Friday 29 April 2011

Royal Weddings and all that...

Hi all, well the day is finally here and it's the Royal Wedding today...it doesn't mean a thing to us except we're getting an extra long walk out of it! Our lady human is all excited and off to a party with a lot of other excited ladies to eat cream teas, drink bubbly whatever that is, and watch the wedding on the TV.

Our man human has no interest whatsoever which is fantastic news for us. He wants to get as far away as possible from all the fuss so we're off for a boys only walk along the river!
Our favourite spot along the river - lots to sniff out!
Weddings aren't really our thing although our human tells us we have a connection to a famous doggy wedding! Our favourite film 101 Dalmatians was filmed in England and our human's old dog Monty was a film extra at the wedding as a doggy guest in the film! How about that, he is only in it for the big wedding scene but our human was so proud of him. He had to sit and stay with about 50 other dogs for 30 minutes with camera men walking amongst them...not sure we could last that long.
The Happy Couple in the film.
Monty in his later years
 We never got to know Monty but we're told he was a character, full of mischief and would have a go at anything. His one weakness was food which we can well understand! He was in a dog display at one time and in a line of dogs, when he suddenly broke away and ran off to the front of the crowd to do a perfect sit in front of a man eating a beefburger! Monty we like your style and would have been great buddies. Anyway, we hope you all enjoy your day whether you're watching the Royal Wedding or off enjoying the peace and quiet like us. Any one off to a street party? Bye for now, D & L xxx

Wednesday 27 April 2011

Where we live.

Hi Everyone, Dexter here,  it's been so much fun reading about all our new friends, we have heard from dogs from all over the world, it's amazing! We thought we'd tell you and show you a little about where we live and would love to know where you all come from.
At the entrance to the park - hurry up!!!!
I was born in a town called Weston-super-Mare in Somerset, UK and Louis was born in a town called Shaftesbury, when we were old enough we came to live with our humans a few miles from Bath and Bristol. We are lucky to be close to the countryside so get plenty of good walks but occasionally get to go to Bath, where they have a fantastic park called Royal Victoria Park. 
The park is really old, my human said I must give a bit of boring history that it was opened in 1830 by Queen Victoria when she was 11 years old - did she have a dog though? That's a much more interesting piece of information! There is lots to explore in the park, you don't know where to look first, I spotted this little squirrel munching away but it shot up a tree so fast as soon as I tried to chase it!
Spot the Squirrel!
There are lots of places to walk around, the human always wants to walk along The Royal Crescent which is in the park, they use this for a lot of films, I keep suggesting that Louis and I would make a great couple of extras but she hasn't taken us along yet! I think we'd make a brilliant couple of lap dogs in a Jane Austen novel don't you? 
Never mind the buildings, look at all that grass to play on!
This is me walking through The Crescent, our human says she'll have an apartment here when they win the lottery whatever that is.
Enough of the buildings - I need to get back in there...now!!
There is one word of warning I should give other dogs about this park. Very often these huge things with people in fall out of the sky. It is our job to alert everyone to these so you really must bark as loud a you can when you see one to get everyone out of the way. This one landed just feet from us and I told them off in no uncertain terms, this is the 'thing':
This is the very noisy 'thing' to be avoided at all costs!
There are 57 acres to explore so it's a busy time for a miniature schnauzer, it's often quite busy but you can find quiet areas, on the other hand it's nice to meet people and other dogs sometimes, another plus is the amount of bread left around for the ducks, if you're quick enough you can get some before the human spots you - that's quite yummy, here we are heading off to do some more exploring:
Quick, quick...I think I spotted the Squirrel, this way...hurry!
I hope you enjoyed our little tour around Victoria Park, we'll show you some more places around us in weeks to come, I'll let Louis get a look in next time...maybe. Would love to know where you all live, or is that being nosey? Have a good day everyone, Dex & Louis x

Monday 25 April 2011

Which Dog Sport do you choose?

