Eddie participated Novice Trial on October 3rd and did very well besides some concentration issues.

When he was concentrating he did well but sometimes he just could not hold the concentration and got interested in running to the audience.

He retrieved both of the seagulls from the water.

On the field he saw the first bird “shot” and the landing, went there but did not pick it up. Instead he retrieved the next one.

In total he retrieved 4 crows (plus the two seagulls from the water) but needed some help from the judge which lead him not to pass the test.

We need to work on his concentration and he will pass the test next time, I’m sure.

While Baxter has been convalescing we have been updating a late 1960’s chair & a 1980 two seat sofa.

 We are pleased with the result.

Rgds

Michelle

I saw this beautiful dog bed in a Finnish blog. It would go so well with my decoration. The writer told that she found it in the auction (I understood that it was in the internet).

I tried to search similar bed but could not find one.

My boys are masculine enough to understand this and not to be against this. At least they don’t have to wear clothes or do makeup.

I have been thinking about going to the Alps for 2 weeks during this winter.

My parents will come here to look after my house + cats but my father isn’t too keen on looking after the dogs.

When I was in Indonesia for one year (1998) my two flatcoats + one cat were living at my parents place. Then my father said he has done his part. Also after my divorce in 1995 the dogs were quite often in my parents place during the weekends.

So I have checked out couple of kennels where I could take the boys for 2 weeks. One quite close by would charge almost 400 Euros for two dogs (incl. 10% discount). The one where boys were during my visit to UK last summer would charge almost 260 Euros. That is a lot of money (at least to me).

Then I was thinking about the 2 meter high fence for the dogs outside (15m x 5m). I could buy a doghouse for the money saved from kennel charge. Then I could suggest my parents that during the day they would keep the dogs “outside” and take them inside to a separate room for the night. I think that this would be the best choice even for the dogs. They could stay home. And if they wanted to go inside during the day, they would have their own house.

This is of course still a plan at the moment.

Some time ago I even sent an email to Santa asking for a doghouse for my boys. I think that the email went accidentally to my father’s email box…. (he did a dog house for my first flatcoat Mira but I don’t have that anymore due to human house deal including the doghouse).

I haven’t finished painting & planning my rooms after my move last June. It has been actually on hold due to my laziness.

Maybe I’ll manage to do some painting during the Xmas holiday. Maybe even more decoration. Here is a good site to plan your room in 3D. Please have a look. I

Also it would be good to have “dog friendly” decoration site with “dog proof” materials. What’s the use of planning if a lovely retriever can redo everything in seconds. I have found leather sofa the best as there is no dog hair and also it is easy to clean. Laminate floor is not the best for old dogs but are ok when your dogs are young. I used to have a wooden floor in my previous place and it is nice and warm but after years it was full of different marks.
The mat I found some time ago in Ikea has been surprisingly good: it does not show the vomit marks and dog hair does not show either. And with my new and lovely Dyson you can clean it perfectly.

I was going to hire a interior designer after my move but she had to cancel just days before our meeting and after the summer I did not feel like having one anymore. Maybe I should consider having one now although my finance isn’t as good as it was last summer. Also I’m quite interested in adding more alternative heating systems like wind power so that I would not be so dependent on the normal electricity (eg. Fortum that has a bad reputation).

Otto came for a visit on Monday evening and it seemed like he wasn’t himself. He was quite weak and did not even take the food I was offering him. So I let him take a rest without bothering him too much.

He was still here the next evening and did not want food nor drink. He hasn’t even gone to the toilet.

Late that night I took him for a vet with the neighbour (he is 60 kg’s, so too heavy for one person to carry) and it turned out he was having a heart attack. He was medicated and then we came back here and Otto stayed in my place. At 3 AM (3 hours later) he wanted to go out and let him thinking he would come back. He just kept going and did not came back.

In the morning I was looking for him because it was time for his nitro medication. It seems that he had disappeared. After 1 hour later he suddenly turned up waving his tail. I was afraid that we would find him in his last rest but he seemed to be back to normal.

This video clip is taken today, just couple of days after his heart attack. He spotted us going for a walk in the forest and wanted to came too. It was much shorter walk than usual because I did not want him to have another heart attack.