Filed under: border terrier, Chewing, Finn diary, Finnbad diary, puppy | Tags: border terrier, Border Terrier puppy, Chewing, Finn diary, pet toys, puppy
Monday 21st July (I was 4 months old) – the day didn’t start too well, I was feeling a bit out of sorts and had a bit of an accident with my new football. It lasted all of 15 minutes before I succeeded in gouging a big hole in the inner tube, perhaps the firm that makes them should take me on to do quality control. Master said ‘I guess it is better than him trying to chew lumps out of us’ – as if I would!!
I tried to distract him by stuffing my whole head inside the football and running around the garden – it was dark inside the ball and I couldn’t see a thing and kept bumping into Mistress’s plant pots, so she stopped me doing it. Then I tried to eat some of the delicious black plastic inner tube in the ball but she stopped me doing that too – even held my jaw and extracted bits from my mouth! – no fun, so I tried my Greta Garbo trick with Master and pretended to ignore him for all of 10 minutes but he didn’t seem to notice so I soon got bored with that and came out of my cage to go and sit on his feet.
I didn’t feel very well today (nothing to do with eating footballs I’m sure) so Mistress wouldn’t give me any treats just in case they made me sick – I love my treats so have decided I’d better get well quickly.
One quite scary thing that happened was that Mistress had washed Roger (my toy dog) and Gimpy (my giraffe that I’d wee’d on before) and hung them over the back of the garden chairs to dry – well I didn’t know this of course and felt sorry for my poor friends hanging up there with their legs dangling so jumped up to get them. Now jumping up was OK but the chairs were stacked on top of each other so having got up there I wasn’t sure how to get back down, it was really high up and Mistress was in her office at the time and didn’t see me do it. Roger and Gimpy were no help whatsoever and just sat there with their bums in the air sunning themselves, and seemingly completely oblivious to my plight. Then I managed to knock one of the solar lights off the chair (it was only on the chair because I dug it up the day before and ran around the garden with it in my mouth, pretending it was a sword until Master took it away). Well, the light crashed onto the ground and Mistress heard and poked her head out of the office window to see what was going on. ‘Look innocent’ I thought, so I sat neatly on the chair looking as if I was just relaxing there like a good puppy and the solar light had magically sprung off the chair of its own accord – don’t think I fooled Mistress though, but she did come down and rescue me from the chair which was a relief.
So a quieter day today and not as exciting as some, but I wasn’t very well so perhaps a quiet day is what I needed. I even chose to go into my cage and lie down rather than being put in there which was a first!
Filed under: border terrier, Finn diary, Finnbad diary, Uncategorized | Tags: border terrier, Border Terrier puppy, Chewing, Finn diary, pet toys, puppy
1st August 2008 – Nearly 5 months old now and the BIG news of last Saturday was that I lost my first baby tooth!! I have to say that I was very brave and only pulled a confused little face and didn’t squeak at all even though there was blood! The thing is, I was playing Frisbee with Master and leapt like a speeding bullet into the air to make a magnificent catch, a bit like David James at his best. Anyway, I must have grabbed it a bit too hard because my mouth felt a weird (I didn’t realise it was the tooth wobbling furiously), well even Master looked a bit concerned (this is when I was looking confused) because there was blood on the Frisbee, but none of us realised what was going on, even though Mistress also saw blood on Spangle’s neck.
Spangle is my new tiger soft toy with ropes and knots on his legs for me to chew, the thing is I prefer to chew his neck and even though I have only had him for a couple of weeks I managed to bite off his tail completely (cunningly, I did it in 3 pieces so that Master and Mistress wouldn’t notice it’s gradual disappearance) and then I gouged a hole in his bum and took out his plastic squeaker that looks like a digestive tubing tract (Master and Mistress were a bit anxious when they found it in my cage I can tell you!) and lots of soft white stuffing that I spat out all around my cage and the kitchen floor. I was going to tidy it up later, honest, but Mistress saw it first – she was not amused with me as she felt she should clear it up immediately, just in case I took it into my head to swallow some of it – really, I know I’m only a puppy but I can definitely tell the difference between eating white fluff and a tasty puppy treat, no contest! I must admit that Spangle looked a bit odd with a saggy hollow bum but I still love him.
The thing is Mistress confiscated him and said she will have to sew him up before I can have him back, don’t know why she is bothering because it won’t take me two shakes to nibble my way back inside Spangle newly sewn up or not!
