Little Brothers Smell

When you are trying to have a little snooze, they bounce about in front of you and yapyapyapyap and jump on top of you and use you to climb on to the sofa or on to Mummy's lap and they race around everywhere and they just don't stop until you're dizzy!!!

And they smell  >:o(

(Note from Flora: Hahahahahaha! Now you know what I had to put up with when you arrived, you great big lummox!)

We had some very very very exciting news today as well. My mate Muppet (fellow norty puppy  ;o) ) is a bit special and goes to lots of dog shows because he is very posh. Today Muppet went to one of his dog shows and won a prize that means that next year he gets to go to Crufts with all of the VERY posh dogs to try and win a VERY posh prize!! Isn't that amazing?? He is only a little dog! 

Guess what happened??

I have had the most exciting few days!!! The doorbell went yesterday and guess who was at the door? Auntie Fi! And she had Patch with her and a blue box thing and...................Orca!!! I was so pleased to see him that I took him straight out to the kitchen to wrestle  >:o)  

He has grown lots and is nearly as big as me now! 

We have had soooooooooo much fun chasing round the garden and playing tug and breaking all the mats and chewing up toys and teasing Flora and driving Mummy bonkers..........

But but but but..............MORE exciting things. The blue box thing that Auntie Fi had with her was actually Orca's old travelly house that he got too big for. In the travelly house was the tiniest little thing I've ever seen! Auntie Fi says he's a real dog and he's older than Orca, but I'm not so sure. He's so little!! 

I don't know how little he thinks he is though because he was joining in with mine and Orca's wrestling games!

His name is Hugo and he is actually quite good at Barking Competitions! Where I have big deep big boy barks, Hugo has teeny little baby barks but I think they're just as good at making Mummy's head hurt!

Anyway, Auntie Fi brought him here so that he could go and see my lovely vet because he has a poorly heart and that is why he is so small. Sadly, the vet said that Hugo's heart is much more poorly than anybody thought for and that he won't live to be a big growed up boy like me  :o(  Auntie Fi that he needs somebody special to look after him and pamper and fit 15 years of love into 6 months. I know somebody just like that. My Sophie Jayne  :o)

I have decided to let Hugo borrow my Sophie as long as he lets me play with her and cuddle her and lick her sometimes too.

So there we go. Who knew a few days ago that by today I'd have a little brother and have spent some great days playing with my best mate Orca again??

A Rather Serious Business :o(

I'm taking over from Bran just for the duration of this post to get across a rather serious message - sorry!

Bran's big "sister", Flora, has finally had what Bran likes to refer to as "her hopperayshun".

Flora was born at a puppy farm and sold, along with her brother, to a couple who knew nothing of American Bulldogs. As they grew older, they grew feistier and harder to control and so, at just 6 months of age, Flora and her brother were handed in to rescue. Their first stop was Trallwm Farm where they were handed into the care of Lady Lesley Cooper. Whilst being keen to lavish them with love, Trallwm Farm is actually a farm and has lots of horses and big dogs who wouldn't notice 2 pups under foot! And so lovely Lady Lesley secured places with them in the care of Lizzie's Barn Sanctuary and our wonderful friend Fionna. After a month of finding her feet at the Barn, we were lucky enough to meet young Flora Pandora and I was smitten within seconds.

Flora's time with us has not been easy: there have been a lot of changes for her to adjust to. On top of that, she has been "gifted" with far too many health issues that could all be pinned on her thoughtless breeding: epilepsy, hip dysplasia and a heart murmur. Despite all of this, Flora has brought sunshine and joy into our lives from the second we laid eyes on her. She is a wonderful companion and adores us all. Just before her hip replacement op, Flora's quality of life diminshed to such a degree that I questioned whether to proceed with the op or whether to set her free from the pain. 

Thankfully, we battled on through and the op has been more successful than I could ever have imagined! The pain is gone, Flora is healing amazingly well and all she has to worry about now are the next few weeks of enforced confinement  ;o)  She is trying hard to convince me that she is well enough to go on 2 mile hikes or to romp on the beach or even just to be allowed to play in the garden with Bran, but her new prostethic hip joint says "NO" for the time being!

