Made from scrap

Made from scrap
All's well

Followers

Total Pageviews

Saturday 20 October 2012

Just A Walkin The Dog!

You would not believe how hard I had to try to get a semi-decent photograph of my 'Lovely Lacey'.
You would if I showed you these though:
She is nearly as bad as photographing chickens.
She is highly suspicious of me with a camera and just does not like to sit still or look at the camera.
We had lacey when she was about 7months old...we can't quite remember how old she is now but we think she is six or seven.  We were her third owners and she was a bit of neurotic bag of naughtiness.  She was totally unplanned but 100% meant to be our dog.  For once it was not me nagging for a pet...my partner 'liberated' her from her previous owner who could not 'cope' with her.  Lacey was used to being left in a flat for too long while her owner worked.  Lacey had rather big issues.  She chewed everything...walls (repeatedly), tables, chairs, carpet, people!  She was also incredibly rough around the edges and clumsy.  The day she met Euan she knocked him flying in the garden and he had an egg lump on his head!  He didn't like her for days.  I knew we had to find a way to keep her though.  I knew she had the potential to be a really 'good' dog.  I also had a very old 'Sausage Dog' that was blind and deaf and diabetic.  He could only travel by 'pet pushchair' and needed lifting in and out of the house.  Lacey hated him, but he loved her.  I used to get up at 5am every morning to sort the old dog out, check his blood sugars, inject his insulin and feed him.  Then I would take Lacey for a walk.  She was a bit skittish at first but exercise really sorted her behaviour issues out.  I realised if she was exhausted she had no behaviour issues!  A bit like kids really.  The trouble is it exhausted me in the process.  She has some medical issues that took over twelve months to get to the bottom of and cost a fortune to 'diagnose'.  She can only eat prescription food, which I don't like but anything else makes her very ill, she was underweight for over a year.  She is ticking over nicely now though.
         We have a lovely dog.  She is a very good girl and has a personality like Eeyore.  We hardly know we have got her.  When you take her for a walk she completely comes alive and turns into something more like 'Tigger'.
  I am finding it hard to get motivated to go out as everywhere is wet and muddy.  I do worry about falling on my behind when I am squelching along in mud like this.
Once I am out though I can appreciate the fresh air, the Autumn colours and the antics of my dog.
Lacey knows where we are going and likes to run far ahead.  She is on the look out for pigeons, squirrels, rabbits, blackbirds and big sticks.


These look like 'Fun Guys'.  Sorry I just couldn't resist!

Lacey likes to charge off in the woods.  She disappears.  I can never find her with my eyes but I can hear her coming back, thundering along like a steam train.  There is nothing graceful about this dog.  She came back yesterday looking particularly pleased with herself, covered in mud with an earthworm on her head!  I can only imagine what she had been up to.
This is quite a steep hill and she looks at me as if I am daft as I pick my way carefully down the hill trying to stay on my two feet.


I came across 'a murder of crows'.  Isn't that a cool collective noun?  There were about twenty of them and they were making a terrible racket!  Sounded like a Hitchcock movie.  There is something 'spooky' about crows...I do not know what was bugging these fellas but it sounded like a 'murder'.
             Lacey is very cheeky when it is 'back on the lead time'.  She pretends not to hear me.  She keeps taking steps away from me making it tricky for me to catch her.  The only way she will listen lately is when I say 'Oi' in a cross voice, then she will stand still.  I wish we could come to a more amicable agreement.  Her recall is good, I generally only have to whistle her and she will come back.  It is just the 'Lead on' time she doesn't like.  The lead signifies her transition from Tigger back to Eeyore and she walks home with her head bowed looking like someone who's world has just fallen apart.  It is embarrassing to be walking down the street with such a dejected looking creature.   Her idea of heaven would be to stay out and play all day.

          Here is our ordinary little street.

We live at the house with the 'Woodpecker Knocker'.  I bought this at an Amish Community in Pennsylvania many moons ago.  As a child my Aunt and Uncle had one just like it and I loved it.  I was delighted to find my own 'Woodpecker Knocker'.  I don't have a door bell and some days this woodpecker is very busy.  The kids calling for my kids love him and even when the door has been answered they still like to make him peck!  So if ever you are passing we are the house with the Woodpecker knocker...feel free to pass on by to give me a 'knock'!  If I don't answer the door shout over the gate as I could be in the garden chatting to chickens.  

