doing at Brook Hollows in the village of Rolleston (we thought we'd share the bread around after visiting the canal ducks last week).

The brook ducks were very pleased to see us. There was a lot of ice spreading out from the bank as you can see:

We were a bit worried about this swan that was sitting on the ice:

But we threw him/her some bread that landed near enough for him/her to get.

His/her mate was a bit more forward.

Ducks dancing on ice - and the LOTH gets all a-Twitter over Donny

It's January, it's cold, what did you expect in England at this time of year? A heatwave? I don't understand all this fuss the people make. I still LOVE going out on my walks (but to be honest I'm less keen on going out in the garden between times and I'm tending to cross my legs until I REALLY have to go).

But put my dog coat on, dress yourself up like an eskimo and I'll happily walk along the frozen canal towpaths with you for as long as you want.

Yesterday morning we were a bit worried about the ducks so the Lady Of The House raided the bread bin, put on goodness knows HOW many layers of clothes, and we set out to see what was happening out on the local canal.

I'd never seen it completely frozen before and we walked quite a long way before we found a little groups of ducks and moor hens who'd were hovering in a small patch of water under some trees near the canal bank.

The LOTH started tossing some crumbs to them and a couple of the bravest (probably most desperate) ducks came hopping out of the water and scuttling across the ice towards us. The LOTH tried to tell them to slow down a bit as she worrying about them hurting themselves as they slid around. But they seemed very keen to eat so we were glad we'd gone down.

The we heard a mighty honking and the LOTH and I looked up to see a pair of swans swooping gracefully through the air just above the frozen surface of the water. We held our breath as they lowered their legs to land and then crashed right through the ice sending large frozen chunks and slices hurtling through the air!! Yes, pictures would have been nice but we had our mouths open watching them in amazement so photography wasn't an option!

We thought they might boss the ducks and bully them out of the way, or march across the rest of the ice and mug us for our remaining crumbs, but they didn't. They sat very patiently in the little pool of water they had created (possibly slightly shocked by their dramatic landing) and let us throw some bread to them while the ducks carrying on skating for their breakfast.

On this picture below, we thought the swans were making quite a nice heart shape with their elegant necks. We love how a pair of swans stay together through thick and thin (including ice). A lesson to us all as Valentine's Day approaches.

Speaking of matters of the heart - there was a HUGE rumpus from the upstairs office last night while I was catching some zzz's downstairs in the living room. I thought the swans had flown in through a window, and the Boy Of The House ran up because he thought the LOTH was crying.

It turned out she was on Twitter and had seen Donny Osmond (the object of her affections since she was 10, apparently) tweeting about the Superbowl and how he was supporting the Giants because they had knocked his 49ers out, so the LOTH replied that she was a 49ers fan too, and DONNY REPLIED TO HER.

I write this in capital letters because apparently it is a big deal judging by the fuss that followed. The LOTH was taking screenshots and 'favouriting' the Tweet and generally behaving as if she'd won the lottery or something. She says I have to show you the evidence in case any of your mums and people are excited for her too.

So there you go. If you want a slice of the exciting life the LOTH leads, she says you are welcome to follow her @EllaJP

I think I need some more sensible pet friends, to get me away from this madness, so I'm taking part in 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.

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..........

Winnie's fifth Christmas Carol

The LOTH is very happy because her freelance work is all finished now for Christmas, so today's alternative song is a team effort.

Requested by Houndstooth - and based on an original idea from the Boy Of The House - I bring you our version of Do You Hear What I Hear?

Said the greyhound to the waiting LOTH

Do you smell what I smell?

Down here on the ground, dearest LOTH

Do you smell what I smell?

A scent, a scent

I’ll call it ‘eau de dog’

I can’t walk past, run or jog

I can’t walk past, run or jog

Said the LOTH to the greyhound standing there

Do you fear what I fear?

(Do you fear what I fear?)

We won’t get home today, Winnie dear

Do you fear what I fear?

(Do you fear what I fear?)

Let’s move

Let's move

At least get to the shops

This isn't a 'walk', it’s a series of stops.

This isn’t a 'walk', it’s a series of stops 

Winnie's first Christmas carol

As we have walked through our local village and looked at all the Christmas lights and decorations in recent days, it's inspired me and the Lady Of The House to write some new words to traditional Christmas carols which we thought we'd share with you between now and the big day on Sunday.

They are all carols we sing a lot in the UK. Hopefully you'll know them abroad as well.

Here's our first effort (sung to the tune of Good King Wenceslas)

Winnie Greyhound last walked out on a Monday morning

When the frost lay round about, and she'd not stopped yawning.

A winter sun was shining down

It was bright but freezing.

The LOTH took this nice pic of me when she had stopped snee-ee-zing.

Maybe I won't give up the day job JUST yet.

Sunday strolling

I was very excited this morning when everyone started getting ready to go out. I knew it would be something good. Then the Boy Of The House said I could wear his bandana and we jumped into the car.

After a short drive we arrived at Barton Marina at Barton Under Needwood where there were lots of greyhounds and their families gathering in the car park.

I felt very cool in my bandana.

I barked at this girl (who was wearing my coat)- well it's a bit embarrassing when you go somewhere new and someone's wearing the same thing. AND she was a lot younger than me.

By the time this picture was taken - we weren't speaking at all, as you can see. She was also showing off how well she can sit. Huh!

But I soon forgot about that as we all lined up for a picture before we started the walk.

It was a bit chaotic at first.

But then we managed to get ourselves organised. We all said "RABBITS!" as the photo was taken.

The walk had been organised by some of our friends from the RGT Midlands and we had a great time walking round the lakes. Here's some more pictures of our walk which were all taken by the BOTH.

Here's another dog wearing a bandana. But it was a different colour from mine so I didn't bark this time.

A couple of greyhounds were wearing these harnesses. The Lady Of The House says we might get one for me. Anyone else got one? She's worried about me hurting my neck when I see a cat on our walks and I get over excited and pirouette about, and thinks this might be safer and more comfortable for me.

Are you a greyhound? Never mind. You are still welcome.

The final stretch

It was a lovely walk and I was very tired when we got home.

Hope you had a great weekend too.