The Reunion!

I AM SO HAPPY!!!

I met my fantastic brother Herbie yesterday for the first time since we were tiny puppies!!

My mum and I went for a wee walk along the beach, just the two of us, while we were waiting for Auntie Jan and Herbie to arrive, then mum was on her mobile phone a couple of times and before I knew it we were hurrying along the promenade. I didn't understand why mum wasn't letting me play with other dogs that we met but I soon discovered why - for there was Auntie Jan by her car and Herbie was still inside! Herbie - my brother - was actually here to see and play with me! I could hardly believe it. Mum told me she wondered if we'd need a bit of time to sort ourselves out, being boys and all that, but we didn't. Silly humans sometimes - did she think I wouldn't know my own brother?!

We wanted to romp and play straight away but we had to do a photo-shoot for the mums first! Herbie had a really cool 'Born to be wild' bandana on but auntie Jan took it off as soon as we got down to the beach. Shame because I thought it would have been really good to tease Herbie and play tug with it! Both mum's had to spend time comparing us too (we were wondering when we were ever going to get to play!). As you know I'm curly but Herbie is smoother and shaggier and has got a bit of a handsome red 'mane' on him. The funny thing is that our mums said that the wetter we got the more alike we looked! Well so we should - we're the same size and shape, more or less the same colour, we run and play the same way and we've got the same eyes and noses and expressions too! Herbie is really just like me but not curly.

The big thing for Herbie and me - never mind all the comparisons - was that not only are we brothers but we were instant best friends. Herbie plays the best game of chase ever, especially into the sea and through the waves. I wish I'd warned him not to drink the sea water though because auntie Jan said he was very sick when he got home, poor lad. He loved my little squashy yellow ball too and I let him play with it and take it off me when he wanted. Herbie loved the beach but the only thing he didn't get was rolling in the sand. I tried to get him to try it but he didn't want to. I LOVE rolling in the sand and getting covered in the stuff! It didn't matter because we had such a fantastic time together and I just wanted to be with Herbie for always. We didn't even go off and play with any other dogs who came over - we weren't interested in anyone else. Why would we be? We're brothers and we had each other!

We spent loads of time on the beach and walked up to where the Figgate burn empties into the sea. You can drink that water because it's not salty so we did get a drink there and Herbie's mum sneaked off to go to the loo. It's so much harder for these humans! Herbie didn't even notice she'd gone but then my mum kept us busy chasing the ball into the sea so much that he didn't have time to notice! Mum stood right in the burn with us, dafty that she is, but Herbie's mum got a hole in her wellies so she couldn't come in. Just as well we don't need wellies!

After that we went back along the beach to the Dog and Cat Home, where Kirsty was working, so that she could meet Herbie too. She loved Herbie - we knew she would. We got to run and play in the paddock there with Angel and Sam, and I think Angel really fancied Herbie! I felt so proud as we walked past all the staff there with Herbie because I could here them all saying 'that's Teddy's brother' !!

But all too soon came the sad part of the day when I discovered that Herbie had to go back to where he lives again. When auntie Jan opened the back of the car I kept trying to jump in - I just wanted to go with Herbie. I didn't want to leave my mum or anything but I wanted to stay with my brother. We stood and watched as they drove away and our mums waved goodbye to each other. All the way up the road I kept turning round to look for Herbie and I walked so slowly hoping that mum would turn back and Herbie would still be there. I felt so sad that mum stopped in the street and gave me a hug and promised me that we'd see Herbie again soon. I was very tired when I got back and slept most of the evening. I was dreaming that Herbie and I were still running into the waves together and chasing that yellow ball! I even slept late this morning (my mum was so pleased!).

Today I feel much happier. I had such a lovely day yesterday and met my brother Herbie and we had fun, fun, fun!! I know now that he's not far away and I can store up all my news for when we next meet up. I hope his tummy is better today though and that he remembers not to drink the sea water next time!

Mum is going to tell auntie Jan to read this message to Herbie, so I'm going to finish with this:

LOVE YA HERBIE, YOU'RE A REAL COOL BRO AND I'M PROUD TO BE YOUR BROTHER! COME AGAIN SOON......!

My friend Kerouac and more about Herbie

Me and my friend Kerouak!

