Category: Out and about

paws in the snow

Woof, I’m back! This side a lot is happening. But first, let me wish my human friend, Ness, a pawsome birthday. Apparently it’s an impawtant one. And it’s today. I like Ness. She gives good fusses. This was us on Sunday.

Me guide dog Fletcher. Well it's not necessarily my best angle. I'm lying down on a tiled floor out of harness. My head is being cradled between the knees of my human friend Ness. It looks like I have double chins. Ness has brown hair in a bun and is wearing jeans and a grey jumper. @pawsatthekerb

Now, let’s woof about snow. I know I’m “paws at the kerb”. But how’s a guide dog like me meant to find the kerb when it’s covered in all that white stuff you call snow?! Can you see the kerb in the photo? I can’t. All I can see are my paws in the snow. And this wasn’t even the deep stuff.

Me guide dog Fletcher. You can't see much of me. Just my front legs and tops of my paws. My paws are in deep snow. The photo has a blue tinge to it. It was cold outside. @pawsatthekerb

In case you’re wondering, I only went out when absolutely necessary. It’s difficult to guide my human, the pawtastic Fiona, in the snow because everything looks the same. And I had to protect her from the “Beast from the East” and the “Mini beast from the East” (they didn’t say anything about beasts in my training manual. Oh, and for my friends who don’t live in the UK, these “beasts” are names for our recent snowy weather). Here I am on snow patrol. It was very cold.

Me guide dog Fletcher from above. I'm in my guide dog harness and have a red lead. All around me is snow. You can just make out some paw prints of mine. @pawsatthekerb

I reckon snow makes for good paw prints.

Paw prints from me guide dog Fletcher in the snow. You've got my human's paw prints too. @pawsatthekerb

Woofing paw prints, I got very creative in the park. I set about creating circles of paw prints in the snow. I’m quite the artist.

Me guide dog Fletcher having some down time in the park. All around me is snow. You're looking at me side on. My tail is up and I'm making a circle of paw prints in the snow. My golden fur contrasts well against the snow. @pawsatthekerb

I was quite proud of myself when I finished.

Me guide dog Fletcher sat down out of harness in the park. I'm sitting on snow and it's all around me. In the background is a circle of paw prints by me. I'm looking very pleased with myself. @pawsatthekerb

Sitting in snow gave me a cold bottom though. Eating the snow was fun. So was running about in it. Yes, I do like snow.

Me guide dog Fletcher smiling directly at you. You're zoomed in on my head and there's snow in the background. My pink nose matches my pink tongue. @pawsatthekerb

By the way, I don’t like ice. Nasty stuff. All slippery. So I was very glad when all that disappeared. Back to regular guiding. Well I woof that, but nothing about guiding Fiona is predictable. I mean I took her round this shopping centre which we’ve never been in before. I was superb (even if I woof so). But look what I had to guide her round. It’s a “Gromit” (as in “Wallace and Gromit”).

Me guide dog Fletcher in harness sat in a shopping centre. Behind me is Gromit from Wallace and Gromit. He's three times taller than me. He looks weird and is in yellow. I've got golden fur. @pawsatthekerb

I’ve not come across a dog like Gromit before. Gromit was dressed in a weird looking yellow outfit. This is “Gromit Unleashed” apparently. What do you think? Reckon I do yellow better than Gromit.

Wishing all my readers a very Happy Easter!

Woof and paws, Guide dog Fletcher.

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(c) pawsatthekerb™, March 2018.

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My Agatha Christie Adventure

Woof from me guide dog Fletcher! I’ve been on an adventure. And I’m very pleased with myself. It’s an adventure in which I solved “The Case of the Missing Treat”.

It all started in the lush green countryside of Devon. A place with the most pawsome smells. In somewhere called ‘Greenway’. This being the holiday home of the mystery writer, Agatha Christie. Apparently, it was also where they filmed “Dead Man’s Folly” with this human, Hercule Poirot.

