... and the Winner is ...

OK .....Here we go........
Bring out the tootyparpy-shinybones.......
DRRRRRRRR.........on the bangbangbowl

Are you ready?.........

The winner of the wonderful portrait is.......
Entry number 273 - Sue Toller

The winner of the framed photo of choice is........
Entry number 305 - Jill Powell

The winner of the cuddly doggy toy is........
Entry number 62 - Geoff Heslop

Congratulations to Sue, Jill and Geoff. Waggy-woofy-licks from me!

Fantastic total raised of £444. Thank you to everyone who made donations. Every penny goes to my fundraising total to sponsor a third puppy to be trained to be a lifechanging Guide Dog like me.

Super huge thanks to the lovely Sarah Le Vallois Pencil Art​ for the donation of the absolutely fabulous portrait for this draw. It really is stunning. We are hoping to follow Sarah's suggestion of getting a few small prints of the portrait made, so if anyone is miffed at not winning the original then do let us know.

Sue, Jill and Geoff - please message me with your address and we will get your prizes in the post in the next couple of days. Jill - we also need your choice of photo from my timeline so please include that in your message.

Once again - huge thanks to all who donated and congratulations to the winners.

Am I Tired or What????

Lots of very needed zzzzzzs today! I was pooped! Took Mum workywalkies into town this morning and led her back via the pawmenade. That was weird! The air was super fuzzy - we could hear the big sploshes down the beach but couldn't see them at all. The beach disappeared into the fuzziness. I did my duty and guided Mum and, when we climbed the zigzag to the CliffTop park, she took off my harness and lead so I could enjoy a freerun, but I didn't really have the oomf to run anywhere. I just enjoyed a gentle mooch and sniff. That was nice.

I was glad to get back though and to snuggle down to snooze away the rest of the day.

Tomorrow is the last day to enter the draw for my portrait.......

... And We're Back!

Phewwyyyy! We are back in Bournemouth. WHAT a weekend! NONSTOP YACKETY-YACKETY-YACK-YACK-BLIMMIN-YACK! What IS it all about? There were a couple of doggy pals there too - Bess the old-ladydog and Shadow the GSD. We just had a good sniff and mutual nose-lick each time we met up then just settled down to snooze through allllllllll the jabberjaw! Last night, I thought Mum would NEVER stop! Most of the rest of the humans (including Dad) had gone off to their various rooms to bed but Mum and a couple of other ladyhumans stayed in the lounge and the yipping just went on and on and on. Apparently, when they finally surrendered and I got to drag Mum along the corridor so we could go to bed, the tickydisk was saying numbers 1.45 - that's like never-never-time! Neither of us did very well at getting up this morning. Actually, I got to stay in bed for an extra snooze while Dad took Mum to the yacketyroom and then to the yummyery room for breakfast. I had already had mine and then got back into bed!

I enjoyed a bit of a romp around the very soggy meadow at that nice house before we left. It was very sploshy all the way around it. The sky never stopped leaking all day. This included the journey back in the car. I really don't like it when it is all soggy outside the car and we are on the whizzyroads. The loud sloshing noise makes me go all shaky and pantypuffy and panicky. I tried ever so hard to climb over onto the back seat to get onto Mum's lap but my lead was hooked onto something in the very back (by the carbumdoor) and it just wouldn't let me. I was not a happy boy.

We are safely back now though and I've destressed by taking Dad for a leisure walkies. Mum said she didn't want to ask me to work on harness for her when I was so hyped up and stressed. She loves me! A nice big new bone has helped too.

Now if you will excuse me, I have some serious zzzzzs to catch up on and the sofa seems to be vacant......

Just a quick reminder though - there is now just a couple of days to make donations on my Just Giving page to enter into the draw for the beautifully drawn portrait of me (generously donated by Sarah Le Vallois Pencil Art​). The First name drawn at random after 8pm on Tuesday will win the portrait. The second will win the smaller frame to which will be added a print of your choice from any photo on my FB page and the third will win the cuddly doggy toy. One entry for every £ donated at www.justgiving.com/guidedogoakley3

Holibobs!

