Well, today it was Mummy's asthma bothering her - I think she is stressed so I will give her lots of opportunities to play with my squeakies and that will make her feel better.





I met two lovely 7 month old girl Cocker Spaniel puppies today - one of them has hip dysplasia and isn't allowed to walk much so she goes up to the school in a pushchair! I had a snuffle and a flirt with both of them and Mummy said I am a cradle snatcher...





We saw Carol, who is Maisie's Mummy, and I tried to climb in her car and then ran in her house and fetched Maisie out, and then we walked around a field together. After that, me and Mummy went for our proper walk and it was getting dark when we got home and it was only 5 p.m.





No fireworks so far...paws crossed...





regards to all





Bruce xxx

Slow Recovery

My Mummy is slowly getting better but she still isn’t right so I have not liked to ask her to come upstairs and do my piccies for me this week, and I don’t like to post without a piccy so I have kept quiet…

Have you missed me?

At the start of the week, I had not seen many of my friends for ages and I had disgraced myself when I saw Max. I have had a much better week this week. It started much the same – Mummy was still going to work feeling horrible and dragging herself around our walks, it rained a bit and we weren’t having that much fun. Mummy was worried for The Mother when we heard that her Auntie Peggy has died. Judy didn’t want to take The Mother to the funeral but Mummy said that she should as Mummy was very close to Auntie Peggy so Judy reluctantly agreed. My People arranged to send flowers as per Auntie Judy’s instructions, which was fine until Mummy saw the local paper and came home ranting to me about how stupid Auntie Judy is because she had got it all wrong – the flowers were going to the wrong place at the wrong time and more importantly, she would have got The Mother there half an hour late and missed the funeral!!! My People sorted it all out so that should smooth things for The Mother – who is now, apparently, saying that she doesn’t want to go…which Mummy says is typical and that you can’t help some people!

Poor Uncle Rick rang up on Tuesday night all upset because somebody has stolen his motorbike. Auntie had coffee with him yesterday and she said that it is funny how things work out because his workmates have all been really nice to him about it and now he is feeling happier in his work and might stay in the job after all…

On Wednesday, it was rainy and horrible. I dived through a hedge and caught a rabbit and Mummy shouted and shouted at me so that I wouldn’t eat it…and I REALLY wanted to. I would walk away a few inches from it and try to go to her, and then feel myself pulled back - then she’d holler again. In the end, I knew that she wasn’t going to let me have it so I reluctantly walked away. After that, she kept tormenting me by saying I had been acting like a real wolf dog and saying “I’m a real boy” in what she said was a Pinocchio voice. I didn’t think it was funny…

On Thursday, Mummy and I were about to go for our walk when her phone buzzed and she had a message from Auntie Geri. She and Melody came for a walk - it was brilliant to see Melody again and I ran and ran after her to try to round her up and was too tired even to be too scared of the fireworks in the evening! On Friday, Mummy scheduled an Annual Leave day to rest because she is so bored of being poorly. She slept really late – I tried to wake her but she cuddled me and settled down again so I cuddled her right back and snoozed too. When we did emerge, we met Auntie Raye and Emily and Troy. The People sat on the log and talked for ages so I mostly hung out with my Emily while Auntie Raye held on to Troy. It was lovely to see her again and I didn’t even mind when Emily gave my Mummy a kiss and cuddle – Mummy told me later that she had a kiss off Troy as well, but luckily for all concerned, I missed that because I was being with my Emily, who I love.

After another snooze, we went for an afternoon walk, and we saw Melody and Auntie Geri again – poor Melody had cut her foot while chasing a rabbit but she was still in good spirits. Auntie Geri is going to move into a bungalow that is just behind her old house – we are pleased because we were afraid that she would have to leave the village to find a new home. We had a nosy around the outside of the new place (she hasn’t got the key yet) and the lady from next door stuck her head out to see what we were doing. She ended up letting us into the back garden so while The People talked about gardens and decorating and boring things like that, me and Mel had a good sniff and a run around and decided that we can live with being there. I was a bit worried in case me and Mummy were moving there as usually if we go to an empty place, it’s a The Holiday place, but it was ok, we got to go home afterwards.

