The Mis-Adventures of A Silly Dog. 2

Silly dog has hip dysplasia. He's almost two and this was found when he was around 18months old.  He was in excruciating pain.  You can read about it here.

Since then we've been aware of his condition, if he's had a particularly long run one day, it'll be a little less intense the next as he can be quite stiff. We're also mindful of keeping the weight off as he's a greedy little bugger and a typical spaniel; hoovering up whatever might come his way. Edible or not! See the Mis-Adventures of A Silly Dog.1

He' also incredibly spoilt, he is my baby and sleeps on our bed.  I "NEVER" let the children sleep in my bed but the dog.. well that's different. He's fluffy. I'd like to say he doesn't kick, but he does, he takes up all the foot space and snores like a congested walrus.

Last night he sat up, started to have a bit of a scratch and promptly fell off the bed.  He seemed to very confused how one moment he was sitting on the bed and the next he was on a heap in the floor. He looked at me like I'd pushed him off and gave me that disdainful spaniel look before leaping back on the bed, huffing and puffing before taking the warm comfy spot I vacated to check he was alright.

No doubt he'll now use this as an excuse to take up even more space and worm his way up the bed between me and Mr.M.

The Mis-Adventures Of A Silly Dog. 1.

We have a spaniel, he's dippy.  He's a Cavalier King Charles spaniel, droopy eared and doe eyed. Loving, sweet and silly.

Cavaliers in particular are knows for being fussy eaters or incredibly greedy.  Mine seems to be in the greedy group. At meal times he'll sit next to Mr.M because he knows who's the soft touch.  He once snaffled a steak off my plate when I got up from the table to get a drink and will  pinch food out of the 5 year old's hand if she wanders about with it. 

A few weeks ago he found and consumed a large Easter Egg my daughter had left by the dining table. He wasn't even on his own, I was upstairs.  He chewed through the box and ate the egg.  Chocolate is poisonous to dogs, In a panic I called the vets. Luckily I had the amount he ate and his weight. He was sick and shaky for a day or two.

Last week, I went on the school run and didn't take him with me. He's not allowed in the school grounds, I can't leave him in the car and don't want to leave him tied up at the railings.   I was out for and hour and a half. When we got home he'd eaten the contents of the bathroom bin.


For those with a weak or delicate constitution leave the story here.

The contents were not nice I'm afraid. It was mainly used tampons in nappy bags.  Again he started to be sick, this time at 3am in my bedroom.  First thing in the morning I called the vets. Apparently unused tampons are worse than used due to the absorbency. Who knew?  I took him in and he was given an anti-sickness injection and special food for dogs with poorly tummies.  The vet provided me with rubber gloves and asked me to keep my eye on his bowel movements, literally. 

So I have found myself in the garden, gloves on, phone at the ready to inspect and take pictures of the offending turds.  I could post a picture on here....

but I wont!

Just know this... it's not nice!

And so, after getting rid of all the baby gates a few years ago, I may have go and get another one.

Dog Days Out: West Wittering Beach

I have vague memories and the odd photo of us at a beach. I seem to remember it could have been Clacton. I was small and it was hot and sunny.

Me, Dad & Brother, possibly Clacton Circa summer 1975

The only beaches my kids have been to is the ones we have visited abroad on holiday and Bognor Regis as my Aunty lives there.

Now we have the puppy I'm always looking out for somewhere we can take him as well.  He's an important member of our family and deserves days out too!  Someone suggested West Wittering beach. 

They're out there somewhere!

When we arrived, it was a bit chilly and a bit windy but the view was amazing. Huge sandy flats with a low tide.  We'd been in the loft and dug out the buckets and spades, the 5yo, 9yo, MrM and dog were straight off leaving me to fight the wind to get the blanket down and pinned in place with the picnic bag and various shoes.  The 5yo came back, bucket full of shells and soaked up to her bum.  I'd rather hopefully brought a pair of her shorts with me so with a lot of struggling I managed to peel the already tight leggings from her cold, wet legs and replace them.