I would again like to take this opportunity to thank all of our family and friends for supporting us through the last 6 months or so, which have been utterly hellish at times, as neither Flora nor I would have made it to this point without you xxx

Lady Lesley has very kindly put together Flora's story on her blog: Flora's Story

Included within Lesley's post is a very important link to a very important petition. It is a petition to plead with the Prime Minister to bring about an end to puppy farming. I have already told you Flora's story and what the trade of puppy farming has meant to her life. Now I follow up that info with why this has been posted on Bran's blog: we have recently discovered that Bran also has hip dysplasia  :o(

I was shocked enough to be having to put Flora through a hip replacement operation at 2 years of age, but Bran is still a baby. He is now 11 months old.

Fortunately, we hope that this diagnosis has been made early enough that diet management and supplements will be enough to control this godawful disease sufficiently without having to resort to surgery. This disease is all too common in labradors anyway, but, again, Bran was bred at a puppy farm so it was almost a given that it would rear it's ugly head within his beautiful bones.

Not for a second do I regret the fact that my dogs were born because then I would not have known the joy of having them in my life and I give unlimited thanks to both Lesley and Fionna for getting them to safety before they came home, but I wish with all my heart that no other dog be born into the circumstances/conditions that my babies arrived in or suffer the health concerns that we will have to deal with throughout Bran and Flora's lives.

So PLEASE sign the petition. Get the word out. And, above all else, DON'T BUY FROM PUPPY FARMS!!

The petition can be found HERE

So Rubbish/Lazy!

My mummy has decided that she can't manage to keep up with 2 blogs at once so she is only keeping Orca the Porker's up to date because he is only here for a few weeks whilst I am here forever.

Fortunately, she has done a very good job of letting all of my fans know just what I've been up to as well as Orca the Porker  ;o)

I'm very sorry if you've been waiting for updates, but you're just going to have read about our adventures on the smelly puppy's blog.

(He is a bit lovely actually and I will miss him lots when Auntie Fi takes him home. He is very norty and we have had lots of fun! Mummy says that he will go home at the end of next week because Flora is having her hopperayshun on Wednesday and Aunti Fi is coming to stay for a few days to help when Flora comes back home, and then she will take Little Stinker back with her.)

Woohoo!!

Orca the Porker has come to stay for a holiday! Mummy was telling the truth about me getting to meet him very soon!

He's a bit of a pain in the bum sometimes and his teeth are VERY sharp. I'm sure that I never used to bite Flora as much as he bites me. But he is LOTS of fun to play with.

Mummy was going to let him share my blog but I said "no way!" so he has got his very own holiday blog here: Orca's Holiday Blog

I have to admit that he's quite cute for a bitey, barky puppy.

I have lots to teach him though before Auntie Fi gets back from her holiday. Mwahahahaha!!!

Orca Update

We've got lots of photos of my little puppy friend Orca who was born back in January so we thought that you might like to see how he is growing up. I haven't met him yet but Mummy says that I will do very soon! Auntie Fi says that he is a very naughty boy so we should get on like a house on fire. What does she mean??

Orca when he was first born on 8th January

1 week old

10 days old

2 weeks old 

(I think this might have been a set up! Such a little puppy couldn't be so naughty, could they??)

3 weeks old

4 weeks old 

(he looks like a real dog but in tiny!)

6 weeks old

(doesn't he have very handsome eyes??)

At 6 weeks old, Auntie Fi weighed him again and he was 3.5kgs! I was 6 kgs when I was 14 weeks old and everybody thought that I was a big boy - I think Orca is going to be even bigger than me!! 

He is starting to eat big boy food now and isn't drinking so much of his mummy's milk, because he's 7 weeks old now. That means that his beautiful mummy, Katie, will be looking for a very special home of her very own soon. He has had the first of those horrible injection things and soon he'll be able to go out and play with all of the other dogs at the Barn.

I can't wait to meet him. I know lots of things that I can teach him. I'm sure Auntie Fi would like that  ;o)

The Bran Stuff

Oopsy! Left it a long time again!

