Waiting for Santa..

This was me in my favourite position on Christmas Eve. Mum said that I would have to wait for Santa (not that I had been a good girl all year - far from it - but that I might , just might get some presents!) The word was that he was going to come down the chimney when Mum and Dad were in bed but my advice to him would be "Just you try it, mate. I am ready for you!!" Just to be on the safe side I am going to lie almost up the chimney so that there is no chance of missing him, although apparently he comes on a sleigh (????) pulled by reindeer type things whatever they are. I know, I know, Mum" don't chase the reindeer, Tia"

Mud bath!

I have discovered that I am never happier than when I am rolling in muddy puddles. Well they say that mudpacks are good for a lady's skin right? Unfortunately, i still have a tendency to jump up and say hello to people when I am out on a walk and funnily enough, not everyone shares my love of the mud!

Not sure I am cut out for this Guide Dog lark - still weighing it up!!

Happiness is . .......

A new bed!! This is me the day that I got my new bed and the day I said goodbye to that awful crate that I was supposed to sleep in!!! I ask you- which would you prefer?? It is so comfy and I can now lie in the most relaxed of poses although Mum says that I am hardly ladylike whatever that means. That was my favourite toy that you can see in the bed with me - now decapitated and in the bin along with teddies 1 and 2, a purple snake and a squeaky giraffe. Still, Mum has a constant supply that she brings home from the Charity shop where she helps out so I won't go short.

Tia - four months on

Had a great walk over the hill yesterday with all the family. What fun was that although I do find when I get up a head of steam that my legs seem to have a mind of their own! Mum says I have lovely long legs like a model and that I am going to be a really big girl.

I lo o o o o ve having a free run and meeting other dogs and I have been a really good girl at coming back when my folks use the whistle. When I was out on my walk I was talking to a pit bull called Barney, who was a real gentleman, and suddenly I heard the whistle and had to say "sorry Barney - have to go, see ya" My family said that I was a really clever dog to come and made a big fuss of me .

I am a very boisterous dog , whatever that means, and Mum says that I am going to have to learn some manners when people come to the house and when I meet them in the street. All I want to do is to jump up and say hello but for some reason she wants me to stay on the ground - where is the fun in that?? Yesterday when I was in the shopping centre , a big man wanted to say hello and Mum told him that he would have to bend down to me and so he did and gave me lots of cuddles . Another lady gave my Mum a biscuit for me to have when I had finished doing my training session which Mummy said was very kind of her and so I tried to be good and of course I was and got my biscuit.

Having a trip along to the Library today as my Mum has to pick up a book she reserved called "The Delinquent dog" -- wonder what that is all about???

Puppy Power

Well here I am , two weeks on and sporting my very special ID disc that says I am one of the Guide Dog pack. How cool is that?

Have settled in here at my new home and am keeping my new Mum and Dad on their toes. Well, heh a girl has got to chew and explore hasn't she? So far I have investigated rugs, curtains, telephone cable ( do people still have landlines then??) Mum's handbag, Dad's shoes and all the plants in the garden. Mum has been putting some horrid smelling stuff called Olbas Oil on everything which makes me sneeze. I particularly like to rip up Dad's lawn, but I get told off for that , spoilsports!

I have been out and about this week and went on my very first bus trip yesterday. Only two stops mind, but I have to start somewhere don't I?. Then Mum and Dad tried to make me walk back but that was far too far for my little legs so I just sat down en route and had to get a carry home. Mum says I am a heavy lump for something so small, must be all that food I am wolfing down.

Have also visited the Botanic Gardens , Tesco and my very favourite shop B and Q. All the staff love me there and even big burly men who are buying wood and cement and stuff bend down and give my head a little ruffle which is nice. Sometimes I lick them but usually I have a little nibble of their hands - I get told off for that too! Went to the cafe with Mum and Dad today but decided I was bored and started barking until a nice man came over from the counter and talked to me and then another man who worked there came over and soon we had quite a crowd and I wasn't bored anymore ;)

Sometimes I am good and sometimes I am naughty and Mum says that the next time somone called Maria Carey comes to sing and asks for puppies for her dressing room, she is going to send me and that would teach her!

Tia Bell - VIP

Very important puppy that is. As well as being the most gorgeous thing on four little fat legs, Tia is destined to become a Guide Dog. How cool is she?? Of course she does have a little way to go given that she is only 7 weeks old and spends her days running around chewing at anything that faintly stirs let alone moves and of course peeing which seems to take up an inordinate amount of her time.
She is confident and sassy and I think she will be quick to learn - she certainly needs something to occupy her .
As you can see Peter has really put his foot down about where she should sleep and I think she may be going to be a "daddy's girl".

So many people say when we tell them that we are going to help train a guide Dog puppy and then have to give her up "I don't know how you could do that". Not all that helpful really as we thought long and hard about it before deciding , and we know how hard it is going to be. But if sassy little Tia can give a blind person an independent life and also be a best friend to them, then there is some satisfaction in that. (You just know don't you that that is my head talking and not my heart which will be breaking!!)

However, we have about 12 months to train and enjoy her so watch this space to see how she progresses.

Only in Stockbridge....

Walking through the park in Stockbridge (Edinburgh's answer to Notting Hill ) my attention was caught by a poster on every second tree around the duckpond telling people that the "nutritional content of white bread" was not very good for the digestion of the ducks and swans.

Excuse me??? Has it not been the custom since times of yore that ducks and anything else that chooses to make its home in the pond of a municipal park, are fed a diet of whatever happens to be lurking at the bottom of the bread bin?

Seemingly that is ok for chav ducks but not for the superior breed that lives on Stockbridge pond. The suggestion made is to give them crumbs of wholemeal and organic loaves - a suggestion which I suspect has been made by the many purveyors of such overpriced bread in the many delis of Stockbridge!

Just a small point but I would have thought that the nutritional content of the bread that was being thrown to them was the least of the ducks' worries. When I was there today, the local Model Boat enthusiasts were out in force racing boats that could have resulted in a very nasty end to the wildfowl on the pond!

Sliced duck sandwiches anyone - on rye , of course!!