A walk with 51 dogs!

After last week's disaster with Lily in the pond, it was nice to go for a successful walk.
We met up with Southern Lurcher Link who had organised a walk in Trent Park.
51 dogs and their owners attended.


Lily was really confident and enjoyed her walk and even did a little run. She was wary, but not psychotically terrified like she might have been in the past.



Dizzy was his normal confident self, hassling people for cuddles and singing at them if they didn't give him a cuddle. We let him off the lead, thinking he might stay with the group. He did for about 5 minutes, and did a little dance to try and shake his muzzle off.

Shortly after that, he just ran away, not interested in the group or us calling him and Steve went off and found his head in a pram hassling a baby. It was all terrifying for the father holding the pram, as Dizzy looks like a monster with a muzzle on. He was not amused. We put Dizzy back on the lead, decided the experiment was a disaster so we will have to keep him on the lead next time. A shame, if only he realised how his behaviour was restricting his freedom.

Valentine's Day

As is traditional, the pups gave Daddy a Valentine's Card especially from them, and had a few word to add in a little ditty to try and compete for Daddy's love.

Here is what they said

Lily: "I know Daddy Loves me more
You see we have a special bond
He saved me from an icy pond!"

Dizzy: "Yeah but I know Daddy loves me too
Cos it makes his heart swell when I roo"

Lily: "But Daddy smacks my baldy tum
And I love him loads more than Mum"

Dizzy: "No, Daddy smacks my rib cage too
We have more sofa cuddles than you"

Both Lily & Dizzy: "We don't care who Daddy loves more
'Cos we both love 'im back times four!!"

PS: "Sorry we can't use scissors
And we didn't have any glue
But it really doesn't mean
That we don't love you!"

(this is re the 'homemade' qualities of this particular card, as I didn't have the right materials....next year I will leave it to Zazzle and get some professional ones done!

Poor Lily! & Poor Stevie
This post is on my other blog too and I don't normally cross post, but thought this might be a warning to any other dog walkers in this icy weather we are having in the UK at the moment.

You have probably heard some awful stories this week about people falling into freezing water, mainly ponds and some poor families who have lost both children and pets to hypothermia. We have a sad tale of our own, but luckily with a happy ending.

Yesterday we were walking around a local fishing lake/pond and giving it a wide berth as it is deep in places and although the ice looks thick, there was a thaw going on at the edges. There was also a fair amount of debris around the edges and a dog might not know what is land and what is water. However, that was not our problem. Around one of the edges the path goes over some banks with a small bridge. The banks are not terribly steep however Lily went too near the edge and lost her footing and slipped into the pond with an almight splash and then floundered around trying to stand on the debris or walk on water (she has never been swimming before).

She was in difficulty as the wool lined coat she was wearing was absorbing a lot of water and she wasn't going anywhere near a bank to be able to get out. We were worried she was going to get hypothermia however without any discussion within seconds Steve had gone to help her and just dived into the water regardless for his own safety. What a hero, he did get water right up to his neck and swam Lily to the bank and hoisted her out.

Then there was soggy walk to the car followed by blasts from the heaters and we were home within a short drive. Steve was fine, Lily got away with a few bruises and scratches. Dizzy was a complete anti-hero, he saw the two of them splashing in the freezing water and though, I'm not having any of that and started to sprint backwards pulling me on his lead. He loves a bit of self preservation and wanted to be as far away from cold water as possible!



Here is little Lillipegs snoozing in her blankets, without a care in the World. She would expect nothing less from her Royal subjects and she already assumed her Daddy was a hero.

Behaviour

Spring is in the air. I can tell because we have some naughty behaviour developing and this May the hounds will have been with us for 2 yrs, so their paws are well and truly under the table.

This morning, before Breakfast I found my copy of Wind in the Willows that I have had since a child (and that was long ago!) shredded to bits on one bed, and a notepad shredded on the other.
Not knowing which hound did it though means discipline is difficult, and once the event has been done, too late for any telling off! Yesterday they had a leather diary (this year's!)

I tried a 'Who did this?' low voice and Dizzy looked guilty but Lily just flew around the room at top speed spinningn and barking and snapping at the air like a maniac. This means "I am happy, and in the mood for a game, and I am going to be very naughty and see if I get away with it"

I got them together by breakfast, and the atmosphere was calm. Eerily quiet it was even for an after breakfast mood so I had a look to see what was going on, and there was Dizzy on the sofa in the best sun patch in the house. He knows he is only allowed up on 'Daddy's' sofa if he is being very good and he has to be invited. We don't have hounds on furniture without the pack leader's invitation, if they go up there by choice we found it leads to them snapping or getting a bit above themselves if we want to sit down too. So, invitation only and he had NOT been invited.

