The WFT pup who didn't get the memo

This is Luna.

She is five months old and I met her for the first time on our monthly Aberdeen'n'shire fox terrier walk last Sunday. 

Luna is indescribably cute, of course, but it appears she didn't inherit the WFT behaviour blueprint.

Luna, being submissive is not part of the job description! 

Really it isn't. Your timid conduct will just invite a terrier pile on...

See, I told you so!

Sadly, my feisty foxy friend Agatha was not present on Sunday to give wee Luna sisterly advice to how to act in an appropriately assertive manner, and as a result us boys had to be kept on our leads for most of the walk. 

Although that didn't stop big bro Rupert and me indulging in a satisfying game of tug of stick at one point.

The traditional end of walk 'team photo' was even more than usually shambolic...

The walk took place in the woodlands near Duff House, and after the others had left Gail asked me to 'pose nicely' in front of the rather grand Georgian mansion, and I duly obliged.

The Kiss

No this post is not about a certain now notorious incident that happened following Spain's recent victory in the Women's Footlball World Cup Final....

We've just spent a lovely weekend staying with Gail's friend Molly and Neil, who live in Macduff. So much excitement as we were not the only visitors, and with seven people and three dogs in the house, oh the tales I could tell if only I had the time...

Gail suggests I just focus on one particular scene on Sunday morning, when I was making friends with young Meg, also a guest in the house, who was reclining on the living room sofa. 

Does this photo remind you of anything? 

Neil and Meg (artists both) agreed that it called to mind 'The Kiss', a famous work (so I've just learned) by prominent Austrian painter Gustav Klimt. 

To help you see the parallels, I've done a wee bit of image cropping and rotation.

What do you think? 

P.S. Apparently I need to make sure in future that I gain the consent of any attractive young ladies before jumping on them and kissing them. I had the distinct impression that Meg rather enjoyed my attentions, but Gail says that us males sometimes misinterpret signals...

Thursday is Abandon Your Dog Day?

Today we're again doing a combined post for YAM-aunty's 'FFF (Final Friday Feature)' and for our friends the LLB Gang's 'Nature Friday' blog hop. 

A Story of Dog versus Bicycle

This is a tale about what happens most Thursday mornings in a certain household in Aberdeen, Scotland. The particular details relate to this week, but the basic pattern of events could be pretty much any Thursday in any year...

The dog wakes up when his human comes downstairs shortly after 6 a.m. He notes she is wearing clothes which are brighter and more close fitting than her usual garments, and this, together with the fact that the next thing she does is check her bicycle tyre pressures, tells him he will shortly be abandoned for several hours while his human goes off to meet her friends for their regular Thursday bike ride.

But wait. All is not lost, perhaps? He can hear rain on the roof of the conservatory, above the noise of his human chomping through her big bowl of muesli and Nick Robinson on Radio 4 talking about the fate of Yevgeny Prigozhin. 

It is still raining quite hard when she takes him for his morning walk around the park, and for a few hopeful minutes he can dream that the wet weather will prompt her to stay indoors, with him, after all.

Fat chance of that. As her friend Anne is fond of saying: "Why did they invent Gore-Tex?" At 8:45 am sharp she pats him on the head and, despite deploying a plaintive look in his eyes together with his adorable - so he's told - head tilt, she wheels her 'wet weather bicycle' (the one with the mudguards) out into the road, and there he is, left all alone. Abandoned once again.

It is six hours later when she returns, all rosy cheeked and happy, knees creaking a bit. She tells him five of them were out today, Anne, Sonia, Sheila, Margaret and herself, they rode out to Monymusk for coffee and delicious scones and plenty of lively chat. The sun came out, the wind blew them home and all in all they'd had a fine time.

But there's more disappointment for the dog, who has to wait a while longer for his afternoon outing. His human claims that having cycled over fifty miles she needs not only a shower but also more food - the yummy cheese scone was insufficient fuel. 