It's not been lots of fun at my house  :o(  Flora has been really poorly and had to go to hospital for 2 days last week. Me and the kids went to Nanny's house while Mummy and Auntie Fi took Flora to the hospital. She didn't come home on the night time because they had to take photos of her baddy hips. When she did come home she was very very tired and a bit grumpy. Poor Flora looked very sad.

As promised, Mummy has kicked me out of the crate which I don't really mind because I am a big boy now and very good at sleeping in the lounge by myself. It means I get to spread out on the sofa allllllllllllllllllll night. Although, the crate is looking sooooo comfy now that I'm not sure whether I've made the right decision. Mummy has put duvets around the sides so that Flora's legs don't hurt if she leans against the side and there is a super squishy bed in the bottom of it!! As soon as Mummy had finished putting it altogether, Flora was allowed to try it out - but me and Sophie sneaked in too! Flora wasn't very impressed though  ;o)

When Sophie got out there was a bit more room for me and Flora to stretch out. 

Mummy says that I am a silly boy because after we've had our last wees at bedtime, she always gives us a chewy to take to bed with us and both me and Flora grab our chewies and race into the crate together! Pah. Then Mummy comes and tells me to get out.

Lots of things have changed here because of Flora's baddy legs. There is lots of stuff on the floors so that it isn't slidey any more. It's nowhere near as much fun now that I can't skid down the hallway and into the kitchen! But Flora is happier. 

And Nina and Stew and Tom came the other day to bring the kids home after their holiday and clever Stew made a special ramp for Flora that goes over our back door steps. I usually just jump straight over it but Flora uses it to go into the garden nearly every time.

Mummy says that Flora will be having her hopperayshun soon and then she will not be able to play with me at all as she will be very poorly and have to be extra specially careful not to hurt her legs. Before she has her hopperayshun though, Mummy says that somebody will be coming to our house who will be able to play and play and play with me until I can't play anymore. I am very excited but don't know who it is!!

I was in Serious Trouble the other day. I made Sophie cry and Mummy told me off. I don't think it's so much fun being a norty puppy any more  :o(  Auntie Sarah and Zack and baby Sam came to visit and I played with them and then slept like a good boy, but then they went shopping and left me on my own when I hadn't been to the park for a walk and I lost my chewy under the chair so I found something else to play with instead. There were some lovely squishy toys on the windowsill that smelled just like Sophie so I played with them. When Sophie came home and saw that I had eaten her Sandy's special sparkly harness and chewed a hole in Sandy's face and took Sandy's nose off, she cried a lot  :o(  Apparently, she's had Sandy (a yellow labrador toy) since she was a very little girl and nothing bad has ever happened to her before so she was very sad with me. Mummy was cross with me first of all, but then she explained to Sophie that Sandy should really have been left somewhere that I couldn't reach and she also apologised to me because I would have been a good boy and gone to sleep if I'd been to the park. I don't think I'll play with any more of the toys that smell like Sophie!

Mummy has been taking me to the park lots and lots since the Sandy incident though. Lots of times, I go with my friend Cooper. He is white and black and is a terrier and he lives just 2 houses away from me. He is just a little bit younger than me and used to be a naughty boy who used to try and get me to have his puppies!! I have been trying to teach him how to play nicely with everybody and he is lots of fun now. I like it when we go to the park together. We play chase with the ball and we wrestle and we play with all of the other dogs. Our mummies smile and tell us what very good boys we are.

A little while ago, a very lovely lady who my mummy calls Auntie Verity sent me some presents. Presents! Just for me! She had sent Flora some pyjamas too which have helped to keep her baddy legs warm but she didn't want me to be left out. For the first time, I learned what fun it is to open presents all by myself! I had toys and treats and Auntie Verity said that I had to share them with Flora. Humph. Well. I shared the treats with Flora but the toys were so cool!! I was a little bit greedy...

I did let Flora put her paw on one of MY new toys when Mummy told me to stop being mean...

While "we" were playing with the new toys, Mummy made a discovery in the hallway. I think this photo is called Aftermath of a Puppy Lesson...

I know that the snow was here quite a long time ago now, but Mummy has only just put the photos from the camera on to the computer. So here are some photos of me playing in the snow...