Mummy has been busy adding some new photos to the site which we hope you enjoy. You may notice that Chewie has lost a bit of weight this year. She looks so much better and is much faster at running than before. She still loves her food but does not get the treats that she used to. Vader also lost a bit of weight so we are trying to feed him up a bit as he was a little too skinny. It is so hard to get weight onto him as he is so active but he could do with a little extra. We have to be careful though as he has elbow problems so being lithe is good for him.

We have had a great year and we hope you have had a great one too.

It's nearly Christmas and the tree is up and the present are underneath. We have had some fun in the snow over the last week or so but we don't think there will be snow for us on Christmas Day. There will be presents though. We may need to give away a few of our older toys to make some space.

We would like to wish everyone who reads this a

Very Merry Christmas
and
A Happy New Year.




Apologies if you did not get a card - the picture above was on our cards this year.

Been having fun over the last few weeks with a great few trips to the forest. Today we got filthy as you can see from the images but we cleaned up pretty well after a swim in the pond. Last week when we went to the forest it was a beautiful day and it was really busy. Today when we turned up and it was poring with rain and hardly saw a soul. It did clear up thankfully so we had a nice walk.

We saw more cyrils than we have ever seen before which was great and we did lots of running around trying to catch them.

The cuts are healing and both puppies are doing well. We have started using Tuffoot and the new boots arrived as you can see from the photo with Vader being the model.

There were no long walks for a while and when we went to the park we went in the car to safe our paws from the rough ground. We did however manage a couple of walks in Greenwich and a nice long stroll in Wimbledon Common last week with Grandad. We had great fun and saw load of cyrils but only one bugs. We also had a play in the pond but it was not very deep so no swimming.

It is back to normal though - we are walking to the park and hopefully we will get to go to the forest at the weekend for a good run. We have been enjoying the beautiful autumnal weather the last few weeks so lets hope it continues.

Both puppies have been in the wars lately.

Vader has recovered from his operation and his toe nail is healing and growing nicely. However they have both been undone by chasing foxy around the grounds. The surface is very rough in places and it looks like their excitement got the better of them with quite badly cut pads. Vader has managed to cut both his front pads with the left being the worst while Chewie managed to cut both her back paws with her right being worst.

They have been wearing dressings and boots when out (only one foot each) but the boots are not the best in the world at either staying on or keeping their paws dry.

We have now invested in some better boots so hopefully they will arrive within the next few days and also ordered some Tuffoot so hopefully with that will help prevent future cuts to the pads. The puppies have always had pretty soft pads despite walking on paving for at least an hour a day so lets hope this makes a difference.

11 months after Chewie hurt her toe nail Vader did exactly the same. Not sure how he did it but I think it was when he chased a cyril and jumped up at the tree and actually seemed to be airborne for a second. He has never done that before and I can only think that he landed with his paw the bottom of the tree and caught his claw.

Like Chewie, Vader showed no signs of his injury on the walk and it was only when he has sat down when he came home that I saw the blood on his paw. Perhaps it is the excitement on the walk that means they didn't show any pain when it happens.

Experience has taught us that after cleaning it up a visit to the vet is needed and a small operation the next day on an empty stomach. It does look very nasty, even after being cleaned up and I think once Vader has recovered from the anesthetic the worst thing for him will be he is not allowed to run about for a few days.

A visit to the vet now means another vet as Auntie Anne has left . We saw Andrew this time, we have seen him before so it was no problem. Vader is shy with most people so there was nothing new with his behaviour. He tried to hide in the corner and when someone else comes along he keeps his head down and looks up with his sad, unsure eyes. We wouldn't have him any other though.

We have had a great holiday weekend. We went for a long walk at Box Hill again and had good fun. It was a cooler day so we didn't get as hot as last time which was good. It was still tiring walking up those big hills and we didn't even see one rabbit. We did see a cyril though.

The next day we went down to the beach at Camber. It was a glorious day without a cloud in the sky. We had fun playing in the sea, although we had to walk quite a bit to get to it as the tide was going out. There were a couple of deep pools to swim in, the deepest being by the harbour. We managed to break two of our aqua toys - the stitching came apart and all the stuffing was falling out so they got thrown in the bin and we bought another ball (a nice big tennis ball) to go with the small football we had. Lots of fun.