Friday.

Long car ride. Lots of humanfriends that we haven't seen for ages. A couple of doggy pals too! 
We are staying in a place Mum says is called Shallowford House in Staffordshire. We've been here before a long time ago. I remember it all though. It has a meadow for playtime with ponds in it. They are all crunchy today! When we are inside, even though there is lots of human yacketying going on, I seem to be allowed to relax and snooze without being on harness or even on lead. I like it! It is really nice having other doggypals to relax with too.

Huff, Huff and Huff again!

I NEED MUD! This is serious! I have been poofed! I need green, stinky, slimy mud - or at least equivalently appropriate to any self-respecting dog.

Mum and Dad seemed super chuffed with themselves for what they have put me through. They say I am gleaming and I smell simply gorgeous. They even said the car smelled lovely inside after I got in! Hooooowwwwlllllll!

They took me to the nice (or so I thought) ladyhuman. I went in all waggy and happy. They left me! Abandoned me! Then she got me all frothed and sprayed and frothed again. After the frothy soggy assault, whe attacked me with a hufferfuffer! Well, how utterly uncool is that! I'm a big butch boydog - not a fluffy girlie pooch! Once all hufferfuffed, I then got the onslaught of the grooming weapons. She did get me in all the 'ooooooh' bits! She did give me a few yummies! I suppose she was OK afterall....maybe......sort of......I may be able to forgive her....I suppose......

Back at the flat - all went daft again this evening when the indoor rain started again. I kept out of the way again while Dad did all sorts of whizzing about up and down the stairs, and Mum went into overdrive with that squidgy floor-stroking-stick again. All seems to have calmed down again now thankfully.

Now there seems to be loads of bag-packing going on...... I guess tomorrow will explain.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some thinking to do ......how soon and where can I get myself properly de-poofed?

Leaky Sky - Indoors!

Pup did good methinks! Big workywalkies this morning - aaaaallll the way into town, via the Upper Gardens, then around the shops - 'Find Boots', 'Find Tescos' and 'Find Smiths' - in Smiths, it was 'Find upsteps and, after oodles of that 'browsing' thing (I just sat down and waited!), it was 'Find downsteps' and 'Find the door' - then back through Lower Gardens, along the pawmenade and up Middle Chine (a brief chance to freerun!). I had to work quite hard for Mum as it was quite crowded in town and along the pawmenade.

When we got back to Granny's flat, Dad had a mug of that hot black water ready for Mum. She was very glad of that after that 4 mile hike. Mum told me I had been a good boy so I did a good 'sit' right by the big white light-up cupboard. Mum got the hint - well, I appreciate replenishment after working too! She gave me the BIGGEST carrot she could find in there! Yummmmmmm....She tried to persuade me to hold it so she could point her talkybone at me to make it click, but I just couldn't manage that kind of level of patience! That was too good a carrot to not munch!

I then kept out of the way and enjoyed a good snooze while Mum was busy doing loads more of that sorty-outy stuff. More black bags have been filled and taken away.

This evening things went a bit weird; It started leaky-skying - but INSIDE! Lots of big drips were pouring through the ceiling in the lobby. Dad did some rushing around upstairs and then downstairs, while Mum was doing loads and loads of stroking the floor with a stick-with-a-blob-of-blue-tails on the end. She stroked it about in the puddle and then squished it in a giant bowl-with-a-holey-bowl on top. This went on for ages and I had to wait to go out to do my doggy download. I was ready to burst by the time I got out with Daddy. Phew! No extra puddles! I took Daddy out while Mummy went upstairs to do a whole load more floor stroking. Humans are so peculiar!

Photo of me with half of the giant carrot left.

Does my Bum Look Big in This?

