My 'Big Brother' Ben

A bit about Tara

My mum has lots of doggy pictures on her wall - mostly of all of us that live in the house now - but some of the pictures are of this beautiful white dog. So I've been asking mum about these pictures. She told me that Tara was a girl and was her and Kirsty's first family dog together. She was always up to mischief but was very very gentle and loved getting attention. Mum said Tara was eveyone's friend and everybody loved her! She was also Ben's best friend and that poor old Ben has never quite been the same since she died. I didn't know that before and I'm going to try to be especially nice to my 'big brother' now! She was nine and had always been healthy when, one morning, she suddenly had a funny turn (which turned out to be a heart attack) and she had to be rushed to the vets. He found she had a massive lump inside her (called a tumour) and she died the same day while she was having an operation. Mum and Kirsty don't like to talk about that or they still both end up crying. But they do talk about Tara's life though and she seems to have done lots of things that make them smile. Tara made them very happy and has given them some great memories. Of course, that's MY job now!!! I told mum that I'd like to have some pictures of Tara here on my blog as a tribute to this lovely girl......

In memory of the beautiful Tara

A poem written for me (Teddy) by my mum!

Ode to Teddy McDoodle

He's a hot chocky bundle, my big Teddy bear,
with round amber eyes under thick curly hair.
In obedience he's stubborn, only working for treats,
and on lead he lunges when doggies he meets.
He runs like a mad thing forgetting his brakes;
when he goes at full pelt some courage it takes
to walk without grabbing unnerved passers-by
and there have been times when I've felt myself fly!
He's a big water baby, my canine Canute,
and although he's so crazy he's cuddly and cute.
His fleece smells of seaweed when he's sandy and damp,
He chases the cats and knocks over the lamp.
He takes over the sofa, cushions under his head,
and during the night he sneaks onto my bed.
He steals socks a-plenty, of pairs now I've few,
and sometimes it's bras and other undies too.
But where would I be without my dood friend?
For Teddy and me - we perfectly blend!

Ups and Downs on the Golf Course

Hi, Teddy here! This is me looking very handsome if I say so myself!! Well it's been a funny week with ups and downs, and in mum's case an 'up and down' that ended rather badly. But first - my excitement of the week was that the ice was back on the golf course. I LOVE ice - I love sliding on it, rolling on it, eating it......everything about it (oh, except the time when it froze in clumps on my feet and mum had to bathe it off)! On Wednesday morning I had so much fun because, not only was there ice on the golf course but my two collie friends Digger and Nell (and little Molly the border terrier type puppy of course) were there as well. We hadn't seen each other for ages and so Digger and me had a fantastic high speed chase and a romp. We were over by the trees when Digger says to me 'race you to your mum!' and that was me, I was off at 100 mph to get there first! Um, well, that's when it all started to go all wrong.

You see, I forgot to stop, then I was so excited that when she jumped into the air and then was rolling round on the ground I thought she was playing and stole her hat as a trophy, parading round with it - then Digger tried to get it too and we were tugging (with me winning of course)! Then I saw Digger's mum put her scarf down and before she could get it under mum's head I grabbed that too - yeah, I thought it was so much fun!

But then, oh dear, I realised mum wasn't getting up and she wasn't playing. I dropped the scarf and came over to see my mum because I was worried then - I didn't know what was wrong. I stood still to get my head collar on (which shows how worried I was) and Digger's mum helped mum to Digger and Nell's car because mum couldn't seem to walk. Both Ben and me were confused and I was a bit panicky then, but Ben said to just be good and do what they say and it would all be alright. That's when Ben is like a big brother to me and I'm so glad he's there. We all piled into the car, with me in the boot and Ben, Digger, Nell and wee Molly all on the back seat. It was quite funny really because we were all shouting our heads off when we passed Kirsty on her way to work with Sam and Angel - the confused look on their faces as we drove past was very funny, even mum said so!

Well to cut a long story short, as they say, mum didn't go to hospital until the next day (both Kirsty and grandma called her stubborn) and when she did she came home with her leg held straight in this thing called a splint and these two stick like things which mum said are called crutches. I could see it was hard for her to sit down so I tried to be patient and waited before I jumped all over her and gave her kisses and cuddles! Poor mum. She told me she can't take me for walks for now but I've got to be very good for Kirsty and she's going to take me out. It will be a bit strange and I'll miss going out with mum but she promised she'll be there for me when I come home again. There will be some fun though because I'm going to go to work with Angel and Sam next week! They've both said I can come but I've got to watch them to learn when I can play and when I've to be good and quiet. I've promised I'll try very hard. The best part of the day though wll be when I come home to Ben and mum and lots of cuddles. Then the most important job fo me will be to cheer mum up and make her laugh or just give her lovely cuddles because she's really fed up. She says she'll miss me but she will so look forward to that part of the day too. Well that's all for now, so byee from me Teddy (the tearaway) McDoodle!

Doodle Meets and Doggysnaps Winners

I thought I'd tell you something about the slideshow my mum just put on the previous post. Last Saturday we had great fun when folk from the web site Doodle Times (see my list of favourite web sites below) came through to Edinburgh to meet on MY beach! We had a fantastic time - there were quite a few of us doodles in all different shapes and sizes and we just ran and ran and splashed and chased and jumped and .......erm...got lots of treats!!! All the time our mums and dads just stood there and talked - how boring! But at least they were just letting us get on with the important stuff. Kerouac came down and joined us too, so I was pleased to see my good friend and introduce her to the mad gang. Not that she needed much introducing- she was straight in there. There were only two sad bits to it: my doodle cousins Sam and Angel couldn't come because Kirsty was working (she's promised they'll come next time!) and (the REALLY sad bit) Herbie couldn't make it because Auntie Jan was working too. I so want to see and play with Herbie again - I hope it'll be soon.

My other bit of news is that Herbie and I are keeping the doodle profile up in Doggysnaps (my other favourite website)! They have photo competitions each month and I won the 'Snowy Snaps' one and Herbie won 'Editors Choice' with his snow one! Isn't that fantastic!! Our winning pictures are at the top of this post.

Mum sad to finish with an apology though because the original of Herbie's photo was much better quality than this one but somehow we lost quality when we 'lifted' it from Doodle Times (ooops, sorry!!!)

Doodle Meet February '09