Sucking Up... Part 1

The sucking up has begun.. Mum is desperatley trying to make it up to me for blatantly letting that cat get one over on me.

Yesterday she and the skin kids decided to make me some yummy treats so they made me some of Sherman's Super Stinky Salmon Cookies. YUMMY!! Ive been pleading with Mum to make some of these since Sherman's Mom posted the recipe (Thank you Sherman's Mom)



She got my little bean to do the hard work!!



Hurry up already!!!



Mmmmm stinky heaven!!




and I confirm that eating too many of these leads to the *stinky* part..all's fair in love and revenge though :)


Ben xxx

Upstaged by a CAT!!!

Ok I'm slightly humiliated.. actually VERY humiliated. I have been totally upstaged by.. of all things.. a CAT

a giant ginger furball!

Jasper belongs to my Grandma, now i kind of like him (in the sense I drool when i see him and lick my lips a lot) but ultimatley I KNOW that I am better than him.. this is fact. But the ginger furball has got one over on me!!

The local paper ran a competition called I LOVE MY PET. Owners submitted pictures of their pets and readers voted for their favourite. Categories were:
Best Dog
Best Cat
Best Other (any other animal/critter)
Best Overall Pet

and the ginger furball only went and won the Best Cat category!!

and worse still... Mum voted for him!

and even worse Mum didn't even enter me so I wasn't even able to show the ginger whinger that I would have blown his socks off in the best overall pet category!!.. my only consolation here is that he was beaten in that category by a Lizard!! Oh how i laughed!

Mum has some major sucking up to do.. and i MEAN major!

The feline furball is gloating like crazy GRRRRR

and now he gets to have a professional photo shoot.. and be treated like royalty! Mum will probably get one of the shots and hang it on the wall.. just to rub salt in my already VERY deep wounds!

Judge for yourself.. is this floof monster more handsome than me??

Foster Carers... and Grumpy Bobby

I would like to introduce you all to my friend Bobby



or Grumpy Bobby as he is also known as.

Bobby is currently in Foster Care with John from Pawz For Thought (A charity rescuing and rehoming dogs) based in the North East of the UK.
Check out Bobby and Johns blog Here its full of Bobbys tales.. John's hilarious antics and stories of dogs who John has cared for who have found their forever homes. It's a funny and heartwarming blog. Now I know I already told you about this blog a few days ago.. but I just want to sing the praises of everyone who has ever fostered a dog, in fact everyone who has ever worked in rescue. Mum says they are heroes in her eyes and the job they do is extremely important for every dog out there searching for the love of a family.

Here is Mum's poem that she wrote as a tribute to all those who foster, but especially for Liz & Bri.. John and the many other foster carers who selflessly volunteer their time, homes and hearts to the doggys rescued by Pawz For Thought and of course to Lynne whose life is completely over-run by her dedication to Pawz and every dog that passes through.
If you live in the UK and think you could offer Bobby (or any of the Pawz doggys) a home, please contact them using the blue contact button on their website.

Love you Auntie Liz and Auntie Lynn XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx


Ben.




To Angels Who Foster

Have you ever loved something enough to let it go?
Even though it breaks your heart to watch, you know,
That in order to flourish it's wings must spread,
In order to grow it must move on and look ahead.
Like a first child leaving the proverbial nest,
Your heart aches, but you know it's for the best.
You have nurtured, nursed and taught all that you can,
They were never your's to keep, that wasn't the plan.

Could you volunteer to have this pain week after week?
To break your heart quite literally, so to speak.
Open your home, your heart and your mind,
To the abused, the needy, the unloved, the blind?
Could you nurse them back from pain and despair?
Make them understand that love is out there?
Watch them come back to life before your eyes,
Knowing soon you will say your goodbyes?

It's a special person who can foster a dog.
Turn around it's life, push sunshine through the fog.
Be a gentle hand,a calming voice and a loving ear,
Soothe all it's pain away and calm every fear.
To love it so much after seeing it's pain but prepare to let it go,
To find it a new family they know can love it so.
And when their heart is breaking as they watch it walk away,
Open their door to the next dog knowing it will all end the same way.

