Wednesday 31 October 2007

Happy Howl-o-ween!



An October Night by Charles Audette

The wind whispers
A wary warning
There was plenty, still
Early this morning

These primal urges
Are hard to fight
An unholy diet
A dark appetite

The pavement scrapes
With scuttling leaves
I'll pull the drapes
And hope to deceive

The moon suffocates
In ominous clouds
Shut off the lights
Heartbeats too loud

Then the neighbor's gate creaks
But it's not the wind
That seeks to feast
On fearing humans

Red brake lights
A car crawls by slow
The shadowy shapes
On my dark doorstep know

That the empty window
Of my house lies.
The horrible truth
Hides deep inside

Everything tonight
Could have been just dandy
But now the demons have wrath-
Cause I ate all the candy!

Happy Halloween!

Monday 29 October 2007

Cushing's Disease

Hey pals, it's your roving reporter Seymour here.





Poor Jackson is back at the vet again today, being retested for Cushing's Disease. Some of you may remember he was tested for this back in May but the results were inconclusive. The vet thought at the time that he was probably in the early stages of the disease and suggested checking again in a few months. Last Thursday Jackson had a kind of brief fit and so he was taken to the vet for tests. He was there on Friday and he's going to be there all day today. Please keep your paws crossed for him and I'll let you know as soon as we get the results back. I think he's hoping that his dream team of nurses will be on hand to mop his brow when he gets home. Get those uniforms ready girls!

UPDATE: 31.10.07
We're still waiting for all the test results to come back. We'll let you know as soon as we hear any news. Jackson is doing OK. Thank you for all your kind messages.

Friday 26 October 2007

The Barkday Pawty



Here I am ready for the pawty to celebrate the barkdays of Amber-Mae, Koobuss, Dewey, Lorenza, Precious and Lola! Hope I don't scare anydog with my devillish good looks! Be there or be square...

Wednesday 24 October 2007

Stone me!

I'm celebrating today. Yesterday I went to the vet to have some x-rays to see if the kidney stones have returned. And guess what? I got the all clear! They couldn't find any. Not one!

I decided to go to the beach to celebrate. In case you were wondering what I'm doing in the video, I'm looking for a nice big heavy stone to carry home. I'm very particular about my stones so it's got to be the exact right one.


Saturday 20 October 2007

Forever Foxed Christmas Cards!

Hey pals, J1 and I have been working on some Xmas cards. Due to a temporary hitch in uploading images to the Forever Foxed website (J1 is such a luddite!), they can be bought on eBay here in packs of 3 or 5 cards + envelopes. There's a WFT (shown below), Irish Terrier and Airedale design. International buyers welcome (via Paypal).

Friday 19 October 2007

Catwalk dogs

A romantic comedy starring a Wire Fox Terrier is showing here on UK TV on Sunday 21st October at 9.00pm on ITV1. I know that many of my overseas readers won’t be able to watch it, but here are the details just in case:


Photo: © Neil Genower

Catwalk Dogs

Kris Marshall , Georgia MacKenzie and Diana Quick star along side canine principals Archie the Fox Terrier and Klaus the Rottweiler in this feature length romcom which shows the lengths to which dog lovers, and lovers, will go. Catwalk Dogs is the story of Sally and Michael a couple who are 'coping' with the trauma of miscarriage. The day Michael brings home pedigree puppy Archie it changes their lives forever. When Georgia Mackenzie realised she would have to work closely with a Rottweiler she had visions of a slobbering, growling beast. She was sorely mistaken.“I didn’t realise how docile they could be. Klaus was like a teddy bear. He was one of those dogs who leans on you – he’d fall over if I walked away.”Georgia laughs as she recalls: “No one actually asked me if I liked dogs when they offered me the role. The dog trainer told me she had once worked on a film about a little girl and her dog but she was allergic to dogs and no one had checked. “Luckily I love dogs or it would have been a nightmare. Especially the times I had to smear cream cheese on my face so Archie would lick me. It was gross but if it meant we got the shot I was happy. We got most things down with the aid of sausages – the trainer Gill would be standing behind me with a piece of sausage and that was the only way Archie could gaze at me lovingly.” “I’ve never actually owned a pet in my life – apart from a goldfish I got from a fair. I’ve never experienced an animal in the home but I did enjoy coming to work and hanging out with all these different breeds. “I can’t say it made me want to start dog showing though. I watched a DVD of Crufts and it was quite scary. All the trimming, clipping and hair drying that goes on. These people are utterly focused.”Sally’s biological clock is ticking as she approaches her thirties. She is devastated when she suffers her second miscarriage and this places further strains on her relationship with workaholic barrister, Michael. In an attempt to cheer her up Michael buys her a puppy, a very cute Fox Terrier. Enter into their life a bundle of fluff called Archie. The new arrival cannot paint over the cracks in the relationship and in fact widens them when Sally enters him in a local dog show. Archie wins. Michael scoffs. Sally leaves him. But she has nowhere to go until dog breeder, Guy, offers to let her stay at a cottage on his farm. The triangle is established as Guy and Sally become romantically linked despite his monster of a mother, Rottweiler breeder Mrs Jessop. Newly unemployed and drinking too much, a jealous Michael tries to win back Sally’s affection by taking a hitherto non apparent interest in Archie. He decides to show the dog himself with the help of dog walker Gill and a band of supporters from the local dog club. Guy presents Sally with a well bred Rottweiler called Klaus and the rivalry is set as Sally and Michael go head to head with their dogs, right the way through to the Best in Show at the National Dog Championships. Mrs Jessop will go to any lengths to achieve her dream of winning the championship but will Michael and Sally let the competition ruin their chances of happiness? Writer Simon Nye (Beast, Open Wide, Tunnel of Love, Men behaving Badly) says: "I knew very little about dog shows so I went to Crufts and was blown away by the madness of it all. Breeds I'd never heard of, bizarre accessories and the sheer number of competitors. To be honest I still struggle to know why the judges pick one dog over another." No stranger to working with animals Simon penned the sitcom Beast set in a vet's surgery."The first thing you realise as a writer working on a show like this is that it takes a minute to write a line of action for a dog, then several days for the trainer to provide the dog with the training to shoot that scene. But this film is really about people anyway – why we love dogs, what we get form them and are we completely bonkers to get so excited about grooming them to within an inch of their lives in order to win a rosette?" It helps that dogs are inherently funny, whereas cats, for example aren't. You'll notice also that there are no children whatsoever in the film. You can overdo the challenges…" Explaining the mix of humour and poignancy in Catwalk Dogs, Simon adds: "One of the best rules of comedy is pick a terribly sad subject and some desperate characters then the jokes will take care of themselves."

