Bad Hair Day and Fun on the beach

Well hello again peeps, bet you thought I'd got lost didn't you?  What do you think? Mom says I had a bad hair day:

I had another birthday, I'm 3 now and Mom says I've grown up a lot but I don't think I look any bigger do you?

We don't go anywhere very exciting or new so I've not really got much to tell you but I thought I'd show you what I did yesterday.

I like to get up early now it's light, Mom says it's silly o'clock but the mornings are light and the seagulls tap dance on the roof so what does she expect me to do?  I used to bark at 6 o'clock to let her know I was awake but I've got her trained now and I don't need to do it any more and she gets up on her own. Anyway we go out early so we can go on the beach before lots of people get there - as you know I'm not keen on those short people with little legs that run about and scream (I'm frightened of them but don't tell anyone). And it's been hot as well and I don't do hot very well so we go before it's too warm and we take some water to drink so we don't get thirsty.

So yesterday we walked along the beach, the tide was out and we had lots of beach to walk on and went as far as we could. Then I heard "Woof, woof", looked round and saw Tia my big fluffy Samoyed friend (she likes to talk a lot, I always know when she's around). So I ran and ran and splashed through the puddles and caught up with Tia and her mom:

Now Tia's mom always had treats in her pocket and she's such a softy she can't resist giving me one so I did my little dance for her then she gave me a yummy treat (I forgot my manners and pushed in front of Tia):

So we walked along, me and Tia doing the important stuff like sniffing and seeing if there's anything to eat (Tia's good at finding stuff, she particularly likes rubber gloves but I don't really understand why, I'd rather have poo but then my Mom says I'm a dirty mare), and the humans are busy chatting (they do an awful lot of that!). I got called back and I usually go 'cos I know I get a little bit of hot dog sausage as a reward if I do:

So after my sausage I went back to see what Tia was up to and we played chase in the sea then I came out and did my "Can I have another treat Aunty Barbara" pose (and it worked!):

So after that me and Tia run off and found a super duper puddle to play in. I'm not sure why the water only comes half way up Tia's legs and I nearly disappear altogether??? Anyway it was then time to go home but I was all drippy wet and someone said I was a mucky pup! How rude! But  do you know what happened then? Mom made me have a bath! She said something about it was the fourth time I'd done it this week and I was dirty and covered in sand and about time I had a bath. The bath's not too bad but I'm not so keen on the hairdryer but Mom says I look nice when I'm finished so I suppose you have to please the humans some time eh?

Well, I don't think I've got anything else to tell you this time. I'll try not to leave it so long before I come back and talk to you again.

Licky kisses, Poppy x

I had to have a noperation

Hello lovely humans. I haven't been to see you for aaaaages and Mom said it was about time.  We haven't done anything very exciting really. We still go to the beach most days but some days it's been so windy it's like a sandstorm. We don't go those days as I'm so low down near the ground the sand gets right in my eyes.  We go to the nature reserve instead and it's nice there.

Lots of people came for their holidays but the weather wasn't always nice. We've had a lot of rain and wind. I don't like lots of people. I have my special people who I love (especially the man at the kiosk where Mom gets her cup of tea, he always gives me a biscuit and a big fuss, and I think Auntie Angie is my favourite as she comes and doggie sits if Mom has to go out for more than a couple of hours). I don't like those short people with little legs who make a lot of noise (I think they're called kids), they scare me so I go and hide. Anyway, they've all gone home again now so it's back to normal and mostly people we know.

Now, I have to tell you I had a noperation. Mom found a lump on my neck and she got worried so we went to see the vet lady. She gave me some medicine but the lump didn't go away.  Then she stuck a needle in it and sent off for a test and it came back inconker inconclues errmmmmmmm they didn't know what it was.  So I had to go back again (crickey, all these train journeys, still I didn't mind 'cos I got a walk to another beach while waiting for the train back). Sian the vet said Mom could go and you know what? She left me there all day!!! I had a sleep and while I was asleep Sian did the noperation and took the lump out and sent it away for testing.  Mom and my bestest friend Angie came and picked me up later, I was so happy to see them, I didn't know who to wiggle my bum at first.  My lump had a really big name, Pilomatrixoma, but Sian said it meant it was a tumour growing from a hair follicle and when it was tested they said everything was OK.

