Plain and undotty!

Oooooopsie! It seems that a yummy left on a little table at Oakley-nose-height is not meant for Oakley!

After a workywalkies to a room in a church across town, and back again, we got back to all the floatyboatyhomes and all the humans got scurrying around putting up flappyroofs with no walls and putting out lots of chairs and tables on the wide bit of towpath grassy area. Then all sorts of delectables went onto the bigger tables. Then lots of humans came along at various times throughout the morning. Uncle Peter had a hot whistly-snout pot thingy that he was using to make endless cups of hot black or brown slurpystuff. Aunty Sue, other Aunty Sue, Aunty Lin and several others at various times were giving out lots of the yummies from the big tables. I stayed out of the way for some of the time. It was less hectic aboard floatyboatyhome. When I did hop out I was greeted by that yummy just perfectly placed at nose height. It just called out to my mouth...... my mouth obediently answered! Some of the human mouths turned up at the corners but Mummy didn't seem to happy. Oh dear! At least I now know that something called 'cake' is delicious!

After a little while more, I got to take Daddy walkies - a long walkies around town. It was really confusing; we went to lots and lots of doors but didn't dingdong. Daddy just fed the oblong mouths in each door with flappy rectangles and we left again. Most peculiar, but it was a welcome walkies anyway.

On the way back the sky did a big bad leaky on us. When we arrived back home, Mummy was busy on her talkybone so she couldn't stop me at the door for a towelrub. That meant I got to go straight in and do a superb bigshake - I got a really good spray going all up the walls, cupboards, doors....... heeheeheee! Well..... it was boring all plain and undotty!

This evening, Daddy went out and left us so, after more talkyboning, Mummy let me take her out for some practice with her long cane-with-a-ball-on-the-end. It was a very pleasant wander along the towpath and back. That meant I got to enjoy a good old sniffing and weemailing session!

Maximum Bellyrub!

Two church sessions of all the humanhowling and yacketying today.

The first one started with a towel rub, after a soggy workywalkies, and ended with some delectable belly rubs!

The second one was this evening and it was outdoors, here beside all our floatyboatyhomes. That meant that I had pooch pals to share it with! Lilly (yellow labrador girliefriend) and Biggles (little beagle x terrier) were here all the time with me, plus there were lots of passing sniffs and greetings to be had too!

It all finished off with a good game of fetch to and fro along the towpath with Lilly and a whole load of balls and squeaky toys! Great fun!

Photo shows me lying on my back displaying my full glory to get maximum bellyrub from two humanpuppies at this morning's church.

Energy Expenditure...

Towpath toddles.
Towpath snoozes.
Towpath toddles.
Towpath snoozes.
Towpath toddles.
Towpath snoozes.........

Yep! That about sums up today. Quite enough energy expenditure with a hangy-outy-tongue day all day. 

I did find some energy for a bit of a kanoodle with Lilly though! Well... I couldn't ignore her could I?

Fuzzy Inside!

I've had my girliefriend on my bed!

Lilly came to stay for the day. Just Lilly. No humans. They left her in my care! I did my bestest to look after her. I even donated my bed to her! <3 <3 <3

Mummy groomed us both and I ended up with pale yellow highlights! Very fetching I thought!

We went for a stroll together - I lent her one of my leads.

We shared a big bowl of water.

We snoozed together on the grass beside the towpath.

Oooh! I feel all fuzzy inside!

 

Playdates!

A delivery. A yummy delivery. For MEEEEEE! New din dins!

Mummy says it is super good for me. Better than the one I have been having. I just think it is yummy scrummy! I didn't get any bigger bowlful though.....

The package also had some treats in it. Teeny tiny morsels. Yummy teeny tiny morsels. Mummy says they are super good-for-me training treats / good boy rewards. I think I can cope with some of those! There were some bigger treats too - I hope to find out more about them soon......

This delivery came after a largely snoozy-tongue-hangy-out day. I did workywalkies Mummy along the towpath first though. Daddy fibbed. He said we were only going half a mile. Mummy's talkybone squawked two and a half miles! It was a nice workywalkies though, interspersed with stops for human yacketying sessions. First of all we found our humanfriends' floatyboatyhomes; Peter & Lin and Chris & Sally. That got me a lie down on the cool damp grass while they yipped away. Then we went onto familiar territory again. We are back in this Ellesmere place. We were heading to Tesco again, but found fans and admirers again on the way. Well, I'm never going to be so rude as to turn down a fuss from a fan!

I took Mummy around Tesco. I even sorted her out when she burbled 'Where's the milk Oaks? I think we must've gone past it'. I gave her 'the look', she said 'go on then smartybum. Find the milk'. About turn.....two aisles back where we had come from...... bum bounce! Yummy Thank you!

