I’m a Jammy Dodger

This is me. I’m cute, right?

CUTE!!

 

Sometimes, I’m accused of being a bit of a goofball.

 

Goofball

Cute and goofy I may be, but there’s one thing I’m not. And that’s STUPID.

My human, on the other paw …

Let me tell you a tail.

My human had an old friend over. The kind that she’s known for a long time, not the wrinkly kind.

There’s one thing that the English LOVE. Probably more than anything else. Tea and biscuits, or Tea and cake. Or Tea and more Tea.  They just can’t get enough of the stuff.

I LOVE tea, and I love milk too. I know that when the kettle’s boiling, I should always run and sit on my human’s feet. When she gets that white bottle from the fridge … I walk under it, pulling my good girl face and sometimes, I get a little drop to taste.

So, my human had her friend round and it’s customary in England to ‘first things first, wanna cuppa?’

Out came the tea. Out came the biscuits. Out came Bella’s good girl face.

I have to tell you about these certain biscuits. They’re called Jammy Dodgers. They’re crunchy and chewy all at the same time. They’re PAWSOME and THAT’s what my human and her friend were eating.

”Look Bella”,  my human said, ”I’ve got a biscuit. It’s YUMMY. Its buttery and delicious and crunchy and it goes really nicely with my tea. You want some dont’ you Bella”

I shut my mouth and concentrated on what she was saying, keeping my good girl face on.

”Look at this biscuit Bella” she said, as she showed it to me and nibbled it all around ”MMMMM, it’s gooooooood”

Some drool hit the floor.

Her friend laughed. ”You’re mean” her friend said to her. ”Look at her little face, she’s drooling”.

My Good Girl Face

 

 

My human laughed too.  And got another biscuit.

She showed it to me.

The Jammy Dodger

 

She nibbled all round the biscuit. All the time she was looking at me. saying ‘MMMM, it’s delicious Bella, you want some?” … ”OH, not that bit … that’s bit’s too good. I HAVE to eat that bit Bella”

As I watched the crumbs falling, more drool hit the floor.

‘Bella?’ she said in her good girl voice. ‘Look at this. I’ve eaten all the biscuit and now there’s only the really jammy heart bit left. It’s the best bit Bella”

”I love you Bella”

More drool hit the floor – I REALLY wanted some.

”You know I really love you, don’t you Bella? And look – this heart here, it’s meant to be isn’t it? You’re supposed to have the heart bit aren’t you, my pretty little love” she said.

There was a bang outside. I snapped my head towards the noise, worried about intruders. When I looked back at my human, the heart was gone. She had a big grin on her face. And her cheeks were fat.

She had stuffed it in her mouth, just like a little piggy, when I looked the other way.

I WAS ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTED.  I gave her a FILTHY look. NOT FUNNY.  NOT FUNNY AT ALL.

She was laughing and so was her friend.

”Well, that’ll teach you Bella. Look away and it’ll disappear. Where’s it gone Bella??” she laughed and teased.

I sulked off to the other room, while the humans carried on.

 

OR DID I ?

 

Of course not.

No way.

I PRETENDED to sulk off to the other room.

 

I waited for my moment. Waited until neither of them were looking and I snuck into the kitchen, quiet as a mouse. Put my paws up on the counter and SNATCHED the pack of biscuits. haha! No one noticed.

I took them to my humans bed and ATE THE LOT.

ALL OF THEM. THEY WERE PAWSOME.

I left lots of crumbs on the pillow ”Because I love her”

 

And the Moral of the Tail ??

”If you look away, it’ll disappear”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Discover Dogs at Crufts 2013

 

An important place

 

The Journey

On Friday, my human was home early from work. She was also very excited.

“I’ve got a surprise for you Bella”, she said.

I sat down, with my good girl face and waited to see what it was.

“We’re going somewhere special this weekend Bella. It’s called Crufts. It’s the most amazing place, with the coolest doggies in the country and they’re all competing to see who’s the best in lots of different competitions. They’ve got millions of dogs and toys and treats and food and smells. We’re going to have SO much fun. But we’re staying in a hotel tonight Bella, so you have to be really good.’’

That sounded like fun to me and my human smelled really excited.

Then I was put in the bath. I’m getting better with baths and I love it afterwards, when my skin feels tingly and I get to roll around in crazy puppy mode. I usually get a towel fight too. *Wag wag wag*

My human packed all my things, including my bed and was laughing saying that she had packed more for me than she had herself.  We got in the car and started our drive. I was asleep all the way … but I woke up at Alfie’s house! It’s my favourite hotel, so I was happy to stay here tonight.

