Mum's Day Out - Update

Mum went to watch some horse trials today at Belton House which is near us.

We often go with her, but today she decided to go on her own - I guess she didn't want Dad to be left all alone on his birthday.
The trials are in 3 parts - the first one is a bit like an obedience test that I could take, except it has a fancy name - dressage.  The second stage is where the horses run around the park jumping great big fences like these...

I've never done anything like that, but I could manage the run around bit!  After that, they come back into a ring and do some more jumping...

 That looks a bit like agility to me!

Happy Birthday Dad

Another day and another birthday, this time it's Dad's turn. Mum is going out for the day but she has made him a cake before she goes.
One of the presents Dad got was an Angry Bird that Murphy and I really liked the look of.  But, Dad said 'No, he's mine!'.  I think Murphy was quite taken with him...

Happy Birthday Dad - how lucky are you spending the day with Murphy and Me!

Happy Birthday Fergus!

Today is a special day because it is Fergus' birthday.  Here he is enjoying a swim when we saw him a couple of weeks ago at Clumber.

I first met Fergus when I was tiny - in fact it was on my first trip out away from home when I was just 12 weeks old, and we have been bestest friends ever since.

He's very handsome and aren't I cute!

Happy Birthday Fergus, or Pen-blwydd Hapus as they say in our homeland.

Murphy and I hope you have a great day.

We should also wish a belated but very Happy Birthday to Uncle Dave - I hope you got some nice cake!

A different kind of breakfast

As it was another sunny morning, Mum decided to give Murphy and I a Kong in the garden.  They are a bit more hard work than just munching your breakfast from a bowl, but more fun to as you get to throw them around to get at the food.  We don't get them very often, so it was a nice surprise.

Tucking in!

Today we had some sausage and chicken squished in really tight with a little bit of AG in the middle.  On the top was a little bit of meat paste that we both really like.

Sunny day

It's a lovely sunny day here today, so Mum decided we would go out for a picnic lunch.  If the truth be told, Mum's a little obsessed with picnics and seems to regard anything vaguely resembling a sandwich and a drink as one, whatever the weather!  Anyway, today was lovely and sunny and warm ..

so after our walk, we sat very patiently while Mum sorted out her chair and book, before tucking into our favourite biscuit and some sausage as a treat.

I have a post script to the question I posed underneath the photograph of us at Clumber last week.  The question was: 'What's the word for a big group of Welshies?' 
Well, when Mum showed our pictures to her sister last week, she said the answer to the question was 'Chaos'!  Surely not, we were all very well behaved.

Going visiting

Today we are going to see Sandra's Mum. I think we might be staying for the night because our dinner bowls have been packed and tomorrow we're going to see my cousin Hannah and Mum's sister. We're off on a road trip! I hope we're back by Saturday when Dad gets home from America - have I been there? It sounds like it would be a long journey because Dad keeps phoning at funny times of the day.
Off now for a walk before we hit the road.

Welshie Walk

Today Murphy and I met up with lots of our  friends and went for our first group walk of the year.   We were really excited because the last time we tried to do this we had lots of snow and so had to cancel.  No such problems today.  To be sure we didn't lose anyone during our walk, we had a headcount before we started.  There were seven humans, but more importantly twelve (yes 12!) of us dogs and we all had an absolutely fabulous time. 

What's the word for a big group of Welshies?

After a big charge about to 'let off steam' as the humans put it ...

Dougal and Me

Dougal and Pickle

... a couple of us did some obedience training whilst the others went for a short walk.  After we had finished our bit of training and had a quick drink ...

... don't fall in Pickle! ...

Berwick and Linnet

 ... we all headed off together for a bigger walk which ended up with a swim in the lake!

We all really enjoyed ourselves and can't wait for the next time we all get together.  A very big thank you goes to Pickle's Mum for taking all these great photos.  To see some more on our website, follow the link at the side of this page to Our Welshie Website.

Saturday training

I had a lesson again today and made another new friend.  This time it was an 11 month old Cocker Spaniel called Sweep who joined Percy, Holly, Milly and me for our lesson.  Sweep looks just like Percy but has a white nose and she is sooo fast, we could hardly spot her in the long grass when she was hunting. 

We started off with some basic heel work and a little bit of off-lead hunting in the enclosed field, then we moved into the big open field.  This got quite exciting for a while because we saw two hares (Holly tried to chase one but her Mum caught her up and dragged her back to us) and loads of rabbits.  I was very well behaved, Mum said so, and did lots of heel and steadiness work off my lead and finished with some hunting too. 

Charlotte was pleased with me today, but now Mum says we have loads of 'homework' to do before we see her again in a few weeks.  We have to work on my off-lead stuff everyday, which sounds fine to me as it means we'll have loads of walks in the fields and at Clumber rather than just going along the road.

Weekend away

We're back from a great weekend away - the first of the year - in our caravan.  Saturday was extra special too because we went to a training day at our friend Milly's house and met up with lot of new and old friends who all belong to the WSSC. 

In case you can't spot me, I'm at the back in this shot

After the humans had all had a cup of tea (!) we started the day with some basic obedience both on and off the lead and then moved onto some recalls and sits, all of which calms us down and gets us focused .. apparently. 

This me (looking completely the wrong way so really focused from the start), Penny and Paul in the middle and Stella and Ian doing their heel work with Sue our trainer for the day.

After that we did some hunting across the field and Mum kept my long line on because it was very open and I think she was worried I might charge off exploring.  A bit later, we went into an enclosed field and I did a brilliant retrieve (everyone including me was quite shocked by how good I was) and then did some more hunting.  By my second go I had lost my long line AND my collar and looked just like a real gundog!

Next was lunch and a bit of a rest before we headed off again, but this time not for more training but to have some fun playing chase across the fields.  Milly is really lucky because she lives on a farm so has loads of space to charge about.
Of course Murphy was with us although he didn't do any training- some would say he doesn't need too while others might say he doesn't want too - whatever the reason he had a nice day and posed nicely for Dad to take some photos of him.

By the time we got back to the caravan at the end of the day I was shattered.  In case you didn't know, this is what a very tired puppy looks like...

We're going away!

I was right, we are going away this weekend. Mum has been busy putting clothes and lots of food into the caravan.  We've had a nice walk and now it's almost time for lunch before we head off.
Both Murphy and I have had an extra grooming session with Mum as well  this morning and she said I was very good letting her use Murphy's clippers on my legs.  I think she wants me to look extra smart because I am going to see my Grandma Anne tomorrow - she is Mum to my doggy Mum Sparrow and my sister Plover.  Dad is taking his camera with him so hopefully he will get some photos of our weekend that I can post when I get back. 

St David's Day

Today is a special day for all Welsh dogs (and humans) as it is St David's Day, and he looks after us all.  Not sure how that works really, but Mum said I had to have my photo taken with some daffodils to celebrate.

These tiny daffodils in our garden don't seem to be fully awake yet.  Not a bad one of me though!

Happy St David's Day to all you Welshies out there.