When we came out of Tesco Mum said 'Over the bridge Oaks'. Well - that wasn't the way we had come! I did as I was told though and then found our floatyboatyhome! Aboard was a manhuman sitting at the table. He had Mummy's tippetytappetytoy all in bits on the table. He did lots of fiddling and twiddling with a tiny shiny stick thing and lots of teensyweensy little nibs. Eventually Mummy's toy looked like itself again and it started yacketying again. Apparently he was a pootervet and he made it better for Mummy.

This evening, after getting to sample my new nosh, we went out for a short walkies along the towpath again. There we found lots of floatyboatyhumanpals. That was all nice and good but, much more importantly, I found my buddy Lilly the yellow floatyboatylabradorgirlie! Yaaaayhaaayyyyy! Happy waggy reunions! Apparently we are going to be here for nearly two weeks. I hope there will be plenty of playdates for us!

Queueueueueueueueueue

Three miles of workywalkies along the towpath. Then another mile to and fro and to and fro and to and fro...... at the two locks! There was a queueueue (sorry - didn't know when to stop ue-ing) of floatyboats at the first lock so Mummy and I set to work helping with all the windy-uppy-windy-downy-pushy-pully stuff - over and over and over again. Well.... I suppose the truth is that Mummy did all that. I just had to keep her under supervision while I lay down and absorbed the fusses! It's a tough life sometimes!

The workywalkies was good though. Most of it was on good towpath, so easy for Mummy to walk on and therefore easy for me to guide her. Actually, there wasn't really much for me to do, so it was just a pleasant stroll really. It was quite yummy too on and off. It seems that Mummy was 'working on some discipline'. That appears to mean repeating the command 'Leave' whenever I attempted to veer for a sniff of a leaf or for a doggypal greeting. When I did manage to leave, I got a 'Good boy to leave' and a yummy to prove it! There were two leave-its that were utterly impossible to obey though! Sky the collie buddy that I met yesterday came to greet me. He was lucky - freerunning and way ahead of his humandad. He came running straight up to me so I simply couldn't 'leave' him! It was OK though; Mummy laid down my harness handle which means I can meet and greet but I'm not allowed to play - no matter how hard I try to get away with a little fun. So, we sniffed and circled each other and then had to go our separate ways. It was nice to meet up with him again though. The other irresistible was a Springer Spaniel that reminded me of my old buddy Pilot. I may just have forgotten my manners a smidge as I pulled Mummy to greet. Sadly though, it wasn't Pilot, so it was just another sniff-greet and then on our way again.

There were stretches of towpath that weren't so easy going. The towpath was nice and wide all the way today, but some bits were rather rough and rugged. I had to work quite hard steering Mummy around the dips and trips and onto the more level bits. She was a good Mummy though; she followed my guidance well!

Photo shows me sitting atop the first lock of today, supervising the workings.

Floatyboathome vet!

7 miles ..... just 7 miles ..... why have we stopped Mummy? Surely we could do another 7 mileszzzzzzzzzz.........

It all started with a very short cruise into a floatyboatyhome kennel with a floatyboatyhome vet in it. The floatyboatyhome vet fitted our floatyboatyhome with a new tail. This included a lot of loud banging which was a bit scary, but I got to take Mummy walkies while most of that was going on.

Then we cruised a bit more - until there was a loud grrrrrrrr from underneath and we stopped - in the middle of the canal. Some nice manhumans got hold of floatyboatyhome's front lead and pulled hard while the rumbler under the back deck growled super loudly. Eventually, we were free again and cruised on. This took us over the canal in the sky again too - not the mega high one - that was yesterday, but the slightly less scary one. It was OK. We survived and moored up quite soon afterwards.

Mummy and Daddy munched lunch, then waited for the froth monster to finish chewing the towels. Once they were hanging to flap on the lines on the front deck, we set off out.

This workywalkies took us back across the canal in the sky again - but walking on the towpath this time; much better! This workywalkies went on and on..... on roads with no pawments... up steep hils ..... up VERY steep hills...... and eventually to a hugegiganticenormous house. One of those houses with round bits at the corners and a huge cage door and giant bottom teeth on the roof. Ooooh! It was bliss inside there - not because of all the fusty old stuff that the humans seem to find so fascinating - but because the stone floor was delectably cool to lie down on! Apparently it was called Chirk Castle. I found some nice fusses from some nice humans there. I wouldn't mind going back again!

I would have sooooo loved to get to freerun in the garden - it was maaaaaahooooosive! Alas, it seems that pooches are not allowed to freerun when there are baaing clouds on legs around, and there were lots of them - and huge mooing beasties too.

