Life as a Medical Detection Dog: Sun Dog Millionaire...one day....

Hello world, I’m sorry this blog is late arriving but heck I’ve been sooooo busy recently my paws have hardly had chance to hit the ground, let alone time to type. Busy with what? I hear you ask…well let me think back and share my exploits.

To start with let me ask if you’ve been enjoying the fantabulastic weather we’ve been having recently?

Sun dog who looks like a millionaire pose...

I have been enjoying it, as it means that I get plenty of chance to lounge in the garden, sometimes chasing butterflies…although the cat tells me that “Cats chase butterflies and you must therefore be a cat”, which I know I’m not as he also tells me “Cats rule and dogs drool” and I do drool, so that makes me a dog right? Hmmmm…anyway, I tend to drool a lot in the sunshine as the likelihood of getting doggie ice lollies (yum, see the pics) or sniffing out BBQs increases. If you don’t know what doggie ice lollies are then you’ve been missing out!!! L & M make them especially for me & Bracken, and they usually have spares should some of our other furry friends pop in to visit on a hot day. Basically it’s a small plastic cup which has some of our dried food added to water and is frozen. They even add cooked vegetables to it sometimes and if the water that the veg gets cooked in is available, well that’s added too. Plus there is a neat trick they do where they add the biscuits and some chopped veg, then half fill and freeze. And when that’s frozen they top up with more biscuits and water. From what I gather this makes sure that the biscuits and veg are stuck in the lolly at different levels so it’s tasty all the way through…otherwise you might just get the biscuits at one end with the rest being frozen water. So, thought I’d mention that to make sure your ice lollies are as nice as mine.

Notice the layering???

If the sunshine melts this I'm gonna be a slush puppy!

SLUUURRRRRPPPP

Well since I last wrote my blog I’ve been doing all sorts of things. I attended my first trip to church on 18^th May as L was going to see her youngest niece perform a 1^st Holy Communion. And that also happened to be her niece’s birthday so after going to the church (which was nice but full to the brim with children & adults) we then went on to a pub for some food, before heading back to L’s sister’s house to open gifts and cut cakes. While I was at the house I got to meet another dog friend called Tink who’s a Beagle and a Golden Retriever called JJ. They were both lots of fun and we had a nice relaxing play in the garden before L & I headed home. That was a busy day for me and I slept lots when I got home…ZZzzzzzzz

Introducing JJ, my new friend

During my first visit to church I had a few pictures taken and rumour has it I was behaving like a furry angel while I was there.

I think though that the seats can’t have been too comfortable as people just kept sitting, then standing, then sitting, then standing. Up and down and up and down. In the end I just lay down and slept. At one point some of the people round me even knelt on the floor. I will maybe write a thank-you letter to the priest for letting me attend but politely mention that they get the humans some cushions in future…

Lots of people came over to ask L what I did… luckily I had my working jacket stuffed with Medical Detection Dog leaflets so they had something to take away with them after L answered various questions and I got strokes and praise. I also got a few cuddles off of the children there too, which is nice. However, not to speak out of turn, but some children don’t even ask if they are allowed to cuddle me…they just grab hold of me around the neck and squeeze. Now I don’t mind this but I think it would be safer and nicer for all if parents taught children to ask permission to pet a dog before they attempt to cuddle it. I just think that these sorts of precautions can help prevent anything unpleasant happening. I know that not all dogs like cuddles and so if I happened to be one of those dogs, then having a child launch at me could lead me to bark, growl or worse…and that wouldn’t be my fault as the child hadn’t checked I was safe to pet first. But being a dog I know that we are usually the first to get blamed.

As well as visiting Church for the 1^st time in May, I also made a second visit to our local church too. L & M collected some food for their local food bank and we had to drop it all off at The Church of the Ascension in Burghclere. When we arrived we received a very nice greeting from the church wardens and they seemed very pleased to meet me too. This time the church was empty; so while L & M and the wardens chatted I sat in the aisle and enjoyed the peace and quiet. This church seemed a lot older than the one I’d visited before and it has some lovely stained glass windows (if you’re ever in the area and fancy popping in - http://www.ubbnes.org.uk/building/description.htm ). Oh, and if you’re wondering what a foodbank is…well it’s a really great way to help the hungry and those a little less fortunate. All you do is collect non-perishable food items (tinned food etc.) and then donate it to a local foodbank. Then people & families who are struggling financially can come along to the bank and be provided with food they need. If you’re interested, there’s more info in this link . I’m thinking with my weight-loss regime going so well I might have to sign up to a foodbank…being a lab I’m always needing more food.