Mistress does what she calls ‘dead-heading’ flowers, so I am actually saving her the effort of waiting until they are dead to behead them, I really am a helpful sort of chap. This week I managed to behead some fuschias, delphinium, roses and clematis – and left the debris on the patio and the grass, I thought they looked pretty lying there but M&M had another opinion and said they would prefer them still attached to their stems – huh, there is no pleasing some people.
I have also found a super place under the sage bush to bury my chews, it is such a big bush I can disappear under it completely to dig. I think Mistress thought it was the Sage bush fairy as she could see the bush shaking and moving but couldn’t see me – what fun! Oh, something else on the flowers, fruit and vegetable front – lovely Karen had given Mistress a butternut squash plant which she finally got around to planting in a grow bag on Monday. Well, I thought I’d make friends with the little plant and went over to give it a nudge but it just sat there looking at me, so I took a teensie weensie nibble out of one of the leaves, mmmmnnn delish, so I nibbled another – then Mistress spotted me and yelled really loudly ‘FINN NO!!!!!’ Okey doke I thought, no need to shout, I’m not deaf you know and shambled off to look at something else in the garden. Later on though, when her back was turned I sidled back to the squash, just to sniff it you know, not eat it, then I thought I would investigate the gro bag instead so if Mistress poked her head out of her office window she wouldn’t shout at me again.
The grow bag proved to be great fun, with a plastic covering to the soil inside it which is packed in tightly. I decided it would be a great thing to sharpen my claws on so had a good scratch at it until the soil spilled out of one corner – oops I thought, better try and disguise what I’ve done, I know, I’ll spread it across the patio, no one will notice – how wrong I was! M&M have eagle eyes when it suits them and boy did I kop it for that! I tried to help Mistress clear up the patio but she used this broom thing that is a bit scary so I barked and barked at it and tried to bite the bristles so ended up back in my cage whilst Mistress finished clearing up. Personally, I felt that the layer of soil all over the patio, enhanced rather than detracted from the general appearance of it but my lovely humans think so differently to me!
Filed under: border terrier, dog walks, Finn diary, Finn girlfriends | Tags: border terrier, dog walks, Finn diary
I must tell you all about my exciting walk in the New Forest with M&M at the week-end, although it might have ended almost as soon as it began, all because of horse dung. I generally charge ahead to scope out the surroundings whilst M&M dawdle along behind, it’s so exciting to be out in the forest, all enticing smells, scents, sounds and sights to take in, anyway, I was drawn almost magnet-like to this pile of horse poop (shiny green, gloopy, freshly dropped and still steaming – yippee!) You will all, no doubt, still be having sleepless nights about Mistress’s heartless actions last week inflicting that bath on me……well, I was still smelling far too clean for my liking so this horse poop was manna from heaven as far as I was concerned and I was doing a brilliant shoulder roll into it when Mistress spotted me, eyes like a hawk she has! She gave me her v.v. loud and scary ‘She who must be obeyed’ voice and deciding discretion was the better part of valour, I thought that it was time to scuttle on (as fast as my 4 little legs could carry me). Shame really ‘cos I only managed a quick rub in the first class dung, rather than the all-over smearing I was hoping for (and I still got thoroughly washed off in the kitchen sink on our return home – life is NOT FAIR!!!)
Well, on we went through the tall pine trees with me trying to find those elusive, pesky squirrels to chase and catch, when all at once I sensed a presence behind me and as I turned this long-legged blonde whippet/lurcher cross leaped right over my head! She obviously fancied me because she then criss-crossed in front of me showing me all her best points i.e. her bum, well, she was young and impetuous so I didn’t disillusion her by letting her know she was wasting her time, (Bob the Vet had relieved me of the necessary accoutrements when I was 1!) It was a challenge though, and I am fast (even though my legs are half the length of hers!) so we then had brilliant fun, racing back and forth, bobbing and weaving, ducking and diving – I am agile too (and a big show off according to M&M which is a tad hurtful). Eventually her owner had to drag her away, reluctantly I thought, because she was a bit in love with me by then.