The route back was different from the one that got us there; much less of the pawmentless road. Instead, we went through gates and across fields with loads of mooing beasties and clouds on legs in them. I wanted to go play with them but Mummy reminded me that I was on duty and so I had to 'Leave' them all. I tried very hard to do my duty to clean up the floor of all the little black nuggets and a few big brown splats, but I had to 'Leave' them too. Meanie Mummy!

Mummy stopped many times and got my squishy water bowl out of my bag, poured water into it and gave me a drink, then she poured some of the water onto my head and ears! I wasn't too sure what to make of that, but she said ti was to help cool me down a bit. Hmmmm!!

On the way back I got to have a bit of a play with a fellow floatyboatydog; Sky, a blue marl Welsh Collie with one blue eye and one brown eye. He was great fun and we had a bit of a game of chase on the towpath before it was time to walk across the towpath in the sky again - it was way past my dinnertime! I just about made it home in time before I died of starvation!!! The little bone for afters was welcome! Thanks Mummy.

Scary Thing.

Fans on wheeliewizzers!

I was doing my duty - workywalkiesing Mummy along the towpath. Mummy kept yipping to a little black block thing that sometimes yipped back sounding a bit like Daddy. Apparently, we were the advance patrol. We had to walk ahead of Daddy on floatyboatyhome to check if he could get through the really narrow bits. We had to see if there were other floatyboats coming towards him. While we were doing this duty, two humans came towards us on wheeliewizzers. They were Liesl and William; very nice humans who just happen to be fans of me and Guide Dog Puppy Walkers too! Mummy thinks Puppy Walkers are fantabulous people because they look after us when we are ickle puppies for our first year, and begin our training to become lifechangers. We stopped and chatted for a little while and so Daddy caught up with us.

We then carried on for another stretch and got way ahead of Daddy and floatyboatyhome again because he had to wait for some boats going the other way. This meant that we then had to wait aaaaaages for him after the narrow bits finished. Then it was cruising time and a much needed big slurp from my water bowl.

We had to do that canal in the sky scary thing again. This time the towpath and the long-way-down-open-bit were on the other sides to the way they were the other day. Mummy held on firmly to my lead, attached to my bra though. I think she though I might be daft enough to try to fly or something........Nope! No way! I stayed much more on the towpath side of the deck this time!

This evening, Liesl and William arrived again on their wheeliewizzers. They stayed yacketying with Mummy and Daddy almost until the light fell out of the sky. They brought a bottle of stinky slurp. I didn't fancy that......but..... I did rather enjoy the big juicy carrot they brought especially for me! Yummmmmmmy! Thank You! Come again........

Photo shows Mummy and me on the towpath when we met with Liesl and William on their wheeliewizzers. They both had funny bowls on top of their heads!

Sperlosh!

Sperlosh! Woohoo!

I swimmed! I swimmed! I swimmed! Yayyyhayyyy!

We moved mooring to the 'accessible' one - whatever that means. I think it is easier for Mummy because it has a solid edge rather than the wobbly floatyfloor that we were against before. That meant that I could enjoy a big area of grass (well..... sort of..... kinda dry crispy stuff anyway) and Mummy did a whole load of frothy-scrubby stuff, attacking the flappy wall thingy from the front of floatyboatyhome. I kept well out of the way. I did not want a frothing! I took Daddy for a walkies instead. Much safer!

This afternoon, Mummy sat outside on the crispy grassish and did some of that crowshaving thing. I settled down by her chair to look after her, but it was a bit tongue-hangy-outy. Mummy finished her crowshaving (well - that one bit anyway) and put it away. Then ..... Wayhay! She got a couple of my toys out. She led me to the grassy bank at the back of floatyboatyhome and I discovered a ledge that I could paddle on. Then Mummy threw my ball into the water! She kept telling me to 'go on - jump' and 'you can do it Oaks' and 'get your ball'. Well I tried very hard to whimper my ball back to me. I pawed the water and squeaked my bestest 'come here' messages to it, but it didn't come quite close enough. Then Mummy got her back paws down into the paddling ledge bit. That made me braver!

Sperlosh! In I dived! I got my ball back, climbed out and gave Mummy a lovely shower with my big shake! Then she threw my blue squeaky hippo in - this time further away. No problem! Sperlosh! Straight in! I got the hang of launching myself into the water.

It was great fun! Over and over again! There were some humans on the towpath opposite and they stopped to watch me and cheered every time I sploshed and every time I climbed out and showered Mummy! Heeheehee!

I got an early dinner (most welcome!) and then had workywalkies to do. I guided Mummy and Daddy up through town and to a church. It seems that humanhowling is not just for Sundays! There were some lovely fusses to be had there and a very nice carpet to sprawl out on! It was a very pleasant evening. I even got a lovely big bowl of water to slurp while all the humans were having those hot brown slurps of theirs!