I asked him off, which he did, then turned my back and he was up. This happened three times.
We decided the dogs are being spoilt with extra sofa and food, and instead of making them happy and loyal it is making them naughty and challenging.

You should see Lily on a Saturday night she barks at the door and the window and us, before we have ordered our Chinese or Indian takeaway...she decides when it should be here and is most disgruntled if we have not picked up the phone. Once ordered, and she knows whenn we have (more to do with the leaflet we are holding which must smell of food) she parks herself at the front door and gets positively over confident and pushy once those takeaway bags get deposited on the table. Then she whines the whole evening for a prawn cracker and pretends she needs a wee, just to see if she gets rewarded by a cracker. We have to tie up the leftovers and treble wrap them and put in the bin outside, but the smell wafting through the window often triggers a hound to do rising and falling siren type whines.

So, we have to stop all these little extras for a while, feed them just twice a day and not give them leftovers and too many treats and be a bit strict about beds and furniture. Shame, cos we do love it when they are happy but there seems to be a limit and going over that means a dog doesn't know where she stands.

New Cards on Sale

I have one card for each of my two beautiful greyhounds, one is called Is My Nose ABig and the other is called Camouflage Boy. All card profits/royalties are going to Essex Greyhound Rescue, I will be making more cards as I go along but it is very distracting!

your donation goes to the hounds for food and vets bills.

Thank you to those who have donated by buying knitting patterns for snoods for their dogs. Dizzy Lily A Snood For a Hound has sold 55 times, and I have just written another cheque to Essex Greyhound Rescue for £57.

I have given out free patterns to around 200 rescued dogs so far (possibly more)
It all helps to raise awareness and we have cute photos of hounds in their snoods in the Hound Snood Gallery

Here are a few favourites. As you can see, some Italian greyhounds (minuature) and a Daschund have crept into the gallery.



I love this one above, who is little Froggy in his Italian greyhound adaptation (they are tiny)
If you have knitted an item for your hound, including the snood do send your picture to me
erssiemajor@yahoo.co.uk
The galleries not only provide amusement but they help raise awareness for adopted dogs.
What else could show how soft and adaptable these lovely dogs are when adopted than them modelling a piece of clothing? What other dog would put up with it?

Yipee, we got the all clear!

Lily has had surgery, 4 lumps were removed and all diagnosed as cysts or benign skin/blood tumours called Hamartomas which rarely cause problems like cancers. Her vulva biopsy though showed a chronic thickening and inflammation within the folds so we have to wash and dry her and put nappy rash cream on. Talk about a child substitute!

We are so relieved, and she was so brave despite being bruised, scarred, stitched and poorly. We are proud of her. She seems to be getting over her 'man phobia' as well and is following any man that has a biccie in his hand!

Lily Update

We picked her up Wed eve. Poor Lils has been in the wars, lots of bald patches and stitches as well as having had internal biopsies and scans. Now we have to wait until biopsies are back to find out whether the skin tumours are sarcoma, or benign. Her behaviour though was impeccable, she was confident and allowed other people to handle her and the vet introduced her to his daughter who now wants a greyhound of her own. She was s excited to be home and have all her home comforts and it reminded us of how good life is for her here even if she does sometimes act a bit princessy!

The other strange thing is that the vet started to explain that her urine test showed an inability to be able to concentrate the urine.....and I had deja vu.
I had been told the exact same thing, and in fact after some hideous tests I was diagnosed with Cranial Diabetes Inspidus which is a very rare problem with kidneys not concentrating urine and losing water, and being thirsty as well as peeing ALL the time and even incontinent (sorry to go into the pants region here).

Now DI, is so very rare, so what is the chances of Lily and I having the exact same thing? It is not a transferable condition.

This means that as well as me having to get up to pee throughout the night and getting thirsty and drinking, Lily is doing the same thing. She needs to pee about twice once at around 2-3am and another around 4am and then again at around 5.30 am. So I trudge down the stairs, totally shattered and let Lily out go myself have a couple of hours kip and then up to do it again....It is so tiring I am starting to feel ill....wait a minute, I am feeling ill already! I do hope that we can sort Lily out and perhaps give her some replacement hormone further down the line.

And I really hope that Lils doesn't have a nasty skin problem. She is so cute lying there with her A K Creations custom made pyjamas; red with little sheep on.