Vertical take off capacity

At least one of us in this household has a spring in their step. 

Please bear with us while Gail is recovering* from having picked up the dreaded Virus when down in the Scottish Borders last week. 

And if perchance you are thinking: "Well that serves her right for so heartlessly abandoning you Nobby in favour of her own bizarre desire to spend time with friends cycling up hills on wet roads...." I couldn't possibly comment!

*Gail would like to reassure readers she's now feeling better by the hour.

The report from my Doggy AirBnB home

 "Challenging" is good, right? 

The word was being used quite a lot when Gail was getting a debrief on my behaviour from the nice couple I stayed with for four nights last week. 

Of course I did not get a chance to point out that it was challenging for me too, not to be allowed to jump up on their tables and counters, and on their wee pup Hugo, all the time. 

"Are all terriers this bouncy?" they also asked when Gail came to pick me up on Friday morning...

I had been wondering if this place might become my permanent holiday home, but for some reason Gail seemed hesitant to ask if I could stay there again...

PS from Gail: Nobby's hosts were awfully nice about it all, and I had tried to be honest with them about certain aspects of Nobby's behaviour before I headed off for my cycling break, but I suspect it'll be boarding kennels for the wee fellow (who incidentally, in terms of bounciness, rates as Bouncing Bertie on steroids...) next time I go away. 

PPS On the plus side, They did say he was friendly, never ever aggressive (just "over-enthusiatic"), ate well, settled quietly at night, and had no 'accidents' in the house.

MIA

Oh I do want to apologise for being Missing in Action over the last few days.

I was never warned that I would be staying in what Gail calls a "Doggy AirBnB' while she went off with her friends cycling around Peebles and Melrose in the Scottish Borders this week. 

So the nice couple I stayed with did send Gail some pictures.

And Gail seems to think some of you might like to see a few photos from her trip too (although the appeal of looking at images of sweaty cyclists rather escapes me...)

Normal service will be resumed on Monday. I have to say Gail looked just a teeny weeny bit exhausted when she picked me up earlier this morning...

A battle of wits

I hope you agree it is important to provide one's human with regular mental stimulation. Especially when they are retired from work and there is an obvious danger that their brain might go to seed.

It is true that Gail does perhaps not see my ball stealing activities in Duthie Park in quite the same positive light, but let me make my case.

What fun it is to see Gail chasing around after me when I steal another dog's ball and don't give it back. As it's quite clear that I can outrun her "used to be a sprinter" legs, and as I'm aware that she worries about the other dog's owner getting impatient with my antics and wanting their ball back, my actions force my owner to engage her brain cells and think up a strategy for recovering said ball.

So first off Gail decided to bring along an old tennis ball to the park as a 'decoy'. As if I would be interested in that.

Gail then upped the ante with the purchase of a squishy purple 'kong' ball which squeaks when it bounces. This is much more to my taste and I especially commend the fact that it cost a whole £4.99. Reassuringly expensive! 

So when I met one of my cockerpoo pals on my early morning walk this week, I did as usual steal his orange ball but this time was quite happy to drop it in exchange for my superior purple model.

Imagine this. Gail thought she'd won the battle of wits when she returned orange ball to owner!

Twenty minutes later, while a jogger lapped the park twice and the park gardeners looked on in great amusement at me running rings around Gail (both literally and metaphorically), I still had the ball between my teeth and Gail was getting hot and bothered and telling me she'd be late for meeting her cycling friends.

Did I mention that I waited until Thursday, her regular cycling day, to pull this stunt?

Eventually, but not before Gail was very much in danger of mislaying her normal calm and cheery demeanour, I foolishly relaxed my guard. Distracted by two other potential playmates - another cockerpoo and a schnauzer - I allowed Gail close enough to grab my collar and my ball.

However, the story has a happy ending as I do believe I will have been successful in forcing Gail to come up with a new strategy for next time we visit the park. And thankfully I am fairly confident that she would consider the obvious solution of keeping me on the lead at all times to be a humiliating defeat...

My best self

When Gail takes me for a nice long walk in the hills with her friends, I can promise you I will display my best version of myself.

I will forget all about ball-stealing in the park, digging holes in the back lawn, shredding papers grabbed from Gail's desk and trying to bite her hand if she brings a brush or comb anywhere near my beard.

See how I am on Best Behaviour on yesterday's outing with Henry, Phil and Susan. 

Near the start of the walk I wait patiently at the edge of the field with Henry, being careful not to trample the ripe barley crop.    

I come immediately and fast when called as we climb up through the conifer plantation. 

I pose nicely with our friends as they regroup and catch their breath from the first ascent.

I keep to the track as we process along the broad and undulating ridge.

I allow a close up photo as I sit in the heather calmly waiting for the humans to finish their sandwiches. (Variously, prawn, egg mayonnaise and bacon, and ham and tomato. Apparently.)

At the windswept summit  of Pressendye I pose nicely, again. (Gail says 'windswept' is a redundant word in this sentence, as in Scotland all summits are windswept...)

Further along, I allow Gail to ignore me to take a photo of the stunning vista.

Despite my tender years I am tough little dog with lots of stamina, so as we carried on down the hill I did not slow everyone down, and thus enabled the humans reached the Tarland Tearoom before it closed.

And finally, I trotted along without making a fuss as ever so slightly weary legs (canine and human) tramped the last mile and half back to our start point.

(For those interested, we did a slightly longer version of the Tarland Skyline Trail, beginning and ending at Henry's cottage west of the village of Tarland.)

Dear reader, I am wondering, in which situations do you exhibit the best version of yourself?