We went home - to our floatyboatyhome! Very briefly - and I wasn't allowed aboard! Hufffff! Mum says it was all a bit of a building site inside and there was a load of polly's tyre een balls everywhere that would do me no good if I hoovered them. As if I would dream of doing such a thing......! So, I had to sit on white crunchy ground outside, while Mum and Dad went aboard briefly to yackety with Richard the boat-fixit manhuman. The next bit was great though: I simply had to take Mum along the towpath (well it would have been simply utterly wrong not to wouldn't it? As we were back in our canal environment!). This towpath just 'happens' to lead to the wonderful freerun meadow! Heehee! The sky seemed to be on fire so Mum pointed her talkybone at it and got a picture with my bum in it too!

All this came after a workywalkies into Bournemouth town this morning. I took Mum to Boots first, then to a pawcovers shop, then to Specsavers. I got to make some new humanfriends in all of them! Shopping is not a bad occupation really, it usually comes with ear tickles! In Specsavers, I had to guide Mum upstairs and into a little room with a nice ladyhuman. I had to lie down (Not a bad snoozy carpet!) while Mum sat in a big chair. She had some very odd eyewindowframes on her face and the ladyhuman put little round windows in and out of one side. (the other side stayed with a black one in it - that is Mum's useless eye). Next, we had to go back downstairs again, where Mum tried on lots of different eye windows. She chose (with Dad's help as he had joined us by this point) one pair and, it seems, the ladyhuman is going to sort them out so that they help Mum to see a bit better.

Next stop was a human yummyery before setting out on the drive to our floatyboatyhome. Now we are back at Granny's once again - the drive back was rather slow and it meant that I was wilting away by the time we arrived; my dinner was nearly two hours late! I don't know how I survived! I'm sure I must be wasting away now. I'm sure I should have had at least double rations to make up for the delay.......

Photo of the sunset across Aldermaston Meadow shows a glowing orange sky with a line of trees silhouetted on the horizon and a frosty field in the foreground. In the middle is me!

Win a Picture of Meeee!

Mum says that the entries for the draw for my portrait, donated by the very talented artist Sarah Le Vallois Pencil Art​, is going really well. The draw will take place after 8pm on Tuesday 31 January 2017, when three entries will be drawn at random. The first will win the portrait, the second will win a framed print of a photo of their choice from my FB page, and the third will win the cuddly doggy toy - all shown in this photo.

If you haven't yet entered and would like to then please just pop along to my JustGiving page - www.justgiving.com/guidedogoakley3 make a donation, add the word 'portrait' into the comments box, and you will have one entry for every £ given. ALL monies will go to the sponsoring of a puppy to be trained to be a lifechanger like me.

Boneless Butcher!

Back to work with a vengeance this morning! I've had to work my paws off for Mum. The air has gone all fuzzy so it seems like her eye windows are all huffed up, and everything sounds weird too. This is very disorientating for Mum, so I've done my job good and proper taking her into Westbourne.

We went into a really stinky shop where two ladies were having their pawpointerclaws stroked with stinky coloured stuff. It seems they don't do what Mum wants so we left. I then had to 'find the butcher'. Well! I like the idea of that one - it smells much nicer! I had no problem at all in finding the red and white striped shop, with red and white striped manhumans inside.

Mum bought something very very yummy smelling but she was really mean - she wouldn't let me carry it for her! Hufffff! Even bigger HUFFFFFFFFFF is the lack of bones! He said he didn't have ANY bones at all! Hoooooowwwwwllllll!

Not a Bad Day, I Suppose...

Happy soggy sandy Oakley! Again!

Not as good as yesterday - I missed my buddy GuideDogPuppy Raymond, but another trip to a beach is always welcome anyway.

It seems that these flying clouds of featherballs are something rather special for humans. 'Starling Murmurations' they call them. Blimmin frustrating interruption in a good freerun is what I call them! There were gazillions of humans all standing up on the grassytuftyhumps on the beach, all waiting and watching for this cloud of flappers. There were also gazillions of bored, frustrated doggypals - all stymied by humans on the other end of leads. We did all get to have a good romp around on the beach beforehand though. I suppose that is some compensation.

