Christmas Thoughts

Hello all,

It has been many months since my last communication and it has been a sad time. With the death of team leader the fun has gone out of the family a little and I haven’t felt like posting. Losing a parent is huge so I’ve cut Mum a lot of slack as she comes to term with her father not being there any more.

Things have been changing everywhere and it has been hard to keep up with it all.

At this time as we remember happier Christmas’ in the past I just wanted to send a Happy Christmas to everyone out there.

WHOOPS!!!!

So – okay, I’ve blown that because now it’s Boxing Day here in OZ!

Nevertheless I will show you our Christmas outfits, maybe they’ll come in handy next year.

With the death of Prissy Paws a new dog has entered our pack. He is called Jazz and as you can see is a Raffy mini-me. As if one poodle wasn’t enough I now have to cope with a giant 40kg one and a small 5 kg one. He is a toy poodle but I don’t want to play with him so he’s really Raffy’s toy.

Jazz

Some things never change and one of them is Raff. He hasn’t got braver, and I don’t think he’s got any bigger (thank goodness). Jazz may not reach is knee caps but he chases him around the garden and the only time I see him look worried is when Raffy gets excited. When Raff gets excited he tends to lose control of his legs and his brakes still haven’t improved.

Jazz’s favourite game is to hide under one of the garden chairs and wait until Raff walks unsuspecting and innocent up the garden. When he gets within metres of the chair a barking fury runs out and Raffy is off down the garden with a tiny cream fluff ball nipping at his heels. Needless to say they both love it and when they are not chasing each other, playing tug or hiding balls under MY bed, they are kissing and licking. Ugh. Get a room.

Raff and mini-me Jazz

For some reason although Raff loves Jazz and plays with him way more than he plays with me (because I don’t indulge him), he doesn’t really like him sleeping in the same bed, maybe he’s afraid he’ll roll over and squash him, not an impossibility.

So Jazz likes to share my bed. I’m and easy-going Tibby so I let him squeeze into a corner of mine but I do think it’s a bit of a liberty. However, I was well brought up and taught to share so I do. Most of the time however I spend the day pretending neither of them exist as seen below.

All I want for Christmas is peace never mind good will.

I did get a bit annoyed one day shortly after Jazz entered our family. He and Raffy were playing tug. Tug! I ask you. 40 kilos of poodle against a cotton wool ball. The outcome is inevitable isn’t it? Every time I play tug with Raff, unless Mum joins in, one pull from him and I’m in the next room and Raff is strutting down the garden with the toy. Not so with Jazz. He could send him into the next village with a toss of his head but no….. when he plays tug with Jazz he stands there holding the toy and lets Jazz jump around between his front legs pulling and tugging until his energy runs out and then he LETS him have the toy! Is that fair? Mum even has it on film as they coo over how sweet Raff is to Jazz. How about being sweet to the one he lives with – ME. That would go down a little better in this quarter I can tell you.

This season we also have Tuppy staying with us. Poor Tuppy. She is used to a quiet life as an only dog and all of a sudden she has to cope with us. I am no trouble as you can imagine but Jazz is the little-poodle-who-never-sleeps. If he isn’t setting her off by barking at a shadow that passes the house he is jumping over us trying to get someone to play with him. Tuppy and I are dignified ladies of eight years old so we just put our heads down, screw our eyes tightly shut and ignore him.

The new improved svelte Tuppy

Tuppy has lost a lot of weight since she’s been looked after by Number One Son. She is can actually run now. Her belly no longer scrapes the ground and she doesn’t limp. She could make a fortune with ‘Weight Watchers’ if she’d only followed one of their diets. She should be a celebrity but there is only room for one in the family and that’s me. However (some of you may relate – Mum does) although the body is thinner the mind is still focused and that focus is food. She lives for her meals and the one consolation of being away from Number One Son and his family is that we get way more treats 🙂

Tuppy waiting for the next meal

Christmas Day we went to the park and played with our pals whilst our people chatted, drank bubbly and ate cheese and strawberries. Each to his own. BUT Mum had made these fantastic cookies with peanut butter and bacon for us dogs so everyone at the park got a taster and everyone got to take a few home with them as a present.

Peanut Butter and Bacon Poodle Cookies

We still have some left and we all love them so I shall be ordering requesting that she make those again. These however were in poodle shapes. I bet she couldn’t find a Tibetan Terrier shaped cookie cutter or she would have made them all TT’s. That will be another order request, that she find a Tibetan Terrier cookie cutter or maybe cut them by freehand what do you think?

We have a new pack at the park too. With Rosie gone we now have Lola (always want to sing when I say that name for some reason).

Lola 10 months

The gang Christmas day – Geordie, a beautiful apricot standard poodle just walking off left, Raffy centre back  dirty and dusty from a roll in the dust, Cassie wearing fetching tinsel in the centre, Lola on the right, me in the foreground and some random strange miniature black poodle who I don’t know!

If I begin writing again I’ll tell you more about her and our other park pals later.

For now I just want to hope that you all had a good Christmas and that 2015 is a brighter year.

Remembering happier Christmas’ and of absent friends

Cheers from Zena, still a Princess

Romance in the Air?

I know, I know. It’s been ages again. I’m afraid for the moment that is likely to be the pattern. I can’t rely on The Help. She isn’t old, but like me her immune system isn’t good (unlike me inbreeding is not the cause!!!!!).

So for a while posts are likely to be random unless some new medication begins to work in which case she could be like a runaway train.

‘We’re doing a blog? Really? Finally!’

I’m sorry that we’ve been keeping you on the edge of your seats.

We haven’t?

You mean you’ve forgotten? You have a life apart from me? How is that even possible?

Well! I am shocked. I’m not sure I will recover. I had thought that I would be in your thoughts night and day. However. I will rise from the bitter blow. I will move forward and remind you of my dilemma.

In one of my last posts I met Prince, the vertically challenged corgi who I charged at making loud noises which is the way I vet all new dogs and which is really an invitation to play. It is. Honestly. Ask any dog. They never bother. In fact usually they ignore me so they can’t feel threatened. The owners don’t always like it though and The Help gets embarrassed. Anyway, I digress.