A berry well behaved pup

I am not sure whether Gail saying "at least there's one area where your behaviour is better than Bertie's was" is a compliment or an insult. But I'm a cup half full kind of a pup, so I'll assume the former. One learns to take what one can get. 

Out and about in the Aberdeenshire countryside, we have an abundance of berries right now, and I'm discovering that my owner is a borderline obsessional forager for free food.

 
I am quite happy to sniff around in the undergrowth while Gail risks lacerating her arms on the prickly brambles in order to hunt down the early blackberries, keeps a keen eye out for the last of the raspberries, and kneels on the damp earth to pick the abundant and apparently very tasty little blaeberries*.

I stay patiently close by despite not being on my lead, and I do not get bored and run off as was the habit of my predecessor. 

In addition to the edible berries, I want to show you how vibrant the rowan trees look right now.

And of course, since this is Scotland, we can always find you a fine display of heather.

Happy Nature Friday friends! Do join in the fun with the LLB Gang's always wonderful blog hop. 

*Blaeberries in Scotland = bilberries in England. These berries are related but not identical to the American blueberry. The blaeberry is smaller and more flavourful but also more easily damaged and thus not generally grown commercially. 

Hoping for a treat...

"Expectation management"

Don't you just hate that phrase?

I hear it from Gail a lot. Especially in relation to treats.

It's bad enough that she never ever gives me any tasty morsels when she herself is eating, whether at home, in a café or enjoying a picnic when out on a walk.

What's worse is that tells her friends to do the same, claiming that if I learn to expect something then I will "become a pest". 

I know for a fact that her friend 'M', pictured above, always carries nice big treats in her pocket, and of course I expect to be given some.

The good news is, I just know that my expectations in this regard will be met at some stage in our regular walks.

I do like 'M'.

A new park playmate

Meet Roo, my handsome new park pal. 

Roo is a Kelpie/Collie cross. 

I use the term 'pal' in the loosest sense..

Gail says it's not entirely clear why Roo's human felt the need to tell Roo to "be careful with Nobby, he's much smaller than you"...

Nobby the Pub Quiz Team Mascot

Yes that's right! I have a new role. 

I'd noticed how, from time to time Gail disappears down the road to a mystery destination for a couple of hours in the evening, leaving me home alone. 

She tends to come back muttering things like "if only we'd known that Richard was the older of the Carpenter twins, we might have won..."

This week the mystery was revealed and Gail took me along with her to the pub quiz, which takes place every other Tuesday evening just a five minute walk away at the 'Inn at the Park'. It turns out she is a (not very valuable) member of 'Team Indecisives', the others being local friends Kirsty, Monica and Cathy. 

I soon learned that her team is aptly named. You won't believe how long they spent debating who was the longest serving British Prime Minister, or which of the Spice Girls was first to release a solo album.

But guess what? This week, obviously only BECAUSE I WAS PRESENT, they actually won! 

Oh and did I mention I behaved impeccably throughout?

So where are my treats? In Cathy's bag perhaps...

Another awesome adventure!

You know, there are many things to criticise* about my human, but I will say one thing for her. If the weather is nice and she has no urgent appointments, she's always happy to leave the boring chores behind and take me out for another adventure.

We have lately been enjoying a run of lovely warm (but not too warm) sunny weather here in NE Scotland. Gail tells me this is unusual and one is duty bound to make the most of it. 

So it was that on Monday we drove out to Ballater, where we met up with Gail's friend Henry and went for a long walk up Pannanich Hill.  Henry lives in Perth, Western Australia but normally comes 'home' to Scotland once a year. But due to you-know-what this the first time he's been out of WA for three years. 

The heather-clad hills couldn't have been looking more glorious. 

At the summit we met a father and son mountain biking team. 

It seems to me the son had the better deal... 

Father Jamie took this photo of Gail, Henry and me.

Why would you look at the camera when there might be treats left in Gail's little backpack...

Despite all the dry weather I of course managed to locate a muddy ditch as we descended through the woods.

 

And so before we reached the car park I was 'encouraged' to go for a paddle in the river Dee. 

Apparently I caused a bit of alarm when I decided to strike out into midstream and take a wee swim, and (according to Gail) looked for a moment to be in danger of being swept away by the current**. 

*Nobby's says:  Criticisms include Gail's passion for cycling, her strict rules about treats, her insistence that my coat gets combed once a day..... need I go on?

** Gail says: fortunately, it has been so dry here lately that the river level is extremely low, perhaps the lowest I've seen it in the 23 years I've lived in Scotland. 

The path less travelled

Little did I know what was in store on Saturday morning when Gail and I set off into the woods near Finzean with our friends M and J.

This intrepid couple (and perfect team) might just have celebrated their 55th wedding anniversary, but their taste for adventure is undimmed.

I had assumed we would stick to the main forest tracks, but no, our friends were all for exploring uncharted territory.

With the path alternating between indistinct and non-existent, I heroically help scout a route through the dense undergrowth.

Crucial decisions were required on how best to navigate the many obstacles along the way. 

As we penetrated deeper into the forest, hunger set in and I kept a lookout for wolves* while M and J foraged for energy-boosting sustenance.. 

There was a pause to 'regroup' before making the difficult decision to turn around and  push back to the car park. 

It was touch and go, but we made it just in time!

(Just in time, that is, to reach the nearby Finzean Farm Shop where the humans had reserved a table for lunch at 1:30 pm.....)

*Gail would like to point out that wolves have actually been extinct in the wild in Scotland for several hundred years.