No Soggydoggy!

Yayhayy! We are on the move again! Ellesmere was very nice but I was geting a tad bored with the little place! Nothing personal - just not many streets to explore!

So, today has been all about towpath walkies with Mummy and cruisin-and-a-snoozin on the back deck. Oh - and a couple of lifty-uppy bridges too. That was after a final workywalkies taking Mummy to Tesco's first. She was a good Mummy - she got some huge carrots!

The towpath walkies was a lovely leisurely wander. It was all on territory we have walked before, so Mummy knew it was all good surface, the light was good and Mummy's eyes were behaving quite well today, so I got ot enjoy exercising my new bright yellow flexilead. I tried my bestest to stretch it far enough to go for a swim as we walked by the giant puddle, but Mummy seems to be able to shrink it and stifle my efforts! She said 'Not today. No soggydoggy today'. Huffff!

As we were walking along, there was a humanyip from a floatyboat that was coming towards us. It was a nice ladyhuman, Angela; one of my fans! Her manhuman drove to the bank, so she could come fuss me (Always welcome of course!) He then pulled the floatyboat in by its long lead. Off hopped a poochpal too, but she didn't want to play. I tried very hard to get aboard to check out this floatyboat, but that lead-shrinking act of Mummy's stymied my attempts to carry out my inspection work! Harrumph!

This evening, we are moored in a place Mummy says is called Whitchurch. After my dindins, I took Daddy for a walkies to refresh my memory of the route into town. I suspect I have work to do tomorrow......

Photo shows me and Mummy on the lifty-uppy bridge, just after Mummy had done her windy-uppy-windy-downy thing to lift it up and put it back down again.

Mutual Sniff!

Mummy says today is our last day in this Ellesmere place. Well, it has been a good last day! A walkies with Daddy this morning (Mummy was still in bed feeling a bit sorry for herself), then a relaxing snoozy time. The bestest bit came next; a FREERUN!!!! Yippeeeeee! I even found a paddling pool in the field! Heehee! It was only a little field but it was great to enjoy a romp around. We then went on the round town route that took us to the giant puddle (no chance to swim though - boo!) and back along the towpath.

After my dinner, we set off out again - this time to a church service. There, I found some familiar humanfriends to meet and greet. We came back home via a different towpathy route and, just as we got back to floatyboatyhome, I found a little buddy; a basset puppy called Axle. He was all growly and scared of me! Scared of ME!!!! I don't think I am scary really. I just stayed really calm and gave him my bestest waggy tail patient greetings and, after a long while, he got brave enough to join in a mutual sniff. I would love to get to know him better and teach him how to have fun with a doggypal, but that was not to be. He is on hollibobs on a floatyboat, so it seems we are unlikely to meet again. He had lots of very nice humans with him though and they clearly love him very much. They certainly gave me some very nice fusses and ear rubs!

Shoppyboats.

Well! That was a nice surprise today!

I took Mummy out for a workywalkies and we discovered a Guide Dogs flappyroof thingy in amongst lots of other flappyroof thingies at the end of the canal, on the wharf. Under that flappyroof was a colleague I have met before; Declan the yellow lab x retriever, plus another yellow lab girlie colleague whose name I can't remember (Oops! Sorreeee!). Well, actually, names really don't matter to us doggies. We just sniff butts and get on with playing and kanoodling! We don't need each other's names to do that! We all three had a great time chewing ears and biffing each other while our humans did all their yacketying.

I did have to tear myself away eventually to take Mummy on this wander around town, then, after a wrong turning and therefore an about turn, onward to the round trip past the giant puddle and back along the towpath. I was a bit miffed that Mum refused to allow me to guide her to the beach bit of the giant puddle where I could have enjoyed another swim, but it was a nice longish workywalkies anyway.

A bit later, I had to take her back out again. This time it was to Tesco's via the canal where lots of floatyboatyhomes were with all sorts of delectables outside. I didn't get to sample anything but I did manage to get myself some lovely fusses. We are getting to know some of the humans on these shoppyboats and many of them are at my shnozzle-height when they pop their heads through the little doors on the sides of the boats! Heehee! I do like to be at shnozzle level with humans who appreciate kisses!

Washed Away Weemails!

Soggy Doggy!

Big leakyskies today. Mummy and I got very drippy working the locks, and Daddy was a tad damp driving floatyboatyhome too.

It was all OK though - it all started with a great game of chase and romp with Jasper, the black lab that I met a couple of days ago. Waiting in the queue to work the locks has never been such fun!

We are now back in that Ellesmere place, so back to the same streets again, but this leakysky stuff has washed away all the weemails! I have some replacement work to do!

Photo of me (on the left) and Jasper checking out the long tufty grass beside the towpath while waiting to go work the locks.

Fantabulous Playmate!

Towpath workywalkies, 8 locks and a lifty-uppy bridge. All on brand new territory. Yesssss!!! Team Towpath back where we belong doing what we do best! The rest of the day has been all about snoozin-while-cruisin on the back deck.

Oh! I nearly missed a bit out! We moored up for Mummy and Daddy to have lunch (none for me of course. Huff!). There was another floatyboat there with a fantabulous playmate; a fellow black labrador called Jasper. A good game of chase-romp-and-roll with him was just what a hardworking guide dog needed on a cruisy day!

Photo of me in harness at the end of a lock beam, waiting while Mummy did all her windy-uppy-windy-downy stuff.

Me helping Mummy to push the big heavy lock beam.

Eternal Freerun.