One particuarly good fun buddy was Jasper the Collie x GSD. He is only 8 months old and we had a fab game of chase with good measures of boxing, rolling, chewing and - well - you know - boydog games!

Dad says he will be posting photos of the happenings in the sky on our floatyboaty blog NB Sola Gratia​ (click on the name link to take a look).

Here is a couple of photos of me and Jasper having fun.

The Bestest Day. Ever.

WayyhaayyyyWoohoooooYippeeeeeee! What a fantabulous fandabbydoozee splendiferous day! I must be really old now.....AAAALLL my birthdays came together today!

We set out in the car and my excited-squeak got steadily louder as we turned into the road leading to my favouritest place - Hengistbury Head. As soon as we had parked and Mum opened the carbumdoor, she said "Go on then....off you go" and I wasted not a millisecond! Straight up the steep bank and into the big openspace grassy area. That in itself was just fantastic! I looooooove that place! But, after just a few moments, and once Mum and Dad had managed to get up and over the steep bank to join me, I heard my name being called. Then I saw a familiar buddy racing towards me......Then......oh boy! I just didn't know which way to run first......My PuppyMummy, Sue and PuppyDaddy Mike were there, and the buddy was Guide Dog Puppy Raymond! My tail thumped my shoulders! Wooooohoooooo!

I did manage to stop for just long enough to greet PuppyMummy and PuppyDaddy but Raymond and I wasted no time in racing off to do doggyfunstuff. We had a fab time whizzing and racing and chasing and chewing and leaping and - well..... all the stuff that any self-respecting doggybuddies do in a huge open space. We then had to endure the torture of trying to behave under the table while the humans did a load of noshing and yacketying in the cafe. We tried our best but it was really hard to stay still and good. Finally though they finished and we were off to play again!

We went all the way up and over the big hill, down the other side, and back along the road track. We had a fantastic time of it. I don't think I have done so much running for a very long time. Of course the humans did loads and loads and loads of yachetying - but we didn't care! I showed Raymond all the muddy bits and all the weemail hubs. We found some huge puddles - but they didn't splosh - they crunched! I guided him into the green stinky puddles too - a couple of them kind of crunched but were still nice and wet and drinkable in the middle.

At the end, when it was time to say goodbyes, MummySue gave me a new toy. It is a kind of squidgy bright orange thing with three legs that have a sort of ball-shaped bit on the end. It is great! I have tested it out by chucking it around the lounge this evening! Thank you PuppyMummy Sue​. I love it! Mum and Dad dragged me away to go to our car and Raymond broke free from them and came racing after me. Mum was mean though - she got hold of his lead and handed him back to PuppyMummy! We had to go our seperate ways! :(

It was THE BESTEST DAY EVER though!

Now, I have to admit to feeling a tad sleepy and I think I need to dream it all over again ..... so.....Mum's lap.....legpillow.......yeah.....that'll do nicely......zzzzzzz.....Raymond.....buddy.....wait for me.....come back......the best mud is this way........

7 photos; 5 of me playing with Puppy Raymond - he is the bigger skinnier one! 1 of me playing iwth my new toy and 1 of me snuggled on Mum's lap.

Hissing Furball Nosh.

I think I was conned! I took Mum for a lovely long workywalkies - just for the pleasure of it - or so I thought..... actually, it seems it was to 'tire me out' (no chance!). Dad picked us up in the car and we went for a bit of a drive. We arrived at the biggest hugenormous gigantichumungdus shop ever. Mum says it was called Asbo or something similar in a town called Eastleigh. We went inside and, to my waggyest delight met my buddy Guide Dog Thomas! (oh... and his humandad Pete), and a few other Guide Dogs blue people. Fantastic! I thought..... actually, it seems that Thomas was just leaving and we were going in! Huff!

We went upstairs and first stop was the human yummyery where Mum and Dad had lunch. I had to content myself with the one single tiny green ball that Mum dropped on the floor!

