Yes June you are right on the 'human' level it is most likely 'attention seeking' but as I'm sure you know it is something else to the dog. It's all explained in Dr.Coran's book (and many other publications too). A child screaming and crying is, to a dog, the sound of an animal in distress, that is 100% guaranteed to get the dogs attention and the main reason why one should never leave a baby and dog alone in room.

Dogs on the towpath, that made me laugh, what the hell do people expect when they go for a walk

Lynn, I hope you can salvage the dog with its broken legs, alas not the same for the bauble which is very sad.

June your Zen is becoming quite a little lady now isn't she learning quickly.

Brenda hope you will feel better soon, I am snuffling away here. Have just ordered a Chinese takeaway. I don't really want any but his lordship is paying and wants it so I have to go along with it. As long as he eats most of it.

Enjoy.... Nearest takeaway is around 12 miles away here.. lol! and they would never find me... hot soup here..

Yes, it's getting hard to get discounts for anything these days still I'm impressed with Scout getting under a pallet wouldn't be an option for our two

By the way well done on getting the 'mobile home' which I assume is actually a 'non mobile home' - I looked into these a few years ago and actually had a tour round the Omar factory to see how they are made. One 'tip' I could pass on is to go for the double width ones, the single width ones are very restrictive. It's a shame Helena is not logging in here anymore 'cos she has two of them and has a nice little earner renting them out in the summer.

Well, here we are at the near end of my day.... All the forecasters now agree the deluge is headed for Kerry and Cork again.. warnings out and advice readily there. All prepared here; fuel in, and all sorted in that area.. Getting coal in is a huge laugh as I have to leave the sacks outside. So there I am, trying to fill the bucket, with wee dog leaping around and jumping on the bag and nearly giving me a black eye,, and Sum Sum, the outdoor stray ,who loves me to pieces and sees I am low to the ground and vulnerable so tries to climb inside the bag to get to my hands.. I end up helpless with laughter.. done more bells and just a few tiny stockings to go now and a few bits to finish.. Have a lovely evening over there...Blessings and peace as we wait for the storm...

June, when Rianna was a puppy (and we were in CZ) I trained her to bark at strangers since we were in very rural area and I needed to know if there were people around who shouldn't be there.

She still does this and I can't 'un train' her now can I

I explain to people that she only barks at strangers, so far everyone has understood and has been very good. Suffolk is nothing like where we were in CZ but it is fairly rural and most locals are familier with dogs and do know that barking is just a form of communication.

Luckily for me Newfies hardly ever jump up, I can only recall two occassions when Rianna has done it and I was playing with her and sort of encouraged it. Casey doesn't do it and now Rianna's back legs wouldn't allow it either.

It's about 9 miles for us, still too far to make it worth going to get one, they'll deliver but you have to order £40 worth. That's a lot of take away for two people

When we lived in Czechland last year the nearest was 50 miles away so we went nearly eleven years with out once having a 'take away'

I do hope you get through the storms moving in on you. Make sure all the windows are shut and secure and chuck plenty of coal on the fire, keeping warm is more important than a few lumps of coal.

Harvey - With Scout she is so keen on rats that about the only thing that would stop her is steel or concrete. She is of course, only small especially when compared to the lurchers and was bred to get into all manner of tight spots in pursuit of the "opposition", as I know to my cost, having lost count of the number of times I've now had to go get a spade to dig her out of somewhere or other. The speed with which she can dig herself down out of sight has to be seen to be believed.

I know Lona and Mabs wouldn't jump up, but Zen is still very enthusiastic and gets carried away, I was well impressed with her behaviour towards strangers making a fuss of her actually, because she could be forgiven for over egging the pudding as it were, AND she followed her Nana's example of coming away straight away when confronted with the 'frightened' woman, Mabs stayed away from her anyway, so she was well aware there was something going on that wasn't the norm.

Harvey there's a website I've discovered called 'Just Eat' and it gives takeaways who will deliver to your area, and reviews.
I am tempted, but £10 minimum order sounds a lot when I could cook a few meals myself for that sort of money, so not done anymore than look at the moment.