Emma's stuck inside the computer - get her out!

Just been taken totally by surprise by my first Skype videocall. Emma called from Spain and we were chatting away, when Satchmo got alert and then anxious; climbed on my lap and first stared at the computer, then started trying to nudge random bits each time Emma spoke. I'm sure she preferred seeing bits of Satch's head and neck to a rather washed-out pic of me, anyway.

House(trained) - Doctor Satch to the rescue

Nina tearing her ears wouldn't have been too much of a problem if Satchmo hadn't decided to give them frequent and thorough medical attention. He kept licking them inside and out. Constantly. Unfortunately, hygiene is not his strong point and he still licked them after he'd been drinking from a disgusting-smelling bucket (found out why after; dead fledgeling in it). So, antibiotics for Nina and a lot of shouting 'Leave it' for Satch.

Then I fell over and grazed my hand and knee badly. Satchmo felt he could deal with it much better than a wash and a plaster - but in this case I decided to disagree strongly. Got to wear trousers to keep him away from my knee. He sniffs it though - makes me feel as if I have a very smelly knee.

Normal service is resumed

Sorry for the long gap. I surprised myself in June by resigning from my job as CEO of 2 companies after 19 years. Just finished a couple of weeks ago. It disrupted life in many ways and, strangely, took my attention away from the dog blog. Was it a clever move? Tell you in 6-12 months...

Nina's in the wars again. She seems to sense when I've posted off some show entries. She hasn't been shown since early Sept 2009. I had entered her for a few more last autumn, but she ripped another bit out of herself. I've been focused on Satchmo since then, but I took both to the Companion Dog Show at Berkeley Show and she moved so nicely (winning open and best movement) that I thought I'd show her again a bit. So now she's ripped both ears (inside and out) on brambles. Found them and cut them down (no, silly, the brambles). Inevitably, by far the most noticeable scar is on the ear nearest the judge. Still, let's see how she gets on.

(She's snoring at the moment. Why do the bitches snore and the dogs not??)