The day the dogs were stripped

Our two terriers Boo and her son Eric are country dogs. They're not ones for the high life. Walks and runs in open fields, guarding the perimeter of their own little kingdom and curling up on the sofa are their delights.

Boo is on the left next to her son Rudi (my daughter's dog who lives by the seaside) Eric and then at the right is Winnie, my son's dog who lives in the city.

Boo and Eric  aren't ones for pounding the pavements of city streets like Winnie. They do like the beach , but not going into the sea , unlike Rudi who is a real salty sea dog. Unlike certain high maintenance celebrity dogs, they don't frequent dog grooming parlours either..

Oh no. They're patterdale cross border terriers, and Boo has always rocked the Hairy Maclary from Donaldson's Dairy look while Eric has a smoother but still wiry coat.

They like to be brushed, but hate being bathed. Until about a fortnight ago.

Recent searing high temperatures made it obvious that Boo needed hand stripping for the first time.....so yesterday off they went for their first visit.

I took a before photo......

And when I came home  this is what I found...Eric looking much the same but a little tidier, but as for Boo....

Doesn't she look pretty? I can't get over how much younger she looks too...positively puppy like!
No more being called Hairy Maclary from now on.......

A day of rain and dog modelling

It's not just damp out there this morning, it's wet. It has been raining cats and dogs since I got up at 7.30am - so much so, that even my two dogs don't fancy their morning walk just yet. They've been to the kitchen door, poked their noses out, smelling the air, and nope, it's just too wet.

Eric is not amused...he's sitting there, paws crossed, waiting for the rain to stop.....

Boo is lying on her chair looking rather peeved too. It reminds me of rainy days when my children were small. They needed to get out into the fresh air and let off steam, and I would be frantically thinking of activities to amuse them. Putting a blanket over the dining table as a makeshift tent, sitting them all around the table and making biscuits, you know the sort of thing. Anything to keep them busy until we could go puddle jumping.

Unfortunately I can't do that with the dogs. But Eric had his first very own parcel arrive last week. Addressed to Eric Blair, it contained a new blanket which Mama (my mother ) knitted for him. He's very enamoured with it, so we've decided to do some dog modelling while we wait for the rain to stop.....................

This is the off the shoulder shot.....

Then Boo thought she would get in the act with her own blanket too...(also knitted by Mama)

There's something about the camera that Eric and Boo love...they'll sit for ages posing. So does Rudi, Eric's brother...he even smiles for the camera. That's one dog who needs to be snapped up by a dog modelling agency!

Well, that kept them busy for fifteen minutes, and although it's still raining, it seems to be petering out, so I suppose I'd better get my boots on and brave the elements. With a puddle jump or two...there are some things that are always fun!