Do you remember now? Shall I continue with the story? It seemed appropriate to get everyone up to date especially at this time as the world is gearing up for Valentines day and romance. I am very current am I not? My story is probably being played out in a billion homes all over the world.

To remind you of Prince here is his picture.

Prince

Prince has been to the park a couple of times since our first introduction. As you know, I was agonising over our future together. Here was I Princess Zena, and here was Prince. Was he my Prince? It never occurred to me that I might not be his Princess, after all I am ….. Gorgeous.

You see? Wonderful. Who could not adore me 😀

He certainly wasn’t my idea of my prince, but then how often do we meet our ideal prince? Was I being sizist? Yes, I do know that isn’t a word, but you know what I mean don’t you? If he was a little taller would I feel differently? After all, we all know that the outer package is just that, the wrapping, it’s what’s inside that counts.

By the way talking about wrappings, here’s a quick shot of me at Christmas. Who’s the best present of all?

Spot the dog!

Anyway, back to the topic on hand. I felt the pressure I can tell you. Something was lacking. I tried hard to generate emotion. I felt I should feel something.

But I didn’t feel IT. I have to be honest. I wasn’t bowled over and like any Princess I wanted to feel excitement, anticipation, joy. Something. Anything. Nevertheless I decided I had to give him a chance. If the universe was bringing me my Prince who was I to turn tail and run.

I thought and thought

I gave him a chance. I gave him two. And nothing. Zilch. Nada. Rien. The last time I saw him I didn’t even want to rush at him I just felt a dreadful boredom and I could see he felt the same. He lives with another corgi called Pemba so I think they’re happy together and I’m so relieved about that. I understand it too. When I had Zac, I had my Prince. I didn’t need anyone else (except The Help, we still need the opposable thumb thing for opening tins).

Perhaps a girl only has one Prince. And do you know what? I’m okay with that. I had the greatest Prince ever and I couldn’t find another. I don’t want to find another. I’m happy to have the memory of my Prince and cherish the times we had. Now I’m happy to have friends.

Me, the pup and Ollie hanging out at the park (sorry about the blurry pic we didn’t want to keep still).

It has made me think though. I’ve deigned to play with Raffles a couple of times this week, not too often because I don’t want him to think he’s won me over, it’s only been 18 months. I have wondered about him finding his special somedog (it definitely is not me) but he seems happy having lots of pals. His bestie is Cassie but he has a special friendship with Ollie too.

Ollie & Raff have a bit of a bromance going on 🙂 And yes, that is genuine licking, no sticks or anything in the mouth.

Sitting in the park the other day I watched the lad running and playing with Cassie, his bestie. He was having the time of his life. I don’t really run and play like that so much anymore, I like a supervisory role but I’m glad the pup has friends to play with. He has a great time with Ollie, they hug and kiss and then he runs and plays with Daisy and to be honest any friendly dog at the park can have Raffy. Yes. He’s that easy….. going 🙂

I remember playing with Zac, it was cool. I remember playing sniffs in the garden with him and watching tv and seeing who could finish dinner first. Life was more fun with him. But you know what they say, better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.

I have had my Prince and I’m not looking to replace him. I have some pals who accept me around and don’t hassle me. They accept me for who I am and don’t ask more from me than I’ll give. That’s a pretty good place to be.

Anyone want to tell the guy he’s too big for my favourite bed?

Love from Zena, the contented Princess

The Princess Meets Her Prince?

I knew this day would come. You know what I mean. That day when your eyes meet across a crowded park. Your pulses quicken. Your eyes brighten and your tail goes up.

Then, if you’re like me you charge growling and snarling and really make a great impression!

I was mortified. The Help was cross with me and right there in front of everyone she stopped me and made me sit as she told me off. I blushed with embarrassment, though you couldn’t tell under the black fur.

I don’t like The Help being cross with me but I can deal with that. I just do what we all do. I give her the ‘I adore you’ look and pretty soon she’s putty in my paws again.

FYI – This is my ‘I adore you’ look. Works every time 🙂

I wasn’t so much embarrassed about the telling off, or even my behaviour if I’m honest. It is my job to police the park. Those poodles are so into their socializing that they let anyone join us and do anything.

Looking back I don’t see what else I could have done. I wasn’t to know was I?

I wasn’t to know that I had just met my Prince and his first memory of me is of a snarling black ball hurtling towards him! Not the impression you want to make.

Not that I recognised him as my Prince. In fact I am still a little confused. He is not what I imagine my Prince to be at all. I have to admit he is a little vertically challenged, he has very little legs. I always pictured my Prince as being tall, dark and handsome and if not tall at least a little bit like Zac.

However, fate has other ideas. Let me explain how it all happened.

It started off like any other day in the park.

We walked down and met up with the poodle crowd and Roxy. Well, to be honest. Raffy walked down ahead of The Help and I. I had to wait for her to get her tail out of bed. Eventually we joined them.

I’m in the middle of this crowd as we mingle and say polite ‘hellos’

I was there looking gorgeous which was just as well as it turned out.

Cutest Tibetan at the park

Raffy was enjoying himself as always.

Doesn’t he look happy?

Cassie, Raffy’s bestie was there.

This is Cassie. Hasn’t she got the most gorgeous highlights?

Rosie, the boss of the poodle pack was central to the action.

‘My ball until I get bored with it’ says Rosie

Ollie was doing his usual prancing.

Ollie with four paws on the ground for a change.

Daisy joined us for the morning play.

Don’t you just love Daisy’s collar?

And Roxie who is another non-poodle member of the group was there as usual.

This is Roxy. A most beautiful, petite Collie.

Games were going on as usual. There was the ‘first to get the ball is the winner’ to begin with.

It’s underneath you!!
Oh and I’m in the middle of that scrum!

Games of chase and bitey-face were in progress and this is when Roxy gets to play her favourite game – grab the tail!

As Raffy and Cassie play chase, Cassie is handicapped by Roxy hanging off her tail!

For some reason Roxy doesn’t seem to like Raffy’s tail, but Cassie and Daisy are fair game.

Just a normal morning at the dog park. Rosie was a little thirsty so her owner put down her own private water bowl and we all respected that and let Rosie use it.

