Not hell ... not really even purgatory, except for Satch

Things are gradually subsiding. I let Max and Satchmo play with Nina this afternoon. Satch jumped and skipped round his mother, playbowing and saying, "I love, love, love my Mum. She's so exciting to be with. Much more than usual. Let's play, play, play." Sweetie. He just doesn't get it, does he? Max knows Nina won't let him near her, so he mounts Satch instead. So, Satchmo is playbowing at his mum and wagging his tail and all of a sudden, Max is on his back end that he's inadvertently pointed skywards. You can see Satch thinking, "I don't know much about sex, but this isn't how I imagined it'd be."

Hormone hell - yet again

OK, so Nina's in season again and this time two sexually mature boys to keep away from her. As luck had it, I was already scheduled for 4 days away with friends, so I took the boys and got someone to house sit Nina. However, back yesterday and at least one dog whining all the time. Mostly Satchmo (typical boy), but both Max and Nina do join in regularly. (Short pause here while Satch tried to climb on my lap. Fey little look - what a poor boy I am, please cuddle me - and then belched in my face.) Max won't eat at all now, at least not dog food. Half a dozen sausages by hand and a pound of biscuits doesn't, of course, count as eating.

Anyway, Max now in kitchen barking and howling, Satch whining in my ear and Nina in the sitting room scratching my lovely oak door and whining. At least another week of this...

At night the two boys are in cages and Nina in the room with them. If I put Nina in the cage instead, Max pees on her. The joys of dog ownership.

Good day at SW Working and Pastoral

Satch was the only dog in Junior, so needless to say, got a first. I also took Nina, first proper show for about a year, and she won open bitch, which I was thrilled about. And then Satchmo won BOB. Very pleased, as he was up against four other dogs. Had to persuade one of the exhibitors whose dog Nina beat to handle her in the BOB line-up. He was very nice about it and complimentary about her. Long wait for the group judging and no placing in that, which is not surprising as Satch is still only 16 months and therefore still a bit immature. Good day out though.

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??)

Still a leather fetishist

Remember the blog about Satch and his leather fetish (early May)? Well, it's still going on. He's now removed a total of three collars from Max, eaten the leather and left the buckle/chain/dog tag or whatever. I'm only relieved that he must chew them into small pieces; I was not looking forward to helping 20 inches of leather out of his bottom. Max is now sporting a fetching multicoloured fabric collar.

Oh, and he had a go at one of my rather lovely pale blue shoes that I bought in the states. I think I can just about still wear it. I'm very well aware that he thinks suede is potentially even more tasty and generally sensually appealling than ordinary leather, as he keeps licking my suede shoes, but so far he hasn't got any further than that (as far as I know).