Kerouak's another doodle and is Angel's sister. These lovely photos were taken by her mum, so thank you very much, Kerouac's mum. She managed to get photos of my mum too (clever woman because mum would have hidden if she'd known!). I love going to the beach with Kerouac because she likes to play rough just like me and when mum starts walking away from the sea - which she does when she thinks we need to start drying off a bit - Kerouac looks at me, looks at the sea, and then gets me to chase her right back into the sea again!!! Sometimes she runs off a wee bit just to say hello to other dogs and check them out but she always comes running back and jumps at me to play again. She's G R E A T fun and I'm so glad she comes to the beach with us every Saturday!

I hope she's not too disappointed next Saturday though because mum's going to take her home early after just a shortish play on the beach. But I think she'll understand because it's for a very good reason: my brother Herbie is coming through from Glasgow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Wow!!

Mum said we're going to meet on the beach so that Herbie and I can have a really good play and chase and make up for lost time (we've not seen each other since we were tiny puppies!). I can't wait to tell you all about it and to show you all the photos. I'm looking forward to meeting Auntie Jan again too. I think she's lots of fun and when mum's on the phone to her she laughs all the time, which is nice. This is the message that Auntie Jan left me on my blog:

Hi Teddy its fantastic to see you. you won't remember me, but I was very nearly your mum. I see you're confused by this so I will explain. When your mum Coco and your dad Jake gave birth to 10 beautiful puppies, I was first to pick one. It was touch and go between yourself and our scruffy pup Herbie. At the last moment herbie took a liking to my husbands beard and that sealed the deal. I'm so pleased to see you have a fantastic home, with pets who obviously love you as much as I love Herbie (wild thing) McDoodle. It would be great if you guys could get together. Ask your mum to log on to Doodle Times. We can be found there posting nonsense most days. You are one handsome doodle. Big kiss from your Auntie Jan. xxx

Isn't it funny how he's called Herbie "Wild Thing" McDoodle because mum's always said my 'Sunday name' is Teddy Bear McDoodle!!!! How about that! It all has worked out so well because mum talks with Jan on the phone, on Doggysnaps and on Doodle Times now and I'm going to meet Herbie very soon and we're going to play, play, play!!!

Valentine's Day

Well this, so I'm told, is Valentine's day and it's all about love! Yeah right! I barked to go out this morning when Kirsty was leaving to go to work with Angel and Sam and what do I hear from mum but 'shut up and lie down Teddy - it's Saturday'. Like that makes any difference to my bladder. Then she remembers she's meant to be all sloppy about love today and tries to give me a big hug. Well you try standing still and getting squashed when you're bursting for a pee!! She got up eventually and took me and Ben out. I don't know how quiet old Ben managed without me before. But what a cheek, just when I thought our day was getting started she went back to bed with a cuppa!!

We went out at half nine as usual though to pick up Kerouak and I tried to give her valentine licks but she wasn't having any of it! In fact she kept bullying me for ages on the beach just in case I got any 'valentine's ideas'! Fat chance. She got over it though and we ended up having a brilliant chase on the beach and in the water and splashed mum loads of times. It was very dull but much warmer than it has been so we stayed out for AGES! My brother Herbie even sent me a text while we were there and he thought we'd have been home by then. This time next week we will have met - COOL!

I can't wait for mum to read me what it says on doggysnaps tonight. Shadow and I are going on a 'virtual date' and someone called Jacky has made a fantastic photo of the two of us as you can see up above! (These humans really are NUTS!!!!). It's all fun though. Well, valentines or not I thnk me, my mum and Ben are havng a quiet night in. She was invited to a party but she said she doesn't feel like going and she lost the invitation........mmmm, thinks, I wonder where that could have gone to....???? !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Cheering up mum on Friday night!

Today mum was feeling a bit down. I knew it by the way she came in from work with a heavy walk and she sighed a lot. She said the house was cold because the central heating had got turned off by the cat, who had leant on the switch while trying to reach down into a freshly chewed mouse hole in the wall!!!!!!!!!! And it was Friday the 13th but she said she's not superstitious really.

Anyway, I thought to myself 'I'm a doodle, and what can doodles do REALLY well?' and straight away I knew the answer was 'make people laugh'! So I set out to cheer mum up and make her laugh. First I raided the bin in the kitchen that's full of squashed up boxes and things that smell really good and thought I'd bring something nice from there, but one of the boxes got stuck on my head and when I pranced around to try to get it off I heard mum laughing! That's better I thought, so I kept bringing mum lots of thngs till she told me to stop.