Next thing I know this short fellow we had never met before rushes up and takes a lick of the bowl.

It was too much for me. Such bad manners. So I did the unmentionable that I actually did mention above. I wouldn’t have hurt him but I guess I sounded fierce. Come to think of it he wasn’t bothered. He didn’t even run away or turn his head, but The Help hauled me over the coals.

The interloper

I don’t think the poodles even noticed him.

After I had been chastised I sat down for a moment and then went over to the little guy and we sniffed and made up. Fortunately The Help was just to late with the camera to catch that one, it would have made me blush all over again.

Friends? Maybe…..

Then his owner appeared and he had an identical pal called Penda. Imagine my horror , concern when I heard his name was Prince!!

Prince.

OMD. I am a Princess, he is Prince. Does this mean that all my dreams are wrong? Is he my Prince?

Prince

Getting to know him a little more as I did this morning I do acknowledge that he is an okay fellow. But my Prince??

I have a lot of thinking to do.

Love from a rather confused Princess Zena

The Princess Looks Back For The Last Time

The Help and I debated this one. Should we? Shouldn’t we? As some of you have found the ‘looking back’ series a little sad we didn’t want to add to the use of tissues but on the other hand we eventually concluded that we couldn’t leave him out.

In this final look back we are talking about Zac. My wonderful pal. The Help’s soulmate. The one who got us into this blogging world and the one who left us too early. Most of you know about Zac, many of you followed him before you got to know me. If you didn’t know him this is his first post: A Mongolian Terror Is Born. And if you choose to you can read about his life.

He was my uncle. His mother and her son were bred together and unfortunately as they already had some strong crossovers in their pedigree it was not a good decision. This is why Zac suffered with so many health issues through his life. Sadly the breeders continue to produce puppies from the mother and son.

Zac catching the summer sun

That said, The Help and I would not have changed him for a moment. The Help had him for two years before I came along to join the family. Zac called her his Beloved. He and The Help were besotted with each other. It doesn’t make me jealous, I was besotted with him too 🙂

And for the first two years he was very black, and then the grey started and by the time I came along he was already silver!

Zac with ‘Big Dog’, his favourite toy

They say a picture is worth thousand words, so we are going to show you a few of our favourite pictures of the greatest furpup The Help has ever known.

But I want a game now!

He loved television, all sorts of shows.

When I came on the scene he wasn’t jealous, he looked after me. Wasn’t I cute?

Zac & Big Dog 8 years on

For Zac – the Rainbow Bridge is a richer place with you in it.

From your Princess and your Beloved

The Princess Looks Back – Part Four

Me – looking back!

I hope that some of you are still with me.

Until I started this I had no idea how sad some of the stories would be when written down in black and white and how they might bring tears. I apologize to everyone if I’ve made you sad. Please keep reading.

I will start today by saying a huge thank you to Angel and Chaos over at House Full of Dogs for giving me the super sweet blogging award. I do already have this award but it is lovely to be thought of and you can never have enough pupcakes!

Don’t you just want to scoff them all?

I then want to thank Little Binky and Granny over at Angel’s Whisper for allowing all their readers to share their Inner Peace Award. Who doesn’t want and need inner peace? I certainly want it. What with pupcakes and inner peace I am a very happy Tibetan right now 🙂

Inner Peace Award

I would like to do as Little Binky did and invite any of my followers to help themselves to this award. Especially those who have stuck through my ‘Looking Back’ series and have found them traumatic. You probably need some inner peace about now!

My last post left The Help and her family in New Zealand. I think she was born with a restless gene though because it wasn’t too long before they were moving again. This time to Switzerland. It was only for two years though so once again she was determined not to get any furpups.

As so often happens with The Help and her family, those two years passed and they began to put down roots. They bought a house over the border into France and as buying a house is a pretty big commitment the signatures hadn’t dried before she was already wanting to add another commitment – a dog.

Of course she told The Boss it was for the sake of number one and number two son. Ha! He wasn’t fooled.

She looked in the local papers and nearly bought a collie. Then they met with a breeder of Sheltie’s and learned that they could be very timid and had been a little over bred in that area so they decided that perhaps that wasn’t the right dog for two active boys.

The Boss didn’t want a big dog like a Newfoundland, Pyrenean or a Bernese Sheepdog which The Help loved so she had to look at smaller models.

They had a lot of children in and out of the house so whatever dog they had needed to be safe and friendly.

Really they were spoilt for choice. There are so many great dogs out there. Mixed breeds and what is termed pure breeds.

There were a few limitations though which made her look very carefully into the type of dog she got. As she was busy driving kids around The Help knew that she couldn’t take a dog for long walks as she had in the past so it had to be a dog which was happy with the large garden they had and the occasional trip out. It had to be friendly and safe with the unpredictable behaviour of children.

Although many of these things depend on training and safe exposure there is little doubt that there were certain breed traits which The Help didn’t feel suitable around children. So many things to think about.

Reading through a book she had come across a Tibetan Terrier and immediately fallen in love with the cuddly looks – well, we are gorgeous! She read about the kind temperament, how good we are with children and how playful we are. All of these things seemed positive, but she didn’t know where to get one.

One day she read about a dog show in a local town. That would be a good place to meet and maybe buy a dog she thought. They even mentioned Tibetan Terriers so she would get to see them.

So they turned up at the show and found the Tibetan Terrier class. These cuddly dogs were gliding around the ring and a strange couple over in the corner had a huge white rug in front of them which they were brushing. The family talked to a few owners and chatted to some of the dogs waiting around and discovered that they were friendly and all the owners were effusive about us.

The strange couple continued to brush the rug and The Help kept looking at them wondering what on earth they were doing. Towards the end of the competition someone went over to them and the lo and behold the rug got up and pranced into the ring! That did it. He was gorgeous and with that laid back personality who could resist getting one.

Whilst at the show they saw an advertisement for a 5month old Tibetan puppy being sold by a breeder about a two hour drive away. Not too bad a distance. The Help would have liked a younger puppy but there were no others nearby.

So a week later, the appointment was made and the family drove for hours to look at the puppy. The Help kept telling number one and number two son that they may not return with the puppy so they found the trip very tedious!