4 photos:

1 Trying to persuade my ball to come to me - balanced on the edge of the paw-deep ledge, pawing at the water.

2 Big splosh! Action shot as I launch myself into the water.

3 Swimming to fetch my blue hippo.

4 A good roll on the dry grass is the perfect way to end a swim.

Clickybox Overdrive!

Clip-clop-clip-clop....... huffer-chuffer-choo-choo.

Both, apparently, supposedly relaxing! Hmmmm..... I don't think so!

It all started with a long lazy lie-in. Of course that meant that starvation alleviation was a long time coming this morning, but, well, at least it came eventually!

Then came a great playtime with a passing pooch pal called Scout, the red retriever. That finished when we reached a gate at the top of the zig-zag path up the parky area by our mooring. Then it was 'Head in' to harness and off on workywalkies, starting immediately with an offkerb bit - well, there was no kerb or pawment at all there! We did it though and I steered Mummy onto the pawment as soon as we reached it.

We didn't go very far to begin with - just to a bit of towpath we walked yesterday. Today, there was a floatyboat there with no walls, no front or back deck, and no rumbler. In a kind of house thing beside it, there were three very scary beasties. They were hugenormous and were munching on lots of long bits of brownie coloured grass stuff. I....I.....I..... couldn't help it......a bit rumble and big woof just escaped from me.......I thought I had to protect Mummy from these monsters. But Mummy told me to sit and shush! Huh! She said they are friends! Hmmm..... I'm not too sure about that!

Mummy made me stay sitted and kept telling me 'Be nice' 'it's OK' 'Good boy' 'Good to stay'...... I think I kind of got the message that my defenses were not wanted. I got braver. Mummy kept telling me I was being a good boy when I stayed calm. I needed edible reinforcements though!

Then a manhuman gave a carrot to my Daddy. And...... and..... and...... Do You Know what he went and did? He .... he..... he...... went and gave that carrot to the clip-clop monster! HOOOOOOWWWWWWWLLLLLLLL! My Daddy! Traitor! How could you?

A manhuman opened the door on the house thing and brought one of the monsters out. It's paws made a big loud clip-clop noise and it had a mahoozive collar and other harnessy things on it. It had ears a bit like a German Shepherd Dog's ears - all big and sticky-uppy!

Anther manhuman opened a door thingy on the floatyboatyhome and I had to take Mummy and Daddy aboard. Then the clip-clop beast went past and got attached by a megalong lead to the floatyboat. Mummy told me I was a super good boy for staying calm when he went past so close. Then he started clip-clopping along the towpath and his lead was pulling us in the floatyboat. It was all super quiet with no rumbler. Actually it was quite relaxing..... I hupped my paws onto the side a few times to check what was gliding by, but then settled down for a snooze on the floor.

When we got back again, the clip-clop monsters didn't seem so scary anymore. No more woofs escaped me! I shall never forgive Daddy for giving away that carrot though!

After that, we had a little wander aroudn town, so that was a bit of workwalkies on brand new territory - most of it very narrow pawments so I had to work quite hard looking after Mummy. This led us to a train station. It was a bit scary there though. There was a hugenormous hissing huffing puffing monster machine that was snorting all sorts of noisy smelly huff out of many different oriffices! Daddy seemed to be in one-eyed-clickybox overdrive though! It was a good job I was there to look after Mummy because he disappeared off for a bit! We moved away from the hissy huffy beastie and found a door to get onto the train. That was nice! we got a whole room-thing to ourselves, so I could stretch out for a few zzzzs on the floor between the long seats.

When we got off the train, the sky was leaking lots so it was a soggy workywalkies back to floatyboatyhome. The last bit of it was another little freerun in the parkybit. A lovely towelrub from Mummy was great when we got home!

3 photos:

 

Me with red retriever Scout on the yellow grass.

Me inside our little compartment in the train.

Me and Mummy in front of the hissy huffer-chuffer-choo-choo.

Ponty-Something!

Whoa! That was high!

Two bits of canal in the sky and two dark tubes today.

It all started as a civilized workywalkies along the towpath. Then we came to a huge high up bridge with the canal going over it beside the towpath. Mummy says this is called the Chirk Aqueduct. I think Mummy was a bit nervous about walking over it, but I looked after her. It was fine. The towpath was nice and wide and there was a cage beside it to keep us safe. We made it across and Daddy followed behind with floatyboatyhome.