After what feels to him like for ever, she finally puts on his lead and they go out. By now his expectations are low and he is unsurprised to find out this is to be a boring urban walk, less than two miles, and even on the path by the River Dee he is not allowed to roam free, apparently in case he decides to chase any of the baby bunnies hopping about on the river bank. As if there would be anything wrong in that. 

Towards the end of the walk he is made to pose in front of one of the prettier front gardens just a short distance from his house. His human takes a close up of one of her favourite dahlias, saying if he includes this in his post it will definitely qualify for the Nature Friday blog hop.

Learning about personal space

We have had lots of lovely visitors this summer, and Gail says that I am lucky so many of them have been more than happy for me to jump up on their laps and settle down for a cuddle.

However, I am learning that occasionally there are guests who, despite also being lovely in every other way, are not so fond of having their legs used as a cushion for WFT's. We had one such friend visiting us at the Torridon cottage this week, and I want to show you how I am learning about respecting personal space.

I am a Good Boy, aren't I? 

Outpacing the Torridon midges

 

How did you spend the weekend?

Nobby the rainforest explorer

It's not just the Amazon that has rainforest you know!

My human has had her nose buried in this book all week.

Gail tells me 'The Lost Rainforests of Britain' is all about how on the western fringe of the UK - that's the rainy part - we have remnants of temperate rainforests which used to covers much more of the country before humans intervened.

And it turns out there's a wee bit of rainforest just across the other side of Loch Torridon from our cottage, on the northern slopes of Ben Shieldaig.  We decided to go and explore. This precious patch of woodland is now owned by a conservation charity, The Woodland Trust.  Apparently they plan to construct an access path, but for the moment one has to force one's way up the steep slope, over mossy boulders and through tick infested bracken and ferns. 

I hoped to see some of the exotic lichens illustrated in Gail's book, but am sorry to report that our nature walk was cut short by a proliferation of the dreaded Highland midges, out in abundance in this well-shaded, densely vegetated and damp patch of greenery (i.e. midge heaven). These tiny biting insects do not bother me, but I cannot say the same for my human...

Anyway, here are some photos Gail took between frantically trying to bat away the arch-enemy of outdoor activity in August in Western Scotland... 

We hope you enjoyed our visit to one of Scotland's few remaining rainforests. Gail has promised we will return for a longer look when the colder weather arrives and the midges have gone to ground.

Happy Nature Friday! We're delighted as always to be taking part in the LLB Gang's blog hop.

Parklife

"Confidence is a preference for the habitual voyeur 

Of what is known as

(Parklife)"

Do you know the song 'Parklife'? 

Perhaps not - it was a hit for the British group Blur back in 1994. They're a bit of a guilty pleasure for Gail and she sometimes finds herself mouthing the first lines of this particular song on our daily visits to Duthie Park.  She says they could have been written with me in mind. 

"Confidence is a preference"? Appropriate to me? Now why would she think that?

Is it the way I greet all the other dogs, big and small, like they're long lost friends, even those I haven't met before?

Is it because I regularly sneak through a gap in the fence and venture into the yard behind the park café where humans and, apparently, dogs are not supposed to go?

Has it got something to to with the fact that once, in this same forbidden back yard I found an unguarded tray of cakes and stole one of them before Gail could pull me away?

Of course I love to disappear into the dense rhododendron shrubbery and am never scared of getting lost.

And I always run over to sniff out the heavy equipment being used by the park maintenance guys (they know me well by now...) 

Does it take a confident dog to go and stick his nose in the pail of white paint being used to mark out the boundary of the cricket pitch in summer?

Oh and did I ever mention I like to steal balls from other dogs? (No matter what the size of the dog.)

I leave it to you to answer these important questions regarding my Parklife...

Playtime

Those of you who read last Friday's blog post will doubtless have been worrying all weekend about whether or not I found some dogs to play with after I took you on a tour of the Duthie Park flower beds. 