When they arrived at the house it was chaos. It seemed like dogs were everywhere. As well as breeding Tibetan Terriers these ladies also bred Briards, very large cattle herding dogs. Eventually they put the big dogs away and The Help and family were left with about a dozen Tibetan Terriers tearing around a small yard. It was like being in a cake shop for The Help – she would have taken every one but her eyes kept getting drawn to the only white one that was in the group.

She turned to her mother who was with them and expressed the wish that they’d take the white one away because it was the only one she had eyes for, she hadn’t taken any notice of the black and white pups running around.

The breeders eventually cut the white one out of the group and The Help thought that would be good because she could focus on the others. They put the white one on the table and told them that this was the puppy which was for sale. Apparently she was actually golden in colour and much prized. They had specifically bred their bitch with a dog from the UK in order to get a golden but her teeth had come through overshot and therefore she was useless to them. They were very disappointed. The Help not so much.

The first Tibetan for the family

So of course the trip home was made with a squirming puppy who vomited into the gear box and got cuddled by The Help – so much for getting a puppy for her sons!

Toffee was a quiet Tibetan. She didn’t care for other dogs which was surprising as she had spent so much of her early life well socialized with the other pups, but she loved The Help. She loved all the family and would go out and play with the boys but The Help was her focus. One thing about us Tibetans is that we do tend to have a favourite in the family.

The Help apologises for the quality of the photos but she hadn’t mastered digital at that time and the photos have been on a few more travels since then.

Toffee loved her family

She was definitely a family dog and was very stand offish with strangers and visitors. She had a great bark and frightened people coming to the door but then she would step aside and expect The Help to protect her. That’s what we do – we alert our people to intruders but then it’s up to them to look after us 🙂

Toffee with her wide grin

She was bigger than I am, but I know that Zac and I were small for our breed. I often wonder if she would have liked me if we’d ever met. As she wasn’t too keen on other dogs probably not, but you never know, perhaps she only liked other Tibetans.

Toffee hanging out with the family

When The Help first got her she wouldn’t eat very much. Within days though she realized that wasn’t a good idea and from then on the battle was to stop her eating! Every hair cut revealed whether she needed a diet or not. I’m glad to say I have only had that problem since the pup has been around and I’ve occasionally got some of his food.

Like most of us she enjoyed her sleep! In fact she was a little too quiet at times and The Help actually took her to the vet at one point to see if she was okay. Everything came back clear so it was just that she was a passive dog.

Like me she did not like water. What is it with us Tibetans? She also hated snow which I haven’t ever seen. The Help told me that one day when the first snows came she decided to go walking in the forest behind their house. She drove up to the snowline and got out. Toffee was in the car and looking to stay there. She got her out and Toffee looked at her with scorn. Walk? In this? The Help set off, the sun was shining, the sky was blue and there was a little snow on the ground. Toffee trudged after her trailing a few metres behind. When The Help looked back Toffee stopped and shook her paws to get the snow off. After 20 minutes of walking with a dog in abject misery The Help gave up.

As soon as she turned around, Toffee turned and high tailed it back to the car and sat waiting eagerly to go home!

She was not an active dog. Many a time she went out for a walk with the family only to return in the arms of one of them as she refused to walk any further. Take it from me we Tibetans can be stubborn when we want to be 🙂

She went everywhere with the family and unlike myself never had a thought to go exploring. She hardly needed a lead and although the garden wasn’t fenced she wasn’t interested in leaving it. On their walks she would respond to The Help’s voice and if there was a cat or anything that caught her attention a quick word from The Help would make her ignore it. I could do that, I’m sure I could – if I wanted too.

Anyway, one of her favourite things was to go to the airport. The Boss was always travelling then and Toffee would go to the airport to pick him up. They would tie a bow around her neck and everyone would smile at her and for once she would wag her tail and was friendly. When she saw who it was she was coming to meet they would let the lead go and she would run to them – it was all very Heathcliff and Cathy if you get the picture.

When number two son left to go to University Toffee was almost twelve. She developed Cushings Disease as an elderly dog. Until that point you would never have known she was getting older. At first she responded to treatment but then didn’t. She became very weary and when the time came to put her down she was ready. You could see in her eyes that she just wanted to sleep.

For such a quiet girl she left a big space but it was time for The Help to move on again so she was in no hurry to try and fill the void. Toffee had been a great pal. She saw number one and number two son grow up and was a constant companion to The Help. She did her job and more and she did it beautifully. She is remembered as a lovely girl and all the memories are happy ones. So please, no tissues with this one!

Toffee was their first Tibetan and it is a tribute to her that they went on and got two more when next they settled long enough to be responsible.

Toffee, the golden Tibetan

Golden in colour and golden in nature., she was one of the good ones.

With love from Zena, the proud Tibetan

The Princess Looks Back – Part 3

Me – looking back!

The next furpals to enter The Help’s lives were definitely not planned!

With number one son about 18 months old they left the grey Northern Hemisphere skies and travelled to New Zealand to live. It was supposed to be for three years. Fresh from the pain of leaving Pashtu behind The Help was not looking to get any pets even though that decision would leave a big whole in her life.

What’s that saying about best laid plans…….?

Within the first few months they found a house they liked and bought it. The family they bought the house from had two boys and a dog and a cat. They were leaving for Australia. In one of the last visits that The Help and The Boss made to the house they discovered that this couple were putting the cat and the dog down because they did not want to take them! They were horrified.

The dog was a young Sheltie called Mandy and the cat a grey tabbie called Charlie or ‘Garlie’ as he was always known due to the inability of a baby to pronounce his name properly.

You know what happened next don’t you?

Yes, you’re right.

They bought the house and took the dog and the cat along with it.

Mandy learning to trust us

For some reason most of the photographs at that time seem to have been of number one son and then number two son who was born shortly after they moved to New Zealand. this means that we were not able to find any photographs of Charlie and only a few of Mandy. The Help tells me that they have many more in a different form, photographic slides, but I think she’s just telling me that so I won’t judge her!

I freely admit that Mandy was a handsome dog. She reminds me a little of Roxie, a Collie from our park. She was large for a Sheltie apparently but I’m afraid to say she had not been treated very well and was very timid.