This is where my lump was and I had four stitches:

And then so I didn't scratch it Sian said to put a band made from Mom's tights over it:

Can't say I was too keen on that so I tried to hide as best I could.

Seein' as I didn't like the band much Mom got me some baby bootees and put one on my foot so again I couldn't scratch, I tell you the itching was so not nice!

I ask you, how embarrassing is that! Good job I only had to wear it in the house.

Anyway, it's all better now and my fur is growing back, you can't see it though as my ear hides it.

This is what came for me the day after my noperation:

Lots of my lovely yummy food. There's some rabbits (yum), salmon chunks (yum again), tripe chunks, and different meats like duck, chicken, turkey, lamb, all yummy. And in the freezer there's pig's trotters and ears and a piggy tail plus lots of other things. Mom says I eat better than her and wishes she could feed herself for 40p a day! Well, I'm not sharing my yummy food stash, sorry Mom!

I've got one other thing to tell you about and that is Jessie Rescue.  Jessie came from Many Tears Rescue and she used to be a breeding bitch on a puppy farm. She is four years old and they said she may have had 8 litters.  This is Jessie the day she came:

She is very sweet and quiet and gentle. She has gone to live with my sister Lottie. Do you remember Lottie, she lives with Mom's son Neil and his family.  Sally the doodle doggie used to live there too but she had to go to Rainbow Bridge. They said good job Jessie was there or Lottie would have pined for Sally.

Well, Jessie settled in really well, she doesn't really know how to play but she's learnt how nice it is to live with a family who love her. She's another Bichon but a lot bigger than me and Lottie and she'd had her coat shaved right down but it's growing back now.  This is her a couple of weeks ago after she had a bath:

Mom says when her hair's grown she will look as pretty as me.  Lottie and Jessie go for walks together and to the beach and sometimes I go with them too.

I think that's everything I have to tell you this time. Mom's calling me. We have to go out for a walk now, just enough time to get a nice long walk in before it gets dark. We might even get to the beach again.

Thank you for coming to visit.

Wiggly bums and licky kisses

Poppy X

My train didn't have any diddly-dums!

You know when a train goes fast, and it goes diddly-dum, diddly-dum, well my train only went de-dum, de-dum. I think it's 'cos we didn't go very far, only one station and it only took four minutes so it didn't have time to reach diddly-dums. Anyway, it was nice and I really like going on the train. I sit on Mom's lap and look out of the window, sometimes we see sheep and maybe horses. This is on the train:

We have to go over the estuary then past some farm land. Then we got off the train, stopped to get me some water from the toilet block, then Mom put my long line on and off we went:



There were some horses behind those trees but they haven't shown up.

Mom called me back so I went to see what she wanted, I get a piece of sausage for doing what she asks me to, that's always good 'cos I like sausage treats, unless of course I'm doing something that is more interesting than sausage and is smelly then it's good to roll in it and ignore her, ha ha:

Then we walked over this little bridge with a big drop underneath it, Mom doesn't like going near the edge 'cos it makes her tummy flip but I don't mind:

Then I had to wait for some cyclists to go past and then carried on for a while:

We only have 50 minutes before the train comes to take us home so we turned round and walked back to the station:

I hope you like my pictures of The Mawddach Trail. It's about 9 miles long and there's a pub at the other end but Mom says my little legs wouldn't make it that far, nor would she! We just do the first part which is nice and shady on a hot day so that's better than being on the beach where there's no shade.  We go quite often when the weather is nice but we don't go when it's been raining 'cos the paths are really muddy then and I'd end up needing a bath and you all know what I think about them!

Talking of baths, we were on the beach at the weekend and guess what I found? No, not a shell or seaweed but a dead seal! It didn't have a head though, I wonder where that was. It was only a young one but ooooooooooh was it lovely and smelly and I just had to have a lovely roll on it. I was really enjoying myself when Mom looked back and saw what I was doing. She walked up to me and made me come away - why do humans have to spoil our fun??? Then she said "Poppy, you stink", well that was the point wasn't it! So we got home and I thought I'd got away with it until a bit later she sat by me and said "Phew, I can't put up with that smell any longer" so I had to have a bath. Worth it though, I did enjoy that roll!