I don’t like all the fireworks that keep going off. Last night, Auntie was babysitting so it was just me and Mummy but she spoke kindly to me and I was brave.

Today, we had a lovely walk and I played with a great big Tree – there are a couple of video links here:

http://s89.photobucket.com/albums/k214/bexmana/?action=view&current=P1270069.flv

http://s89.photobucket.com/albums/k214/bexmana/?action=view&current=P1100214.flv

one of them is me playing with My Tree so I hope it works.

I hope you are all well,

Regards to all my friends,

Bruce xxx

Croak

Me in The Wood

Hello

Mummy is feeling a little better but her voice doesn't work so I don't want to keep her long.

Our week went like this - Mummy kept missing the bus and coming home late but I coped and didn't make a fuss. We have been having nice walks and it has been sunny up until today, when it rained. One day, we mat Max the ancient Labrador. Mummy said I had to walk past him nicely but me and Max don't like each other (Mummy says he used to beat up Uncle Benjamin when he was an old dog)


Uncle Benjamin when he was old


and I was walking past him nicely but then I got cross and I jumped at him and tried to nip his neck. Mummy was very very firm with me and she made me back off and then lie down and spoke very sternly to me. she says that I can't behave like that, no matter if I am provoked. i didn't like that but she IS the boss...sigh....

We met Oscar the Pointer yesterday and I showed Mummy how I can be a perfect gentleman and she was pleased with me and praised me all the way home...that's better...

Family news - The Mother sent a horrible birthday message to Auntie and she was upset. Otherwise, Auntie enjoyed her birthday and liked her presents - I sent her a tiara and earrings set which she keeps wearing in the house. Unce Ricky and Mummy took her out for a meal yesterday and my people came home stuffed. He hasn't found a new job yet, Auntie is alright at hers but fancies one of her colleagues and talks and talks and talks about him (and talks and talks...), and Mummy's workplace has announced that they have to find another 250 redundancies (or 1 in 10) so Mummy is a bit anxious about that.

And I am unhappy about the fireworks that have already started around here...

regards to all

Bruce xxx

Would You Believe...

....they are STILL poorly. Also there have been fireworks tonight so I am in a sulk. Me and Mummy will try to talk to you all properly tomorrow.





regards





Bruce xxx





yes, very funny Mummy, putting an embarrassing puppy picture up. Harrumph...

Mummy Is Still Suffering...

...but at least Auntie is on the mend. Mummy is a bit better but she says her friend at work is still suffering and sleeping extra too so she is not the only one.

I am a lucky boy because Mummy always takes me out, even if she is ill. I have been meeting Juno over the fields and have walked nicely with her and have tried to listen to Mummy if I have got a bit bumptious and she has said that I will have to go on the lead if I cannot be nice. I also have a nice new collar now to go with my new lead so I am a lucky boy.

I still can't bring myself to behave well around Troy though.

My people are feeling very stressed right now. Poor Uncle Rick is unhappy in his new job and thinks that he will have to leave, Mummy heard today that she and her colleagues may have to reapply for their jobs as their workplace may be 'restructuring' (Mummy says they are doing this so that they will not have to pay for redundancies when everybody knows that they need to find 200 redundancies). Mummy is worried because her sickness record was bad last summer when some building work at The Work kept aggravating her asthma and she has been disciplined this year for her sickness record so she thinks that they will get rid of her. She already has a big overdraft so she is worried.

Also, The Mother is more ill than ever with fluid in her abdomen which Mummy says is a Bad Sign...

I keep cuddling my people and offering them my Squeaky Cattos and other toys to cheer them up.

Mummy and Auntie say that we will be alright whatever happens because we have each other...

I love my people.

regards to all

Bruce xxx

And They Are Still Poorly People...

They are still poorly people. Bless Mummy, she is still giving me my walks but she draags herself round as she is getting so tired. At least it is the weekend now so we can be together and she can rest in between bouts of being with me.