So The Help and The Boss began to work with her and Charlie to try and tame them.

Their new house had a lot of chapel ceilings and beams. Charlie lived his life in the kitchen high up on the beams. This didn’t seem particularly hygienic or friendly so The Help gradually discouraged Charlie from jumping on the fridge and then onto the beams.

Actually she just piled some saucepans on there so that when he tried it they fell and made an awful noise. Not very subtle was it?

It did mean that eventually Charlie joined in with family life a little and in the winter months when it was cold he would sit on The Help’s lap. They never really felt that he loved them, but they did understand that they were tolerated as without them Charlie wouldn’t get regular meals and a warm house!

Mandy learning to overcome her fear

Mandy was a harder project. She was used to kicks and abuse and wouldn’t come near the house at first. With a lot of patience and well placed treats The Help finally got her to come inside and to learn that she was not going to be beaten.

She was a gentle dog and loved children although she did have an issue with the postman and would nip at his heels to ‘herd’ him away from her house. The Help had to apologise a few times and when she realised what was happening she kept Mandy in at the time the postman was due to call!

They had had Mandy for a few years and she had just about left her fearful ways behind her when all of a sudden she disappeared. She had jumped the fence and escaped. The Help was shocked and couldn’t understand what had happened.

They contacted the local police, vets and lost dogs home. She had on an identity tab but they lived not too far from farmland and The Help was worried. She knew farmers would simply shoot a stray dog and not stop to check the tags.

A couple of days after Mandy’s disappearance she was told about rumours of a farmer having shot a dog in a nearby valley. She had a friend who had recently lost her son through a brain tumour and together they drove into the valley to see if by any chance this dog was Mandy and if they could find her.

They drove around for a while and were just returning home when the friend spotted Mandy in a nearby field.

The Help got out of the car and began calling. Mandy was running and didn’t seem to hear. She drove the car trying to keep the dog in sight and eventually Mandy got onto the road. Again she stopped and called but the dog just ran past her with a glazed look on her eyes.

The Help jumped into the car again and overtook the dog by about 200 metres. She parked the car and opened up the back of the hatch. She stood next to the car on the open road and began calling Mandy’s name and talking to her. Perceiving the road block ahead the dog slowed and then something got through to her. She began trotting towards the car and jumped in, wagging her tail and happy to be safe.

The Help and her friend were in tears.

They took her straight to the vet. She had been shot with buckshot and that was easy to fix.

Something however was not right. She began to revert to her nervous ways and The Help saw her walk into a wall on a few occasions. Sometimes she would seem to overbalance and they began to get a little concerned that she might snap at them when she was in a ‘glazed’ state. They were worried about her around two young children.

They went back to the vet. He thought perhaps it was hormonal and gave her an injection.

Her strange behaviour continued and The Help was concerned. Then one night she fitted. The Boss knew what was wrong. He believed she had a brain tumour. They had both watched their friend and neighbour’s son die recently and the symptoms were almost the same.

The next day she was back at the vet who was very unimpressed by The Boss’ diagnosis and their concern that the dog was sick. He thought they were simply trying to get rid of an unwelcome pet. He kept her overnight. That night she had a massive fit and The Help was woken by the vet calling to say she needed to be put down.

It was thought that the physical trauma and beatings of her past may have caused a bleed into the brain but we will never know for sure. She was a young dog, but I’m pleased to say that her last two years were spent in comfort, safety and a family’s laughter.

I promise you not all of The Help’s stories are sad ones, though I’m beginning to be amazed that she kept on including us in her family as I retrace some of her furkid history.

After Mandy they were not going to get another dog, but once again they got sucked in by a sob story! A work colleague was going overseas and needed to find someone to look after his dog whilst he was away. Of course they said they would and that is how they found themselves with a Cairn Terrier.

Angus was obsessed with balls and used to collect them from all around the neighbourhood. The Boss would line them up on the wall at the bottom of the garden for the kids to reclaim their balls!

Angus with number two son

After a couple of years Angus returned to his owners and shortly after that it was time for The Boss and The Help to be on the move again.

Love from Zena, the looking-back princess

The Princess Looks Back – Part Two

You may remember that last time we talked about the first furpets The Help had when she left home.

At that point The Boss came along and life began to change a little bit. You may remember that they went away for a year leaving Jason with a friend and Chaucer with family.

Here is where they went:

Afghanistan

First they went to live in Bangladesh and then they moved to Afghanistan. They didn’t getting any furpals in Bangladesh, unless you can count the huge cockroaches which The Help certainly didn’t want in the house!

They knew they were only going to live in Kabul for a year so they didn’t intend to get any pets. The Boss really didn’t know The Help that well if he thought that was going to work!

Walking past a flower shop one day she saw a parrot in a tiny cage. For some reason she felt so sorry for the parrot and asked the man if it was for sale, he shrugged and named a price which didn’t seem a lot to The Help but which she learnt later was about ten times the price of parrots in the market nearby!

The main difference was however, as she told The Boss, was that their parrot was healthy and didn’t die after a week which tended to happen to those bought at the market. They named him Mango and after a great deal of patience they encouraged Mango out of his tiny cage and on discovering his wings were clipped, they bought a stand for him to live on.

Mango used to love The Boss, he liked riding on his shoulder and sharing his bacon and porridge for breakfast. For some reason he used to just sit on his stand and give the death glare to The Help which she thought was very ungrateful of him considering she had rescued him!

One day when The Boss was seeing if Mango would like some fresh air in the garden, the bird shocked The Boss by spreading his wings and flying a few metres. Unfortunately this took him over the wall into the neighbour’s garden. The Boss ran to the wall and saw Mango come to rest inches away from the neighbours boxer dog. Fortunately the dog was so shocked and a little elderly so The Boss was able to sprint around and into the garden and rescue Mango before it got messy!

One night they were invited over to a friends house and told that they had a present. The Help was intrigued, her birthday wasn’t for weeks. When they arrived there they were horrified to be presented with a puppy. Don’t get me wrong, The Help fell in love instantly with this puppy, but they knew they weren’t staying in Kabul very long and they couldn’t take him back to the UK. America didn’t have the tight quarantine regulations that the UK had. This family already had an Afghan hound who wasn’t too happy to have this puppy in the house so they were anxious to find another home for him.