I also took a visit to L’s doctor’s surgery. When we got there we had to sit and wait in a room where there were several other people sat around in chairs. The chairs are all arranged so that they are sited around the edge of the room and everyone faces each other. When L and I sat down I noticed all the people looked a bit glum and grumpy…but as I looked round I managed to get a few smiles. I think it’s my nice bright red working jacket that cheers people up and makes them want to grin at me. We waited for a long time, and even though they had magazines on a table in the middle of the room none of them were very interesting. Thankfully L had thought to bring along a copy of the Medical Detection Dogs “The Sniff” magazine to give people something interesting to read while they are sat there. The Sniff is also available to read online . It’s a great read and you can find out about all the exciting stuff the charity is up to as well as learning about other assistance dogs like me.

Anyway, where was I? Ah yes, so we’re in the waiting room and the Doctor calls us through to see L. When we get into the room he is very excited to meet me and learn about what I do. I’m still wearing my work jacket so I just sit next to L and act all professional. They talk quite a lot and then he asks if he can bring some of the other doctors through to meet me? So while we waited L let me have a quick sniff of the human organ body model (looks like a 3d jigsaw of a human torso with all the different organs and no skin) and then 4 other doctors came in. Again they all seemed quite excited to meet me, so I sat down next to L and looked professional yet again. One of them even comented that I must have a super nose. If a doctor tells you that well, you know you've got something special! Once they all finished asking questions about what I do and how I do it, L and I went back to the room with the chairs and waited for her medicine to be ready. This time I sat near to a nice couple who chatted to me and told L all about their black lab called Yogi. The lady even sneaked in a little stroke on my head so I wagged my tail and noticed everyone else was watching and smiling.

As I’m getting out and about I’m learning more about where I now live (and the gazillions of walks sat right on my doorstep). We have cows at the bottom of are garden along with a big orange bull called Colombo! Ok, they are in the field at the bottom of the garden sometimes and they move into all the fields around here. We play a little game of Spot the Cows every morning and afternoon, so we don’t plan a walk through the fields with them in and can choose an alternative route to walk. I’ve even met some sheep and lambs out in the field, although I am always on lead around them as otherwise they get a bit scared and worried. When you are a dog living in the countryside you have to follow certain rules relating to cattle and livestock! And when we popped down to the farm the other day to get some eggs there were loads of chickens with these little fluffy things running along behind them. Bracken told me they are chicks, which are baby chickens but I’m not sure something so small and fluffy can actually grow up to be a chicken with feathers. Here are a few photos from our walks!

I'll sit here and wait for you to decide which way we're going...

Sheep?

Introducing Colombo (who looks a bit like Bracken...I wonder if he's his dad?)

Nosy cows!

I also wrote an article for the local village newsletter, which had my photo in too (see, I’m not just busy writing blogs) and I think I am becoming quite a celebrity... Well I was mentioned on my vet’s Facebook page : https://www.facebook.com/pages/Falkland-Veterinary-Clinic/143359139021610 on the 7th May and the vet also took my photo. It hasn’t appeared on the page yet but no doubt it will and then even more of the people around here will recognise me and learn about the great work I do on behalf of the Medical Detection Dogs charity.

Right now, back to the great weather and BBQs :)

I love how whenever the sun shines I am lucky enough to lounge in the garden and stalk BBQs. It seems to me that L & M have some sort of BBQ addiction. During the 1^st May Bank Holiday they had five days of eating BBQ food back to back, and then last Bank Holiday they had BBQs for 3 days in a row. At first I thought that perhaps it had something to do with it being a Bank Holiday but this weekend just past, when we had more glorious sunshine shining down on us they had another 3 days of BBQs back to back!!! What I like is how close I can get to the food that is cooking and how many different types of food they cook. It makes my mouth water soooo much. Bracken told me when he first moved in with L & M it was September, but the weather was really hot, so they had a BBQ during his first weekend. And Bracken was a bit cheeky and stole a sausage off the BBQ while it was being cooked. He’s lucky you see as he’s a bit taller than me so can reach the BBQ more easily. However he doesn’t seem bothered by BBQ food now though and he doesn’t want to steal it either! He just said that last time the sausage was very HOT and hurt his mouth a bit, plus he says it upsets L & M if you steal food as they provide plenty of food for us so we need to show some gratitude. He also told me that when he first arrived he knew how to open the fridge and the oven and even stole L & M’s lunch that was cooking while they had popped out. He says he had to learn to be able to feed himself from his time living on the streets. He was proudest admitting how he opened the oven, took the food that was in a dish out and placed it on the floor and then ate every last bit…but he didn’t break the dish!

Right now, I shall get back to the sunshine and glorious sunbathing in the garden whilst we write up a presenation to give during assembly at a junior school in a few weeks time!!! Along with that I'll be playing fetch, catch the frisbee, chasing Bracken and Bracken chasing me, running through the sprinkler, eating ice lollies and dreaming of BBQ food.