Can't see the wood for the trees

Walking on the bike track this morning, Cleo and I both carried sticks ready for the river.At the first opportunity I threw Cleo's stick; it got stuck in a tree. I threw my stick; Cleo retrieved it but then decided she didn't like it as much as hers so left it in the middle of the river. Meaning we had to find another stick.

You'd think that finding sticks in a wood would be easy. It's not. It was ever thus. I remember Harvey getting impatient, standing round barking ('That's not going to help me find a stick, is it?!') as I kept him waiting to chase. He was oblivious to the fact that if he hadn't eaten the previous stick he wouldn't have had to wait.

Now I come to think of it, in 15 years of stick-eating, Harvey probably managed to munch his way through most of the woods. No wonder there are no sticks left.
xx

It's like having a toddler again

When I go to the toilet, Cleo sits outside and scratches the door. She's settled down at night now though. The first couple of mornings we thought she'd wee'd on the kitchen floor but we decided it was slobber from her panting and trying to dig her way out.

She is the pantiest dog I've ever met. She rarely wees, not needing to as most of the fluid drips off her tongue. She's very sweet though.

She carries her stick all the time when we're out. I say, 'Let me carry it for you; I won't throw it.' But she doesn't trust me. She says, 'I'm not giving it to you; you'll throw it again.' Or rather she says, 'Iuumm nurhn, girbbing i t uuu etc' because she has a stick in her mouth.

Her paw is all right now but her mouth is bleeding. But what can you expect when you chew sticks? It's a good job Linda is back on Sunday. Cleo'd be a wreck if she had to stay with me any longer. (She's a bit of a pampered pooch at home.)

I've been throwing sticks for Cleo when we're out but as it was intended to be a quick walkies this afternoon, I took her ball-throwing-thingy that Linda left with me. Have you seen them? They're quite ingenious and definitely the lazy person's throwing-thing.

You don't even have to bend down. Just lean over slightly and the hand grasps the ball. Then it's a tiny flick of the wrist and the ball goes off into infinity. Or at least further than it does with my girly throw i.e. more than 2'.

Our short walk turned out to be a bit longer than I'd intended as I don't do standing and throwing very well. We have to keep moving. But I'm fearful I might be making Cleo walk further than she is accustomed to: her front paw is bleeding and we've already broken her ball.

xx

mud, mud, glorious mud

Husband set off for Hook at 6.15 this morning. Cleo took this to be a sign that everyone should get up and started howling pathetically at the bottom of the stairs (we have a barricade across it). By 7 o'clock, I'd had my breakfast, written an email and read some blogs - and the sun wasn't even up.

We went out for a walk in the woods just as the dawn was breaking. We heard a bird I'd never heard before. Obviously one of those that catches the worm but apart from that I don't have any idea what sort it was. Its cry was a high-pitched 'e-whoop' (long e, short whoop). Any suggestions?

Cleo is a water lover too and unlike Holly (but like Harvey), she stands next to you to shake.

Comparative skills (out of 10 with 10 being best)
Watching which direction the stick is going in
Cleo 7
Holly 6
Harvey 5

Sniffing out the stick when it's lost
Cleo 2
Holly 9
Harvey 7

Eating the stick afterwards
Cleo 1
Holly 5
Harvey 9.5

Cleo (already known as HollCleo) did come back to look for me when I was slow as I struggled over muddy bits on the riverside. It was probably to laugh at me but at least I wasn't alone. When we were out there I was reminded of one incident many years ago.

At one point along the river walk there is a very muddy bit closely followed by a high steep-sided mudbank. Only about mid-thigh height but try kicking your leg up on that when it's wet. Harvey had skipped up it quite happily and was wandering on. I think a piece must have been washed away as we often walked by the river and didn't usually have the trouble I had that day.

I tried once to get my leg up: failure. I tried again. Again I failed. I looked around. There was an ivy creeper hanging down from an over-hanging branch. I grabbed it and jumped up onto the bank. I was still saying, 'Yay!!!' when my feet slowly started to slip back down. Slowly as in slow motion slowly when you know it's happening but there's nothing you can do about it. I was hanging backwards and my feet were were leaving me. Clonk. Back where I started. There was only one thing left. I took a run at it, leapt across the mud and flung myself at a thick tree trunk, hugging it for all I was worth. Then I gradually edged my way round from the mud side to the slightly solider ground side. And while all this was going on, Harvey was somewhere in the distance smelling the flowers.

I'm not very good at looking after other people's dogs. I mean, I can take care of them, but I worry about them being sad. It's obvious they're going to miss their families but I hate to see sad eyes staring at me. It makes me feel guilty. Cleo has been sticking close to whoever is in the house, staying in the same room and getting up and following around. I go in the kitchen to get a drink of water and she follows me. I try to explain that I'm coming straight back but she insists on getting up. I end up going without my drink of water because I feel so bad about it. Is it me?
xx

This is Cleo

Cleo belongs to my friend Linda and she's staying with us for a week while Linda is on holiday. Last time we looked after one of Linda's pets, it got eaten. We are very much hoping that the same doesn't happen to Cleo.

She is a a little bit sad and missing her mum, but we're trying to keep her happy. In the photo above she is sulking because Husband made her get off not one but both sofas.

In the photo below, she is happy because she's out on a nice long walk. She pulls frantically when on the lead. Linda left her harness saying it's easier to control Cleo in that. Unfortunately she didn't explain - and I didn't think to ask - how to put the harness on.

Husband and I were both defeated by it. We used the lead.