What were the chances The Help wasn’t going home with this puppy?

They were told the story. The couple had been driving through Kabul when they saw this small white puppy running across the road and just miss being hit by a car. They stopped and picked it up. They looked to see if they could see any evidence of it’s mother or anyone who might be searching for it but could see no-one. So they had no choice but to take it home.

The Help and The Boss listened to the story and applauded the family for rescuing the dog but explained the many reasons why they just couldn’t take him. Their decision was accepted and they sat outside in the garden nibbling on crackers and watching the two kids pull the puppy, drop the puppy, dump the puppy in a vat of water and generally do things that should never be done to a little fellow. Did the parents let their kids run riot on purpose? We shall never know but the outcome was that after watching this for half an hour they looked at each other and knew they couldn’t leave this little guy, they had to take him home. So they did.

They called him Pashtu and he quickly grew into a loving, bright and special pal.

Pashtu in the garden

When they first got him he was still only lapping, within a week or so he began to chew and from then on he thrived. The local people referred to him as a ‘ditch’ dog. I suppose our equivalent of a mongrel. He was gorgeous apparently (although I am sure he couldn’t have been as wonderful as me!). He was a little like a Maremma.

At six months he resembled a Maremma

Being an only furball he had a lot of toys. During the winter there was a lot of snow on the ground which didn’t bother Pashtu, he was made for snow with a thick double coat and hairy pads to grip the ice.

Every morning in the winter he would go out and dig up his toys. He would carry them to the middle of the garden and then check that no-one was watching. Then he would take each one and bury them in a new place to be dug up the next day!

Don’t you watch where I put these!

He would drive out on the weekends with The Help and it caused people endless amusement to see a dog in the car! Pashtu would sit up like a king, sometimes in the front, sometimes in the back.

The cold never really bothered him but he used to like to sit with The Help close to their one paraffin heater at night. One night The Boss commented on the funny smell in the room. They looked around and down and suddenly realised that Pashtu’s beautiful white feathery tail was smouldering!! It smelt awful. Fortunately they were able to stop it burning before he realised what was happening or felt any discomfort. He had a tiny brown patch in his tail for a few weeks as a reminder.

As a tiny puppy he used to love to steal the freshly washed laundry. One day The Help came back into their apartment after shopping and Pashtu shot out of the door, one of her freshly washed bras in his mouth. She chased him up the street and then suddenly became aware of people, mostly men, looking after her in amazement. Recalling that she was in an Islamic country she decided that Pashtu would have to return by himself with or without the bra. As soon as he realised she was no longer playing he returned, still with the bra in his mouth.

She put the laundry away as soon as it was done after that.

The Boss and Pashtu enjoying the snow

As the time came closer for them to leave it became obvious that The Help was struggling with having to leave Pashtu. They discussed with an Afghan friend the possibility of taking Pashtu home to the UK despite the quarantine issues. They were advised against it. At that time the Afghan government had become sensitive about people exporting their Afghan Hounds and he also said that he had known of animals exported without any water in their cages so that they died in transit.

None of the information they received was hopeful so they turned their attention to finding a home for him within the International community of Kabul. They found an American family who were looking for a dog. They were diplomats and had a small son who Pashtu seemed to get on with. They would be able to take him to America with him when they left. It broke The Help’s heart but she felt it was the best chance for Pashtu. She hoped he would bond with the boy and then return to the States.

Mango went to an American family too and the daughter was thrilled to have him. They had bought many a bird from the local market only to have them die and the young girl was so happy to finally have a healthy parrot.

The Boss & The Help left Afghanistan only a couple of weeks before violence erupted. As soon as The Help arrived home she wrote to the American family to find out how they were, but actually to find out how Pashtu was. The news was not what she wanted to hear.

Pashtu had run away. He didn’t have time to bond with the family before he slipped out of the gates. We have no way of knowing what happened to him. The country was never to be the same again.

Did Pashtu find his way back to their little house and did one of the Afghans who knew him take him home? The Help hopes so.

Her heart broke a little leaving Pashtu behind and when she heard he was lost she was devastated.

By now he is at the Rainbow Bridge and is one very special furball that she is hoping to see again one day.

In memory of Pashtu

With love from Zena, the emotional Princess

The Princess Looks Back

I thought I’d talk a little bit about history. The Help’s history. Ancient history in fact 🙂 BD (before digital) so all the photos are rather blurry.

I mentioned some time ago that it might be interesting to find out a little bit about the furkids that shaped her. She has told me that she always loved animals. Almost any kind of animal but particularly dogs, cats and horses.

Growing up her family seem to have had quite a few dogs. Kips, Patch, Cindy, Boozy, Heath & Wilson (bulldog brothers named after the politicians of the day!), so as soon as she left home and was by herself one of the first things she wanted was a dog. As a child she had lived with a German Shepherd, mixed breeds, spaniels, boxers, and bulldogs and she didn’t have a particular breed in mind. She just wanted a dog, a companion.

She was living in England in the middle of the countryside without neighbours and surrounded by fields. It would be good to have a dog for security as well as company.

The Internet was a mere twinkle in a Scientists eye so she had to rely on phoning the RSPCA and watching the advertisements in the paper until she found a dog she felt she could rescue and offer a good home to.

Looking back it was done so carelessly. She was young – very young – she tells me 🙂

She saw and ad in the local paper and phoned the then owner and made a time to go and see the dog on offer. A young de-sexed Irish Red Setter.

She was very excited driving to the house. She turned up in her little car and parked outside a large stone manor house. A middle-aged man came out of the house and whistled for the dog who ran willingly over from some far corner of a huge and manicured garden. Jason (the dog’s name) was definitely about to come down in the world!

The Help was immediately smitten. Jason seemed friendly and The Help is a pushover so she wasn’t going to drive away without him. She couldn’t get a good reason for the re-homing from the owners and she was too young to push. All she knew was that here was a dog who was unwanted. He had a lovely soft expression in his eyes and a desire to please. She might not be able to give him a manor house and rolling lawns, but she could give him a loving home where he belonged and so straight away she said she would have him. She sensed the relief of those around her.