So to you angels out there who foster, mostly unsung,
Thank you from all the foster babies, old and young.
Thank you from the families whose lives you have transformed,
When you gave them that bundle that you so much adored.
Without you these dogs would have far less chance.
Have you any idea how many lives you enhance?

Do you know how many people stand back in awe?
You are utterly amazing, you couldn't do more.
Thank you for having the courage to let go,
The strength to do it all again, I admire you so.
To the dogs you are angels, their saviours and their friend.
Just know each one remembers you, with love until the end.

Some more Pawz doggys currently looking for their forever homes:

Benji



Buster



Libby



Cool Hand Luke




Meg



Milly



Molly



Mr Robinson



Mr Jones



Noro



Paddy



Pushka



Saffy



Snoopy



Toby



Yodi

Tagged

Maggie and Mitch tagged me for the middle name meme, it was some time ago.. oops!! Sorry guys I was away when you tagged me and then in the midst of catching up I kinda forgot!



Here are the rules:


1. You have to post the rules before you give your answers.


2. You must list one fact about yourself beginning with each letter of your middle name. (If you don't have a middle name, use your maiden name or your mother's maiden name).


3. At the end of your blog post, you need to tag one person (or blogger of another species) for each letter of your middle name. (Be sure to leave them a comment telling them they've been tagged.)


My name is Benjamin Samuel

S - Soulful Eyes (according to Mum anyway)
A - Acrobatic.. when i can be bothered i'm one flexible pupster
M - Mad as a hatter - sanity is overated
U - Uber Gorgeous (If I say it enough the girl doggies may start believing it!!)
E - Egotistical - It's all about ME
L - Lazy - What can I say.. who doesn't love to nap!

So ummm.. who to tag..

I tag Lizzie, Cara The Collie, Abby and umm anyone else who hasn't done this already.. hey i'm a rebel.. I was never any good with rules!!

Ben xx

Doghair Despair

Mum is a little sad today. Houdini (one of her Australian RedClaw Crayfish) has passed away. Mum was so upset that Dad had to get her out of the tank as Mum couldn't bear it. Mum has had them since they were tiny babies and so she is really gutted. Dad immediatley started eyeing the tank up for his fish and so Mum got real mad at him. It does make sense to shift Little H into the smaller tank now she is on her own but Mum was in no mood to discuss it. Swim free at the bridge Houdini, your antics will be sorley missed :(

Dad picked Peter up for a visit on Sunday evening. His stitches are all out from his face and it is healing nicely, he has lots of staples in his knee and a wierd splint kind of contraption on his leg but he says it is feeling much better and he can hobble about now at least.
I was soooo happy to see him, I missed him as he is usually a very regular visitor, so Mum and Dad had to keep reminding me not to jump on his bad knee.. when he is better i am jumping on his knee for a cuddle and not getting off for a week!! He managed to play tug with me for a while though so I was happy.

Mum decided to make a pasta bake last night and look what happened when she opened the peppers...



Rasta Peppers!! Red, Gold and Green in one single pepper.. this prompted mum to start singing Bob Marley tunes at the top of her voice (and trust me.. this isn't a good thing!!) Me and the kids ran for cover with our paws/hands over our ears. She then insisted on speaking in a Jamaican accent for the entire time we had dinner!! Seriously.. anyone know a good therapist?

Mum is despairing at the moment about my hair (would she rather I was bald??) She says she has never known a dog shed so much (which i'm sure is an over dramatisation of the situation) As fast as she sweeps the hair up it is all over the floor again. She *claims* that brushing me yields enough hair to produce sweaters for the entire civilised world... hmm likes to embelish facts a little i think!!
Well newsflash Mum.. I'M A DOG - SHEDDING MY COAT IS WHAT I DO... GET OVER IT!

now I think it may be nap time, I think Mum thought she was competing in an olympic dash on our walk this morning and so I am bushed.


Ben xxx

Pawz Doggies and Kind Hearts

Hi all, just a quickie post to ask you all to pop along and take a peek at a couple of great blogs.

Life and Times of Lizzie is a great blog from another doggy rescued by Pawz For Thought who has found her loving furever home.Lizzie is just adorable.