The humans had some dinner and while we were having a play while Alfie said he had some important things to tell me. I listened carefully. He said his job was to wear me out for tonight and that I had to look after his human, remember that morning kisses are super important and he was going to stay and guard the house and look after his other human, while I went to show off. He said I was good at showing off, so that bit shouldn’t be a problem.

Soon enough, just as Alfie had said, I was packed into the car again, this time we had one of Alfie’s human’s with us. I slept for a long time and we arrived at the hotel late at night. After a quick walk, I got to see my room.

Hotel Bed’s are Pawsome!

The humans were tired and it wasn’t long before we were all tucked up ready to go to sleep.  I chewed my rawhide on Alfie’s humans bed, before jumping over to the other bed, with my human to sleep.

 

The Morning.

There were 6 other doggies in our hotel. I could smell them all (and they’d all had baths!). I could hear lots of noises really early in the morning. I was having a listen, and I remembered what Alfie said. Morning Kisses.

I jumped over to Alfie’s human and planted a few right on her cheek. Then moved over to my human for the same. My human jumped out of bed and got dressed REALLY quickly saying she was going to take Bella to the toilet.

We walked outside and it was raining. A lot. It was 6:30am, and we were going to walk to the National Exhibition Center (NEC) from the hotel as it was 40 minutes and just perfect to calm me for the day.

We went back into the room and my human said she was going to take me for a walk now. We had to drive to the NEC, otherwise we’d all arrive soaked, so she would take me now so I had time to dry off and Alfie’s human could have more sleep.

 

The Mischief

She looked up a nearby Geocache (which is always helpful for finding places to walk when you don’t know the area). We quickly got to a field, I got let off the lead and I saw something …

A rabbit.

I ran like the wind. I was off. I chased it all over. I only wanted to smell it, but I couldn’t get close enough, so I HAD to chase. My human said she called me back but I was so far away I couldn’t hear her. After a long while, I came to her and we went back to the hotel.

Something wasn’t right. My paws. They were stinging. Really, really stinging. As we entered the room, I jumped over the bed, to give Alfie’s human some muddy morning kisses. (I thought Alfie would like that one) but my feet were sore.

I tried to get away from them and I couldn’t.

I was panting and scratching. My feet felt funny on the floor so I tried to pick my paws up but it was ALL of my paws so that didn’t work, I just ended up doing a sore paw dance. I rolled all over and growled. I bit and chewed my paws. I tried to bury myself under ANYTHING I could find. I was really stressed out. I just wanted my paws to go away. I got the hotel bed REALLY muddy while I was running around.

Panting on the muddy bed

My human tried to catch my collar, to look at my paws and calm me down. She got me, but my feet were burning and I couldn’t stay still. I knocked some spare furniture over. It hit my human on the head and she let go.

I ran to Alfie’s human for protection. She grabbed my collar too, but my feet were burning and I couldn’t stay still. She whacked her elbow on the corner of the bedside cabinet, I think that hurt so she let go too.

Eventually, they both caught me. Alfie’s human said I’d probably stung my feet on stinging nettles as Alfie reacts exactly the same way when he’s done that before. I was taken into the shower and my human washed all my paws with cold water. It felt good.

I was still really stressed. My human used some Johnson’s vet Tea Tree Skin Calm on my feet (once she could get hold of them) and some Helios Homoeopathy SOeSsence Flower Formula on some biscuits, which would calm me down for a moment. Even in pain, I’ll always eat a few biscuits.

It all worked. I was still a bit sore but it quickly soothed and I felt a lot calmer about it all.

Glad it was here

 

Discover Dog’s at Crufts.

When we arrived, there were doggies EVERYWHERE. Some dogs were wearing funny outfits of plastic to keep them dry. We followed the doggy smell and when I walked into the building,  I couldn’t believe my nose. Dogs, dogs, dogs and MORE dogs. I could smell fear and excitement and fun and seriousness. I could smell toys and food and lots and lots of dogs!

Some were just laying down with no humans around in long lines of shelves. Some were in cages. Some were with their humans, running around on some pretend grass in a big line together. Some had HUGE crowds of people, sitting up high in the sky watching them. Cheering and clapping. It was doggy heaven. Every dog looked pawsome. I’ve never smelt so many dogs in one place.

