Blog post No 27. Today I become a teenager!

I am a teenager!

I am 13 today.

I begrudgingly wore a party hat for a few seconds.

Then I opened my pressie.

It was a new collar with a famous mouse on it.

I like mice, I like sniffing them out and woofing at them.

The rest of the day I shall potter around and probably sleep a lot.

Apparently that's what teenagers like to do...

They know everything, sleep till midday and then eat some snacks, making sure they leave crumbs everywhere so the humans can moan at us.

Bring on the snacks!!!

 I am really going to enjoy being a teenager.

Barney.

Blog post No 26. Me again!

 HELLO

Did you miss me?

I must apologise for not putting 'paw to paper' sooner but I didn't have too much to write about.

I spent most of the summer trying to keep cool.  Boy was it hot.

It was so hot that I had multiple Spa Days to keep my coat nice and short.

I know I like to help around the garden a lot but next Summer I am definitely staying away from the Potting shed where the Miracle Grow is kept! 

 I am sure just looking at it made my fur grow even quicker!

This was me most days, in front of my very own fan.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Anyway on to my little bit of news.

As you know I have been in my foster home for over 2 years now and I am settled and apparently doing rather well, I am behaving and not barking anywhere near as much as I used to. 

In fact I consider myself to be the perfect house guest. 

So, Terrier SOS have said I can become a sanctuary dog and stay here as a permanent foster. 

This is brilliant news for me as it means I can relax and enjoy my retirement here, somewhere I know and love to be.

The sofas are comfy, the food is really tasty and the treats are plentiful.

I also have lots of space to mooch and potter about in and that suits me just fine.

So that is my news.

I will pop back here from time to time if anything exciting happens but apparently retirement is a busy time in one's life so I shall probably be very busy now

 .....keeping away from the Miracle Grow

and 

Relaxing.

Barney.

Present headquarters.

WOW!

So many  parcels have arrived from the Terrier SOS Christmas Wish List.

They are all being opened and sorted and every Terrier SOS foster dog will be receiving a HUGE box of goodies on Christmas morning.

I have been helping my staff to sort  everything  and been barking out orders to keep them focussed on the big job we have.

I do like to help and as I am a responsible chap I can be 100% trusted not to "taste test" the contents of the packets......

Well OK, perhaps I can be trusted 99% of the time. 

Just a few more boxes to open and sort.

Thank you for sending us so many lovely presents.

We are going to have the best Christmas.

Barney.

Blog post No 14. Being good

Just a quick update on how we all are.

My new foster brother is exhausting...... to watch.

This is a rare moment when he finally stopped moving and fell asleep.

I have announced that he definitely cannot share MY blog and he can jolly well start his own.

Although to be honest I am not sure he could ever sit still long enough to type a few sentences, let alone a whole blog post.

 Here is a nice photo of me being a very good boy and relaxing while listening to the wind and rain outside and  Gryffin in the next room.

Am I being watched?

Barney

Blog post No 12. Making choices.

Hello

Me again.

Today I am going to write about choices.

My staff, as you know, are very attentive and I am allowed to choose, for the most part, what I want to do.

Yesterday afternoon they thought I would enjoy a trot around outside.

I thought that was a great idea, sniff out some moles and mice and chase the local feral cats.

However, they failed to mention the brisk south easterly "breeze".

I am not a meteorologist but even I can distinguish between a breeze and a gale force wind..... certainly when it is heading towards my derriere.

I, therefore, chose to stay close to the protected areas away from the "hurricane" brisk breeze.

My choice.

I wasn't going to risk going into a field with no protection from the elements.

So back we went.

My choice.

Here is photographic evidence of the brisk breeze.

The trees were not standing still and upright as they should be!

Let me in please.

HURRY UP!

Barney

Blog post No 7 Chilling out.

I have been practising how to relax and not bark and become too excitable.

I am getting very good at it, even if I do say so myself.

I have gone from living life on the edge 

To catching the sun's rays through the window.

They do say the sun always shines on the righteous and those amongst us who do good deeds are usually rewarded.

I may not necessarily do a good deed but I am working on being a good boy and although being nice and quiet may not mean I will have an easier path to follow,  it may mean my snacks, treats and meals may be served a little quicker.