Next, the towpath took us into a long dark tube of doom. This is the first time I have workywalkiesded Mummy through one of those! I think it was a bit better than chugging through on floatyboatyhome. I really don't like doing that! Workywalkiesing through was a challenge though. It was RRREEEAAAALLLYYY dark in there! Mummy got out her talkybone and it made a bright light, which helped a bit. It meant that I could see where to go, but Mummy was still totally clueless. She said 'Ouch' a few times because she donked her noddle on the curvy-over wall/ceiling. We made it though! I did good!

Then we got back aboard floatyboatyhome and enjoyed a bit of a chug along before we chugged into another tube of doom. This was only a short one though so it was survivable!

The next bit of the chugging was scary though: We chugged over a huganticginormous canal in the sky! Daddy says it is called the Ponty-something Aqueduct and it is 200 paws high over the River Dee. Mummy kept a tight hold on my lead, attached to my bra but I didn't dare go very near the edge of the back deck! It was a looooooooong way down and there was NO cage or wall or fence or anything - just the thin edge of the water-tube! I had a quick look down and then scurried to safety inside the warmrainbox!

Next time I dared to emerge onto backdeck it was all safe again! Phew!

A lovely long, steady plod along another stretch of towpath was very welcome after that!

6 Photos:

 

Me in a sit at the beginning of the Chirk Aqueduct, on a nice wide towpath with a railing on the side and the canal trough on the other. Below is green fields and trees in the background. There is a railway viaduct alongside the aqueduct.

Mummy and me after we made it across.

Me in a sit on the towpath before we started chugging across the mega high aqueduct. There is a railing along the towpath but the water side is open.

Mum with me at the same spot.

Me on back deck, wearing my bra and lead, looking very cautiously down at the green fields a VERY long way below.

Looking back over the Pontythingy Aqueduct after we reached the safety of the other side. Phewy!

Really Depressed!

Just two locks today, but we did them over and over and over again..... to and fro.... windy-uppy-windy-downy-pushy-pully..... back again to the other end..... windy-uppy-windy-downy-pushy-pully..... back again.......................... and again.... and again... Finally, it was actually our floatyboatyhome that came into the deep rectangle and Mummy did all the workings for the last time..... until we got to the next lock. Then it started all over again, but thankfully less times as there were fewer floatyboaties waiting at this one.

It was a good workywalkies leading up to the locks though. Mummy didn't put my iconic white Guide Dogs harness on me for that; instead she put my swim-bra on and clicked my yellow lead onto that. It was great! It gave me the freedom to have a bit of a sniff about, but I still looked after Mummy; guiding her around the hazards on the towpath (there were quite a lot of spikysticks hanging from the hedges and many many tree toes sticking up through the floor). Mummy just asked me to 'go ahead' and she followed my best end!

Before all of this, I started the day by doing some normal workywalkies, wearing my proper Guide Dog harness. I took Mummy to Tesco again. On the way though, we stopped to visit a fan on another floatyboatyhome. It was nice to meet Jackie and Paul. Of course, there was the inevitable session of human yacketying, but I squeaked my protest and eventually, we said our tattybyes and I finished the job of going to get my big juicy carrots (and a few other things too).

The rest of the day has been spent cruising. I did get to have a bit of a play with Eric and Mollie - passing pooches when we moored up for the night. I did have to tell Eric off though when he took a bit of a fancy to my food box! Nobody gets my nosh!

Photo of me looking really depressed (I promise I wasn't!) standing waiting forever at the lock top, wearing my blue bra.

Funtime Exploits!

A great start to the day. A freerun is always a superb way to get going.

We didn't get up all that early. Eyelids didn't want to open after all of yesterday's happenings. Then Daddy started getting floatyboatyhome ready to rumble. Mummy was getting ready for workywalkies. Then Graham, our floatyboatyhome humanpal came and joined us for the walkies. That meant that Mummy realised that she could walk with Graham and let me off duty! So, after just a few moments, off came my harness and lead and off whizzed me! I didn't want to waste a moment of playing opportunity and there was a pooch pal passing by! Actually, there were several pooch pals to play with along the way. It was great!

That stretch of fun ran out when Graham left us and went back to his floatyboatyhome, but the very last bit was fantabulous! Mummy and Graham had gone 'over the bridge' and I had dutifully followed. Mummy was doing a whole load of windy-windy-windy stuff to a big round box thing. The bridge was going up and up and up. A poochpal appeared on the towpath the other side. I zoomed up the steep bridge and leapt across onto the towpath. I had a fab game of chase with that little chap. Mummy and Graham seemed to be standing with their jowls hanging open. It seems they were a bit amused and astounded that I did that big leap! Mummy started doing her windy-windy-windy stuff the other way and the bridge started coming back down again. Then she blew the 'get back here' whistle. I did as bid.....so did my little playbuddy. His human called him back to his side of the bridge. I got my good-boy-to-come-back yummy, then followed my buddy. Whistle again - whizz back for another yummy - back with little buddy again - whistle again - another yummy.......and clamped on lead! Harrrrrrumph! Little buddy walked on with his human. Game over. Windy-windy-windy........up-up-up bridge. Floatyboatyhome through, then windy-windy-windy down-down-down. Mummy and Graham finally stopped giggling and Graham said byebye.

