Yesterday was a very traumatic day for a small white dog. First of all Mum took me to the vets for my booster, which wasn’t exactly painful but the examination was very undignified for a stately dog. Then, as if that wasn’t bad enough, I was dropped at the poodle parlour for all my lovely fur to be chopped off! It took absolutely ages and I lost enough fur to stuff a small cushion. However, I have to admit that it is quite nice to able to see out again and everyone at Eyam Hall keeps picking me up and telling me how cute I look, which is fine by me.
Today is the first birthday of Granny and Grandpa’s dog, Jack. He is having a small tea party tomorrow to celebrate. It will be very small as I think I am the only dog guest, as Freckles, the Springer Spaniel, has a new home. He is actually being trained for a very important job as he is going to be a forensic fire dog. Apparently his skills in detecting smells and "dogged" determination to locate things are the very skills needed for the job. He tells me that he will have to wear little bootees when he is on duty to protect his paws. I’m really jealous! He is going to come back and tell us all about his training soon.
Granny says she thinks Jack has stopped growing at last and about time too. He’s about the size of a small Shetland pony. Granny takes him to dog training classes as he is so big she is worried he will frighten people unless he is ultra-obedient! He is very good at coming when he is called and sitting when told to – all very unnecessary I think. When anyone calls me I just pretend to be deaf and go in the opposite direction. Lulu and I still have the upper hand where Jack is concerned; we only have to growl at him and we can have him cowering in a corner in no time!
Our Easter egg treasure hunt went quite well – despite the snow! I strolled out to greet a few visitors from time to time but it was too cold to stay around for long. Granny and Grandpa weren’t so lucky as they were manning the garden, so they put a heater in the garden shed and huddled over that when they weren’t collecting tickets. We now have a new bunny trail in the house, so come and visit us on either of the Bank Holiday weekends in May and check it out. If gardens are more your thing then the NGS garden days are on the 4th of May and the 1st of June. We hope to see you in May.
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