Lying under the table at a human yummyery is always better when it comes after a nice long wander! Even when Mummy fails to yield to my bestest efforts to guide her to the lake for a swim. Instead, she insisted most insistently on 'Not today. Straight on'. Huff!

A good bone-munching session on the towpath this afternoon was fair compensation and a nice leisurely walkies this evening to take Daddy away so Mummy could stroke the floor has been a nice round off to a pretty relaxed day.

Mummy has had an email (she doesn't have a clue about weemails!) to tell us that Chrissie pup, (the pup we raised all the shinydisks for to sponsor her in memory of Nanny) has gone off to Guide Dogs Big School today. This made Mummy's eyes all leaky because today is the anniversary of the day that Nanny left us to go for her eternal freerun.

Chrissie pup in her crate in the back of the Guide Dogs School bus.

When we got to meet and play when she was diddy. She isn't the ickle ear-chewer that we first met any more!

Catching Up!

Coooeeeeee! I is back!

Well, actually, I haven't been away but phweeeessshh! What a week!!!!

We have been doing something called the Boats of Hope mission in this here Ellesmere place. It seems that this 'Mission' thingy involves lots of humanhowling in all sorts of guises, lots and lots and lots of yacketying in all sorts of places, and megamegamegalots of noshing! Human noshing! Not woofy noshing! How mean is that? They have had noshes in human yummyeries, noshes on the towpath, noshes inside floatyboats, noshes with lots of other humans. On most of the days they were even giving away nosh! Hundreds of sausages and burgers - big, mouthdrippy meaty disks......... and cheese n biccies and pupcakes and creamteases and biccies and brownies and and and...... oh it was torture! They didn't give any of it in the right direction! All those meanie humans - and two starving Labradors left with drippy jowls!

Lilly and I had to resort to hoovering the grass in the evenings - just to get a hint of the yumminess that we had been deprived of!

Even, on the occasion that I tried to rescue a pupcake from the binbag, Mummy was mean enough to force my mouth open and confiscate it! She said it was not good for me! She said it was full of sugar and with added sugar on top too. She said she didn't want to face the consequences the next day.

Haaarrrrruuuuummmmppppphhhhhh!

Starvation aside, it seems that mission for me has been simply to be handsome and gleaming and adored! Well, I think I can manage that! Mind you, I even got corrected on my interpretation of 'handsome and gleaming'. I had taken Mummy for a lovely long walkies along the towpath, through a dark tube of doom and out the other end to find a glorious giant puddle to swim in. It was fantabulous!! Just perfect on a hot afternoon! When I sploshed out again onto the towpath, I did a rather spectacular job of drying myself off by rolling on the dusty gravel towpath! I think the golden tones rather suited me! I think Mummy disagreed though: when we got back to flaotyboatyhome, I got frothed! Huff! Then, when I was dry, I got puffed and buffed and polished.

It has been a great week really! It is lovely to be with all our floatyboatyhumanpals, plus my girliefriend Lilly too. There has been oodles of hard work to do, plus lots of fun too. One evening, I got a bit miffed though. We went to a big building where there were lots of humanpups. Some of our floatyboatyhumans were playing football with them and Lilly got to join in but Mummy wouldn't let me. She said I would pop the ball! Well.... surely that is the idea of the game isn't it? I simply didn't get the chance to demonstrate my ball skills! I squeaked and woofed and cried but to no avail. Mum had me firmly clamped to her chair! Huff!

On Saturday, the day of the hundreds of sausages and meatydisks, Mummy wasn't feeling too good. I knew this. I looked after her. It was a really bad, bad eyes days, so I took her for a lovely long walkies along the towpath. Then I spent the rest of the day lying right next to her on the rug on the towpath. She was sitting on the rug on the floor, doing something she called 'Rag-rugging' and getting minihumans to join in. This meant that, even though I was pressed right by her side, making sure she was safe, I got lots of fusses and admirations! It was a very nice way to spend the time doing my duty.

On Tuesday, we went to a humanboozery place for the evening, where humanpals James and Hazel, plus Roger and Miriana did all sorts of humanhowling into black lollipops and they had various noiseboxes too - some with a hole in the middle and a long stick on one side with whiskers along it, some really peculiar things that had little buttons on both ends and a ziggyzaggy squeezy-in-and-out middle bit. I just enjoyed the carpet and kept tucked into the corner out of the way.

On Wednesday evening, it was Mummy's turn to use a black lollipop. This was in a different building and there were people sitting on rows and rows of chairs. Mummy was telling them all about her sightloss and about me and about something called miracles that have got us to be living on a floatyboatyhome. Of course, I simply had to do my bestest job; I had to soak up all the fusses and admirations! It's a tough job sometimes!

Yesterday was a day of unwinding after all the busyness. For me that meant another fantabulous swimming opportunity. I took Mummy and Daddy for a leisurely walkies and that got us to a lake where I found pooch pals to swim and romp in the giant puddle with. This evening, Daddy wanted to go back there when it was almost dark, so he could play with his one-eyed-clickybox. I was happy to accompany him and to demonstrate my swimming in the dark skills! Now, I am nice and soggy and Mummy says she wants a shower.........

 

I shall leave you with a few photos of the week's adventures.

Swimming in the giant puddle. I got quite a long way out.......

......but I swam back again!

Meeting a colleague is always good. This fellow Guide Dog was on hollibobs with his blind ladyhuman mum and dad on his wheeliebuzzer.

Looking after Mummy at one of the humanhowling sessions on the towpath.

Lilly tried on my working harness. I think it rather suited her! She didn't do too badly at guiding her daddy but she went in a bit of a zigzag line across the hall!