So that was that bit of fun over. On went my harness and I was back into workywalkies mode. I was a bit tired out by my funtime exploits, so it was a bit of a slow workywalkies along the towpath. Mummy took pity on me after while and, when Mummy felt we were on a good stretch of towpath with good light, it was off again with my harness and lead. Suddenly I somehow found an extra burst of energy and managed a good roll and a few romps, but the best bit was the freedom to sniff all the weemails along the way! Of course, I had to leave some replies too.....

A bit of cruise brought us to tonight's mooring. Mummy says it is a place called Ellesmere. Here I got to take Mummy out again, leaving Daddy behind. We went to the nearby Tesco. That meant I had some serious work to do: Unknown territory and Mummy struggling a bit with her eyesight. So, I had to 'Find the door' then 'Find the way in' (it wasn't a straight-in entrance, then 'Find a basket'. All executed pawperfect of course! Then it was the usual 'find left' 'find right' 'hang on a moment', ' where's the cucumber? ..... Ooh! clever boy! Thank you!'.....

At the back of the shop, there was a yummy smelling bit where Mummy asked me to 'find the counter'. I was a bit miffed that the counter had big Oakley-proof windows on the front! The stuff behind looked soooooo good! Mummy asked the ladyworkyhuman for some ham and some beef and some cheese. I offered to carry each of them but got told to get my schnozzle out of it! Huffff! Then the nice ladyworkyhuman came around to the front and lifted up one of the windows! I thought it was my chance to 'inspect' the display........my tail went berserk......but meanie meanie Mummy told me to 'leave it' and tugged me backwards! HARRRRUMMPH!

Loudy Scary Bangs!

Under the table. That is where I have spent a large proportion of today. Under the table in the human yummyery at the humankennelblock (NO bacon though! Waaaaaaaaahhhhhh!). Then, after a leisurely walkies and a return to our kennel, it was workywalkies to a big humanworkyplace called the Canal and River Trust office in Bumingham. We went into a big room with a hugenormous table in the middle and lots of chairs around it. I was very glad there was a nice carpet under the table to snooze on through AAAAALLLL the yacketying. Humans take so very long to exchange information! Why can't they just do it the proper way? One quick sniff of the important parts of the body and all necessary knowledge is gained. There were some nice new humanfriends to greet though and I may have managed to sneak around under that huge table and gain myself a few ear rubs while Mummy wasn't paying attention! Heehee!

The leisure walkies before all of this was with just Daddy. Apparently Mummy had to pack everything again into the big wheeliecase. When Daddy and I got back Mummy's face was all screwed up! Apparently she did a 'Blinky Blunder' and picked up the wrong squirtytube. She got the buzzy thing that she uses to tickle her fangs with and managed to put the wrong stuff on it. It seems that headfur-detangler doesn't taste nice. Oops!

After all the yacketying in this meeting thingy, we set off across town to 'Find the station' and get on the first of two trains to get us back home.  The changeover was at a new station we've never visited before. I was glad to find a corner there that needed watering! So I've now left my contact details at a station called Crewe. The first train was a bit crowded but Mummy and I found just enough room for us between a wall and somebody's big wheelicase. Daddy had to squish in on the other side of the carriage. The second train was a bit less crowded, but we had to sit right by the smelly human-spending room, and it's door kept on opening all by itself. From time to time there were some really loud scary BANGs from the roof too. That made me go hide underneath Mummy's seat. Daddy said it was nothing to worry about - it was something to do with the electrickery pickup thingy. I was not convinced, and I think Mummy was a bit nervous about it too. I felt a tiny bit safer underneath her. I hope she felt safer with me beneath her......

Back home safely now and my bed is back on my end of the sofa. That means I have Mummy's back paws to use as a pillow! That'll do nicely!

Photo shows me with Mummy on the first train today - Mummy is putting my harness back on me ready to get off. The big suitcase is beside us lying on the floor and Mummy is sitting on one of the uncomfortable sideways seats.

Bumingham!

I rather like this humankennelblock! I've got my very own bed on a super comfy sofabed! It does seem to be making my head very heavy though..... and my eyelids seem to be weighted too......

Maybe that has something to do with all the workywalkies and train rides today.