I live in hope.

 

I have been in my bed but still mange to keep an eye on my staff.

Sometimes I am too exhausted to stay awake 

That's when I dream of the places I would like to visit this summer.

I am getting much better travelling in the car.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I have to tell you a funny story.

Yesterday my staff went out and I went with them in the car, I was in the back of the car on my bed of many blankets.  I was thoroughly enjoying rearranging the blankets to my liking that I forgot to bark!

After lots of stops and turns, negotiating country lanes, ignoring the irritating indicator clicking noises and not a murmur from me, my staff became exceedingly worried and thought I may have passed out or died so they stopped the car, when it was safe to do so, to make sure I was OK. 😲

Silly staff!

They disturbed me so I barked at them.

Why when they want me to be a good boy and be quiet on car journeys do they then disturb me and make me bark?

Think I need to send them away to be retrained!

Barney

Blog Post No 5. Keeping myself fit and healthy.

 I am back!

I took a short break from blogging.  

Keeping my foster staff busy and with my birthday celebrations lasting a few days I really didn't have the time to fit everything into my daily schedule.

Here are a few photos from my birthday.

I received lots of presents, my favourite was a new baby hedgehog to add to my large stuffed toy collection.  

I have a whole family of hedgehogs now. I know which one is the Mummy hedgehog because she has pink toes. 

I munched on lots of extra treats and I was also allowed a slightly larger portion of dinner that day. 😋😋

~~~~~~~~~~

Anyway as this post is meant to be all about how I keep myself fit and healthy I had better get on with telling you.

Firstly, appearance is of paramount importance. Having a daily brush makes me feel good and I do like receiving the attention. 

I regularly go to the groomers. That's a fun place to go to. 

I am always their only client.... well who would want a Spa day with strangers? 

I like my privacy.

The lovely ladies that,  try to drown me,   bath me are absolutely brilliant. 

I get into their bath and I am soaped all over and  gently massaged. 

It really is a lovely experience even though I may look like a drowned rat...

Until the hairdryer comes out, which floofs me up and then I metamorphosise into a sheep!

Then I receive a lovely brush

I just sit there and let them pamper me.

Fluffy me.

Clipping begins

Then it's time for my nails to be done.

All done.

Handsome me

I am always as good as gold. 

I do think the grooming ladies have a soft spot for me. 😍

The next part of keeping myself nice and trim is being careful with my food. 

I admit I could eat for England but with guidance from my staff I know I eat healthily and the correct amount of good quality food each day. 

I recently had my annual health check at my Vets.

That's another great place to go and meet people who adore me.

I always make sure I am first through their front door.

 Stepping tentatively onto the dreaded scales  I was very happy when my nice vet lady said my weight was perfect even after the extra birthday treats and large portion of birthday dinner I had munched the previous week.

I was declared to be a lovely shape and as fit as a fiddle. 

The nice vet even asked my staff to confirm my age as I was acting more like an 11 month old than an 11 year old!

That proves that taking good care of yourself really works. 

There will always be a spring in my paws.

Even when taking the greatest care of myself,  I can succumb to having periods when I am a little under the weather.

Unfortunately this happened to me last year when a horrid bacteria called Pseudomonas infected my right ear.

After weeks and weeks of trying to get the horrid bacteria  to go away with several courses of different antibiotics, ear drops 4 times a day and multiple visits to my vets I realised there was only one option left for me.

I couldn't live in discomfort indefinitely and keep taking all the pills, so last November  an appointment was made for me to have day surgery and have my right ear canal removed.

My operation was successful and it meant the infection was completely removed and I was free from having a permanent ear ache.

I am fully healed now and looking at me you would never know I ever had the operation.

As I no longer have my right ear canal I am totally deaf in my right ear. 

My left ear works well....

When I want it to.......😈

I can sometimes experience problems locating a sound and apparently do a wonderful impression of a baby owl turning its head round and round trying to locate where a sound is coming from.  

Please note when the word  DINNER is mentioned I have perfect hearing. 

Well that's it from me for today.

I'll be back.

Barney.

 

Happy Birthday to me!

I am so excited.

It's my birthday today.

I have heard there will be lots of extra treats..

I love birthdays.

Got to dash.....presents need to be opened.

Barney 

Blog post No 4. Car journeys.

Hello

It's me again!

Today I am going to tell you all about our car journeys.

I do love a good car ride.

I admit to becoming quite excited.

First thing to do when you go on a car journey is to decide where you want to sit.

My personal choice would be the front seat next to my chauffeur.

Sadly I am not allowed to sit there.

Nothing stops me from trying out all the other seats though before we leave.

Should I sit on the nearside of the car or the offside?

It is important to sit where you feel the most comfortable .

Once we have all decided where we are going to sit and are safely strapped in,  having had several false starts trying to leave the drive because someone has forgotten something, the fun really starts for me.

The journey.

The staff have a voice locked away inside the dashboard of my transport and it tells them which route to take on our journey. It's quite clever really until it gets thoroughly confused because the staff ignore it!

It is quite a posh female voice and is rather pleasant to listen to for the first part of the journey.

After a few miles, when the staff decide they don't want to go on the scenic route she has chosen and would prefer the boring main road route instead, all we hear is ...

Take the next left.

Then turn left and then left again.

Or when she gets fed up with saying that, we have to listen to...

Turn around, turn around.

Even my little Wirey, woolly brain tells me we must be going round in circles at this point!

I do become rather exasperated and enjoy joining in the general mayhem of noise.... with the staff telling the voice inside the dashboard to stop talking. 

When we finally all agree on the route we will be taking, the nice lady inside the dashboard does settle down and snoozes until we have to turn off the road we are on and join a new one.

Then she comes into her own again and repeats absolutely everything.... twice!

And if you get it wrong  there is no stopping her!

Just to make sure my staff actually understand her instructions I add my tuppence worth to the proceedings  and bark out the directions.

This does not appear to go down too well with them.

I am always a little confused as to why we are all sat in the car having an argument with an invisible lady in the dashboard of MY transport..... when it would be so much easier if they just switched her off and picked up the road map that sits on the floor next to me.

But at least I have the chance to have a jolly good bark.

Always happy to join in.

Barney.

 

Blog post No 3. Things I really enjoy doing.

 

Hello again.

A little puzzle for you to enjoy before you start reading my next blog post.

SPOT THE DIFFERENCE.

Did you find it?