Next was a quick workywalkies around the yummies-and-yuckies section of the big shop. I managed successfully to steer Mum to the yummies bit and she did do the right thing by getting carrots. I failed though to steer her away from the yuckies - she insisted on getting celery and some other green, red and white things that I don't like. It was a good challenge though, to work around a new place. I found the checkout and then the exit no problem. We went back out to the car, Dad loaded the shopping into it, and then we went back inside the shop again. How odd! I thought.

This time, we were met by a Guide Dogs blue ladyhuman and I had to follow her to guide Mum (and Dad) to a room upstairs. Inside, I found another Guide Dog colleague; a blonde girlie labrador. Fab! I thought......but all we got to do was to sniff-greet. We then spent the rest of the afternoon at opposite ends of the room, snoozing, while all the humans yackety-yacked and clicketyfingersded. Mum says it was a course on how to use her talkybone and clicketyfingerstoy when she can't see the screen.

When that was all over, we got back in the car and drove back to Bournemouth. Before returning to Granny's flat, we went to another little tiny shop. It was full - floor to ceiling - with balls and balls of those strange long tails that Mum seems to be twiddling with a pair of sticks. While Mum and Dad were busy yacketying with the ladyhuman in there, I managed to sneak away to follow my nose. I detected a yummy smell worth seeking out; in the room at the back of the shop there was a manhuman and two hissing furballs. The furballs hissed at me and ran away to hide, but that didn't matter. What I was seeking was the source of the yummy smell; hissing furball nosh! I found it and managed to snaffle a good couple of mouthfuls before the manhuman hoiked me away and delivered me back to Mum, who plonked her back paw firmly on my lead while she was doing her plastic rectangle thing. Harrumph!

It seems that the ladyhuman and the manhuman still liked me though - they said they hope to see us again!

Let Sleeping Dust Lie...

I'm keeping out of the way. Soooooo much stuff seems to be getting stuffed into big black rustly bags! I don't fancy being packed away too.

Mum has been doing endless amounts of that 'sorting out' thing. Every draw, cupboard, cubby hole and shelf has been 'sorted' in Granny's bedroom today. Loads and loads of fursubstitutes have been bagged, but they don't seem to have disappeared out the door like the ones Mum said are full of 'chuck its'. Dad has been pointing his one-eyed clickybox at many items too - Mainly furniture, but other things too. Now he seems to be very busy on his clicketyfingers toy.

Through all of this, Mum has been doing loads of stroking-with-bright-yellow-cloth and smellysquirtstuff. A lot of the time, Mum and Dad have been doing aacchhoooss And then snorting into a white flappy thing. I've just come in from a nice walkies and my nose started to explode too! Mum says it is because she is disturbing a few decades worth of dust. Well, maybe she should let sleeping dust lie!

Different Cars and Disappearing Daddy!

I love you all! £300 so far raised in JustGiving donations. So many of you want my portrait! That is fantabulous. Thank you all. That is 400 virtual tickets in the draw. Mum says this means it WILL definitely be drawn after 8pm on 31 January. There is, of course, still plenty of time to get your donations in to add your name to the draw. See the pinned post at the top of my page for details of the prizes and the link to the donations site page.

Today, I got to ride in a different car. Dad was driving but it wasn't our car. We went to a car vets place and swapped this different car for our own one back again. (Apparently that was where Dad went first thing this morning to take our car and he came back in the different one.) It seems our car had to have its regular vet check. I wonder if it had to have a spike stuck in it like I have to when I go for my vet checks. On the drive back again, I didn't have my kennel in the boot. Dad took it out - apparently it is broken. This meant I got to ride in the boot just on my duvet bed. I could sit up and look above the back seats. I could see Dad in the little shiny rectangle window thing in the middle of the front window. He said he could see me too! He said I looked a right cheeky imp! I hope that is a compliment!

