Not so sure about the Tesla...

I went for a walk yesterday with my Westie friend Rosie. 

I fear this young lady pup might be getting a bit above herself. All she could talk about was her brand new Tesla.

I admit I was impressed by the special air conditioning system to keep dogs at a comfy temperature when left in the car. Even in Scotland, I can see that would occasionally be useful.

But when Rosie's owner showed Gail the 'caraoke' function and threatened to sing along to Bohemian Rhapsody, I decided that perhaps our little Ford Fiesta was a perfectly satisfactory vehicle after all...

PS I am being sent to 'camp' this week while Gail and her friends Yvonne and Kirsty are braving the notoriously windswept Orkney Islands on their bicycles, so this blog will now be quiet for a few days. 

April snow and a walk with Rosie

I wondered, early yesterday morning, why Gail had dressed me in my Nordic snowflake sweater.

It soon became clear.

She bundled me into the car and we drove up to Hazlehead Park to meet Rosie and her owner Ian*.

We skidded a bit driving up the street as Gail had unwisely swapped over to summer tyres on her car a fortnight ago...

Rosie was wearing a plain red fleece. (Gail doesn't think Ian's skillset runs to made-to-measure hand knitted Nordic numbers...)

She looked very pretty anyway after a roll in the snow.

Rosie was the first to notice that Ian had brought along some treats.

I soon cottoned on.

Was it impolite to ask for seconds?

More snow fell as we traversed the thankfully golfer-free golf course.

But eventually the sun came out for a few moments, just long enough for one final pose.

*Ian - also known as the Oil Man - is another pandemic walking pal. Gail has known him since they shared an office over looking the River Thames in the very grand Art Deco Adelphi Building in London in 1986.

Walk on by.....

I had an early morning date at Hazlehead Park with my Westie friend Rosie. 

I hoped to impress her with my smart winter attire.

Do you think I succeeded? 

 

It's been an eventful week...

Really, I don't know why the humans are moaning about the latest 'lockdown' here in Scotland.

No-one can claim that "nothing ever happens" and "every day is the same" when they live with a wire-haired fox terrier...

After my exciting Christmas adventure on Sunday, Gail and I met up for a walk with her friend Ian - aka the 'Oil Man' - and his wee Westie Rosie. Do you remember five years ago when I first met Rosie?

[If not, see 'Meeting with Westie Puppy Rosie']

Well she's now an adorable five year old, and her little legs kept pace with mine, no problem, as we ascended Scolty Hill.

Then yesterday, another walk was planned, this time with Gail's friends J and F, their son Jamie and his border collie Hemp.

OK, so there is, er, 'history' between myself and Hemp, but we've tended to rub along fine together when we've met outdoors.

Not so yesterday I'm afraid.

The ground was crunchy with frost in the Warren Wood car park, where I was waiting patiently for Hemp and his family to arrive.

But no soon as they'd all climbed out of the car than there was an altercation involving Hemp and me. 

Suddenly, Hemp had me by the scruff of my neck and both of us were snarling angrily.  Jamie, a strong and brave young man, pulled Hemp away, at the price of a deep puncture wound in his right finger*. I was shaking badly, so Gail picked me up and gave me a close cuddle, while checking me for injuries. Soon I calmed down - it was only my pride that had been hurt. Hemp too appeared unscathed, but for poor Jamie it was a trip to A&E to get the wound checked over. 

So Jamie's dad took Jamie to the hospital and Hemp back home, while Jamie's mum accompanied Gail and I for the planned walk around the woods. That's her in the background, texting Jamie to see if they'd reached the hospital yet...

Half way round we met a group of four more border collies and that encounter passed off without incident.

At least it all distracted Gail from fretting about whether my Christmas sweater was getting muddy...

Do you think Hemp might have been jealous of my jumper?

*Gail says: The incident with Hemp all happened so quickly that we cannot be sure whether Hemp or Bertie was responsible for Jamie's hand injury, although the depth of wound perhaps implicates the larger dog. The good news is that Jamie was seen quickly at the hospital, and received thorough and exemplary treatment. His injured finger was x-rayed, cleaned, disinfected and dressed. No broken bones were detected, nor stitches needed. Jamie was given a tetanus jab and antibiotics, and will go back in a couple of days for a check-up. I'm afraid his hand will be sore for a while. Rest assured, we will keep the dogs apart in future. 

Bertie needs a break...

Look, just because your human is friends with someone, it doesn't necessarily follow that you have to get on with that someone's dog, does it?

I'll be frank with you. I like my set-up, living in a nice house, just Gail and me.

When Gail said, "Oh Bertie, won't it be fun, we're having wee Rosie the Westie to stay for a couple of days, you'll like that won't you?" I wasn't given any choice in the matter.

Because I'm a polite chappie, I refrained from any overt actions displaying my displeasure at having to share my living space. There wan't any snarling, baring of teeth or outright aggression.

I hope my body language conveyed my feelings.

(Gail says: "Don't worry Bertie, it did!")

Well you too might object if your customary quiet evening, relaxing on the sofa with your nose on your human's lap, was disturbed by a very insistent little Westie snout poking across from the other side of the sofa and constantly demanding attention.

I think I successfully made my point by playing with my Westie stuffie and trying my best to ignore Rosie altogether.

And if Rosie was at all perturbed at the sight of her stuffed toy counterpart missing part of its face, well that's no skin off my nose...

Meeting with Westie Puppy Rosie

The way Gail's been going on, anyone would think I have a reputation for behaving badly with tiny puppies…

"Er Bertie, you do have a reputation for behaving badly with the little pups. Remember how you bullied Daisy Dachshund at puppy class? And how you terrorised Bunty the Border terrier the first time she came round here when she was only three months old? As for the way you growled, really quite aggressively, at those two chihuahuas in the park the other day…."

Gail, please stop interrupting me when I am composing my blog post about my visit to your friend the Oil Man and his new Westie pup, nine week old Rosie.

Now as I was saying, it seems I have this reputation, so I want you to watch this video carefully (with the sound turned up) and count how many times words like "best behaviour", "good dog" and "impressed" are used with reference to myself. The voices are those of the Oil Man and Gail. Oh and cricket fans might pick up some background commentary from Test Match Special at the start.

For those readers who don't have time to watch a video, I have also posted some photos below. Although really, you should be rethinking your priorities in life shouldn't you, if you can't spare a mere ninety-five seconds to watch your favourite wire-haired fox terrier interacting with an indescribably cute Westie puppy?

It was such fun meeting Rosie. I do hope I see lots more of her in the future.

PS Gail, should we tell them about the emergency phone call from the Oil Man, half an hour before we were due there, asking if we had any newspaper?