St Francis and the Rascal Dogs

Tomorrow is the feast day of St Francis of Assisi, so our church had a service today where you could bring your pets for a blessing.

www.kandle.ie/2009/04/25/st-francis-ecology/

My husband told me not to take our dogs.  My mother told me not to take our dogs.  They had a point, our dogs are rather anti-social beings.  Right up until last night I was not going to take the dogs.

But this morning, I decided I couldn't let the dogs go unblessed.  So, I took our dogs AND Ginger by myself. 

Monty (white) and Abby (tan)

It is raining and foggy here, so by the time we reached the church door both dogs were covered in red mud.  Abby was actually much better behaved than usual.  She was quite the sweetie and very lady like as we made our way to the front of the church - we always run late.  Incidentally, have you noticed the walk of shame all latecomers are subjected to, the only seats left are always at the front of the church. 

But Monty, oh my, he barked and huffed through everything.  Fortunately one of the other parishners took Ginger for me as I had my hands full with Monty.  I held him in a death grip for the entire service.  One, to keep the mud off my clothing (semi-successful) and two, to stop him attacking every other dog in sight.  He rather has a Napoleon complex.

As soon as the service ended we were out of there.  No coffee and cake for us today.  Everyone I passed told me how brave I was to bring both the dogs and baby by myself.  I don't know if brave is the word I would use.  More like crazy.  But, the dogs did get their blessing, as did the sleeping Ginger and as for me, I missed out on Communion!

On a wet and rainy weekend

Last weekend we had a bit of change of weather here in Melbourne. It was very wet and rainy. Nothing like some nice lemony goodness to cheer you up in that sort of weather. So, I baked a lemon cake out of the excellent Gentle Art of Domesticity. Jane's blog Yarnstorm -which I see has moved urls recently - is also excellent for wiping away the damp day blues.

And, in the spirit of the French film festival which is on in Melbourne at the moment we watched some French films which one of my friend's at work had lent me. Both starred Daniel Auteuil who is wickedly comic. My favourite was The Closet. In The Closet Daniel's character is facing dismissal from his job and attempting to commit suicide when his crusty, ex-lawyer, neighbour convinces that he can not be fired if pretends he is gay. The other film we watched was The Valet which was also good. Unknowingly, until I checked his screen appearances on IMDB, I had actually seen Auteuil previously in My Best Friend , a film which I can highly recommend.

And well, Monty found the weather a little lowering to the spirits and thought the day was best just dozed away!

On Checking In

Well I just thought it would be worthwhile checking in and letting everyone know what has been happening for me - I haven't had access to the internet for a while.

I finished up at my job in Sydney last Wednesday. On Thursday the removalists came and packed up all our belongings, and on Friday the boxes and furniture were packed into containers and we waved farewell to all our wordly goods for the next three months. We will next see them when we move into our Melbourne home in early February. Fortunately I have already secured a position in Melbourne so I don't have the 'no job' problem looming over me.

Friday night we flew out to Perth to spend a week with my parents. We brought the dogs with us, as they will be cared for by my parents while we are in Europe. Abby and Monty seem to be settling in reasonably well, though their arrival has been slightly traumatic for my parents' elderly dog and cat. I can not believe how much my dog Bella has aged since I last saw her. But then I recall she arrived when I was thirteen so is now almost 12 years old. We have enjoyed having a week in Perth to catch up with family and friends. Coming home always reminds us how far away we are on the East Coast.

I can't believe we fly back to Sydney tomorrow, and then leave for Europe on Saturday. The week (and year) has just flown by. We fly into Germany on Sunday. We are starting our trip in Frankfurt, then visiting Heidelberg, Wurzberg, Nuremberg and Munich. We then go to Austria where we will visit Salzberg and Vienna. Next to the Czech Republic for Cesky Krumlov and Prague. We then return to Germany to visit Dresden and Berlin. I can't wait.

After our central Europe experience we are off to England to spend Christmas with DH's parents just outside London. Then the whole family is going to Turkey - Istanbul and Gallipoli. We then have about 10 days to spend in England - mostly with relatives.

All Spruced Up With No Place to Go

My puppies had a haircut today. The lady who does their hair is lovely. When she called to say they could be picked up she said "your babies are ready". Too cute!

Anyway, here is Monty looking very masculine with his black collar bow.

And, here is Abby with a pretty purple bow in her hair. She was being a little Madam when I went to pick them up and basically tap dancing in the cage. Can't you see the cheeky spark in her eyes? But, at least she is sitting!

They are a little chilly now with their shorter coats, so they both have their housecoats on. I also think the excitement of the day has exhausted them. They have both taken to MY bed.

Puppy School

Sh, so Monty doesn't know that boys aren't supposed to wear ribbons! He is desperately in need of a haircut and I couldn't get a Saturday appointment with the dog's hairdresser until mid July. The hair ribbon was supposed to help him to see, but he got it off about 10 minutes after I took this photo. He is snug as a bug in a rug.....it is winter here.

Our dogs have social problems. They are really aggresive to other dogs when they are out walking - and as you can see they are not really the size to pick a fight! We don't know how to solve the problem so we have called in the experts from "Bark Busters". Ken, the trainer for our area of Sydney, came in for two hours on Saturday. My gosh, the dogs are reformed characters. Apparently I have been contributing to the problem (kind of already guessed that). For instance, I pick them up to try to get them to stop their behaviour - this actually raises their status in the pack because they gain height, making them even more aggresive. Whoops!

Also, Ken says that our dogs our hyperactive. This might be a result of their diet. He has told me they have to be on a raw food diet - a mixture of human mince, vegetable and eggs. I spent half an hour on Saturday afternoon blending the ingredients together in a food processer. Fun! I have made enough for two weeks. I can tell you, given the additional effort - it better be effective.

They are real darlings though, so I think it is worth the cost and effort to improve their behavior. Soon, they should be well behaved enough to take on outings to cafes etc. I can't wait.