We walked through 3 HUGE halls, all filled with dogs doing different things. We got to the Entlebucher stand and I got to go in the pen. I was happy because I just needed a moment to understand what was going on! I’d forgotten all about my feet, this was so COOL.

A smiling Bella at the Entlebucher Mountain Dog stand

The Entlebucher stand attracted lots of people, soon I was playing with children, getting lots of treats and showing off some tricks. My human was practising my down stays for ages while she was talking. I was really good and did most of them properly, even with all the distractions. I heard my human talking with Annie’s human about a ‘holiday romance’ that recently happened. It sounded gross.

I got to see my brother Eiger for a little while and we decided to show all the humans how playful our breed is. Our play was a bit too boisterous, so we split up for a little bit and worked separately, before we knocked over the stand *wag wag wag* Eiger went out front first, then I did and it attracted lots of people over.

Then our brother Bailey turned up. Wow, Bailey’s got really tall and strong looking! I didn’t believe it was him when I sniffed hello. He looks just like me, but a boy version. Our marking’s are very similar but he’s much much taller, just like our dad.  It was really cool to hang out with them for a little while. After that we were so busy. I got tired and lay down every time the humans stopped to do something. Tired and hungry, we all dragged ourselves back to the car for the journey home. My human said she was really proud of me. I had been on my best behaviour ALL day and she was really impressed that a puppy like me took it all in my stride.

 

 

The Best News EVER.

Do you remember that my friend Swift was competing at Crufts with her handler, my dog trainer Jo? They competed in the

Well, how do you think they did?

THEY WON!!!

We couldn’t believe it when the news got through to us, way over on the other side in a different hall. We were so happy and proud for them. We know how much hard work it is for a dog to be here, but to WIN … that’s just pawsome.

Well done SWIFT & JO.

We told you that you were the BEST. *wag wag wag*

I heard a herd.

It’s been SO exciting!

 

As usual, there’s been SO much happening that I don’t know where to start – it’s been a long time since I last did a blog post.

We’re going to Obedience training classes 2 nights a week now and I get to do Agility with my brother Alfie on another night, so sometimes its 3 nights a week.  There’s so much to practise between classes that my human has had to start writing notes.  She says that I know what to do all the time but she gets it wrong. Sometimes in the class people laugh at her because she’s so clumsy. All the other dogs think I’ve got the worst handler. She keeps my treat bag on her hip and she’s ALWAYS spilling them and jumping around making all of us excited. Sometimes I just walk off because I’m embarrassed. I like to pretend I’m with another dog and handler.

I passed my Level 3 Obedience test, with full marks of course. There was a lot that we had to do and sometimes I really don’t want to do it, it’s much more fun to mess around in the class and make the other dogs mess around too but I try really hard not to mess around on test day because all the humans have their serious faces on. And my human brings chicken *wag wag wag*

I’ve moved onto the Advanced Obedience class now. It’s in a much smaller room. I think they did that on purpose so that all of us dogs are on top of each other. We don’t mind. It’s MUCH easier to cross a small room to distract another dog and you get to show off your dodging skills more too.

Geo-caching

My human and her friends play a treasure hunt game called Geocaching. People all over the world hide boxes, then publish their locations on a website and you can use your phone to find them. There are lots of little games to play as well as trying to find as many treasures as you can. You get to find out history of the area and you’re always taken to interesting places by the people that hide the treasures.

Finding a normal geocache

There are lots of different treasures to find. Some are film canisters, some are so small they’re as big as a dog claw, and some are very cleverly hidden.

An unusual cache, disguised as a rock

Sometimes, there are events and some of these events are especially for dogs. Otherwise known as a ‘geo-wagg’. My human couldn’t wait until I was big enough to go with her as she’s always having adventures.

One of these geocaching adventures happened the other day.

We’re ready, let’s go!

My furiend Jack and I had arranged to take the humans out for Geocaching walkies. My human had prepared a trail of just over 30 treasures to find in the Kent countryside. It was all on public footpaths and she had looked to see that it was ok for dogs. Usually, there are warnings saying that a trail isn’t dog friendly. There were no warnings, so it was deemed safe. It was public right of way, so my human had me off the lead, running around and sniffing for treasures.

We were walking down a path, with a big posh house on one side and a line of trees on the other, when my nose picked up a really interesting scent. As we came down the path, I realised that there was a hole under the fence, just big enough for a Bella, so I just popped under to have a look.