Hi all, thank you for all your lovely comments on the training photo's. The human has been adding a list of training sites onto our page and we thought we'd tell you a little about some of the things you could get involved in. There are so many choices for dogs these days and you can choose what suits your human best, some aren't built for running round an agility course but might enjoy something like Rally O.
Agility:
We're sure you've all seen this on TV, Dog agility involves the dog negotiating anything up to 20 obstacles against the clock, the fastest clear round is the winner. The quickest fastest dogs are often Collies although many other breeds do really well at this., and there are competitions for ABC (anything but collies) We know many Miniature Schnauzers who love agility and do really well in competition, our human did this in the past but said she's too slow these days!!! Here's our friend Darwin doing some practise in his garden:
Darwin looks so happy!
Cani-Cross
CaniX as it's written is quite new to the UK. It's basically running with your human, and you can be any shape, any size, any age, all abilities are catered for. We think this looks fantastic fun! You can enter CaniX races with no special equipment, just a collar and lead although most tend to wear special harnesses which make sure you don't lose your human and they have their arms free. This is a short video of a demonstration at Crufts, some of these look pretty serious,
 Obedience:
Dog Obedience has been a popular dog sport in this country for many years and most people will find an Obedience club somewhere near them. Often handlers will take the Good Citizen tests and enjoy the sport and decide to take it further because they and their dog enjoy it, small exemption shows often have Obedience competitions where people and dogs get a taste for it...working all the way up to Crufts and International Championships of course!
Rally O
This sport involves you and your human navigating a course with numbered signs, at each of these signs you do a different exercise such as, Sit, Down Sit, Straight, figure 8, Send over Jump, Recall over Jump, Left Turn. This is done in teams and is one continuous performance, your human is encouraged to talk to you in encouragement during the performance. We found this video of a Mini competing - wowser!!!
There are many more sports and hobbies you can try, Working Trials, Schutzhund, Showing of course and many more. There are links on the right to all the websites for these activities which are great fun to read. To finish we thought we'd show you a game our friends Darwin and Mia invented! It's hunt the treat in amongst all these pool balls!!! Don't know if they've given it a name but what fun!!
Darwin & Mia's new sport of Pool Balls!!!
 We've only shown you a few here but will look at more in weeks to come. Now, what sport do you enjoy and are there any you'd like to try?

Saturday 23 April 2011

Mad Dogs and an Englishwoman

Hi all,Louis here. Well it has been the hottest day of the year so far and what do we do? Go to the beach, go to the nice cool woods, crash out on the lawn...no...our human decides to go dog training and that meant I had to go too.Our training field is a nice big paddock behind the vets (yikes!) - it's surrounded by fields of horses either side, I'm not bothered but some of the other dogs don't like and tell them so! This is one of my best friends Brue, who I travel with every week, he's a Novia Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever, at least he says so but I've yet to see a duck! This is me with him, I know - I need a trim, well I've had it now, this was a while ago:
Louis and buddy Brue
 My human instructs the puppy class so I had to sit in a crate and watch the goings on., at least I was outdoors and had lots to drink. They had 2 new dogs in the class today, not really puppies but young Boxers who had just been rescued from a puppy farm, they'd had lots of puppies each and were just money making machines (so my human said). Everyone welcomed them, they'd had NO training whatsoever, never even been in a house before. They were called No.26 & No.27 - how awful is that? They are now Zena and Gracie and I'll get the human to post a photo next week. The class did basic stuff like heelwork and stays but then started some weave pole training afterwards, the owners were soooo excited and are all going to buy their own now.
Anyway, here's another training pal, called Buzzard. He's a German Shorthaired Pointer, we're looking a bit miserable here but then we are doing something the human calls a sit stay:
Louis & friend Buzz
 My turn to strutt my stuff in the training field and I did okay today, although I was just too hot to put a lot of effort in, just enough to make sure the treats and praise kept coming.  Plenty of water breaks made sure it wasn't too bad although I noticed the big Husky didn't come this week - far too hot for him I imagine! This is our down stay, hee hee the black lab next to me stuck his botty in the air and wouldn't lie down:
Li'l Louis second from the right!
 As you can see I'm the smallest there but I do have the biggest mouth so the human tells me!! Have a great Easter weekend all, I'm off to check on Dexter - lucky so and so got out of training and went on a lovely field walk. Bye for now Louis x

Friday 22 April 2011

Cute Friday Photo's

Hello all, and a huge thank you to all of our new follwers, it's so nice to meet you all and hope we get to know a lot more about you. We hope you're all enjoying a nice Good Friday - we're a bit put out that we can smell these lovely things called Hot Cross Buns but aren't getting any! The human has been busy making Easter cakes and not even one of those - I mean, it's not on is it! Cheek of it she offered us a piece of carrot a while ago- what's that all about? - we're not rabbits!!!!!!!! Anyway, as we've been sharing lovely photo's of all our cousins, and there are more to come, we thought we'd post a few of us, Dexter & Louis. We're going for the cute theme as it's Easter, bunny rabbits, lambs and all that. As long as we get the occasional aaaawwwww.....sweet, we'll be happy. Love Dex & Louis xxx
We like to sleep snuggled up
Puppy Dexter waiting for a lip smacking treat!
Louis first week and learning from Big Brother!
Louis and siblings, too cute to leave out!
How embarassing!!! Not a cool look for us!
The famous time we ate the bed and then hid inside - sorry Mum!
Hope you enjoyed, we loved our trip down memory lane, big licks, D & L xxx

Thursday 21 April 2011

Introducing Buster Bloodvessel...