My dog isn't a water fan. Odd I know. The slightest sniff of rain and he refuses to leave the house. After a long walk you'd think he'd want to dip his paws but not my little pup. However, he was happy to get his paws wet on the beach. He also kept trying to drink the salt water and made himself a little sick. Being the well prepared owner I am, I had remembered to bring his pop-up water bowl and fresh water. 

Sadly the chilly weather had got the better of us. There were lots of people flying kites and having a great time.

We wandered up towards the car park and the beach cafe. MrM and I had a well deserved hot drink and the kids both had huge ice-creams despite being almost blue from being cold and wet!

If you want to visit, it's close to Chichester Harbour, about an hour and twenty minutes drive from where we are on the London/Surrey border.  It's sandy and has year round dog friendly sections.  There's a huge car park which is £8 for a full day at high season weekends with plenty of room for picnics and barbecues.

As soon as summer finally decides to visit us we'll definitely be back.   

For more information about the beach you can click   here

I Could Rule The World

14 -  I met my first love. 

16 -  I left school and went to work.

18  - My parents died within 5 months of each other. I found the courage to walk away from the destructive relationship.

22 - I miscarried at 12 weeks.

23 - I had pre-cancerous cells in my cervix and had laser treatment.

24 - I met my true love.

27  - We married.

31 - I became a Mother.

35 - I became a Mother again.

40 - I got a puppy.

I have found love, suffered loss and grief, spent one day as the centre of attention and had the proudest moments and achievements of my life.  I am middle aged and I can rule the world.

My Dog, My Baby

We have a gorgeous Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. 

He's 19 months old and my kids will tell you I treat him better than them. Maybe I do, he smothers me with unconditional love, looks contrite when he's been naughty and doesn't answer back when he's sent to bed.

Recently I came home from work and although given my enthusiastic greeting, it was interspersed with cries of pain and whimpering. He could move but every step was agony.

Off we tripped to the vets , he was given an anti-inflammatory injection (queue more screaming) and tablets plus pain killers to take home.

After a few days it was apparent there was no improvement. He was banned from walks and only allowed in the garden, on the lead to stop him running around. Even stepping over the threshold from the garden had him screaming.  We were carrying him in his basket up and down stairs, not having crate trained as a puppy.

Back to the vets, stronger anti-inflammatory drugs and tramadol pain killers. It should have enough to knock him out but the pain must have been unbearable.

We arranged x-rays and it showed he had a condition called hip displaysia. The ball doesn't sit flush in the socket.  The vet referred us to the surgical vets featured in the Channel 4 series; The Supervet.  They confirmed the diagnoses but felt he was too young for surgery and if possible we should wait.  If he does need surgery, it could be a full hip replacement at a cost of £6,000. We are insured but have a two thousand pound limit. We would be looking at finding the other £4,000 ourselves.  

In my distressed state I said I would pay anything for him to be better but Mr.M didn't quite see it so clearly.  I said I would get a loan, use a credit card, do anything.  I was threatening divorce before my beloved puppy was written off. But what if we couldn't pay for it?  I couldn't give him away because he's not perfect.  

I spent a lot of my time crying, it did feel like one of my children was going through a horrible trauma.

Thankfully, over the weeks the puppy started to get better and we managed to wean him off the all the anti-inflammatories and pain killers.  We are back to trips to the park but if he runs too much he is sore and stiff for a couple of days. He's like a little old man.

One day he will need a full hip replacement but whilst I can keep him pain free and mainly medication free, I can save up my pennies for that day.

Every Dog Has His Day

This weekend I had big plans for a lot of housework. I often have these kind of silly pipe dreams then something else far more interesting pops up, like taking the dog and the kids to the park. Or, like this weekend, a dog show.