It brought to mind a similar incident in the same pine wood last year, when I spied what looked to be a young pony in the distance, and as border terriers are bred to follow horses, I hurtled recklessly towards it. Vaguely crossed my mind it was a really weird-looking pony but it was only at the last minute when I looked up, just before skidding into her shins (or thereabouts), that it was an absolutely enormous dog, so huge she nearly blocked out the light (teensy bit of exaggerating here)!! I was so shocked I just fell backwards in a heap and lay there looking up and up and up! She was a young Great Dane and luckily for me she was smitten with my manly good looks and charm too, slobbered all over me and we decided to play chase and explore – just as well I’m brave, fearless and tough though, ‘cos she was a bit clumsy and lollopy and fell on me a few times when we were rolling around together. What is it about me and tall, leggy birds – anyone would think I was Rod Stewart or something! No support from M&M (they were laughing with the Great Dane owner) – they never seem to grasp the potential severity of a situation – just as well I am there to guide them safely through life.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: border terrier, diary, Finn diary, puppy, puppy class, puppy training, skulking
Thursday 17th July 2008 – Sorry I didn’t get a chance to write my diary yesterday but I was out last night at my puppy school being very busy and important. Think I’m everyone’s favourite in class so I love showing off so they can see how clever and brave I am – Master and Mistress (M&M) say different, they said I was a total embarrassment, sometimes they totally miss the fact that I am just gifted and a genius – what happened was that Sarah (our teacher who gives me treats so I love her) lets us off our leads for ‘supervised’ play. Well, she lets the more nervous puppies off together first then they get put back on their leads and then the middling ones are let off and finally the most boisterous puppies are let off last – for some reason I’m always last of the last, along with Megan who is my best friend – don’t know why that is! She is a golden retriever puppy with lovely creamy fur and blonde eyelashes (personally I think that looks a bit weird and I’d have dyed them brown like mine if I was her), anyway Megan is about 5 times bigger than me but size doesn’t matter when you are best friends even though she did roll on me and squash me a few times – I was only trying to stand on my hind legs (I’m rather good at that) to lick and scratch her face at the time too. So, we were then ‘encouraged’ to go and seek out other new friends so I thought I’d show everyone how well I skulk!
I slithered along under everyone’s seats, under the stage steps and out the other side where I found some interesting things in a ladies handbag –M&M were scandalized, but I think she shouldn’t have left it under her chair if she didn’t want it discovered by me, the intrepid explorer! Then I slithered on and popped out by Mollie – making her jump a mile high – ooops – (she is a fluffy collie cross but very nervous and spends most of the time under her owners’ chairs), but all this slithering was thirsty work so I helped myself to water from her bowl, trouble is I do slurp a lot when I drink so everyone heard me – time to move on I thought! Next I came to Ollie (he’s a grey/black spaniel – we get on quite well too) and he told me he had this great toy and did I want to play with it – course I did, but didn’t want to give it back! Master came over and extracted me – had a great tussle with him until he ‘persuaded’ me to let go of Ollie’s toy.
Then we did exercises – sit, down, stay, leave and take – yawn, I mastered all that really quickly because Mistress and I practice at home, but some of the other puppies must be really thick because they didn’t have a clue what was asked. Sarah (our lovely teacher) eventually noticed me standing on my hind legs, begging her to ask me to help demonstrate these exercises rather than the other slow coaches, well, she came and collected me from M&M, took me out in front of EVERYONE and started the exercises – I thought, yes, my chance to shine so I was sitting, lying down etc before she asked and did all the exercises perfectly! I think she was pleased because she said ‘Now I know what to do with you during the class to keep you out of mischief!’ Thinking about it, I have a feeling she might just be being a bit snidey – hmmmn!
Well it was a lovely evening and I’m always tired afterward. Megan and I had a lie down and roll about in the dusty car park – I was OK but Megan got really dusty! I must tell you about my battle with the lead tomorrow, I’m a bit sleepy now!
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: baths, border terrier, diary, dog-leads, Finn diary, hosepipe snakes, puppy, skipping
Tuesday 15th July 2008 – Well today started much like yesterday, Master let me out in the morning at about 6.15am and came into the garden with me. We had a little chat ‘Master’ to ‘Puppy’ as you do, and I had a good whizz around the garden – saw the yellow hosepipe snake but think it was asleep because it was all coiled around this wheel thingy by the back door. I whispered to it ‘I’m keeping my eye on you’ but quietly and sternly I thought – quite pleased with myself. Mistress came back from her early morning meeting at about 9.30 am and let me out of my cage, I showed her how pleased I was to see her by jumping up at her and accidentally scratching her hand (she didn’t seem to think that was friendly – these humans are weird sometimes).