Hello all, as promised we are pleased to introduce you to another of our special cousins Buster, he picked up the nickname Buster Bloodvessel when he was a bit of a naughty Pupster but he's a laid back chap now, here is his diary for you:

Buster here..... a first cousin of Louis, and 2nd cousin of Dexter, Darwin and Henry.  I've just come in from an afternoon reclining on the swing seat and decided to introduce myself properly, this is me relaxing!
Buster chilling!
Well it's OK for Dexter to have a fellow playmate with Louis and it's OK for Darwin to have a fellow playmate with Mia, Henry has Scruff & Whizz, but who am I lumbered with??? Two Ragdoll cats AND..................... a tortoise, I ask you!
So whilst the others play fancy games, go training together and go for walks in the woods, what do I do for fun?  I'm left to snatch a cabbage leaf from the mouth of the blooming tortoise (she's called Flo).  To be frank it's not too bad as she's only around for 6 months of the year and sometimes I do even get the odd taste of her melon.  I mean a chap can't leave leftovers in the garden for the blackbirds can he?  By the way, I'd soon see any birds off anyway, that's my job isn't it?
Flo Wardle

Buster's Lettuce Diet
So what about the others?  The Raggies?  Well, Barney (the one with the brown paws) is dopey and dozey and to be honest not too much of a problem.  Just occasionally he likes to get snuggly with me, and that's really not on - two males together - so I have to jump off the sofa when he does that.  The only time Barney caused problems was when he kept weeing in my bed when I had a crate as a puppy - no doubt some feline territorial scent mark - UGH!!  So, on the whole I'll give Barney the thumbs up, but the OTHER ONE - my goodness do I have to keep him in check.
Buster and his feline buddies

He's called Socks, because he has white socks on his front feet (not very original is it, you'd have thought they'd have come up with a more original name like mine eh?) and he's a mischief-maker.  His head is always twizzling round looking for the next escapade.  And worse - he has claws!  And boy once those claws are enmeshed in my beard, I have to fight to get free.  You can imagine what The Beard looks like afterwards....However, there are compensations as I do get to share their toys, including this wonderful cat cube (I think red suits me).
Hey, put those claws away!!!
I'm a Celebrity, Get me out of here!!!!
No doubt you'll hear from me again;  I really must tell you about my Powerful Puppyhood sometime!
Thank you Buster for that little look into your life, we look forward to hearing more of your escapades! Dex & Lou x

Wednesday 20 April 2011

Our Daily Walk Video

Hello all, we're pleased to read that you enjoyed Darwin's post yesterday, he and Mia will be back for more tales from Lincolnshire soon. We've had a very lazy day - we had to have an early walk as our humans went out shopping!! Cheek of it - still, when they came back we had dried ostrich chew as a treat, it's evidently extremely low fat which everything I eat has to be as I had pancreatitis a while back, more of that another day. It's been so hot here today, we're not complaining as we get to lay out on the grass for hours but it's a bit hot for this computer lark. We're going to be a bit lazy and post a video of our walk we do every day, it's a couple of years old but the walk doesn't change - apart from the pesky cows!! Hope you enjoy - tomorrow we have another guest blogger to introduce you to! Bye for now D & L x

Tuesday 19 April 2011

Booby trapped beds and locked doors!

Morning all, we heard from our friends Darwin and Mia from Lincolnshire yesterday and they had such a funny day we asked them to write all about it here. We are pleased to introduce our first ever Guest Blogger Darwin Pearce, here is his account of yesterday!

This is Darwin here with some news updates from the Lincolnshire cousins.  Last night I had a horrible experience while enjoying my evening snooze.  It has taken me years to find the perfect snoozing spot, I can keep one eye on the village goings on out of the window, I'm high enough to get away from the pesky little sister and it is very comfy - the back of the 'lemsip' chair as my Mum calls it.  I was happily dozy and decided the cushion needed a little more paw work to get it right when - wait for it - the chair ate me!!  I know, I thought my time had come but did my Mum rush to save me, no she made some very strange noises which made water come out of her eyes and THEN she got that little metal thing that clicks and flashes! (photos attached).  Then she released me, all the time I got no help from pesky little sister either.
On Mondays Dad gets up really early to go to a place called Cambridge to do something called Work, we usually go back to bed with Mum for an hour but not this morning.  Mr Toff Cat decided he needed to go outside and he won't use the hole in the door so Mum went to unlock the back door,  this started a strange reaction, she ran around the house shouting 'where are my keys?' I tried to keep up with her, she then sounded really cross and said words about my Dad, tried to speak to him on his mobile (whatever that is) and then said that's it we can't get out, the groomer can't get in (hang on a minute THE GROOMER) she then got her mobile and started pressing keys when we heard the door unlock, Dad got 10 minutes down the road and put his hand in his pocket - so all's well.   Apart from THE GROOMER - hang on that's his car outside got to go and hide. 
Finally I thought you might like this photo of Mia and I having our nap, Mia is the one upside down! Love Darwin x
Thanks Cousin Darwin! We hope you have a much less stressful day today! Dex and Louis x