Me guide dog Fletcher in front of a tall thin poster of Hercule Poirot also known as David Suchet. The poster title is Agatha Christie Dead Man's Folly behind the scenes. Hercule is wearing a bowler hat, bow tie and moustache. I'm in my golden fur and harness. @pawsatthekerb

Anyway, forget him. I had to track down my missing treat.

Let’s have a nose in this room.

Me guide dog Fletcher. Well a close up of my head and pawsome pink nose. Behind me is a lit bookcase behind glass. You can't make out the books.@pawsatthekerb

No treats in here. Just lots and lots of books by this Agatha Christie. Hmm. Pawtastic collection.

Lots of books written by Agatha Christie on two rows of a book case. The covers are different covers. On the bottom row the book fronts are facing you. And there's a script with Dead Man's Folly for ITV in the centre. @pawsatthekerb

Wait. I smell something fantastic. Ah, but alas. My hopes were dashed.

Me guide dog Fletcher with a not happy disappointed face. My face is slightly ruppled up and my eyebrows are raised. Behind me is a wooden bench with a hole in it. Under the hole is a white bowl. It's an old fashioned toilet. @pawsatthekerb

All this room had was an old-fashioned toilet.

Time to venture outside. Now I wonder if my treats were hiding with the “Dead Man”. Nope. Not even a crumb of a treat.

Me guide dog Fletcher lying down. My legs to the left. My head twisted round to the right. I'm staring intently at floor boards. Looking for my treat. There wasn't even a crumb. @pawsatthekerb

Most puzzling. My little grey cells were working overtime. Yes. I now knew where the treat was. I turned to my human – the fabulous Fiona. She had it all along. She had tucked it away in something which stopped the smells leaking out. No wonder I had a hard time tracking it down.

Me guide dog Fletcher with my human in front of the back of the white building which is Greenway. My human is standing on the lawn giving me a treat. I'm seated of course. Best position for treats. The house has deck chairs outside. I would try to describe the house but it's a house. A big one. @pawsathekerb

Later, I shared my adventure with fellow guide dog Pete. He was very impressed and showed me round his town including the best smelly places (which of course I had to try on).

Me guide dog Fletcher alongside fellow guide dog Pete. You can see the backs of our heads. We're in guiding mode. I've golden fur. Pete has black. We're walking on the pavement alongside the seafront. @pawsatthekerb

Another pic of me guide dog Fletcher with fellow guide dog Pete. This time you can't tell we're guide dogs. We're out of harness. Just exiting a river onto green grass. I'm behind Pete and have golden fur. Pete has black curly fur. @pawsatthekerb

Also I got to meet his brofur, Texan, a retired guide dog and Pete’s predecessor.

Retired guide dog Texan. Me guide dog Fletcher am not in this one. Texan is standing knee deep in a river. The river had lovely water and lush green banks. Texan is looking slighly to the right and has his tail horizontal. @pawsatthekerb

All of these solving crime mysteries (missing treats are certainly a crime!) were quite tiring. Where better to have a snooze then at the cinema. “What was the film?”, you ask. Why “Murder on the Orient Express” of course…

Me guide dog Fletcher. Well not the best pic of me. Flash was used. Not to the best colour of my golden fur. I'm lying down back to you. Head facing away from you. I'm tucked a bit under a red cinema seat and lying on a white vet bed. You wouldn't know I was here. I'm at the cinema just before the film starts. @pawsatthekerb

Woof and paw. Guide dog Fletcher.

P.S. Hope all of you are woofderful?! Be pawsome if you would let me know what you thought of my adventure and case solving skills. Drop me a comment.

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(c) pawsatthekerb™, November 2017.

Bunny Albert’s birthday bash

Woof and waggy tail from me guide dog Fletcher!

