DECEMBER 2010: you won’t believe what Boo’s been up to!
Is the photographer here yet?
In a moment of idle surfing a while back, I entered a photo of Boo and myself into a Winalot photo competition, which was searching for the new ‘face’ of Winalot (causing Himself much mirth and ribald comment in respect of my own presence on the photo- rather rudely and unnecessarily, I thought)! Anyway, even with my presence in the original photo drastically reducing her winning chances, Boo still managed to get shortlisted as a finalist, involving a photo shoot with an award winning photographer, a stay in a dog-friendly hotel in Mayfair and a finale exhibition at the Getty Gallery in London – in fact it was all rather fabulous!
We’ve ended up spending a great morning with wildlife photographer Andy Rouse (what a lovely man), resulting in a great photo – the lovely big finale copy of which now has pride of place in our dining room and Boo herself ended up with a new bed (personalised with her name) and a new bowl, plus a goodie bag! We had a great time (even though I was still throwing up a bit) and Boo really enjoyed the extras that came with the trip, like patrolling Berkley Square for wayward nightingales and chasing the very smug city squirrels of Hyde Park! Almost all of the finalists were at the exhibition event and Boo behaved impeccably, even remembering her manners with the dedicated doggy waiter who was carrying a silver platter of treats (I’m not kidding – treats were on tap for the doggies too)! The competition was won by a fantastic dalmation called Blade who really was a personality and a half and it was really great to meet the other finalists. Although it was obviously a very ‘doggy’ thing, the general feeling was just of families that love their dogs, not doggy-mad-bordering-on-deranged types, and we did have a lovely time. Competition results are now up so if you want to check out the winner and see if you can spot Boo, the link is:
http://www.winalot-dog.co.uk/Competitions/FamilyPhoto/Default.aspx
Just ignore the blurb that says we live in Brighton – we don’t and I did keep pointing this out! What is it about the seaside that makes everyone think ‘Brighton’? Although I guess now that we have our own burned pier here, it’s an easy mistake!
SEPTEMBER 2010 : just to update the dog blog!
Being good!
Being good, with paw!
It’s chaotic to say the least, but both Seamus and Boo are good at being good when I’m not feeling well (although Seamus does have a weakness for taking advantage of my slippers when I’m indisposed – with feet up and not wearing them, obviously, quite wrong otherwise)!
Desperate to take them for a good long yomp, but weather and health have prevented this for the last couple of weeks, Himself has done all of the yomping, bless him, although I’m not sure I approve of him yomping behind my back!
Both have enjoyed the visitors who have been a part of the preparations for winter / downshift. Boo adores the chimney sweep, must be to do with the fact that she actually looks like she could be a sweep’s mutt (or brush, come to that), so she had great fun with him when he called last week. Seamus proved to be extremely annoying until the sweep switched on his chimney vacuum cleaner thing (this is the technical term, I believe) – then Seamus shot away, leaping straight up for cuddles in his terror. The same game was played out when the insulation survey took place (drilling a hole to see if our cavity was empty – the wall dear, the wall). I’ll have to keep him well out of the way when they come to actually fill me cavities tomorrow!
Seamus is five months old tomorrow. He has grown into Boo’s old collar now, and is wearing it, not so much with pride as some sort of confusion. He didn’t know that downshifting included having her hand-me-downs, I guess!
AUGUST 2010
I have two great loves in my life (apart from the old man and my dear sons, obviously)!
Boo is my gorgeous girl, aged 3 1/2, very smiley as you can see:
Smile for the camera!
Seamus is my boy, who is barking mad of course! Aged approximately 10 weeks here:
Exploring the garden!
Finally I have a picture of them both together!
It’s incredibly hard to catch them ‘sensibly’ together on camera! This one was taken earlier in the summer when they were both enjoying a game of sticks in the garden. Boo, as you can see, is extremely tolerant of the young whippersnapper!
Habibiboo 