Wednesday 19 November 2008

Hello

Hi , My names Gypsy ... my new brother Toffee told me about this blog and said he gets Mum to write in it for him and that I should get her to do the same for me ... so here goes
Im 10 weeks old now , and at first I was very confused and a little scared when I was brought here , but Toffee was very sweet to me , he let me eat his chews , play with his toys and him and never once grumbled at me , Our latest game is nicking each others toy or treat and goading the other to chase them and get it back , then we start all over again , its so much fun and I know everyone here likes to watch us cos they just laugh when we do it .... I couldnt have asked for a nicer brother :)
I love Mum & Dad too , they are always giving me cuddles and make me feel really safe and secure , better even than that is they give me the yummiest treats and food ... the rest of the family are fantastic too , I adore the kidlets , they never get tired of playing with me , infact its usually me who runs to Mum and snuggles down on her knee for a sleep cos I know she'll make them leave me alone , my big human sister Jean is adorable , she loves cuddling me too and always has time for me , even though she gets very tired herself working and looking after the kidlets
Mum says im super intelligent and have 'been here before' ... since they brought me home ive not had one accident in the house , in the day I go to Mum to let her know I want outside and at night (Mum is sleeping on the sofa with me while she trains me to get used to my crate) I wake Mum up by licking her face , she lets me out , then when im done I come in and wait on the towel by the front door to have my paws wiped , then hop back onto the sofa and go back to sleep ... everyones very impressed with me ... Toff says im a show-off but I think he's just annoyed cos it took him months before he got it right *looks smug*
He did tell me that if I do have any accidents in the house not to worry though cos Mum never shouts , just blames herself for not noticing if we want outside
I think im going to love it here :D

Mum loves my freckles

I can wrap him round my paw if I wanted

who gets the ball
Who gets the Ball (Video)

Sunday 16 November 2008

Gypsys home

This is Toffee & Gypsy's mum here , Toff got too excited and is all sleepy now so told me to write what I wanted :)
Poor little Gypsy was sick three times on the way home , they'd obviously fed her , poor love , and both Jean and me spent the entire journey trying to stop Toff from joining us in the backseat , lol
Anyway , we got home , let Gypsy and Toff off together in the garden and no problems ... though Toff is totally enamoured with her bum and wont stop sniffing and licking her , bloody pest , lol ... im hoping that calms down over the next couple of days cos im getting sick of saying 'leave' , lol

She's now had something to eat and drink and had a couple of wee's in the garden and has settled nicely downstairs in her crate ... Jeans with her while im up here cos otherwise she cries , but we expected that , its all new and scary for her , bless

Heres our new baby ... she's so tiny next to Toff , lol










Yay , worn out , lol

Saturday 15 November 2008

Big day tomorrow

Tomorrow (sunday) we're all off to collect the newest member of our family , Gypsy
Mum says im sure to love her , even though she's gonna boss me around ... Mum reckons thats whats going to happen once she's settled and not so scared of all the changes going on around her
I'll help make her feel less scared , im sure she's going to love playing , and im super good at that :D
The whole family is literally bouncing tonight , especially the kidlets ... I must admit im curious , I hope we become good friends :)

Friday 31 October 2008

Naughty boy

Mum wasnt very pleased with me yesterday or the day before :(
we were on the field as usual the night before last , Mum takes me on at 8 o'clock cos by then there arent any dogs around to distract me , and I wear my visiglo collar and we have the glo-ball so we can still play in the dark ... anyway , my recall was perfect , I stopped dead infront of Mum and gave her the ball every time for over half an hour ... then I spotted another dog (and owner) coming along the fence into the field ... and off I went , I totally ignored Mums commands to sit & the whistle and went through the fence onto the road , luckily no cars came by and the other dogs owner grabbed me and sent me back through into the field , Mum thanked him , put my lead back on and took me home
Then last night Mum put me in the garden around 10pm , then settled infront of the computer while I lay by the bed ... no-one noticed id moved until my human sister came out of her room to make a coffee around 10:30pm and saw id poo'd on the landing ... and ive started wee'ing on the carpets again too