Sunday 17 April 2011

Four Legged Friends

We've had a beautiful sunny day here and have been in and out of the garden all day. I've collected several empty snail shells to deposit around the house and Louis has been helping with the weeding by bringing in some greenery every time he comes in! For the past 10 minutes we've been chasing our human around the lawn who's using a thing called a mower, it leaves behind big clumps of grass that you can roll in, eat, toss up in the air - it's a wonderful game! We both have bright green legs now so have been sent indoors, Louis has just found a nice clean cream throw to rub his feet all over, he'd better hide quick!

Anyway we thought today we would introduce you to our Mini Schnauzer friends as you will no doubt hear tales of them over posts to come, we'll also ask them to write themselves. First here's Buster, who lives in Surrey. He's been a bit of a poorly chap these last few days so we hope he's getting spoiled - you're usually in for extra treats when you've been ill so hope this is the case buddy!

Buster   
 We'll leave stories of them until they write themselves, Buster has a few tales to tell! Next in line are Darwin & Mia, who come from Lincolnshire, Mia is a year old and is a black and silver Mini, the rest of us are all pepper and salt. Here they are looking cool posing in their garden this weekend:
Darwin & Mia

Again these two will have some tales to tell I am sure as they're both always out and about doing Training or Agility. Finally here are our friends from the West Country, near Weymouth. Henry and Scruff are lucky to live near the seaside, they also live with horses which we're not too sure about but maybe they'll tell us all about them one day. We've also included Whizz, who lives with Henry & Scruff and is an honorary Mini:
Henry & Scruff
Whizz 
 We're not sure how good Whizz is on that surfboard or whether he's just posing because there was a camera about. You never know with these Spaniels, they're a clever lot! 
Right well that's the cast all set for this blog, hope to bring tales of everyone over posts to come.

Friday 15 April 2011

Conjunctivitis and Drama Queens

Hi all, Dexter here, well, it's my brother Louis's turn to be in the wars. He had really sticky eyes a couple of days ago, I kept licking him to help but also kept getting told off in the process, just can't help some people! Anyway off he went to the vets - I was most put out at this having to stay home with Mum - I wanted to go too! I let her know in no uncertain terms by sulking the whole time they were gone and staring out of the window - that'll show them.

They should be back by now!!!
Louis came back with the most peculiar green eyes and nostrils, evidently the drops used to check the tear ducts are working are bright green and you can see what's working properly. Of course Drama Queen Louis made the most of it and lapped up all the fuss by the humans in green coats, they said he was such an angel and so gentle - huh, they should see him sometimes! Today his eyes are good enough for him to see a tiny piece of chicken which had fallen on the floor which we both dived for - not really sure who got the morsel I was too busy shaking my poor head after colliding with him. He has to have these drops for a week so he'll be milking it for all he's worth, it's also very catching to dogs and humans so they're continually on at me not to lick his face - I was only trying to help! That's it for now, we have to go, our Cousin Buster has also been to the vets so we'll find out what that's all about and report back soon. x

Wednesday 13 April 2011

Introduction

Hello Everyone,

Just to introduce ourselves, we are Dexter and Louis, 2 Miniature Schnauzers living in the West Country. Here we are rooting about in the woods this week just so you know what we look like:

This is the best part of our day when we get to explore - there are so many smells to investigate we don't know whre to start first! This land is part of the Woodland Trust 5 minutes from where we live - there are also some great fields but the farmer had dared to put a lot of cows in there this week so we're avoiding there at the moment - those cows can run pretty fast if they decide to chase you!
So, what else do we do? Well, we have a big job guarding our home of course and we take this very seriously. One of us is always on the look out for callers and then our job is to bark as loudly as we can - turning in circles at the same time is optional but most favoured by Dexter.
We go to something called 'dog training' where we get to meet loads of other dogs and do various things to keep our humans happy. Sometimes we just have to sit still for one minute in a line and we get loads of praise and a treat - simples!
That's Louis sat right in the middle
 We're the only two Mini's at training at the moment, although there are a couple of Pupsters attending puppy parties who may be joining us - it would be good to have someone to pass the knowledge on to! Well, we'll leave it there for this first post, having told you a bit about ourselves, we'll be back with more Schnauzer Days tales - xxx