I was exhausted after all that so I had to have a little snoozle:

Mom said I looked very relaxed. My hair looks a bit curly, Mom can't get it as fluffy as Julie my groomer. Do you like my snuggly fleece blanket, it's all mine, I don't share it with anyone!

Well, thank you lovely peeps for coming to see me and letting me tell you about what I've been doing lately. I'll come back soon when I've got something exciting to tell you.

Licky kisses, Poppy X X X

I's really excited don'cha know

I's excited 'cos it's my burfday. I'm two today, yipee!

I got pressies. Do you wanna see?

My first pressie was Octopussy:

He's got lots of legs and they crinkle and tinkle and squeak and I can carry him around by his leg. He's really nice. Octopussy was off my Auntie Mari, she works in Save The Children and she gave Octopussy to Mom to wash for me and he's lovely.

Then I had Mr Leopard who was off Mom, he's got 19 squeakers. I do love squeakers, I press them with my nose and they make the most loveliest noise:

So I threw Octopussy out of my bed and put Mr Leopard in:

Mr Leopard is like Mr Lion who I had for my first birthday and I've loved him so much that he's a bit worse for wear:

I chewed his eyes off and his leg. Mom sewed his leg back on but then I chewed the other one but she says she'll sew that back on too. He's a bit mingy and needs a wash but in case he got damaged and didn't squeak any more Mom bought me Mr Leopard to play with.

It's been raining all day and I got bored so Mom gave me my last present this afternoon - a new stag bar. This one is different from my other one, this has been cut in half lengthways and the marrow is exposed:

Oooh, this is yummy. Time for some serious chewing:

I gotta go now, it looks like the rain has stopped for a while so me and Mom are going out for a walk. I bet I come back with a dirty wet tummy ha ha! I'll come back soon and tell you about my train ride to the Mawddach Trail, I've got some lovely pictures to show you.

Bye for now. Licks and kisses from Poppy x

Long time no see

Oh, hello lovely peeps. Did you think I had vanished forever? I's sorry I haven't been here for a while but my Daddy went to heaven and didn't come back so I've been busy keeping Mom occupied and giving her lots of kisses.

Lots of things have happened. I could tell you about the day we were on the beach and I pinched a ball some boys were playing with then run away with it straight across the road in front of a car. Mom said she nearly fainted. Well, that ball was better than mine 'cos it was my treasure and I found it so I wasn't going to give it back was I? Anyway I walked across the car park towards home but I kept just far enough in front of Mom so she couldn't get to me and I kept looking back to see if she was following. Mom said she thought I'd never stop but then I met Dom (she's my doggie friend who lives next door but one) with her Dad so I stopped to say hello to Dom and then Mom caught up with me. She said I was naughty to do it but she let me keep the ball. Not sure why but now when we go to the beach she puts the 50' long line on me, she says I can run free and drag it but she's flippin' quick to pick it up if I try to go somewhere she don't want me to. Is that mean or what?

And she makes me do practises like Sit, Down, Stay, Poppy Come and blows the whistle for me to come. I don't mind really 'cos I can do it easy and I get sausage bits when I've done it. Of course, if I don't want to do it I wont but usually the sausage is more tempting than ignoring Mom.

It's very very hot here at the moment. I don't like hot, makes me pant, so Mom takes me out early and late when it's a bit cooler. Today we went to the nature reserve, it's called Wern Mynach. It's part of land that used to belong to some monks a very long time ago (Mynach means monk) and a few years ago a local conservation group turned it from a landfill site into a nature reserve. It's ever so nice and shady with nice paths and a pool and a stream. Would you like to see some photos from this morning?

This is where I come in, we walk along the promenade and come in under a little bridge:

Then we turn up this path and it takes us to the boat:

I always run behind the boat and come out the other side and say BOO!