No-one asked anything about her. They didn’t ask what sort of a home she was going to provide or if she was at home during the day. She just took him. No one ever followed up to find out how he was. They were rid of a burden and The Help found her companion.

Jason enjoying company and cuddles

Happily for Jason, he had a great home. He was an Irish Red Setter who had clearly never really been looked after. He had a dry and staring coat which no amount of oil and conditioners could improve but he was loving and good natured and The Help never did understand why he was being passed around.

He slept in her bedroom and for the first week he woke her every morning at 5.00am by pulling the duvet off her bed! Clever as that might have been, she trained him NOT to do that as soon as she could!

He loved roaming the fields which surrounded the house and they went on long walks. He wasn’t much of a guard dog but he was company. At that time The Help used to ride a lot and Jason loved running with her. Oddly enough she had a chestnut horse so they matched but she assures me that had nothing to do with her getting him. I wonder……

The roads she rode along were mainly quiet which was a good thing because occasionally Jason would suddenly decide to lie down in the middle of the road for a quick rest. When I think about how crazy she is about me and the roads I wonder that she took him out like that. She would never let me off leash near a road. Maybe I’m just special 🙂

One thing which was a problem was the car. He used to behave as if he was being taken to the slaughterhouse every time he got into a vehicle and was only happy when he was sitting on the front seat passenger or the driver! As you can imagine this was a problem. At that time harnesses for dogs in cars were not as common as today and as The Help only had a small mini a partition wasn’t practical. However, they didn’t crash!

This did settle down a little as he got older and nothing awful happened to him. I don’t like the car either and having heard this story I am beginning to wonder if the problem doesn’t lie with The Help and not me after all. I’ll give more thought to that.

Shortly after Jason came to live with The Help she realised that she had other pets in the house who had not been invited. Mice.

Now The Help doesn’t mind mice. She thinks they’re cute, but she does prefer that they are not running over her food and living in the oven!

So she had the bright idea of getting a cat. A local farmer had some kittens and said she could have one so she got Dee. She asked the farmer when the kitten might catch chase mice and was told not for many months, but she hoped that the smell of a cat in the house would deter them.

At about this time she met The Boss who was quite amused by her menagerie and loved animals himself which was a good thing because otherwise the relationship wouldn’t have worked.

On the first night of having Dee, The Help was woken up by terrible screams. Thinking the kitten had been somehow injured she grabbed a torch and went running out into the dark. Being the country there were no street lights or other illumination. She could find nothing and the screams had stopped. Heart pounding she went back to bed planning on finding the kitten if she could in the morning. She didn’t sleep. She was sure the poor thing was hurt.

As she opened the front door that morning she tripped over the remains of a rabbit! That’s right, a rabbit. This small kitten who was not yet meant to chase mice had torn a rabbit to pieces. The Help was a little disconcerted and very upset about the rabbit but she couldn’t believe at first that the kitten had done this. Perhaps a weasel or stoat had killed the rabbit and the kitten had just brought home some of the spoils.

This answer satisfied her that day but the same thing happened the next night and from then on various pieces of torn up bunnies could be found dotted around the garden. Meanwhile Dee seemed to have made a deal with the mice that they could stay in the kitchen with her blessing!

Dee, Killer Cat

The Help had bought a litter tray and all the usual things that one gets for a cat and was a little surprised when Dee refused to use the litter tray at all. Everything she had read about cats had described them as fastidious clean creatures who would not soil there own area. Dee seemed determined to break all stereotypes.

She preferred the carpet to any other means of toileting and no amount of scolding, treats or bribes could get her to go outside or use the tray. It was as if the outdoors was her place and the indoors just a giant bathroom to her!

A red flag was raised when Dee developed another ‘cute’ trait.

The lounge and kitchen were separated by a few steps with a guard rail. Dee quickly discovered that if she sat on the top rail by the top step anyone walking through from the lounge was a target. She would hurl herself at them and then claw all the way down their body. The Boss suffered badly from this game of Dee’s and it became a war of stealth for The Help and The Boss to make it into the kitchen without bleeding claw marks on their arms or legs.

Dee was not interested in cuddles and would fight if The Help picked her up. It began to dawn on The Help that something was wrong (doh!). Was the cat crazy? Could you have a feral kitten? She didn’t know, but as she patched up more wounds and swept the remains of another poor rabbit from the doorstep she began to feel that Dee was not really working out.

Not being equipped to deal with a problem kitten she was fortunate in living in the country. Farmers were always wanting or willing to have another cat to keep down the rats or vermin in their barns and the cats had a great time. It seemed that it would be an ideal life for Dee. The life she had been born into really. It was with relief that she took Dee around to a local farm and The Help could once more walk around her home unmolested!

The Boss & Jason

This still left the problem of the mice in the house so once again The Help thought about getting a kitten but this time she wouldn’t go to the local farmers, she would go to the RSPCA. They always had kittens needing a home.

Taking a small box in the car she drove to the local shelter. She was taken into the cat house and told that there were dozens of kittens to choose from. Third cage in and a huge ginger cat threw himself at the bars miaowing and clutching onto her hands. She talked to him for a while wasting precious minutes. She knew there were boarders in there as well and this fellow was obviously there whilst his family was on holiday. He was sleek, beautiful and obviously loved. He was gorgeous.

Eventually she tore herself away and looked at some of the kittens, she could hear the cat shouting after her and went back several times to talk to him. No kitten particularly grabbed her fancy and she realised she was looking to see if there was a ginger one because of the boarder.

The lady came back in to see which she had chosen. The Help had to confess that she hadn’t managed to choose a kitten yet and had been distracted by the ginger tom.

‘Oh, he’s looking for a home too.’ she was told.

Apparently he was not as loved as she had thought. He was the product of a broken home, the husband had taken the dog, the wife the kids and no-one had room for the cat any more. They didn’t even know his name or age in the RSPCA. He had just been dropped in. I suppose it could have been worse. It was good for The Help.

Needless to say the little box The Help had taken with her wasn’t much use on the homeward journey. The big ginger tom ran around the car and then settled in the front seat purring. He had come home and he knew it!

Handsome and proud of it!