~~~~~~~~~~

Now are you sitting comfortably?

Then I will begin.

This week I thought I would tell you what constitutes a fabulous day for me. What makes me very happy and allows me to be a good calm boy.

I really enjoy being part of a family and being allowed to potter about and 'help'.

I am a very respectful boy and never destroy anything so I am always allowed the choice of what I would like to do.

Now the better weather has arrived I love being outside more.

One of my ways of helping is to make sure compost bags aren't blown away and remain neatly folded.

Supervising the staff when they build something new.

Keeping cardboard boxes from being blown away.

      In a standing 

              

And in a lying down position.

Car maintenance

Checking tyre pressures.

Making sure the Terrier Transport is always clean.

Gardening duties include a number of tasks ranging from keeping an eye on their gardening gloves.

(The staff  are always losing them).

To weed control.  Flattening them! 

Supervising hedge cutting

Filling up compost bags with weeds

Riding on the tractor

These are just some of the outdoor activities I thoroughly enjoy.

I also take care of security outside and inside the house.

I am chief parcel opener.

That's after I have thanked the Post person for delivering them.

With the added responsibility of quality control.

Then there are the DIY projects that need to be supervised.

Reminding the staff where my snack cupboard is!

Another important job is ensuring the cushions are perfectly placed on the sofa.

As you can see my talents are varied and I am such a happy boy when I am just allowed to potter and be myself.

I don't need to walk miles every day.

I can't cope with ball play.. throwing a ball to me just makes me over excited.

Pottering about and being with my staff during the day allows me to be a calm and happy boy.

I do like to relax.

My staff are very good and never give me verbal commands.

Being the clever boy I am, if I am allowed to anticipate what may happen next because a command has been given to me, my excitement level can go from 0 - 60 in a matter of seconds.

As a relaxed chap I am able to toddle around, be a very good boy and have happy staff.

I will be back soon.

Barney