Kind Hearts is the blog of Bobby and his foster carer John. Bobby s still looking for his furever home but he has many stories of the dogs who did find love and some still looking. This blog is just full of humour and warmth.

So please pop along and say hi.. tell them the handsome Rott sent you ;)


Ben xxx

PS.. another Pawz doggie is now blogging.. so feel free to pop along and say hi to very gorgeous Cara The Collie

Windows, The Easter Bunny, Motorbikes,Mayhem, The Aftermath and more!!

Oh my goodness, I've been away FOREVER!! Where do I start?? Well I guess the beginning would be a good place!

Windows

Shortly after my last post Dad's computer died on us.. it shut itself down and went on strike. No matter how many times Mum and Dad tried to encourage it to fire up.. it just refused. After a few days of no computer Mum decided to get out her laptop. Apparently she packed it away when some work was being done on the house last year and has never bothered to unpack it. Hurrah... back to blogging!!

or not as the case was..

Mum's laptop had some kind of hissy fit after being packed away so long.. so it kind of worked and kind of didn't.. to cut out all the boring and technical stuff.. in order to get internet access she had to reload Windows.. now at this point I thought she was losing her mind.. Windows?? On a laptop?? and who is this Bill Gates who seemed to be on the receiving end of many an expletive from her usually polite mouth?

I gathered at this point that blogging may be on hold for a while and wandered off to sleep/play/eat/shed hair/annoy the fish.
Dad was getting ready for a weekend away camping/fishing/trial biking with pals and Mum was getting ready for Easter shenanigans with the beans so repairing the laptop and/or PC seemed to be the last thing on their mind. Almost Easter though.. wonder what the bunny will bring?

The Easter Bunny... Motorbikes and Mayhem

So Dad went away the Friday Morning at some ungodly hour in the morning. Mum, me and the skin kids spent the day playing games and watching movies.. the weather was awful. Cold, wet, windy so we had several short walks instead of any lengthy ones. Dad rang to say he had arrived safely and claimed the weather wasn't so bad.
Saturday was much the same. Awful weather, so we went to visit Grandma and Grandad for a little while, then home and the kids made me some treats.. Peanut Butter Pup Pops Yummy!!



Mum called Dad at lunchtime to see how the weather was and... uh oh... Mum suddenly didn't seem happy at all!! She sounded a litle panicky and scurried away with the phone.. I followed to make sure she was ok. Turns out that Dad and his friend Peter had got into an accident on Peter's motorbike the night before and Peter was in the hospital. Dad had a lucky escape, cuts and bruises to his arms and legs and a bashed up elbow.. but Peter had a head inury, a badly cut face and had shattered his knee and detached all the tendons... OUCH!!! He was having an operation that day and Dad was heading back to the hospital to see how he was.
Mum was completely freaked out! I tried to calm her down with a nice game of tug.. but failed miserably. Dad said he wouldn't be coming home until Peter could get out of the hospital.. which Mum understood, but I think she just wanted Dad home.

Sunday morning we had an egg hunt.. well a toy hunt in my case. The kids got lots
of eggs, toys, money etc and i got some treats and loads of new stuff! A huge lobster toy, A huge crab toy, a monkey, a frisbee and a big rope. The Easter Bunny brought the kids a DVD all about training your dog and cooking for your dog.. it came with a cute toy for me and a book full of recipes for yummy things that the kids can make me... gotta love that Easter Bunny dude!!

Dad called to say Peter was being released from hospital so he could get further treatment closer to home, so Dad was coming home.. YAY!! Oh and did i mention we woke up to SNOW!!! and lots of it!! I loved it.. I ran around like a lunatic trying to catch snowflakes in my mouth.. Mum was too distracted to take any photos.. so feel free to give her a telling off for that one!!

The Aftermath

So the upshot is that since Dads return.. they have been slightly distracted and busy with injured friends, ill relatives, little beans return to school (Lilli has started full time school!!) and various other stuff and so they only just got the Laptop back to full working order.. so now I have lots of catching up on everyones posts.. lots more to tell you.. and..and...sore paws from this post.

If you stayed awake to the end of this... well done!!

It's good to be back!!

Ben xxxx