Then mum decided to tidy her bedroom so I thought I'd give her a hand with that. I helped her get rid of a box of tissues by chewing it up into lots of little bits and then I hid it under the bed because mum had made some space under there. I discovered that although I'm big I can still squash up into little spaces and that it's fun trying to do that! I tried to hide from mum for fun but I couldn't quite get my bottom in and got all excited so I think my tail was wagging and gave me away! Mum laughed SO loud - until she found the tissues. Oh dear, I think she wanted them for herself. Mum sat down on the bed with another one of those big sighs so I thought 'Teddy boy - drastic acton needed here' so I jumped on top of her and gave her a HUGE doodle cuddle!!! Oh, and I'd just had a drink of water so I think my beard gave her a wash too!!

Still, it all cheered mum up and now she's cooking her tea so it's time for me to work on those big puppy eyes and sitting nicely looking sweet..... it works a treat everytime!!!!!!!!

Really Good News!!!

I just have to write about my good news. Well you know I was already fairly grown up when I came to live with my mum and, although I had fun at my last home, I don't remember much about when I was just a wee puppy. My mum told me about my doodle mum and dad because she looked them up on Tora Labradoodles (and my previous humans told me their names)but I don't remember them or my brothers and sisters.
Well - and here's the GREAT news - thanks mostly to the doggysnaps website (and, I think, this blog!) I've been found by my brother HERBIE and his mum, auntie Jan!!!!!!
Oh, and Jackie from Tora Labradoodles told them where I was too so that was good.

Anyway, Auntie Jan and mum have been talking on the phone and by email non stop!!
Herbie is now on doggysnaps too so we're going to have LOTS of fun there. My kennel is called 'Jacqui&Ben' and Herbie's is called 'groover' if you want to see us there. He looks really like me too (what a handsome boy!!!).

Auntie Jan is going to bring Herbie over to Edinburgh a week on Saturday so we can meet and play on the beach together and have mad doodle fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Can't wait to tell you all about it and show you photos.....
Bye for now, love Teddy McDoodle

Dancing on Ice - Teddy style!

It's a shame it is still too dark first thing in the morning to take photos because then I could show you pictures of me dancing on ice! Instead I"ve shown a picture of me and Sam watching 'Dancing on Ice' on TV!

This week has been lots of fun on the golf course with the wee pools of water completely frozen over. Normally I can run and jump on them so that they crack and break up and then I can splash around in them which is great fun. But this week they have been frozen solid - especially one big pool. So I ran across it sliding and dancing and having a great time. I rolled around on it too, all the time sliding across it and mum laughing away at my antics! The ground has been really hard too and so I've stopped knocking mum over because I realised that I hurt her the other day, though I didn't mean too. I think she's been a bit scared of me running towards her, too, and I don't want that - I just want us to play together.

Mum said I was very good at Lynn the dog lady's class on Tuesday. I can 'sit' and 'stay' and go 'down' when she wants me too (as long as she has a treat in her hand - after all, why else would I do it?). I think I'm getting the hang of 'stand' though I don't really get why she's tellng me to do what I do all the time anyway. Our humans are really odd at times. Lynn wanted our mums and dads to stroke us while we were lying down to make us all calm (yeah right, me - calm?) and all the others were just lying there. But me, well, I thought we could have some fun here, so I rolled about to have my tummy rubbed and scratched my back on the floor and generally had FUN! Mum laughed though she told me she wasn't supposed to!

First thing yesterday morning mum let me and Ben out into the garden for a piddle and a poo and she went back to bed for a bit with a cup of tea. She's been very tired this week, she told me, so she wanted to have a gentler start to her day. Well I know the word 'gentle' because she's been teaching me, so when we came in again I sat beside her being really calm and gentle, and we watched all the birds getting their breakfast at the feeder outside. Then mum put her hand on my head and whispered to me to stay quiet and still and I watched as a sort of dog, and yet not quite a dog, came into our garden. Mum said our visitor was called a fox and that he was probably quite hungry to be out in daylight like that, but he didn't stay long enough for mum to put any food out for him. I was a bit worried though because thought mum was going to put my breakfast out for him instead of me but she didn't. I think she was going to put some cat food out instead! Hehehe, bet those cats will be jealous!!