The first thing The Help had to do was find a name for him. For some reason all the usual cat names of the time did not sound dignified enough for this proud guy. Eventually she chose Chaucer being a fellow red-head!

So Chaucer joined the happy home and he and Jason and the horse got on famously. Sometimes The Help would go out into the garden and see Chaucer swinging from the horse’s tail who didn’t seem to mind at all 🙂

Receiving due homage!

Cat and Dog enjoying the garden and each other.

Chaucer loved going for walks too and sometimes had to be shut in the house for his own safety!

In the evenings when The Help would return from work she would hear the vocal cat screaming as he came racing to greet her bounding through the long grass of the neighbouring fields. He would be visible on the up-jump and then disappear again. It is a memory she always carries with her.

The first time The Boss met Chaucer, the cat bounded onto his lap, put his paws on his shoulders, pressed his nose against The Boss’ nose and purred. For a moment The Boss was rigid waiting for the cat to turn on him (Dee’s influence lived on), but as the minutes passed and Chaucer’s purrs increased The Boss realised that he had been accepted. That was one of the cat’s favourite positions.

A couple of years after meeting The Boss and getting married a new chapter began. The Help and The Boss got a job overseas for a year. Chaucer was to stay with The Help’s parents and Jason with The Boss’ best friend who had always wanted a dog, loved Jason and loved hiking.

When the year was up and they returned Jason, who was getting older, was so happy and settled they didn’t have the heart to wrench him away again. He lived on for many years hiking the local hills with his new master, loved and happy and The Help never did understand why he had ended up in that newspaper ‘Free To A Good Home’ but she is pleased he did and that she was able to write a happy ending to what could have been a tragedy.

Chaucer came back to live with them after that year away. They picked him up from a local kennel after the twelve month separation. The Help was driving the car and he immediately sat on The Boss’s lap, pressed noses and purred so loudly the car felt like it was vibrating. He hadn’t forgotten them.

He stayed with them as their first son was born and until he grew old. Always a handsome and dignified cat who loved laps, cuddles and who had chosen The Help as his new home on that day in the RSPCA shelter.

Love from Zena, the Chronicler Princess

The Naked Princess

Well. Not really.

But it feels a bit like it.

Yesterday I was this cute, shaggy and okay I acknowledge it, slightly knotted Tibetan.

Portrait of a shaggy dog

Then I went to the spa. They bathed me, cut me and combed me and I think they went a little too far!

I feel so naked!

And not only do I have to deal with the sudden loss of my long hair (on the one hand it’s easier to run around, on the other I feel strange) but on my return I had to cope with the ministrations of Raffles who was very concerned about where I had been and why I looked different on my return.

‘So then I had a bath and they got out the big dryer……’

To my embarrassment the cut revealed that I have been enjoying a few too many puppy treats lately and for the first time in my life I have a little more belly than I should. I am mortified.

Then, to add insult to injury it was a little cold this morning and The Help thought that maybe the short cut might be too much of a shock for me so I had to go out looking like this.

Oh the shame! If looks could kill…….

At least it’s purple – the royal colour. See my skinny little legs. I did hear The Help say to keep the leg hair longer. Sigh. It’s always the same when you go to get a haircut. They get carried away and you spend the next few months growing it again. The Help complains about her hair being cut too. It must be a family thing 🙂

For those of you who saw the pictures of our garden yesterday and were so kind about it, we thought we’d show you pictures of what it was like before the big trees came down and they made a big lawn for us to run on.

This was the back garden when Zac & I moved here

The garden until last year

The Boss worked hard and had it looking pretty. We had a little patch of grass and then we went through the arch and behind that shed you can just see three really big trees. They began to lean rather badly and threaten neighbours. That’s when The Help and The Boss decided that they couldn’t leave them up any more.

Before

That before picture looks great. Zac and I loved exploring the different parts of the garden but nothing would grow down where the shed is because of those big trees. The other problem was that the garden took a lot of water. Not good in a country like Australia where there is so little rain.

The in-between stage.

The Boss spent ages moving the plants, then he got someone in to take the trees down and move the sheds and then he had to put down turf. And all this time I couldn’t use the garden.

It was cute before but I guess it was worth it because this is what we have now and as you have all mentioned, it is a great garden for us to run around in – when I feel like running!

A Pergola stands where the big trees used to be so we can sit in the shade and watch the pup playing on the lawn.

What a difference? Do you prefer the before or after? We’re hoping this one won’t use as much water as well as giving us space to run.

Have a good day.

Love from Zena, the plump Princess 😦

The Princess Shows You Hers

Yesterday. At least I think it was yesterday. All the days are rushing into one at the moment.

Where was I?

Oh yes. Yesterday, Mollie over at Mollie Dog Treats gave us a tour of her garden and asked us how our gardens are growing. So this morning when we came back from our romp at the park The Help took some pictures. They are not very good, but they give you an idea.

We are in Australia in case you hadn’t realised. So it is not summer here, it is Autumn, the end of Autumn. Nevertheless some of the plants don’t seem to realise it.

These roses have been flowering off and on since Spring!

These Petunias on the back fence seem to be enjoying the cooler temperatures.

The Potato Vine clambering over the shed is one of The Help’s favourite thing in the garden. It flowers all the time and even though it has invaded the shed she loves it!

The climbing roses are still climbing and rosing!

The Boss’ geraniums are still adding some colour too.

And our grass is green again after the summer.

Just in case you don’t believe me when I say it’s Autumn, this is our maple tree in the front garden.

And the leaves?

Here they are – waiting for a strong wind to blow them around the garden again!

So that is my autumn garden.

Then this morning I went to Doggy’s Style and he alerted us to the importance of having a good photograph on hand for emergencies. This has brought to a head my long hair debate. If I went missing would this photograph do me justice?

Is this the stunning Princess Zena?

Cute and Cuddly – yes

All that combing, bathing and hard work and this is as good as The Help can do? My hair can get three times as long as this but we’ve had a chat. I’ve had enough of the comb. The Help’s had enough of my wriggling so today I go for a pampering at the local spa. Nails done, hair washed and cut and tomorrow a new Princess Zena will emerge – one with eyes you can see!

Have a great day everyone.

With love from Zena, the knotty Princess!