I know i've upset Mum cos she was talking to Dad about it all last night and got upset about how bad my recall is around other dogs and now im acting like im not housetrained and my chewing everything has got worse again and what a rubbish trainer she must be :(
she even questioned getting Gypsy , she asked Dad if maybe they shouldnt just tell the farmer they couldnt have her now , lose the deposit on her and concentrate on me , but in the end decided they were still going to bring her home , even though its twice the work for Mum

I dont mean to do naughty things & Mum knows that , im just at 'that' age ... but now Mum is talking about not letting me off lead at all cos I cant be trusted & she doesnt want me to get hurt or lost ... so she says she is going to housetrain and teach me recall from scratch , just as if I was a baby puppy again
Anyway , despite me being a bad boy everyone still gives me cuddles and tells me what a pretty boy I am , so I know they all still love me :)

Mum took this photo of me the other day , posing in my Halloween 'costume' , Mum says im supposed to guard the house tonight from all the goblins and witches and ghosties , which is going to be difficult cos I dont know what a goblin or a witch or a ghostie looks like


And heres me and the Kidlets tonight



Monday 20 October 2008

Something new

Mum told me yesterday that im going to get a new sister in three weeks time .
Not sure how I feel about that , I'll have to share my toys , my home & my bones , grrr

naw , Mum says she's very sweet and i'll love playing with her when she gets older ... I heard Mum and Dad talking about something called neutering , dont know what that is but they looked at me every time they said the word ... maybe its a new treat :)

Anyway , heres a picture of her , Mum says her name is Gypsy ... I have to admit she is cute :)

Tuesday 7 October 2008

Just a couple of pics :)

Believe it or not this chairs comfier than it looks , hehehe



For breakfast (below) im having a nice juicy raw rib bone ... for dinner im having two spoonfuls of natural yoghurt , a spoonful of honey and a raw egg , complete with shell .... and for tea im having raw liver , carrots & brown rice
Mum says I eat healthier than them :D

Saturday 27 September 2008

Im loving dinnertimes now :)

Dad says im a fussy beggar cos ive stopped eating my butchers puppy food with mixer , they tried me with a 'complete' but I didnt want that either ... I would only eat one thing .... the raw bones Mum was buying me fresh from the butchers
So Mum ... in her wisdom ... said that she was going to put me onto the BARF diet (bones and raw food) as it was obviously what I wanted to eat and that was the main thing , making me happy (Mums words not mine , though I have to say I completely agree , making me happy should be EVERYBODIES priority , hehehe)
So anyway , Mum did some research , asked some online friends who already feed their dogs a raw diet for their input and now i've been eating raw for the last week ... I have to say im loving every second
Dads face was a picture though when Mum gave me some natural yoghurt with a bit of honey and a raw egg complete with shell , he told her theres no way a dog will eat an eggshell if its not starving ... but Mum already knew I would cos she's fed me them before when Dad was at work , he just laughed when I did eat it

Today (saturday) we ran out of raw bones & meat , so Mum , Dad and me piled into the car and went on a butcher hunt ... we visited 4 but none had any raw bones , all been thrown away apparently , (what a waste) , but we did get me loads of minced beef and chicken thighs/wings ... tonight im having minced beef and brown rice for tea, yummy ... Mum says if I want a bone before monday though i'll have to gnaw Dads leg , lol , I doubt he'd be pleased if I tried to be honest so i'll wait :)
Mums snap happy again (when isnt she *rolls eyes*) there I was getting some well deserved rest on the sofa after my walk and next thing I know I have a camera clicking away at me
Its hard work being so cute