I know. I’m late with this blog post. I’ve been running out of puff recently and haven’t been feeling great. The vet reckons I have allergies and I’m on anti-histamines. The medication makes me feel wooftastic. We’re working out the right dosage and frequency for me at the moment and then I’ll be even more waggy tail.

Anyway when I talk about being late, my human – the pawsome Fiona – mutters something about the White Rabbit from Alice in Wonderland. That brings me to this tale about my friend bun Albert and his pawtastic birthday bash.

This is Albert. He’s woofderful.

My friend bunny Albert. His fur is mostly brown and heis ears are darker, almost black with lighter patches. His face is in the center with his droopy ears. Behind him is a dark green circular opening to a bunny run. There's a bit of red strawberry on the grey carpet. @pawsatthekerb

Now what do you get a bunny for his birthday? Well, thanks to my friends at the Bunnington Post and other four paws on Twitter (yep I tweet, no scratch that, I bark on Twitter), I knew what to get. Something to knock over. Something to chew on. Here I am with stacking cups and willow ball presents.

Me guide dog Fletcher. Well my head and gront paws in my golden fur. I'm lying down staring down at a white box with a pic of green, blue, red and yellow stacking cups. To your right is a brown woven basket containing a big willow ball. Brown ball made from twigs as far as I can tell. Rabbit stuff. @pawsatthekerb

Albert kept me waiting. And waiting. He wouldn’t come near me or my humans. Look. He’s on one side of the room near his bunny tunnel and I’m at the other.

Me guide dog Fletcher with my head just visible at the bottom of the photo. At the top of the photo is bunny Albert. He's at one end of the room and I'm at the other. You can just about see us. There are some helpful arrows pointing to each of us. Other objects in the room is a light brown wooden coffee table and legs of humans. @pawsatthekerb

I was on my best behaviour and was very calm. Albert is very little and, even though we’ve met before, I didn’t want to scare him. When he came close, half a dog’s length close, I did not move. I did not eat my treats. Let me say that again. I did not eat my treats. Food is very impawtant to me. Oh the sacrifice. The green Kong toy has untouched food in it!

Me guide dog Fletcher lying down with my head up. I'm staring to the left at bunny Albert. In between my golden paws is a green Kong Y-shaped toy with untouched food in it. Bunny Albert is on the left of the pic sitting on a bed of hay in a red shallow plastic box. In between us is a huge gap. About 50cm in human speak. And a wooden coffee table. @pawsatthekerb

And still Albert kept his distance.

Then all the humans, and there were a lot of humans, made funny screeching noises. I’ve been told it was singing. And Albert’s cake arrived. Here it is. Albert got some of the strawberries (I was not allowed any but got fusses from lots of humans).

Yummy cake which I didn't get any of. on the top are strawberries dipped in chocolate with their stems on. Diamond thins of milk chocolate. They are in between the strawberries. The cake is circular with a white buttercream coating. Not sure what it's resting on. @pawsatthekerb

After the humans had finished eating and most of them had left, Albert decided to say hello. I tried to #bemorebun but no nose bumps for me this time. Albert checked out one of my paws.

Me guide dog Fletcher with my friend bun Albert. We're facing each other side on. Albert is sniffing out my right paw. I'm trying to be as still as possible. @pawsatthekerb

Then he checked out my other paw.

Me guide dog Fletcher lying down very still with my golden head alert and upright. My friend bunny Albert is checking out my left paw. I've golden fur. Albert's fur is patchy dark brown. @pawsatthekerb

Afterwards, we chatted a little before going home. It was a pawsome birthday bash. Though at the end, I was starving…

Woof and paw, guide dog Fletcher.

P.S. Sending Haas, one of the Bunnington Post, get well wishes! He’s just returned home after staying overnight at the vets for not properly processing his food.
P.P.S. Thank you all for reading and following my blog posts. I’ve been with my humans, Fiona and Andy, for two years now. Happy anniversary to us. Now where’s my anniversary cake…?

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(c) pawsatthekerb™, August 2017.