It all started with a very pleasant workywalkies through town to a church with a nice cool floor to zzzzz away the humanhowling. Lots of fusses and admirations too. That is a nice church! Then we went further on through town to the train station. Our humanfriend Graham came with us on all of this. We said tattybye to him though when our train eventually arrived. We had waited ages for it and it was super crowded. Mummy sat next to a manhuman and Daddy squeezed onto a sideways seat. I squidged myself in under the seat to keep out of the way. It was really tongue-hangy-outy on there too, so I was really glad of the nice big bowl of water Daddy got for me when we arrived at our next station. I slurped up every drop! The next train was much more comfortable and I had a bit of room to stretch out. It brought us to very familiar territory: Bumingham!

Next came a workywalkies across town to find this humankennelblock. Daddy did some yacektying with the manhuman behind the big high desk, then we got into one of those magic boxes with the slidey door. It jiggled us and vvvvvvvvd for a long time before the door slid open again to the new outside. Then we had to go along a corridor to find our kennel. It is REALLY high up in the sky! When I hupped to look out of the window, I could see little tiny cars whizzing by. That magic box has shrunk the world outside!

My work wasn't finished though. After a bit of a rest and my dinner, we went back into the magic box and it changed everything back to normal. We went out to explore the streets and towpath and found a human yummyery. A chance for a snooze under the table outside while Mummy and Daddy munched. They failed dismally! Not a crumb fell my way! All I got was a bowl of water - brought to me by the nice workymanhuman BEFORE Mummy and Daddy's nosh! (Note; most important member of the family served first!). Then workywalkies all the way back again and that magic box did its shrinking thing again.

Now, if you will excuse me, I think my eyelids need some close inner scrutiny......zzzzz.

Big Juicy Carrot!

MMMMM!....Thanks Mummy. A yummy big juicy carrot - just the job for a 'hairy hero' as you seem to want to call me. Actually I was just doing my job, but I'm happy to accept the accolade - and definitely happy to accept the yummy!

It was a a good workywalkies into this Whitchurch town near where we are moored. Daddy had given Mummy directions and off we set. Mum insisted on giving me a duff direction. I followed her instruction. She started to doubt herself and stopped. 'Hang on Oaks. Are we going the right way?' I just gave her a big sigh and turned her around to head back to the right route! Then we had to cross a road by one of those funny big white blobs on the floor - the ones with several roads going to it. I took Mummy to the dippy-down bit of kerb. We stopped. She listened and then told me to 'Forward'. I stayed firmly put! You see, Mummy says she has really good hearing. I suppose for a human it is pretty good, but she hadn't heard that car coming! It wasn't making normal vrooming noises. She told me I was a super clever boy and made a mega fuss of me! Then we went safely across the road.

We went into town, wandered around a few shoppy streets, went into a few shops. Then Mummy got all disorientated. 'Hang on Oaks. Where are we? Which way is Boots?' I knew exactly where to find Boots! It was just around the corner. I took her straight to the door! 'Oh my goodness Oakie! How did you know that? Clever boy!' Well....I'm not giving away my secrets - she can just accept that I am far smarter than she is! Heehee!

Then it seemed that the shopping was all done and it was time to 'Find the way home Oakie'. Yep! No problem.... This way Mum! Off we set. Another road to cross and another near-miss. This time it was a loonyvroomer that came around the corner so fast that he nearly hit us. I jumped and pulled Mummy backwards just in time!

Then, as we were heading towards home, I steered Mummy onto a much nicer route - away from the roads and along a lovely tree-tunnel path. She had no idea of the way but I had clearly proved to her that I knew what I was doing, so she let me take her. She even followed me to a couple of trees, slightly off track, that really needed watering! Heehee!

Photo close up of me with my big juicy carrot.

Huffyfuffyhotbox.

I met a fan and I became a fan today.

I took Daddy for a couple of leisure walkies and, on the first one, I met ladyhuman Joyce, one of my fans. Nice to meet you Joyce! Thanks for the fusses! On the second one, I became a bit of a fan of Hugo, labrador cross, and his manhuman who had yummies!

The rest of the day has been largely a lazy snoozy day with a bit of bone-destruction work. This evening, I stayed safely tucked away aboard floatyboatyhome while the humans (we have been joined by two other floatyboatyhomes humanpals; Peter & Lin and Chris & Sally, plus their grown-up humanpup Jacob) did that munching around a stinky huffyfuffyhotbox thing outside. I did go to join them a bit later though, once it was safe and that nasty stinky thing had finished huffing a sizzling and puffing!

2 photos;

Me with my fan, Joyce.

Me with Hugo and his manhuman with a very appealing and interesting front paw!

Spikysticks!

Towelrub! I haven't had one of those on return home from workywalkies for ages! I got one tonight though! Oooooooh! It was good!