Monday 1 September 2008

Not much going on

Its been fairly quiet lately ... just the usual rounds of walks , playtime, eating , more walks, more playtime and of course , more eating :)
Me and Mum have had loads and loads of cuddles , now that she has the dining room how she wants it (she just has to paint it now) , with a sofa in there so its more comfortable for us , its much better than the small chair she had before ... and of course I loooove the sofa , im positive she bought it just for me to stretch out on
Jean , my human sister , took this photo of me and Mum earlier today , Mum cant stop smiling when she looks at it ... I have to say , I do look rather handsome , and arent my teeth lovely and sparkly white

Friday 29 August 2008

Its been ages

Its been ages since Mum updated this for me ... there can be no excuse , but she whines on about having to do something called 'work' and babysitting her Grandkids , decorating the house etc etc ... yeah , like anything is more important than me , huh !
im growing up fast , ive almost lost my puppyish good looks , Mum says that now im just adorably gorgeous .... and I give the best cuddles in the world , or so she tells me :)

My training is coming on really well , though I still sometimes dont want to come back when im called , which I know is naughty , but sometimes there are sooo many exciting smells on the field I just cant bear to tear myself away from them ... but I know Mum and my trainer are hatching some evil plan to start making me listen to Mum , all I know is it involves hotdogs and my fave toy on a long piece of line ... thats so not fair , they know i'll do anything for a hotdog

Mums decorating (again) and I somehow ended up with white paint all over my paws , dunno how .... 'looks innocent' .... I honestly wasnt playing with the paint tub lid ... anyway , Mum made sure I hadnt licked any up and washed my paws , she said I was lucky it was only Matt paint and came off easily with just water
She's also ripped up the carpet in the hall , so now I can go sliding when I chase my toys , Mum doesnt like me doing that though cos she worries i'll hurt myself ... if you ask me she can get a little over protective , I mean I am 6 months old now , gimme a break 'sheesh'
Oh yeah , speaking of carpets Dads not very pleased with me , i've eaten a hole in the carpet right at the top of the stairs ... its Mums fault , she left me playing in the hall while she worked in the living room and I got bored (she irons hotel sheets at home for a laundry service on this huge roller type thing , it gets very very hot so im not allowed in the room when she's using it incase I burn my nose)
between me and you , Mums quietly pleased , she wanted to change the carpets anyway , and now Dad has too , hehehehehe

Mum got very excited today , a friend came round on his bike and left it in the garden , so of course I had to investigate it (and claim it) so I cocked my leg and did what us dogs do against the tyre .... but its the first time ive ever cocked my leg before , so all I could hear was Mum being very silly and getting all excited about it , daft woman .... Mum thinks everything I do is cute 'rolls eyes'

Anyway , she took a couple of pics of me yesterday , so here they are

watching the world go by


Nicking the warm spot ... again

Sunday 20 July 2008

Poor puppy

I wasnt well the other night , Im not sure why because I hadnt had anything different to eat than normal , but my poor tummy felt awful and I got diahrhea while everyone was in bed.
My Mum came down in the morning and it was everywhere, all over the crate , my toys ,the carpet, infront of the crate door the wall behind and me
No-one was mad at me though , they just cleaned everything up and gave me lots of love which made me feel better ... it wasnt until tea-time that my tummy was better though
Mum gave me some yummy fresh chicken and rice for tea

Ive felt fine ever since, im back eating my normal food again (shame cos that chicken and rice was delicious) and Mum is giving me my chews again , which is fantastic cos I loooooooooooooove those , though Mum says I make some gross noises while im chewing away :)
I was on the bed tonight gnawing my chew , while Dad was asleep , and Mum reckons he must have been deaf cos I was making some LOUD horrible noises while chewing , lol
what can I say ... chewing makes me happy

Heres a cute pic of me , just to make you all happy , hehehehe

Tuesday 15 July 2008

My Holiday

Ive just got back from my holiday. Ten days at Mum and Dads lodge in Wales , it was doggie heaven ... there was a wood just infront of our lodge and the beach was 3 minutes away , what dog could ask for more.
I had tons of playtime and some training too ... but mostly I just sniffed my days away , all those new smells , boy it was fun
I met loads of other dogs too , and they were all friendly :)
I was a good boy too , I only had one accident at the lodge, and Mum didnt mind so much cos it was by the backdoor , so not on the carpets and she was pleased that id gone to the door , infact she blamed herself for not getting to me in time to let me out
I cant wait to go back ... I used to love the fields, and I still do , but now I miss the wood and the beach .... I wonder what it would take to persuade Mum and Dad to move permanently to the seaside :)
Heres a few of my fave pics from the holiday
After a waterfight