We keep dancing to the Scissor Sisters song - I DO feel like dancing if there's a fuss and a reward in it for me :)

regards to all

Bruce xxx

Still Poorly People And Dead Bunny

I am only writing a little bit tonight as my people are both poorly and they need me.

I killed a bunny earlier. Mummy wasn't too impressed and I don't understand why she wouldn't let me stay and eat it. I was drooling and everything - I was having a 'real dog' moment! - but she made me leave it and walk away. I must admit that I snuck back a couple of times but she was very firm with me - I didn't touch it again, I just stood over it (it was MINE!!!)but she said I had to 'come along' and when I did, she led me away on my nice new lead.

Harrumph...

I hope you are all well,

regards,

Bruce xxx

Poorly People

Hello all

Thank you to Mummy for filling in for me. I am not going to write much tonight as she needs my cuddles as she is feeling very grotty and so is Auntie. I had my buzzy head at the weekend and was rather rude to Troy (I don't dislike him, it's just that he lives with my Emily and doesn't seem to understand that she is MY Emily), which Mummy said was a shame as we started off being polite together. I don't know what gets into me sometimes, I get a buzzy head and I get all moody and then misbehave. Mummy says she will have to just keep me away from other dogs when I am like it because I clearly can't help myself.

Yesterday, I met my friends Buster and Little Bruce over the fields. Mummy and their Person stood talking for ages and I played well with them and wasn't naughty at all so Mummy was pleased with me. Even when Buster snapped at me, which he sometimes does, I did not snap back, and when the two of them play-fought, I just bundled in between them to try to break up the fight as it was worrying me (I do this if my People are having a tickle fight). Little Bruce the Staffy is funny because he keeps barking at me - he even gave me some kissies before we parted! Bless...

Apparently his Man Bits cross over and he might need to have an operation...doesn't bear thinking about.....

On the way home, we met Juno and her Daddy. At the weekend, I was rude to her and Mummy made me walk on the lead but apart from mugging her when I greeted her (and getting told off for it!), I walked nicely with her and our People chatted. Juno is looking good on her new diet (she's a black Labrador) and we got on so well, walking and sniffing together, that I might have to re-instate her as my girlfriend.

Do you think it is greedy to have three girls on the go at one time? My heart belongs to Emily but I do like a flirt with my other 'birds' (Mummmy says 'no hanky panky, but I wouldn't dream of it and anyway, they have had something done to them so they are not that sort of girls, she says. That stuff is off the menu. I'm not like that, anyway - Bunny was the only lover for me!!! In those days, I was Mr 7 Times A night!!!).

Poor Mummy and Auntie are still going to work even though they have horrible cold/flu type bugs. Mummy is still walking me too - we had a long walk today because the farmer kept getting in the way so Mummy is shattered now.

I hope you are all well.

Regards,

Bruce xxx

Quickie

Just a quick note (sneaking at work) to tell you all that Bruce is back to his usual self - not aggressive at all, he played with two boy dogs who kept play-fighting and was all waggy tail and talking but no nastiness and he even walked nicely with Juno instead of beating her up like he sometimes does so I am feeling much better about him. He was sick twice last night but hey, he is always puking, nothing new there, he probably picked up something skanky that he shouldn't have - he still ate his supper!

Bruce didn't write last night because I am a bit poorly and was too tired to help him - he was very sad as he wanted to tell you all about Little Bruce and Buster and Juno - hopefully I can find the energy to help him tonight (atchoo!sniff!cough!) and remember to take the camera on our walk and get some nice autumn pics.

regards to all

Bruce's Mummy

Another Fit

Hello

Bruce's Mummy here again

Bruce is not himself today so I am writing this for him. He had another fit in the early hours of this morning. He was an irritable boy yesterday - we met Emily and Troy, and Bruce started off ok but then he really bullied young Troy and even muttered at me when I took him away from him. He was not right all day - he didn't want his morning cuddle to end, which was lovely, but concerning, he was picky about his snacks, he was good about giving his Frisbee back to me when he usually plays silly beggars and tries to make me chase him, he was extra sleepy...he just wasn't Bruce.