18 comments:

  1. i enjoy my walk with you..so sweetttt....
    i really love the woodpecker knocker so much..so cute..
    hugs xxx

    ReplyDelete
  2. You live in a lovely part of the country - the London Suburbs can't compete:)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi Lucy, lovely Lacey and beautiful walk despite the mud! It is dry, sunny and warm here today but I've got "indoor" jobs to do as friends arriving to stay tomorrow.
    Love your woodpecker, we have a bell, doesn't work very well though lol.
    Enjoy the rest of your weekend.
    Carol xx

    ReplyDelete
  4. Aw, Lacey looks like she is a happy dog :) She is obviously as happy with you as you are with her! I love your woodpecker knocker....we have a bell in the shape of a fish that can be rung!

    ReplyDelete
  5. I enjoyed the story of how Lacey came into your lives. She is a beautiful girl and was very lucky the day you took her in.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Thanks for the visit, Lucy! We have been having a bit of rain so our slopes are slippery, too, and require careful treading(: So glad that Lacey has a loving home with you. I enjoyed seeing your neighborhood and love your woodpecker knocker who certainly gives a cheery welcome to your guests! xx from Gracie

    ReplyDelete
  7. Hi Lucy! I also enjoyed you taking us on your walk with you and your rescue dog! I so admire anyone who saves a dog from a bad life and gives them a good one.. and that's obviously what you've done. I super enjoyed you showing us where you live.. I like to have a place to go with a face.. oh that's right.. you haven't showed us your face yet! How about a photo! LOL! That is sure a fun knocker. ((hugs)), Teresa :-)

    ReplyDelete
  8. Aww, thanks for taking us on a walk with your Lacey :) She sounds a lot like my Mina in some aspects of her personality (Bryon still threatens periodically to have all of her teeth pulled). I wish I could take her on a walk to get some of the excess energy out! Walking cats typically doesn't work very well though...Anyways, I laughed out loud when I read about the earthworm on her head and how embarrassing it must be to walk such a sad looking dog. I can just imagine it! Your doorknocker is so neat! I've never seen one like that and I can see why the neighbor kids like it so much! I'd like to give it a knock myself :)
    ~Lacey

    ReplyDelete
  9. If there is mud around you can guarantee it will be me thats falls over in it ... !! Your walk looks beautiful, and I love the photos of Lacey ... the only way I can photo my cats is when they are asleep!!

    xxx

    ReplyDelete
  10. That was a lovely walk with lacey, gorgeous dog! Always love dropping in here for the interesting
    things that go on in your side of the world. Love your woodpecker knocker!! And as for a murder of
    crows I have always laughed at that and I have plans to come back as a crow......
    wendy in oz

    ReplyDelete
  11. Ah, I do love a big silly dog. We find that the best way to get Murphy to pose for the camera is to hold some food somewhere in the vicinity, but he is a labrador and therefore insanely greedy.

    ReplyDelete
  12. ^_^ I do love reading your blog, always makes me smile. Lacey is beautiful.Dog photos can be fun ^_^ Mum had a whippet once and I'm sure I've never seen any photos of that dog where she doesn't look either tragic or demonic(red eye!) Looks like a very beautiful place to walk.
    xox

    ReplyDelete
  13. What a lovely glimpse into your world Lucy, I'm not a doggy person but I'm sure I'd love your dog she looks the perfect companion to take walking. She has such a lovely life living in your family, I wonder if animals feel lucky? And that door knocker is amazing never seen one like it! According to the weathermen we'll all be freezing by the weekend so it won't be slippery mud but frost!

    ReplyDelete
  14. wow thanks for inviting us all along on your walk with Lacey, great photos and a great door knocker, just waiting for someone to use it . wish it was me !!!!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Your dog Lacey sounds a lot like my cat Lucy. Every time I get a camera out, she wants to play with it, sniff it, or bob her head at it. So hard to get a focused picture of her! argh! haha. Not sure if you have instagram or not, but if so, I am now on there as well under the name aurora_blythe.

    Have a lovely day, my friend!

    ReplyDelete
  16. Fun Guy ... hehehe :)

    Ahh she sounds like a wonderful pet and friend.

    LOVE the woodpecker :)

    ReplyDelete
  17. Thanks for taking me on your walk, too! Love Lacey's story.
    And the woodpecker is just so cute.
    Off for a muddy walk now myself (rain, then frozen tonight, and sun today)

    ReplyDelete

I appreciate and enjoy reading all of the feedback from your comments. Thank you for taking the time to stop by and sharing your thoughts. Sadly I have found it necessary to enable word verification, something I was trying to avoid...but I am receiving an unmanageable deluge of Spam! We don't want that do we? xxx :)