Golley & Violet's New Kennel

When we moved into our home we inherited an old kennel for the dog's in their dog run. The dogs have loved it, but it finally fell apart. So I've built them a new one.

In the past our dogs have had individual kennels and never used them. The differences were:

• Lots of straw
• Large - 1.6 meters square
• Large front opening (three walls)
• Postioned so they could see the house and garden from it

The dog run is surrounded by large trees and we have had one or two large branches fall into it each year. One did hit the old kennel. So, to give a strong kennel to protect the dogs, I build a large A frame kennel. I used 7mm thick sheets to save time. It seems to be successfull but if I was doing it again I would give the sheets more support, they are warping a bit.

The new one is bigger and the dogs love it. :-)

Golly's First Clip

This week golly got his first clip. A big thing with our Airedale's as they suddenly change from being a black puppy (kinda fox looking) to an Airedale. For a couple of days it was like having another dog in the house!

My clip is rough, but gosh he is a good looking dog. The photo shows him standing and Violet in front.

He is also maturing, in the last two weeks he has changed to really enjoy and seek out a cuddle.

Sociable Golly

A few weeks back Golly became the escape artist and kept finding ways next door to play with their new puppy. They got on so well that Golly is now in demand next door so the two puppies can play for hours. We took him in at about 8am this morning and picked him up at about 1pm. Apparently they just ran, rolled, and generally played for all that time!

Proud of him. He is a gentle but confident dog. Sue ought to take a lot of the credit. She insisted he go to puppy school and has also taken him to a nearby training school. The socialization is good, we can see the difference.

Snow!

We got a real surprise this morning to wake up to snow. We had a few centimeters of snow on the ground. The place looked great. Driving to work the mountain looked something like a northern hemisphere Christmas card. Quiet a treat.

Sue stayed home and after a little initial hesitation the dogs loved the snow. Violet had great fun jumping in it.

We see snow flakes once or twice each year but it unusual to actually see snow on the ground.

The top left photo shows Violet and Golly running down the back path. The other photo shows the view across the road.

Golly and Violet - The Play Team

Golly and Violet continue to really enjoy each other's company. This morning I took a short video of their playing in the lounge room and uploaded it to YouTube here.

Rowan Was A Good Friend

After a year of chemotherapy Rowan's time came today. The last year had been good, he has been a happy dog. Today has been very sad and difficult.

We will miss him beside the bed every night, his happy groan when he gets a cuddle, his gentle demeanor, and his chuffed joy whenever he caught the kong. We are missing a very dear and loyal friend.

When I Die I Want These Dogs' Lives

Our three Airedales making themselves at home. That is Golly far top right in the cage (not a great photo so take my word for it). Rowan is resplendent on the bean bag while Violet makes do with her best road kill impersonation (near bottom left).

Golly is doing just fine. He spends most of his time with Violet. Rowan is interested in him, but only on his terms. He is still getting grumpy with a little puppy nibbling on his tail.

Golly! A New Puppy

On Saturday (today is Monday) we collected our new Airedale puppy Golly and brought him home to meet our other two Airedales Violet and Rowan. He was only frightened of the two big dogs for about 60 seconds and then he was chasing them! The picture was taken about an hour after he met them.

Rowan and Violet were besotted with him. As the day wore on Rowan got a bit grumpy but Violet cannot get enough Golly and has formed a very strong bond.

Rowan is not well, and normally likes to be quiet anyway so we are keeping him separate most of the time which is not hard as he loves to sleep on the carpet at Sue's feet, and Golly and Violet are either asleep or pouncing on each other.