I couldn’t believe my nose! There were 2 sheep and a big ram in the posh garden. I thought that they probably shouldn’t be there, so I was just about to give chase when my human noticed I was on the other side of the fence.

‘’BELLA, COME’’ she shouted, her worried face coming.

So, like a good girl, I popped back under the fence and came straight to my human.

‘’Well Done Bella’’ she said. ‘’Have a treat’’ she said. ‘’You’re such a good girl for coming back. I can see that the training is FINALLY paying off’’

I went back on lead and we carried on with our walk.

A few minutes later, clear of the sheep and in an agricultural field, my human let me off the lead again. She says that there’s a really easy way to tell if there will be farm animals in a field. She says that if there’s a big gate, and it’s open, there’s a good chance there’s nothing in there.

The only flaw with that plan, is if the reason the gate is open, is because there are farm animals on the move.

PAWSOME!

Now, my friends, I can tell you that there is NOTHING more fun for a teenage cattle herder, than a whole field of cattle that need herding.

Before my human had even noticed what was around the corner, my nose had picked up the cows and I was charging down to the part of the field where they were moooving.  I shouted over to Jack to stay with the humans, because this was only for herders, just like laps are only for Jacks. Jack took one look at the cows and just stood still, staring. So did the rest of the humans.

My human, however, was shouting … BELLLA, BELLA COME … and running away from the cows. It was too late. The cows had seen me and so had the farmers. For a second, everything was real still. The only sound I could hear was my blood rushing to my feet and that voice in my head, the one telling me … CHASE.

I stared at one of the cow’s right in the eyes and she stared at me. Then we both ran. Towards each other.

‘Oh no’ my human said, with a few other *non child friendly words*

And then she shouted to her friends. RUUUUUUN. GET OUT OF THE WAY. NOOOOW!!!

You see, they were all standing in the corner of the field and the cows were coming our way. A whole herd of them! Our friends didn’t have to be asked twice and started running towards my human, followed by a herd of cows and a Bella and then two farmers.

Again, my human shouted …  ‘’Bella, COME’’. This time I heard her.

My training kicked in and I stopped herding instantly. I ran over to my human as fast as I could with my ‘did you see that’ face. I ran over, stuck my bottom on the floor in front of her, just as I’m supposed to and then ran off again. To see the cows.

‘’NO Bella. COME. ‘’

This time I came back before I’d bothered the cows again. My human put my lead on and then passed me to a worried friend, while she went to apologise to the farmers and the cows for ‘’Bella’s bad behaviour’’.

Luckily, the farmers were very friendly and not upset at all. I think they could see how scared and sorry my human was. They had a nice chat and he said it was ok. The cows were being taken across public land to the dairy shed and they should have put signs up.

My human said she was glad that they were so friendly and understanding and that no one got hurt. She also said that it was progress that I came when she called me, that at least she can ‘’get through’’ when I’m in chase mode, which she says she couldn’t before.

*don’t know what she means*

As we walked off, through their field, once the cows had gone … we heard a familiar command. ‘’Leave it’’. We turned to see the farmer’s Border Collie running as fast as he could towards us, ready to say hello. ‘’Leave it’’, the farmer shouted. ‘COME BACK’’ the farmer shouted. The Collie didn’t listen at all and the farmer had to cross the field again to come and get his dog. My human said she thought this might have been why they were so understanding and it made her feel much better about her dog running off.

Discover Dogs at Crufts 2013. 

This weekend is a BIG weekend for lots of doggies in the UK. It’s Crufts weekend, the national dog show, where the best of the best hang out and try and beat each other at lots of competitions.

Some dogs work all their life just to get to this show and my human says that if I listen and win some competitions, then maybe one day, I’ll be able to go too.

She says I’m too young at the moment, but we’ve got our first official competition at the beginning of June which I’m practising for a lot.

There is a part of Crufts called Discover Dogs, where people can come and meet all the different breeds and find out about them.

I’ll be there on Saturday, between 9am & 12:00pm. If you happen to be there, do come and say hello.

I would also like to take this opportunity to wish a HUGE MASSIVE GOOD LUCK, to my friend Swift and her handler Jo, my dog trainer. They’ve qualified for Obedience at Crufts this year so … GOOD LUCK. I’ve got all my paws crossed for you. *wag wag wag* We think they’re PAWSOME.