We went to a big shop on the way back. It was a bit boring in there but I did get to greet and cheer up a nice lady in a whizzy wheelieseat. Mum says I perhaps should have been a Canine Partner because I am always drawn to greet wheelie people. I just know who needs my special kind of loves!

Prize Draw!

I've been framed!

This means that the prize draw is declared OPEN.

If you would like a chance to win this amazing drawing of me, donated by Sarah Le Vallois Pencil Art​, then all you have to do is to make a donation to my JustGiving fund. For every £1 donated, Mum will enter your name into a draw (so £10 will give you 10 entries, £20 = 20 entries etc). At the end of this month, as long as we have raised at least £200, we will draw three names at random. The first will win my portrait, the second will win their choice of any photo from my blog - printed and mounted in the smaller frame shown in the photo, and the third name drawn will win the cuddly doggy toy.

To enter, just click on the link below and make a donation. When you do this, please enter the word 'Portrait' into the 'leave a message' box on your donation on the JustGiving site. Mum will then allocate one entry for every £1 donated.

If we haven't reached £200 by the end of the month, then we will extend the time. We really hope though to raise lots more than that. Sarah really is an incredibly talented artist and has made this fantastic donation of her time and skill. ALL proceeds will go towards our target of another £5000 to sponsor another puppy to be trained to be a lifechanging Guide Dog like me.

www.justgiving.com/guidedogoakley3

Freerunning Birds...

Wahaaayyy! A new freerun venue today! I loved it!

After church and then human lunches (of course - none for me! :( ) we set off in the car. Dad parked in a car park and I could see the sploshy stuff nearby so I got a bit squeaky. I was a bit miffed when Mum opened up the car's bumdoor and harnessed me up. 'Huff' I thought. 'Beach should mean freerun!'. It was exciting to be working somewhere new though, so it wasn't too terrible. We didn't go very far - just onto a big floatyboat. It was megabig and cars were driving onto it! So, I guess that means we've cruised today!

The big floatyboat didn't go far but it was mega clanky noisy! We walked on at one end and then off at the other. The cars that went on it did the same. When we got off at the other side (it only took a few minutes), we were on a sandy beach! Woohooooo! I thought and I may just have let out a squeak or several and maybe just tugged a tad hard on my harness! Oops! Sorry Mum! Even the pavement was squishy underpaw with all the sand! I only had to work a little way further before Mum asked me to 'find left'. This left was straight onto the sandy beach proper! Then off came my harness, lead and noseband and Mum said those bestest words "Go Play".

I think I may have made a bit of a berk of myself at that point - I certainly made Mum and Dad laugh anyway! My bum was leaping about all over the place. I was just so happy! We had to climb up over lots of sandy hills with spiky grass all over it  - a bit like wacky headfur tufts on top! Then we came to flat beach with lots of huge puddles and streams across it. Mum and Dad stepped very carefully across the streams and went around all the big puddles. I just had a fabulous time charging through all of them! I went into superchage mode when I found a couple of whippets to play chase with. Mum and Dad were quite impressed that I kept up with them! There were many other poochpals to play with too and I just had a great time.

After a while of just loonying about on the sand and in the sploshies, we turned and hiked up into the tuftytop sandhills. There were lots of other humans up there too - most of them with one-eyed-clickyboxes like Dad. This bit was a terrible interruption in my freerun. I had to wait around for aaaaaages while they all stood watching a gazillion featherballs all zooming around in a great cloud together. Apparently this was something very spectacular. It just made me squeak! I wanted to run some more. I got my wish eventually and did some more zoomies on the way back to the big floatyboat.

As it is Sunday, I reminded Mum that I needed a new bone. She gave me a wonderful big knobblyknuckle. She clearly forgot that I already had two on the go. Shhhhhhh! Don't tell her!

Six Photos of me on Studland Beach.
One of the flapping twirling featherballs that so rudely interrupted my freerun.

More photos can be found on Dad's blog www.onephotographaday.org.uk

Me silhouetted against the golden sand with a rough patch beneath my paws where I was enjoying a good dig.

