Rosie is growing!

[Candachan]

Love all the photos and Ellie! You said she came out of season, are you planning on keeping her intact?

 

[diamondlil]

Love all the photos and Ellie! You said she came out of season, are you planning on keeping her intact?

Ellie was my old girl, this is Rosie. I had to cancel her spay appointment due to a change in my shifts, then she came into seaon. I'll have her spayed as soon as it's safe (my vet wants 3 months post-season unless there's an emergancy) No puppies here!

 

[diamondlil]

I haven't posted piccies of Rosie for ages! Here's the best one I could get of our evening walk, she was mainly moving too fast for me to get anything but a blur streaking past! We met a lovely little terrier and a springer spaniel. This was Rosie's first evening walk so she got really excited but came back every time I called her.
On the way back home we got attacked by 2 large dogs being walked by little girls. Rosie got off unscathed but I got a bruise on my calf. I'll be reporting the incident.

 

[vetusvates]

Love Rosie, Janine. But you know that. She always makes me think about getting another. Brutus's devastated look of betrayal is the only thing that has held me back so far.

 

[diamondlil]

Love Rosie, Janine. But you know that. She always makes me think about getting another. Brutus's devastated look of betrayal is the only thing that has held me back so far.

I know Eric. Ellie was devoted to me in exactly that way. I don't think she could have shared me. When we had my sister's dogs stay over, I had to be careful to give her more attention.
Rosie's a different character though. She loves me only slightly more than she loves everyone else, so I'm going to be happy to get another puppy next year without worrying about hurting her feelings at all.

 

[vetusvates]

You may remember, I took on an adoptee as a trial run in Oct-Nov 2008. He was a beautiful half basenji-half huski. Beeyootiful. Even slept on the foot of the bed...so sweet. But he hated men (but not me) and he hated afro-americans. OMG. He was so special, though, I suggested that the adoption lady keep him herself, he really liked her and her daughter.

Brutus thought it was the end of the world.

 

[diamondlil]

I didn't remember that Eric. But I know some dogs are almost too devoted, as Ellie was. I was her human, she was my dog, everything and everyone else had to respect that. She extended her protection to the boys, tolerated the cats, but she was a one-person dog. I still miss her and always will.
Rosie is the comedy relief my life needed. I'll choose her little brother or sister carefully next year, but I can't imagine anything better than a brace of mini-lurchers running together!

 

[diamondlil]

After work last night, this morning was a gloriously sunny too-good-to miss opportunity to take Rosie out to play! We met up with some of her friends so she let off steam charging around with them.
I reported the dogs that we'd had trouble with to the communnity police officers, and because they hadn't had reports of those particular dogs before, they need more info, so I've to look out for them and pass on any more info I get bout them. None of my regular doggy friends recognised the descriptions of the dogs, so maybe they are only lead-walked in the evenings. What did happen though, is that the owner of a beautiful german shepherd called Cougar turns out to be a policeman, who is collecting info about the problem dogs in the area to see what can be done. He works in London but is concerned enough about what's happening around here that he's going to liase with the local force and see what he can arrange to make walking friendly dogs like Rosie less nerve-wracking. (Cougar and Rosie had only met briefly before, Cougar is a big beautiful shepherd about 4 times Rosie's size but has decided he loooooooooooooooves her. Rosie was flirting outrageously. Cougar's owner is a beautiful chunk of manhood, and Rosie's owner may have flirted just a little bit!)

 

[wade]

J9, I am amazed at the landscape, I just don't picture England like that. Is that a public area you are in? Is it pasture for cattle or sheep?

 

[diamondlil]

J9, I am amazed at the landscape, I just don't picture England like that. Is that a public area you are in? Is it pasture for cattle or sheep?

Oh, this is just a tiny little bit of managed chalk downland, there were horses grazed on it when I was growing up but now it's all regulated and protected for the biodiversity. Which is incredibly sad, because it used to be easy to see dozens of lizards and slowworms (legless lizards) there in the stone walls that lined the paths, which have now been torn up and reconfigured, those splendid new concreted paths have no shelter for the herps and the bushes that grew alongside were all grubbed up too. I think I've averaged 2 or 3 lizards a year seen there, if I'm lucky. More, wider paths are just being laid as part of a management plan to attract more walkers and cyclists. Which would be lovely if they didn't cut straight through the main nesting area for skylarks.

 

[Hallie]

I can't believe I've never commented here, J9! Rosie is too cool, I love all these pictures of her!! I wish Maggie and I had more places to go run like this, we're pretty limited to just playing at our farm.

 

[diamondlil]

Thanks Hallie! Rosie really does light up my life, she's so much fun.

 

[diamondlil]

A few quick snaps from today's walk

 

[Nanci]

Rosie is the most interesting dog! I love reading about her.

 

[diamondlil]

Thanks Nanci! I'm not sure Rosie is more interesting than anyone else's dog, but I try to give her an interesting life. When I'm too tired or busy to take her out the boys are very good at lead walking her, but she really does live to run, so I'm hoping one of my weekends off this summer will co-incide with one of the terrier/lurcher shows locally to see how she does at racing.

 

[diamondlil]

I'd had a horrid night at work, so I really needed my walk with Rosie this morning. The sun was shining in a beautiful Spring morning. Plenty of birds around, including one of the resident kestrels. As well as the paths that are being torn up and remade, part of the small woodland area is being cleared and opened up, so we did some exploring there. Rosie flushed a pair of jays, but I couldn't get a decent picture of them. I spotted my first peacock butterfly of the year, newly emerged from hibernation. Rosie got told off by one of her friends for bouncing on him in an unseemly manner, causing her to run around puppy-yelping.

 

[diamondlil]

Rosie has a new friend! A little rescue lurcher called Susie that she can race with. Looks like Susie's a collie x whippet, the girls are around the same age and matched for speed and energy. In this picture they are flashing 'teeth of death' at each other when they'd slowed down momentarily.

 

[snakemom1961]

It looks like they were having a great time. I hope Rosie gets to spend time with Susie often.

 

[diamondlil]

It looks like they were having a great time. I hope Rosie gets to spend time with Susie often.

They did, and so do I. Rosie doesn't like to play rough-and-tumble like a lot of the staffie and staffie mixes we meet (she actually told one off today when she'd had enough of him trying to pin her down), she doesn't get the idea of fetching thrown stuff and steals other dogs' toys so they'll chase her, so having a friend to run with (this is their second meeting) is ideal for her.

 

[diamondlil]

Whoops, Rosie's lurcher friend is Carlie, Susie is a lab puppy we'd met so I'd remembered the wrong dog's name! A beautiful morning, I just didn't want to go home to sleep today. This is one of the skylarks that was resting after a display flight. Their song is amazing, so beautiful, they fly and do a combination flutter/hover as they sing to stake out their nesting territories.