I only found out about it late on Friday night having a coffee with my friend. The weather forecast wasn't great but we thought we may as well go.

Saturday morning I gave puppy a bit of a groom, he's in between puppy and adult fur and also moulting so is a bit of a scruff at the moment.  As usual for our family we were running late and only just made registration. We entered puppy in the following categories "Waggiest Tail", "Best Puppy" and "Dog The Judge Would Most Like To Take Home".   

"Waggiest Tail" was about to start so the four year old joined me in the arena. She had the most important job of holding up our number as we paraded round the ring smiling like a "round card girl" in a boxing match.  Puppy was most interested in all of the audience and decided to jump up at one of the judges.  We lined up and waited anxiously for the results.  There had been some very waggy competition so when the dog next to us was given 3rd place I lost some expectation as I'd been watching that tail.. it wagged... lots.  Second place was called from somewhere down the line, I hadn't seen their tail.  I held my breath, I waited for what seemed like an eternity.  Good job I'm not a contestant on any kind of TV show that makes you wait an excruciating amount of time to know if you've won, I'd pass out before an announcement was made.  Finally they called out number 10. It was us! We'd done it! The Puppy, four year old and I all made it to the centre of the arena to collect the prize, a 1st place rosette and a packet of doggy Dentastix.  Woohoo! 

Rolling off the high of our win we entered the "Best Puppy" category. Competition was high, next to us was the cutest shith-tzu who was very well behaved.  Puppy was good but let himself down by turning his back on his audience to sit facing me.  I think he was still showing everyone his waggy tail.  No surprise we didn't win that one.

We wondered around the tents and entered the "guess the total" for the amount of doggy biscuits in a jar.  The prize was the biscuits and a rather lovely doggy hamper.  

The heavens opened, thunder and lightening started so we decided to give the last category a miss and headed home triumphant.

That evening we had a phone call from the ladies at UK Romanian Dog Rescue who'd run the "guess the biscuit" competition.  We'd only gone and won that too!  We were one biscuit out.  Puppy was on a roll. 


Now to get him choosing our lottery numbers.

Babying The Dog?

We have a puppy.  Well I say puppy; he's ten months old now and the equivalent of a naughty teenager in dog years.  He was 9 weeks old when we got him and apart from him immediately coming down with kennel cough and not being able to have his vaccinations for weeks and weeks, he is one of the best things we have done for our family.

So what if I now have to buy  ALL my bags and shoes in Primark, I've got through three purses in two months and he chomped up my bank card! 


He is my baby. Seriously; I probably treat him better than my own two little devils.  He comes onto our bed in the mornings and snuggles up yawning in my face, whacking hubs with his fluff tail. He's my little shadow.

In the summer puppy is going to spend a week at my friends house with her 11 year old (big) dog.  To get them used to each other and for puppy to be in big dogs territory I drop him at my friends house in the morning. It's about half an hour drive away and when we get there puppy is super excited and drags me up to the front door only to be barked at madly.  

Last week I drop puppy off and race off to get back to the four year olds nursery to help prepare for the up coming summer fair.  I get half way back when my mobile starts to ring.  It's my friend.  Puppy has enjoyed the use of her garden and produced the largest poo a small dog can do.  So large he yelped. Unfortunately he is a fluffy thing and some ... stuck to him. He proceeded to run into the house, sit on her kitchen floor and scoot around.  He wouldn't let her near him and my friend didn't know what to do.  I turned the car around and raced back.  Puppy and friend greeted me fairly enthusiastically in the garden.  Puppy was lifted onto a rickety old garden table (not used for eating purposes!). Nail scissors were produced and I cut the stuck turd off, trimmed up his extra furry bum, wiped him with wet-wipes and released him back to the garden whilst apologising profusely to my friend for the mess and embarrassment.

When I had my babies I expected to be wiping bums but it's not quite what I expected when I bought the dog.

I still wouldn't change him for all the world although I often threaten to give the kids away!