Anyway, Mistress must have forgiven me because she took me out for a walk just after lunch – I tried to help by dragging her and walking on my hind legs like Skippy the Bush Kangaroo but she just stops until I come back and then off we go again – walks seem to take ages and they’d go much faster if she let me drag her! She makes me stop when we come to the edge of the pavement and says ‘Sit’ – mostly I do but sometimes these big noisy metal boxes screech past on 4 rubber wheels and I want to chase them because I’m very brave as you know (like with the hose pipe snake) and also I like the taste of rubber and those wheels look good eating so I jump up and down and bark and bark at them – Mistress won’t let me catch them though, she says she doesn’t want me to get run over and I shouldn’t run about in the road – don’t know what all the fuss is about.
Must tell you about the magic new lead that unravels for about 15 feet, so when we get to the field I can run and run – but I don’t really want to go too far away just in case something scary happens and I need to save Mistress – not because I’m scared of course because I’m brave and fearless!!
Oh and now I’ve remembered something that happened last Saturday which I thought was really uncalled for, just because I accidentally stepped in some of my own poo while playing in the garden with Master he seemed to think that was out of order and immediately filled this plastic bath with water and puppy baby bath and then he put me in it! Ha! – not for long though, I jumped straight out even though the bubbles tasted nice and tore round and round the garden with my ears pinned back and my eyes out on stalks! Master said I shouldn’t be drinking the bath water, it was to clean me off but those bubbles did taste good! Then Master did something unspeakable – he pretended that one end of the bath slipped from his hand and the water went all over me even though I was at least 10 feet away!!! He said sorry but he was laughing, I didn’t think it was very funny because I could have caught a chill! Mistress came out with a towel to dry me off but I wriggled and wriggled and in the end I decided to try and eat the towel, I like the taste of towels and slippers and Gimpy’s ears and Nobby’s eyes and Roger’s tail and all sorts of things.
Well that was another busy day but remind me to tell you about the ‘magic room’ tomorrow!
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: border terrier, diary, Finn diary, hosepipe snakes, pet toys, puppy
My name is Finn(bad) and this is my Diary – I’m a Border Terrier (and v.v.brave and fearless even if I say so myself!)
Monday 14 July 2008 – the day started as usual, Master came down and made his sandwiches – none for me of course even though the cheese smelt delicious! Anyway then we went out into the garden, all very cosy, nice shiny blue sky and Master gave me a quick hug, which I really like – then off he went to do whatever he does – have breakfast and make the tea I guess. Then things got really exciting, while he was in the kitchen the hosepipe snake suddenly woke up (I only nibbled at him a little bit but he is obviously a light sleeper) and tried to attack me – it was vicious and scary and yellow and it wrapped itself around my neck! I was very brave because I didn’t want it to attack Master so although it was trying to strangle me, I bit it hard and growled and yelped a bit too – and Master came out to see what was going on and burst out laughing! I don’t think he realized how serious things could have got if I hadn’t been there to protect him and all the thanks I got was to be put back in my cage – not fair!
Mistress came down a bit later and let me out though, she gave me breakfast and some fresh water and a cuddle – I liked the cuddle but would have preferred the banana she had to the dry grits she gave me to eat. I had a run around the garden for an hour or so and only dug one hole in the lawn which is quite good I think, after all I am still only a little puppy of 4 months old and will get up to mischief if I’m not supervised.
Later on though, I did disgrace myself just before bed time when I got completely over-excited in the garden when I was out there with Master. He wanted me to come inside and I knew that meant it was bed-time but I didn’t want to go, so I ran round and round the garden like a mad little dervish and then I grabbed Gimpy my pet giraffe and wee’d all over him – Master wasn’t pleased and didn’t think it was at all funny and I was sorry later too, because wet, smelly Gimpy had to stay outside all night instead of snuggling up to me in my cage like we normally do when we go to sleep. Mistress tried to help by giving me my pet dog Roger instead, but he mysteriously jumped into my water bowl and was soaking wet too so he had to go and spend the night on the window-sill to dry off. On the whole though, it was an exciting day and I was very tired so I snuggled into my blanket and fell asleep all night.
Finnbad's Blog 