Boaty Kennel time.

My last swim in the river today. Mum says we will be cruising back to the boatykennel soon. She won't let me back aboard the boat while I'm all drippy soggy so i just have to lie out on the grass with my big rawhide bonechew. Such a tough life!

Militant Action!

Sit down protest! That's what Mum called it. Blimmin well had enough. That's what I called it.

Mum started off doubting me! She said she thought I might be a bit of a tinker on harness, having had a couple of days of complete chilling out, playing and swimming. Well, she was wrong! I was a good boy. A very good boy! I knew I needed to. I knew Mum's eyesight was playing her sillywotsits. So, we stepped off the boat, I had a brief play on the field, including doing what a dog just has to do when there are trees around. Then, on went my harness and we strode off across the field, over the bridge, along the towpath, then onto a street route and to that Dunelm place.

On the way, I nearly got my nose bitten off by a stroppy little yappychappy who flew at me so fast and furious that he kind of swung himself on the end of his lead. I stuck my nose in the air and took Mum on past him.

It was in that Dullelm shop that I got a bit naffed off. Suuuuuuuch a loooooooong........slooooooowwww.........dreary walk ...... In and out.....up and down......there and back again........ A definite downside to my work on a Mummy-funny-eyes-day - it just takes her sooooooooooo long to scan the shelves for what she wants. And this Dullelm place always seems to hold her attention for way too long! Well....today was a funny-eyes-day IN Dullelm! Worst possible combination! I did my duty for quite a while.....I trudged around just about every inch of the place......but then....one step too far ........ She wanted to look for something smelly - not nice smelly like chicken or tripe or foxpoo - oh no! Stinky smelly to 'deal with smells in the bathroom'! Uggghhh! Well, I seized my opportunity! She stopped at the end of the aisle. I planted my bum firmly on the floor and noooooo amount of 'come on', 'this way', or even the lure of a treat was going to shift my butt! I won! Mum just left me there while she went on a sniffing mission. That bit of floor was quite cool for a lie-down!

I did enjoy the stop off at Pets at Home afterwards. Their checkout has yummies for good boys! I did my goodest waggy tailed sit. I got a yummy! That was after I'd done a good 'sit' on the shiny platform that gives Mum my numbers. Apparently my numbers have got smaller again, so that means I will get slightly bigger dinners! Well.....I think I need to go sit on that platform more often!

Next stop was Lidl's where I got fusses from my pal Jerry on the checkout. He is a nice humanman. He opened the checkout especially for us!

All ll that hard work was very hot work. I was glad of a big drink afterwards. Then even more glad of a good swimming session in the river when we got back home to the floatyboat.

Floating and Boating.....

This is such a tough life!

I spent the morning playing with my buddy Brodie, then had a big job sorting out Mum's daft insistence on throwing my ball into the river - I had to swim soooooooo many times to fetch it back!

Now I'm having to watch these peculiar humans that seem to be throwing themselves out of their strange pointed floating bowls, holding flat-ended sticks, then climbing back in and doing it all over again ... And again .... And again.... They seem to be finding it fun. I'm not too sure if I should be going to join in or to rescue them. Mum has tethered me though so the best I can actually do is watch and squeak at them!

Photo of me lying on grass just to the front of our floatyboaty home watching a group of humans with canoes and kayaks.

Rewards

"It didn't touch the sides!" She said. Well.....why on earth would there be any need whatsoever for a chunk of cheese to touch my sides? It went in precisely the right place! And it was yummy!

This was a gift from a very nice lady at a mouth-drippingly wonderful flappy-walled shoppy-thing in the middle of the street after a long workywalkies to church and then to a human yummyery, then into town. So, I had worked hard......my tail did it's very bestest appealing wiggly-wagging and I got a little reward!

Then, the lady who commented about my sides broke off a bit of a treat she had bought for her dog, and she gave me that too (after asking Mum's permission first). That was a delicious crunchy tuna biccie. Perfect accompaniment to the cheese!

There are benefits to being a working dog in a smart harness - yummy benefits! Humans often seem to want to reward me for being so amazing! HeeHeee!

Garden

Relaxing in my garden after a hard morning of playing and swimming

Pic of me lying down on the grass beside our boat, showing just a part of the huge open field area that is our garden while we are moored here.

One chilled Oakley!

Rewarded!!!

I remembered!

We have cruised! We did a lock! I remembered what I have to do to look after Mum, and I did it even without my harness! Mum decided that I could have that one lock off duty as it was very familiar territory and very good light. I still made sure she was on the straight and narrow though. I kept her safe!

My reward? The bestest mooring in Newbury! Right in the middle of my favourite freerun park AND alongside my doggypals Blue (white German Shepherd), Brodie (Pointer-ish) and Rusty (Briard) aboard Dawn Run. Yayyyyyyyy! I have had a fantabulous day running and chasing and swimming in the river.

Goodbye Uncle Terry.

Ooooh! I luuuuuuuuuvvvvveeee Debbi and Ryan's mahhhooooosive garden! And the giant round deep puddle they have in it was fun too!

Well.....Debbi and Mum stood with their paws in that lovely cool water in that round blue puddle thing. I just had to check they were OK...... I put my front paws on the side and it kind of squished down and got my back paws all wet! Mum called me a bumbling oaf for the way she said I lumbered myself in. I'm not sure how to take that! Well.... I suppose I don't really care.....it was great fun!

Debbi used a little net-on-a-stick to swish around in the water. It seems she was collecting all sorts of things that were floating about in the water. I thought that maybe she was finding toys for me - just like when Dad uses one of those net things to scoop up my wayward toys that 'fall' off the boat sometimes. I may have got just a smidgen carried away.......I may just have snatched the net off her and run off with it...... Oops! Heeeeheeee! (it was only very slightly redesigned when I gave it back!)

It has been a great day - a couple of workywalkieses, but mainly chilling out (well......sort of .....it was a bit toasty really!) in that big garden. There were some leaky eyes at the end as we left Uncle Terry and got into the car to come back to the boat. Apparently we won't see him again for a long time. He will be staying with Debbi and Ryan until Saturday, then will be going inside one of the huge noisy shiny bird-with-wings-that-don't-flap things like the ones that went over the top of us every few seconds in the garden, to go home to his Tie-Land. I shall miss him. He plays good tug games!