Then we go down this path:

Which leads us to here:

Then we come to the pond and the stream:

Then we have to go up the path towards the boat again:

Then this path takes us up towards the football field:

Can you see the squirrel on the path? Clicky on the picture and that's it in front of me. That's the first time I've seen a squirrel. I wanted to play with it but it ran up a tree.

Then it leads to a path where we go back to a road that takes us home. It's a really nice walk and Mom lets me off the lead, she says I don't need my long line there as it's so quiet and the only thing to tempt me is rabbit poo!

It took about an hour to do the walk so I'm off for a snoozle now. I'll come back soon and tell you about another nice place we go and we have to get the train to go there. I like the train.

See you soon.

XXX - kisses for you.

P.S. I got another one of them burfdays in 4 days time. Mom says she's got me a present. I'll come back and tell you what it is.

Have you ever been to Hossypital?

My Dad is in the hossypital, he's been away for 6 weeks now and I miss him. He first went to the big hossypital but 3 weeks ago he came nearer home to the little one and I'm allowed to go and see him. I don't really like to go in the car but it's only 20 minutes away and when we get there I know the way to the room where he is and Mom drops my lead and I run into the room all excited.

We went today and me and Dad had cuddles:




He has to go back to the big hossypital tomorrow for some treatment and should be back on Thursday so I can go and see him again.

I've got some new shampoo and had a bath on Saturday 'cos I was real mucky and full of sand. Mom said I smelled delicious and my fur is all soft and shiney and she wouldn't let me go and play on the beach until Dad had seen me all clean and fluffy today. Anyway, I've had my tea and we're going out soon and Mom has promised me I can go and chase my ball on the beach - yippee!

I haven't got anything else to tell you this time, we haven't been anywhere very exciting but I'm hoping to go to the woods again soon. Oh, I did go to see the Vet Lady and she looked at me all over and made sure everything works properly then stuck a needle in my neck. Didn't hurt though and she said I was a really good girl - she didn't see what I brought up in the back of the car though!!!!!!!!! Not my fault, honest, the Vets is an hour away in the car and my tummy really, really doesn't like going for a long drive.

Gotta go now, Mom's waiting to take me to the beach.

Sloppy kisses X X X

Holly made me do it - honest!

What an exciting morning I've had! We went to the beach and in the distance I could see Tia, she always comes running over to say hello so Mom let me off the lead and we ran off to play. I had my ball with me and let Tia play with it, then when she dropped it I picked it up and ran away with it and she would chase me. It was really good fun.

Then we saw Sandy and Frank so ran over to play with them. Frank got the ball then we were all playing together and running around.

Then out of nowhere Holly came. I haven't seen Holly for about 4 weeks so it was really nice. Do you remember me telling you what Holly's favourite thing is? THE SEA! So Holly got my ball and ran off to have a paddle (she's a big dog) and I ran after her (I'm little) and we were splashing about in the sea having a real good time. Holly got her feet wet, I got me wet! The others didn't join us, just me and Holly. Mom called me back (I went after a while, she had to call me a few times, ha ha!) but Holly stayed for a bit longer. When she got back she hadn't got my ball, she'd dropped it in the sea - boo hoo, I've lost my ball. Never mind, it's one I found on the beach anyway ha ha!

We all had another run around in the sand, that would have made a really nice photo but Mom didn't have the camera with her. Then Frank went to the shops with his Dad, Tia, Sandy and Holly walked along the prom to go home and Mom and I crossed the road, walked across the car park to our house.

Now I'm not sure why but Mom says I'm a Dirty Gertie (I don't get that 'cos my name's Poppy) and says when I am dry she's gonna have a job getting all the sand and tangles out of my coat. What do you think:




My bed's all wet and covered in sand, Mom put a couple of towels on it but I kept chewing them so she took them off again. I'm really tired now so I'm having a snoozle before Auntie Angie comes for a cuppa and a natter with my Mom. I get cuddles off Auntie Angie. I hope she likes wet cuddles!

Mom says I smell like wet dog. I'm not sure what she thinks I ought to smell like. She said something about going to the groomers at the end of the week as well. I don't know, the things we dogs have to put up with.

See you soon. Licky licks and wet kisses.