I don’t really care about the romance bit, being a dog and all, but I want to see Archie the WFT in action. Although this is a one-off drama, there is a possibility of it being made into a series! Whooohooo!

Wednesday 17 October 2007

Tintin Show

Blistering barnacles, I’m feeling rather cross today.



J1 & J2 went to see the Tintin show at the Theatre and they didn’t take me with them! My pal Blue told me a while ago about a competition called Bone Idol whereby dogs could audition to play the part of Snowy in the stage play while it was touring around the UK. J1 read the rules and when she saw it said that all dog contestants had to be obedient, she ruled me out. I don’t know why, I can do obedient when I feel like it. Anyway, take a look at the Bone Idol competition here and see the regional winners. I think I’m far more handsome and some of them aren’t even WFTs! Everyone knows that Snowy was a WFT!

In the play, J1 said that the real dog was only on stage for a minute or so at the beginning and end of the performance. The rest of the time Snowy was played by a human. How funny! J1 & J2 said they really enjoyed it despite some of the questionable racial stereotypes. Fun for all the family. Except me. Ho hum.

Thursday 11 October 2007

Born to be wild

My human pal Blue tagged me again. If I were a car, which make/model would I be? I was completely stumped by this game. J1 was no help because she doesn't even drive and knows nothing about cars. J2 is not much better. After hours of painstaking research here's what I've come up with.



I think I'd rather be a motorbike than a car, cos I'm born to be wild! Here’s a photo of Wallace and Gromit (who looks a bit like me) in my ideal dream machine. I’d love to sit in a sidecar like that with the wind blowing in my hair!

"Get your motor runnin'
Head out on the highway
Lookin' for adventure
And whatever comes our way
Yeah Darlin' gonna make it happen
Take the world in a love embrace
Fire all of your guns at once
And explode into space"

Er, yes. Whatever.

Wednesday 10 October 2007

Will I ever tire of my big red tyre?



Have you met my pal Karen Jo? She writes limericks for cats mostly, but she has also written some for the occasional rabbit, dog and rat too! Anyway, please visit her blog and read the poem she's written about me and my big red tyre. I think you'll like it!

Friday 5 October 2007

Birthday barks for Butchy

I'm sure that most of you know that it's Butchy the Wire Fox Terrier's birthday today. He's 7 years old. Happy birthday pal!

To celebrate Butchy's special day, he's invited his blogging pals for an overnight campout at his place. I've booked a ticket on Air Ruby to fly me to the USA, but I've no idea what the weather will be like. Asta DU made a special request for me to bring my blanket as she thinks it might get a trifle cold. I wasn't really sure what to wear so I opted for my stylish coat.



I promised I'd take enough sausages for everyone and luckily enough I managed to find these giant ones. I hope they'll fit on the plane!

Wednesday 3 October 2007

Invasion of the Irish Terriers

It's finally happened! There are now not 1, not 2, but 3 (yes, count 'em) Irish terriers listed on Dogs with Blogs! It's been a bit like waiting for public transport; nothing comes along for ages and then you get 3 at once.



Chloe & Reid



Keeley

Regular readers will know that my best pals are Molly & Seamus the Irish Terriers, so I'm rather partial to this breed and there's not many of them out there. In fact, here in the UK they're on the Kennel Club's list of Vulnerable Native Breeds. Please go and visit them and give them your best DWB welcome. Tell them "Jackson sent me!"

Tuesday 2 October 2007

Welcome Harry

Have you heard the great news? Katy & Martin have rehomed a handsome Airedale called Harry. You can read more about him here.

In the meantime, I'd like to welcome him to our Dog Blogging world with a bit of Sham 69. I'm sure this will be lost on some of my readers from overseas but it's hard trying to think of songs with Harry in the title that other dogs haven't used already!



OK, so the song may be a tad inappropriate (!) but hey, it's the thought that counts!