Wide open space and oooooodles of sand to run around on. Me standing with my tail wagging in the middle of a huge expanse of sandy beach, grass-tufted dunes on the left, ocean in the distance.

Me beside one of the little humps of sand with a funky headfur or grassy spikes.

I think I did really well at keeping up with two whippets. Dad couldn't keep up with us with his one-eyed-clickybox. We were running so fast, we were blurred!

I'm coming Mum! Me running towards Mum, ears flapping, big wide smile on my face, across the sand. One of the streams in the background.

Sploshychops! Portrait of me. looking up to the left with sploshes of water all over my nose and ears.

The huge cloud of flapping featherballs in the sky. Apparently this is known by humans as a 'Murmeration of Starlings' This is what made me squeak because it meant I had to stand still for ages.

Fuff!

Fuffy air this morning meant that Mum laughed at me. She said I looked like I was going to take off. My ears were like wings! It was OK walking around the streets but, after a good trip into town, we went down through the gardens and along the pawmenade. This was all very nice but the fuffy air was fuffing the sand in clouds along the ground. It was bad enough for the high-up humans but, for me it was nasty. This meant that, instead of Mum's original plan to walk all the way along to Middle Chine, we cut short and climbed up the zigzag path instead. Well, what a shame! Ahem! That meant I got to have a freerun in the CliffTop Park! Heeheeeeee!

It seems that lots of people like Mum's idea of this raffley thingy for my portrait. She says something about a trip tomorrow to get it framed, then I will post more info on how it will work. Watch this space.......

Me in ALL my Handsomeness!

Dingdong dinged again today - this time I stayed inside!

Postie brought a big flat thing. Mum opened it and, inside was a picture of ME! Mum says it is drawn (I think I have worked out that this means squiggled) by one of my fans; a lady called Sarah Le Vallois. She has donated this picture for us to raise some more shinydisks for our fundraising to sponsor another pup to learn to be amazing like me.

Mum's plan is to do something called a raffle online. She says that people can make donations to my JustGiving fund, then she will allocate raffle tickets - £1 per ticket. At the end of the month, as long as enough donations have been made, we will get somebody to pick out a ticket and the winner will get the picture sent to them. There will be a second prize of any photo, chosen from my page, printed and posted, and a third prize of a cuddly doggy.

How many people think this is a good idea? Mum says she would hope to raise at least £200 by doing this. Comment with a 'Yes' if you would join in.

Here is a photo of the drawing.

Squirrels.

Mum says my nose has been rumbling! She says I've been chasing squirrels in my sleep. I wouldn't dream of such a thing! Ahem! Cough! Well, not deliberately.......

Photo of me enjoying a lovely snooze in the warm glow coming in through the huge see-through wall at Granny's flat in Bournemouth. I needed that after a hectic day yesterday and then today's hard work looking after Mum.

Respect to the Mini Human!

OK. Back now. Time to tell all about yesterday's madness:

It all started off with a very pleasant freerun in the clifftop park. Lucy and Lola, my whippet pup-pals, were there for a good game of chase. Dad picked up Mum and me in the car and off we set to Worthing. We went to a house that we visited once before - back in the summer. It had different humans in it then - and all sorts of stuff - human stuff - chairs, sofas, etc. This time, it had NO stuff at all in it and Rosie was there but no sign of the other humans from before.

I got to explore the garden and just kind of laze about the place while Mum and Dad and Rosie were busy stroking everything. Mum was stroking everything in the kitchen with wet cloths and frothy squirt stuff. Dad and Rose were stroking the walls of the main room with strange rollystick things that changed the colour of the wall as it stroked. It smelled funny and nobody seemed to want me involved in helping. I got a bone to gnaw on and was allowed to take it upstairs 'out of the way'. Well that was fine by me!

I got to take Mum workywalkies to the huge Tesco to get human lunches. That was good to do! I remembered the route from when we used to work around the area. I also met a fellow black lab pup. We only got to meet and greet because I was, of course, on harness and he was apparently only allowed short calm walks because the vet has recently made him a bit sore in a delicate area! It was nice to squeak at each other though!