Mum took Ben, Kerouac (our neighbour) and me to the beach again today. I think we're going to have Kerouac every Saturday now for our beach walk. We went a long way this time, right from one end to the other and back and met loads of new dogs again. Most of them were really fun and we had lots of romps and chases. Best of all, though, was that Kerouac and I had so much fun together chasing and wrestling and jumping the waves as they came crashing in. I think we're going to be best friends now, along with Ben, Angel and Sam of course.

My 'big brother' Ben!

I thought I'd tell you a bit about Ben now that I'm getting to know more about him. He's 13 which seems so old to a teen like me but he's still full of beans most of the time although needs to rest after our long walks. He's mum's very special friend and, although I get jealous when she gives attention to other dogs, I never really get jealous of him. He's like a big brother I suppose. He tells me off a lot when I'm messing around but he jumps in and sticks up for me if he thinks I'm being bullied by someone else. And the best bit is - we get up to mischief together!! Mum thinks he's such an angel but he isn't when he's with me! I like having my 'big brother' Ben around.

Ben came to mum when he was about one or two - around the same age as me! But at least I had come from a proper home where my people loved me whereas Ben came from the Dog and Cat Home in Edinburgh ( http://www.edch.org.uk/ ). He can't remember much from before then except that he was very unhappy and lost when he was picked up by a dog warden and taken there. He was terrified of hair brushes and men waving their arms around - in fact he was pretty scared of all men, mum said. Poor Ben. He told me mum didn't see him at first when she looked round to choose a dog, and he was bouncing as high as he could and barking really loudly to get her attention too. It was the kennel lady who pointed him out in the end and so mum said she'd take him into the paddock to meet Tara, her other dog she had then (in the first picture with Ben). Mum says it was really funny because when they let the two of them off the lead in the paddock Tara ran around like she'd never seen an open space before and Ben just came and sat at mum's feet and waited beside her! And that was it really - they fell in love, mum and Ben. And Tara too once she got to know him. It was like they kind of got married and were always together, Tara and Ben, and yukky stuff like that. The other thing mum told me was that Ben 'talked' all the time. He still does a bit but not so much now. But when he first arrived he talked so much that mum and Kirsty couldn't get a word in. I think that's really funny!!!

Mum still thinks about Tara a lot and she said she'll tell me stories about her another time. I wish I had known her because she sounds lovely. I think Ben still misses her too.

Anyway about a week or two after I came to live here mum and Ben had to go away for a week and I had to stay behind with Kirsty and the other two doodles. Grandma, who I've not met yet, lives down in Gloucestershire and mum and Ben went to stay with her. She has a special friend called Toby, a collie. Ben told me that they all went to a pub with grandma's friend Margo and her dog (who is chocolate like me!), so there were 3 mums and 3 dogs. The other picture (above) is of them all in the pub!! The barmaid gave them all a big bowl of water to share and Ben told me she sneaked them all a few biscuits too! Ben said they go down to see grandma in a big noisy thing called a train. Well I've not been in a train yet and I'm not sure I'd like it but mum says when I've calmed down a bit she'll take me on some nice short trips in the train to go to some fun places. Then, when I've got used to travelling, she'll think about taking me down to meet grandma, but it's a very long journey. Mum can't drive but that doesn't stop us getting around!

Well, I've got lots more things to say but I'll stop there for now. I haven't been able to get on the computer much lately because Kirsty and the doodles have been on it all the time so I have had to save up all my wee stories! I'll be back soon to tell you all about this week.....

Brrr. it's a cold cold day

Would you believe it we went to the beach today. Brrr. Snow is forecast, it's freezing and the waves were wild. I mean, really wild! So do we just settle for a wee walk to the golf course or the park? No. We all toddle down to the beach again. And did we enjoy ourselves? YES YES YES of course we did!!! Sam and I had a brilliant chase and lots of rough and tumble play. Mum deliberately wasn't throwing the ball into the water so we ran in anyway and jumped over the waves as they came crashing in. Mum said we were mad but it was fun. Ben just stayed walking with mum agreeing with her of course! Now we're all inside keeping warm and still drying off. Annette the dog walker's taking us out tomorrow - so I wonder if it will be Arthurs Seat or the beach? I'll have to wait and see. Sometimes she has a wee pooch who's allergic to grass (can you imagine?), poor thing, so then it has to be the beach but then other times she likes to get us somewhere a bit different so we head up Arthur's Seat where it's pretty well all grass.

I thought I'd let you see a picture of all of us this time - our family. You know, I can't believe it's February already and I've been with my 'new' family for 4 months and it's fantastic!!!!