Friends, no need to fret any longer. The good news is that I did! 

Gail describes my play style as "enthusiastic" and "boisterous". 

It is true that when I spot a dog across on the other side of the park, I race across the grass at warp speed and jump all over them, tail wagging ferociously. 

But I would like to point out that if I realise the other dog is old, or grumpy and not in the mood for play, I do in general back away these days. (I didn't when I was younger).

Sometimes my approach forces what I believe, in the world of wrestling, is known as a submission. For some reason, Gail tends to attach my lead and drag me away if I am standing directly on top of a dog who is lying on his back. 

Oh and by the way, I do still steal other dog's balls. Why wouldn't you? 

Nobby reviews the late summer flowers in Duthie Park

Yesterday Gail reminded me it's been a while since I took you on a walk around Duthie Park, and suggested I might do a Nature Friday post showing you some of the late summer blooms.

To be honest, I always think that the other dogs we meet are by far the most interesting aspect of our local park, but according to Gail, it's "debatable" whether that would count as Nature*.

So here goes with the flowers. 

Some of the displays are uniform and orderly, such as the Begonias near the park entrance. 

We often see the gardeners hard at work weeding the flower beds first thing in the morning, and Gail says it's a bit unfair of me to criticise, but I feel I do need to point out they missed some groundsel just here.

At the opposite corner of the park we see more Begonias, these ones in a neatly kept circle.

Maybe it's the terrier in me, but I have to say, I prefer things to be a bit less regimented. This border is more to my taste. 

Such a fine display of vibrant colours. The Montbretia is spectacular this year. I wonder if a warm, dry June followed by a cool and rainy weather in July and August is to the particular liking of these showy red flowers?

The Heleniums (aka Sneezeweed), seem to be thriving in the cool late summer conditions too. 

Finally, perhaps, like me, you're wondering about the identity of the silvery grey plant in front of me here.

Let's have a closer look.

According to Gail's 'PlantNet' app, it's Stachys byzantina, commonly known as Lamb's-ear, after the furry texture of the leaves.

If I was ever allowed within stroking distance of a sheep, I would be able to tell you if the name is appropriate, but Gail is saying "dream on Nobby".

Well that's about it for today for the plants. Now let me look around and see if there are any dogs who want to play.

*If anyone would like to contest the implication that garden flowers count as 'Nature' but dogs do not, please feel free to add your thoughts in the comments box...

Happy Nature Friday friends! Thanks once again to our LLB Gang friends for hosting the blog hop. Do go and visit the other participants. 

Under surveillance at St Cyrus

You know, these days I don't much mind Gail capturing my every move on camera when we're out and about together.

I've learned it's the price you pay for being taken on nice outings (as on Sunday, when we met our friends M and J for a gentle walk along the beach at St Cyrus).   

I'm happy for M to take pictures too, especially since I know she usually remembers to bring yummy dog treats.

I do, however mind when some random stranger (that's him in the grey jacket, lurking by the rocks in the background below) starts filming me from overhead with his irritatingly buzzy little toy. 

So when the drone landed close by, I was all set to pounce.

Sadly, Gail heeded the man's panicked shouts and dragged me away before I could mete out some appropriate terrier treatment...

I am now thinking of consulting Harry and Meghan's lawyers regarding breach of privacy laws...

A wet summer walk in Scotland

On Saturday afternoon Gail decided we'd try out a new walk. 

I just love exploring different places. Don't you? 

We started in the village of Lumphanan and the track ascended gently northwards through pretty woodland and up to a look-out point. Apparently on a clear day one can sit on this bench and enjoy a magnificent view of the Aberdeenshire hills. 

This was not a clear day. In fact it was raining increasingly hard. And the seat didn't look at all comfortable anyway, so we hastened on down along some muddy farm tracks and back to the car.

To be honest, I ended up grateful Gail had not planned a longer walk and I was quite happy to be home and curled up on the sofa, practicing my Perfect Circle pose.