When we got back, Rosie was just arriving back in her car too. She had been to collect microhuman Hallie. I soon discovered she is not quite so micro anymore. She is mobile! Eeeeeek! She was mimicking me by moving on four paws! Respect to her! She has the right idea unlike the adult humans who do that peculiar balancing on two paws all the time!

We were at this house for forever yesterday! I even had my picnic tea there - in a bright pink bowl! I'm a boy! How humiliating! Oh well, it was food! I tolerated the shame! James arrived after that and there was loads of yackety yacking going on. It seems that this is now Rosie and James and Hallie's new home. I hope they get some sofas and beds and things. It is all a bit strange and bare in there. It seems there is much more wall stroking and other stuff to do first though.

Mum says it was nearly today when we arrived back in Bournemouth in the middle of the night. We were all very yawny and didn't really want to wake up this morning, but we had to because I have had to take Mum on a mission to the huge humanvets to get a spike stuck into her front leg. This was a great workywalkies! I had to really strut my stuff because Dad didn't come with us. I had to guide Mum to the bus stop (via a nice longish walkies first), then into the huge humanvets and then to the spikey-stabby department. I remembered where this was from our one visit there, which was well over a year ago. Mum was uber-pleased with me!

On the way back, we got off the bus part-way along the journey and I had to take Mum around a huge Tesco's. She said we needed carrots so I took her straight to them and my bum did a triumphant bounce on the floor! It is always good to make humans laugh! I didn't get my bit of carrot though until after I had guided Mum around some other bits of the shop and then to 'find the checkout'. It was a yummy chunk of carrot though - worth waiting for! I got the rest of the big carrot when we got back to Granny's flat! Yummmmmm!

Now, after all that hard work, I shall excuse myself and just stretch out in this lovely warm glow coming in through the huge see-through doors......zzzzzz........

Phew! What a day yesterday...

zzzzzzzzz....mmmm.....oooohh......mnmnmnmmmoooorning....yawn!
Very late night last night. Will tell you all about it all later though. Off out workywalkies in a minute....

I met a Fan!!! Extra Fusses!!!

Thank you everyone for my Waggy Woofday Wishes. If only I had a yummy for every one of them...... Mum says that if I had a carrot for each one, then my chin-wisdom-whiskers would turn orange instead of silver. Hmmmm.... wouldn't that clash with Mum's headfur if she makes it go purple or pink again?

Today has been spent mainly doing some serious work on my latest bone. I have conquered it! I have got every morsel of that delectable gooey stuff out of the middle. Yummmmmm! Mum then got that beastie carpet-stroking huffer thing and it went crackly crunchy when she stroked the bit of floor where I had been working all day. She says I will have a big case of bonebum tomorrow. I can handle that!

A brief and very soggy trip into town meant I met one of my fans; a nice ladyhuman called Ruth in Wilko's. It is always nice to meet my fans - they all come with good fusses!

Happy Birthday to Meeeeeeee!

Mum says I am 6 today. She says that means I am supposed to be middle-aged, grown up and sensible. Well.....let me think about that.......errrrr....NOPE! Boring! I think I prefer the idea of a Waggy Woofday every day! I have had a fantabulous freerun at Hengistbury Head.

When we arrived, my squeakiness got a bit carried away, but was soon sorted when I met a gazillion doggypals! I didn't know which way to run first! Soooooo many bums to sniff! As we went up and over the steep hill, then back down along the beach, I got to play chase with loads and loads of doggypals. I also found a fellow labrador to swim with. Mum pointed her talkybone at me to take some if these photos. Dad took the rest with his big posh one-eyed-clickybox. They all show different bits of today's fabtabulous fun.

Oh....and the last two are of me in my numptyrobe after Mum attacked me with froth in the warmrainbox. The big carrot, and then the chewring brought forgiveness.