My 'official' pose
In the wood
The sand Pup
Hello Kidlets
You'll never take me alive copper :)
Mum bought me a giant frisbee to chase ... we play with it on the field now
Just me, cute as usual

Thursday 26 June 2008

Microchipped

Mum forgot to tell you all that ive been microchipped , at least two weeks ago now ... really , her memory is awful , but at least she never forgets to feed me , hehehehe
didnt bother me getting it done either , the nice vet lady put some treats down for me and I was so busy chomping them up I didnt notice that she used this huge needle to inject the microchip ... im soooooo brave huh (can you just forget im a greedy boy when it comes to treats , lol)

My collar broke today on the field ... I was training , wearing my longline , with Mum and this woman came onto the field with three small kids and a big dog , she let the dog off the lead and he came bouncing up to us straight away , Mum told me to sit and I did , but this dog just kept jumping on me knocking me over , he was friendly enough , but I could tell Mum wasnt happy that the dog wasnt under control ... the woman and kids were screaming the dogs name but he took no notice so they came over , put him on his lead and left ... less than 200 yards away she let the dog off the lead again , and he came straight back and knocked me over again ... by now Mum was very annoyed and asked the woman to control her dog. She said ok , put him back on the lead and told my Mum he never came back when they called him , then she took him across to the other side of the field ..... all done yes ?
Not a chance , once over the other side of the field she let him off lead again ... and yup , he came straight back to us , Mum didnt see him coming and he barreled right into me and tore the longline off my collar , ripping the D-ring , my tag and my hi-res blinker off ( which made me yelp cos it hurt my neck) ... which are now lost , somewhere on the field , Mum couldnt find them even though she searched for ages :(
eventually the kids came over for their dog (I guess the woman could see how angry Mum was and didnt want to come herself)

Anyway , Mums ordered me a new collar , and even though it made her cry , she is letting me use her Buddys collar until my new one gets here ... I promised her id look after and treasure my time wearing Buds collar cos I know how much she still misses him , im giving her extra licks and snuggles tonight cos she is missing him more cos of the collar

Tuesday 24 June 2008

Lots of fun

Ive been busy , busy , busy
Ive been learning to 'Heel' , which Mum says is important cos she likes her shoulder in the socket , whatever that means , apparently im doing rather well at it :D
My recall is coming along nicely too ... im 100% when its just me and family , but I do tend to get distracted with other dogs in the field , but Mum isnt worried, she says im still a baby and i'll get it eventually , she's really proud of me
My 'stay' is coming along nicely too ... I manage to make myself sit still for 5 whole seconds , a looooooooong time for me , you better believe it :)
Mum was talking to the nice personal trainer lady earlier on tonight , and she's learnt that 3 hours a day exercise is a little too much for me , so we arent going on the field at midday now (Just mornings and evenings) , instead we will be working on other stuff , like improving my stay , and heel , and a new command 'Hold' , where im supposed to hold a toy in my mouth until Mum takes it from me , at the moment I drop toys at her feet to throw for me when I bring them back
Ive had loads of fun on trips out too lately ... Mum and Dad have taken me to lots of different places
heres two pics of me and Dad at Llay Burton , which is a little place in Wales


Heres another two pics taken at a huge lake thats about half a mile away from where I live, its really deep though so Mum wouldnt allow me to go off lead incase I got into trouble

I saw a rabbit


These were taken this weekend gone at Worlds End , another place in Wales
Hiya Dad
OK, thats it for now , but please leave me a comment , Mum always reads them to me and I love to hear from you all :)