It came after a late night out. A great night out. A night of long workywalkies and Guide Dog Colleagues to kanoodle with!

That late night came after a longish workywalkies this morning, working locks with Mummy, and then a chill out on the grassy towpath with a big new bone.

This evening was great! I got a slightly early dinner and then we set off out. It was a bit of a challenging workywalkies with lots of offkerbs where the greenery was overgrowing the pawment making it too narrow to walk along. It was also all completely new territory so all very exciting! The workywalkies took us to a huge parkyplace with a lot of running humans. Many of them were Guide Dogs humans running to raise shinydisks to sponsor a puppy to be trained. But much more important than the humans, there were buddies! The two that I got to kanoodle with the most were Hershey and Declan, both yellow lab x retrievers. We weren't able to go play (Humph!) but it was great to meet and greet and kanoodle. It is always great to meet colleagues!

The workywalkies home was even more challenging. I had to work supergood to look after Mummy coz it was dark and so she had to put her trust completely in me! We had to do even more offkerbs going this way because the green spikysticks were on Mummy's side and she can't fit underneath them like I could when they were on my side! We made it though! We are home safely and I do seem to be having a little difficulty holding my head up now.........

3 Photos:

Me with my big new bone, lying on the grassy towpath with the bone between my front paws.

Meeting and greeting Hershey (we tried to have a play but didn't get away with it. Huff!).

From left to right; Mummy, me, Lin and Declan.

Supergood!

Towelrub! I haven't had one of those on return home from workywalkies for ages! I got one tonight though! Oooooooh! It was good!

It came after a late night out. A great night out. A night of long workywalkies and Guide Dog Colleagues to kanoodle with!

That late night came after a longish workywalkies this morning, working locks with Mummy, and then a chill out on the grassy towpath with a big new bone.

This evening was great! I got a slightly early dinner and then we set off out. It was a bit of a challenging workywalkies with lots of offkerbs where the greenery was overgrowing the pawment making it too narrow to walk along. It was also all completely new territory so all very exciting! The workywalkies took us to a huge parkyplace with a lot of running humans. Many of them were Guide Dogs humans running to raise shinydisks to sponsor a puppy to be trained. But much more important than the humans, there were buddies! The two that I got to kanoodle with the most were Hershey and Declan, both yellow lab x retrievers. We weren't able to go play (Humph!) but it was great to meet and greet and kanoodle. It is always great to meet colleagues!

The workywalkies home was even more challenging. I had to work supergood to look after Mummy coz it was dark and so she had to put her trust completely in me! We had to do even more offkerbs going this way because the green spikysticks were on Mummy's side and she can't fit underneath them like I could when they were on my side! We made it though! We are home safely and I do seem to be having a little difficulty holding my head up now.........

3 Photos:

Me with my big new bone, lying on the grassy towpath with the bone between my front paws

Meeting and greeting Hershey (we tried to have a play but didn't get away with it. Huff!).

From left to right; Mummy, me, Lin and Declan.

Starved to Within an Inch of my Life!

BONUS!!

It is always nice to hop onto the towpath to meet and greet passing pooch pals, even better when that pooch pal is a fellow Labrador, but when that passing pooch pal is a Labrador who also is a Guide Dog Puppy in training, that is the tops!

I had workywalkiesded nearly 4 miles looking after Mummy, working locks and guiding her on the challenging towpath (challenging for Mummy - not for me! 4paws vs 2 paws - no contest yet again!). I had snoozed for a brief while on my mat under the table. I was ready for a bit of fun and then along came Keeley. Perfect timing and just perfect for a super few minutes of tail-wagging delight!

On the workywalkies, I had to work quite hard keeping Mummy out of danger. The towpath was quite 'rural'; all rocky and rugged in some places, but most of it was very grassy. The grass was hiding lots of Mummypaw-twisty lumps and bumps. Some stretches seemed to be trying to tip us into the splosh with its sloping surface. We didded it though! We got to all the locks safely and I did lots of 'find the beam', 'find the bollard', 'find the paddle' and a few 'walk the plank' commands. I think I rather impressed a few passing humans! Just doing my job!

This evening I took Daddy for a nice leisure walkies. 'Just a little one' he said....... SIX MILES it was!! Apparently that shop was further away than he thought! I was famished by the time we got home! It was a whole hour past my dinnertime! Huhhhh!!!! I just about managed to make it to my bowl..... no extra portions to make up for the delay though! Huff!

I did get one of the nice big juicy carrots that I helped Daddy to get! I forgive!

3 photos:

1 Me supervising Mummy atop a lock

2 & 3 playtime with Keeley (yellow lab x retriever girlie 8 months old)