In the early hours of this morning, he tried to climb on top of me and then keeled over and hit the ground with a bang and started fitting. It was only a brief fit, thank God, but still too soon after the last one for our liking.

I have a feeling that the phenobarbitone levels have dropped in his bloodstream. When Bruce was a puppy, he was a very fussy eater, but phenobarb has a side effect of making dogs extra hungry and thirsty and Bruce has been a greedy so and so since he went on them. Lately, he is eating less and begging less. He also seems less sedated - he is more lively and more naughty, which again is lovely (apart from he also hints at being aggressive and needs reminding how to behave rather more than he did before) but isn't, I accept, necessarily a good sign in terms of his sedation level...and sadly, he needs the sedation to control his fits.

My other worry is that part of his pre-fit 'aura' does seem to be this bullying, borderline aggressive streak - it's nothing major, no teeth-baring or snarling or anything, my last two dogs could be much meaner if they were minded to (Beauty with anyone who tried to take her bone and The Old Fella particularly with my brother, who still enjoys telling the tale of the day Benj killed a bunny and he tried to take it from him. However, this behaviour is just not Bruce - he has always been a bit of a playground bully, but that's more a socialisation thing - unfortunately there wasn't a bigger, older dog around to put him in his place at the stage in his adolescence when he needed it! But any aggression in a dog this size needs to be controlled, I know - yet how do you train it out of a dog who's only doing it because - and crucially when - he is sick?

Anyway, I just thought that I would let you know that Bruce is ok - he has been pacing a lot but has settled down now, he has seen Emily and Troy several times in the last few days and has had requests from both of his girlfriend's owners for a walk sometime soon, he saw Juno and was polite to her so all is reasonably well.

Of course, he might just be reacting to Auntie and I being stressed while we await the results of all the tests being done on The Mother. Whatever the result, it won't be good news because she hates her life now she is old and in a Home, but obviously we don't relish the thought of her dying or particularly want her to die - and we don't exactly look forward to having to visit her on her deathbed. So we are stressed ladies, and this is probably affecting our Brucie...

I hope that Bruce will feel well enough to write for you all soon. We will call Mike the Vet tomorrow and tell him about the fit and see if he wants to see Bruce - the six monthly blood test that checks his blood drug levels is due in November anyway so he may bring that forward, or he may say to wait until then and hope that Bruce settles down. Either way, we will keep you posted.

Bruce sends regards

Bruce's Mummy

p.s. I can hear him barking at a cat - obviously he's feeling better :)

Tired Puppy

Hi all,

I do have things to tell you but I am really tired tonight so I will fill you all in soon. just wanted you to know that I am ok...

regards to all

Bruce xxx

Toooormenty Dog...and Mummy!

Tee hee

I have been a tormenty dog today.

We have had a quiet few days. Mummy has been a bit under the weather and I have been in a sulk because it kept storming at the weekend. Mummy wasn’t best pleased with me on Sunday because it thundered and I bolted so she had to let go of the lead and I ran down to the pit and got my lead all tangled in the thorny hedges. Luckily, a local boy called Gary came along and he crawled under the hedges and untangled me, just as Mummy was heading down to the water’s edge to wade out to me as she only had a strappy top on and didn’t want to get cut to shreds. Some people think that Gary is a lout and a rough boy but Mummy has advised him about his GSD’s fits and has been nice to him so he is always nice to her (and makes a fuss of me!). Mummy says that you get from people what you give…

Today, Mummy took my fris on my walk and she kept throwing it for me, apart from when we were by my favourite ditch as she didn’t trust me not to drown it. I found a new way to annoy her though – I kept drowning it in ditches instead so she had to use a stick to fish it out. Mummy started to torment me by hooking my fris out of my mouth with the stick and then we would play tug of war with it which Mummy thought must be safe from the end of her stick so I can’t bite her by mistake like I did before… Mummy kept hooking the fris and holding it up really high so I couldn’t get it so she was a tormenty Mummy!

I hope you are all well

Regards

Bruce xxx