Thursday 12 June 2008

Today in the Field

Mums very tired but she promised to update this tonight for me
I now have a personal trainer , she's a lovely lady , I like her a lot ... she said im a very well behaved dog considering my age , and she's going to be coming once a week to help Mum make sure I grow up nice and obedient and not have any nasty habits (like 'herding' the kidlets , which I still do now and then *looks ashamed*)
Mum , Dad and the kidlets took me onto the field today , like Mum does every day , but this time Mum remembered to bring the camera , so heres some pics of me & my family ... im 4 and a half months old now :)
Dad , me and the kidlets
Bunnyhopping through the grass
Mmmmmm tasty
I love you too Jamie
Catch me if you can Louise
Me and Mum

Thursday 29 May 2008

The Beach

On Monday the whole family went to the beach , ive never been before so it was all new to me.

You should have seen it , there was lots and lots of water , more than ive ever seen in my life before , I was a little scared at first , but Mum didnt seem scared at all , so pretty soon I forgot to be scared too and started enjoying myself chasing the kidlets into the waters edge.

We didnt actually stay long because it was really windy by the seaside , the sand was blowing really hard into everyones face , but it didnt matter cos we all got back into the car and went for an ice-cream (Mum gave me the bottom of her cone and made Dad and Jean do the same , yummy) then we went for a drive and a nice long walk once we got home ... I was really tired afterwards and slept for absolutely ages Mum said.

Dad took this photo of me when we were at the beach ... Mum said she wished we had one of me in the water , but Dad said the sand was blowing so hard down by there that it would have got into the camera and ruined it , so we're going to go again sometime , just so they can get pics of me , silly humans

Thursday 22 May 2008

New Friend

I made a new friend today ... Val was babysitting another friends 2 little girls and their dog , Pip , he's a 12 month old Jack Russell ... anyway she came round with them all to see if me and Mum wanted to go to the field for a run around , which of course we did ... Jean and Jamie decided to come too
It was great , me and Pip got on like a house on fire straight away , we got tangled a few times in our leads, so Mum decided to trust me off the lead in the field, and I didnt run off, just carried on playing with Pip , everyone was really pleased and said what a good dog I was ... like I didnt already know that , hehehe
They put me back on the lead though when we got near something called a water trough (it was half in the other field and half in our field) as there were something called cows in there ... boy are they big , but friendly , one licked my face through the fence , I barked and they all backed away ... good to see they know a big brave dog when they see one (Mum laughed when I told her to type that , I dont know why)
Anyway Val said she'd bring Pip around again next time she looked after him ... I cant wait, he's a great dog

Tuesday 20 May 2008

Happy Days

Mum and Dad got home Sunday night , I was so happy to see them that I wee'd all over Mums boots when I saw her , but she didnt tell me off , just gave me lots of hugs and loving, and then when I saw Dad I wee'd all over his boots too , he just laughed and said typical , we miss the dog all weekend and when we see him he pees all over us :)
Val , my Mums friend who was looking after me , let me into the bathroom while Mum was away, and I chewed up a bath sponge ... Val said she was sorry to Mum, but Mum just laughed and said it was her own fault for leaving it in a basket on the floor ... phew, I thought id get told off for that for sure

We're going to pick Louey up from school soon, and then we are all going to the field to play (thats Me, Louise, Jamie and Mum) I love going to the field, its huge and theres tons of room to run and play and lots of exciting smells

Wednesday 14 May 2008

Mum and Dad are leaving me .......

