OneGuyFromBarlick

Charlie and Lucy are Border Terriers. Not an old breed, first mentioned in Gypsy lore early 1800s. The breed has developed out of several terrier types, namely the Dandie Dinmont,the lakeland, and the bedlington. Their history lies in the lands of southern Scotland, and northern England, hence the Border title. The breed was developed to follow the hunt, and to go to earth if the fox went to ground. The breed has survived well due to die hard terrier men, but over the last twenty years has become popular as a pet, This is not often good for dogs as with popularity comes profit and the puppy farmers. In the eight years since we found Charlie there are now 17 others in our vicinity. Both our dogs come from working stock, and are very keen on rabbiting, and it is impossible to take Charlie any where without he finds foxes. At home they are very lovable, and loyal, but they really excel when in the countryside, their joy of open spaces and water is totally infectious, and we have made many friends through them. They have also won a small number of Rosettes at country shows in chase the rabbit races, where they compete against whippets and greyhounds.

Charlie and Lucy enjoy their time on the couch.

News this morning that Nottinghamshire police are giving retired police dogs a pension of £1500 a year to ensure that they are well cared for when their useful life is over. Well done! I'm all in favour of it but no doubt someone somewhere will be complaining about it.

Hopefully tonight is the last for the fireworks.

Merlin has been giving his basket under the stairs some heavy usage of late

I posted a picture of JJ (Jumping Jack) snuggled under the quilt on Mystery Objects.

Here she is moments after I'd taken that shot, wondering what I was doing taking pictures...



As soon as I'd taken this one, she about turned and got back under the covers - with her back turned towards me.

Although nervous about the fireworks, she's been very interested in watching them; at times working her way round the blinds to get a better view.

If a cat turns it's back to you (in my experience) it means that it is not happy.

Since I lit the stove Jack has been sleeping on the sofa in the front room but he comes up to have a bit of companionship shortly before I get up. Good as an alarm clock!

A fireguard is required before we light the woodburner in the living room, Sam-u-el the Span-u-el (must shorten this to Sam) has lost his sight since last year and although he will feel the heat off the fire, I don't want him wandering into the area and burning his nose. My concerns grew when he walked under the table (instead of to the right of it) and into the stove (instead of the kitchen). Generally he manages so long as we don't move furniture.

On the up-side he no longer barks at other dogs when we are out; I might not want to think about the psychology behind that but it does mean people now see him as the calm confident dog he is as opposed to the loud barking thing on the end of a lead with the little woman struggling on the other end.

Honey, the other partner in crime, is fast becoming a jealous, attention seeking rival rather than companion. She only seeks the attention he is having from the person dealing out the fusses, I put that down to her lack of a stable home in her first year.

Quiet night with no fire works, I have never owned a dog that disliked them so was surprised to note that Lucy was frozen to the spot on the 5th, in the three previous years there have been no signs that I have noticed. She was lying on the couch looking oblivious till I touched her and found she was trembling, my attempts to distract her were ignored, as was a dog biscuit, At bedtime I had to carry her upstairs, a very terrified little dog.

Our little dog used to go nuts at fireworks and thunder. She's now 15 and deaf and finally ignores it all!!

Jack seems to be better with fireworks than he was but is still disturbed. Funny how dogs vary, Big Jack the Lurcher loved them, he'd sit watching them for as long as you let him. Muck the Jack Russell was the worst dog I've ever seen, complete melt down into abject terror.

Just two fireworks last night, Lucy took to her daybed under the stairs. By supper time she was feeling better and came out for cheese and crackers. What will the weekend bring?

This is the moment an Airbomb explodes, following its awful screech. It even looks scary.

Jack's been OK with fireworks up to tonight, disturbed but not frightened. Last night's fireworks were local and so I had to get up and give him TLC. He's OK now.....

We had a few firework noises last night, my cat was curled up beside me, heard them and stared at the window. I just told her that it was all happening outside and that they were noisy buggers and we were fine. She went straight back to sleep. I think tone of voice has a lot to do with what you say.
What my cat hates and unsettles her is the 2 rubbish trucks on pick-up day, and the vacuum cleaner. She normally takes herself to the back of our home and stays there for a while.

Fire works only lasted for forty minutes last night, a bit of attention and half a bag of crisps seemed to settle Lucy, Charlie slept through it as usual.

Charlie doesn't care what colour the bone is, Having fun is the name of the game.

A happy grand daughter with her happy cat.

Lucy as a pup accompanies her big brother on a mission. Lucy looks back at my whistle but Charlie turns a deaf ear.

Bengalese Finches, also known as friendly finches. These are a man made breed and don't exist in the wild, I miss my moments with the aviary birds, but the huge number of anti social neighbours with free roaming cats made the safe keeping of these birds impossible.