Today was fun ... we all went to the kiddie park after picking Louise up from school and all the kids played tag with me .... I was on my lead of course , but it snapped, and Mum shouted for me to sit , and I did while she mended the lead , she was extremely pleased with me and made a big fuss of me for being such a good boy


When we got home I heard Mum telling her best friend Val , that her and Dad were going away to their new Lodge this weekend ... and they arent taking me ~gasp~
Apparently its cos im not fully house trained yet ... I cant help having little accidents , and no-ones ever unkind when I do , but they dont want to risk the carpets at the lodge , and also they think it would be unfair to me to leave me alone for hours at night when they go out ... so im staying here at home , and Val is staying here with me , which is ok cos I love Val , she's kind and funny and plays with me all the time , i've known her since the second day I came here to live ... Its gonna be fun , but i'll still miss Mum and Dad ... and Jean and the kidlets are away this weekend too ... the kidlets are going to their other Grandparents, and Jean is going to stay with her friends and do something called 'P-A-R-T-Y'

Mum made this earler on tonight from some pics she took of me

Thursday 8 May 2008

Its been a while


We've been really busy here ... lots to do and see , thats why my Mum hasnt updated for a while

Ive been learning lots of new things , everyone is really pleased with me , but its easy to learn new things , especially when there are tasty treats involved when I get it right .... Mums determined to teach me something called 'Stay' but I dont want to sit or lie down on my own when she walks away from me, I like being with her

My Mum and Dad took me for a lovely long walk by a river last weekend (we go somewhere every weekend) there were lots of trees and bushes and I nearly got to go into the water , but they wouldnt let me cos they were worried it was flowing too fast and were scared something would happen to me ... there were plenty of other dogs there too with their humans , lots of people thought I was cute and I got made a big fuss of by everyone
Im doing something that everyone says is naughty ... I keep nipping people ... its a game to me but they still dont like it and tell me to stop each time I do it , silly humans dont understand doggie games , hehehehe

Friday 25 April 2008

First walk

Today my Mum took me up the fields for a run ... she wouldnt let me off the long leash though cos she said she hasnt trained me to come back on command yet , and she's worried I might keep running and get into trouble. The long leash is good though , I get more than enough lead to let me run and play and investigate.
I met another dog and his owner on the field, the lady was really nice and made a big fuss of me , once id got over my initial shyness with her ... her dog , splotch , was a springer spaniel , and huge (well he was to me) but he was friendly.
My playmate , Jamie , one of the kidlets , managed to find the only mudpatch in the whole field and fell over in it ... Mum said he looked like a mud monster and had to bath him and wash his clothes when we got home , I was good, only my paws were muddy
Later im getting a pavement walk up to something called a church ... Mum says now im protected by my injections we're going into the field again every day and im getting three other walks a day too ... sounds like fun :)
Heres me posing for the camera yesterday

Tuesday 22 April 2008

Vet Visit

I went to the vets today for my second injection ... this means I can go outside the garden in a weeks time , play in the fields , generally go anywhere I want (Mum says as long as im with her its ok)
The vet said I was very brave cos I didnt yelp and she gave me a treat ... she also said im a sweetie and that im going to be a big dog cos my paws are big ... I have a lazy ear apparantly , my left ear doesnt flick up like the right ear does when im interested or hear something , I heard Mum ask whether it would always be that way and the nice vet lady said no , the lazy ear will 'catch up' in time ... humans are weird, who cares what my ear looks like as long as it works :)

Tonight Mum taught me to lie down on command ... ive done it three times now, she seemed really pleased with me each time I did it right and gave me a small piece of cheese each time , yummy , I loooooove cheese , by my reckoning they dont give me enough , but Mum says too much of a good thing can be bad for me ... anyway , im gonna try to remember this new command
heres a pic of me in my garden with the Kidlets

Monday 21 April 2008

Hello

Hi , my names Toffee & im 10 weeks old
This is me

Im a tri coloured Border Collie (chocolate-caramel and white)

My Mum said she would write this for me to keep all my family and friends online updated to how im doing :)

I live with my new family in a lovely house filled with love.
we play all day , though my Mum calls some of it training ... it doesnt feel like training though cos she makes it fun ... Ive only been here a week and already I know my name and to sit on command and give a paw when asked .... im finding housetraining a bit harder to learn , but I remember nearly 90% of the time that im supposed to go outside in the garden and not in the house , my Mum is really pleased with me and gives me lots of cuddles
Anyway , I hope you'll keep coming back to see how im getting on :)