After getting some new toys for our birthday some of our old toys were washed as they were pretty dirty. They looked funny on the washing line!



We said goodbye to Auntie Anne on Friday as she is now off on holiday before going back to Australia. We hope that she keeps in touch with us. She has been treating us since we were puppies and she is always so kind and gentle with us. We may be big but we are pretty shy and a little scared at times. To thank her we sent her some balloons and flowers and the balloons were put in the window of the vets.

We have had another birthday and are now 4 years old. Doesn't time fly when you are having fun.

We got some nice presents and cards from Mummy and Daddy although Chewie did not seem to be that impressed with anything at all.

We have had a good week with some extra walks and fun in the forest today.

We had another fantastic week at the coast.

Stayed in a fantastic mobile home on a great resort. Lots of space to run around in and the woods were great fun (even when we got slightly lost).

Loads of bugs bunnies to chase in the woods and fields and we had fun meeting Pinky and Perky on out travels.

We spent most of time out and about at the beach. We spent lots of time on rocky beaches due to restrictions for dogs but we did have fun on the sandy beaches at Camber Sands. Camber is a beautiful long sandy beach so there were areas we were not allowed on but we had great fun on the parts we were. Didn't do as much swimming at Camber due to the tide being so far out but we swam lots at Hastings, Winchelsea.

It was so relaxing to be away and great fun to be out and about so much.

Will need to get some more videos and photos up on the galleries.

We have been having fun on our holidays this past week and if you have followed our twitter feed you will know that we didn't have much luck with our toys as we lost 2 at sea and Chewie burst another ball.

We did have great fun at the beach with loads of swimming and lots of walks so it is good to be home for a few days to rest up a bit before we head off again next week.

Highlights of our trip were our visits to Sandbanks and our ferry crossing - not that we knew too much about that as it was so quick but it was the first time that we had been on a boat. We also had a long walk through the dunes and heather at Studland.

Only saw one rabbit on our walks and didn't see any at the park we stayed at - Chewie spent most of her time looking for them even though she couldn't have chased them as she was on the lead.

Next week we are off to the South East Coast which should be fun. Lots of exploring to do and lets hope we can find some nice sandy beaches that will allow us to run about on.

A couple of recent photos of the dogs.

Chewie her usual calm self having a rest in the local park. Vader has both a ball and a plastic bottle. He found the bottle on the way to the park and carried it all the way there. Once in the park Chewie started chasing the ball and Vader, being Vader, wanted what Chewie had. It was a struggle for him to work out how to carry both but he managed for a little while then he gave up with the bottle.

           

It has been a while since we have added anything to the blog - probably because we have not really done that much different lately and also it is easier to update our twitter.

Chewie has been making good progress and we are off to see Auntie Anne later just to see how well she has done. She seems much more active chasing cyrils at the ends of walks as well as the beginning so that is great. She also seems to want to swim more - in fact it was Chewie who was swimming for the stick in the new pond we found and not Vader. He just stood on the bank making funny noises. He seems to be OK once he goes in once but it can take him a while to pluck up the courage.

We met a lovely black and tan shepherd at our local park. He was about a year old and his name was Rieley. Not sure of the spelling but I'll give him the same spelling as our last shepherd as he was also called Rieley. Young Rieley was lovely as you can see (that him on the left) and so friendly and affectionate. We have added a picture of our Rieley as well.

The weather is warm again so trying to go for walks when it is cooler. We have added some new photos from out trip to Epping Forest at the weekend where we had a great time.

We hope you are enjoying our star turn on Twitter - it really is just a bit of fun but so easy to update and quick. If you have been following us on Twitter then you will know that Auntie Anne will be heading off to Australia soon. She has been our vet since we were first brought home so we shall miss her lots. She has been so good with us and we enjoy going to see her. The little treat we get helps. We will miss her we and wish her all the best down under.

As you can see we have joined Twitter - just a bit of fun.

Had a great walk in the forest today and had fun swimming in the pond and chasing bugs.

It was the hottest day of the year today and we decided to go to Box Hill for a long walk. The walk is officially 8 miles but you can choose to extend it. The one extension we usually do involves a detour to the tea-hut for refreshments which adds an hour or so to the walk, probably a mile or so extra.


The decision was made before we knew the weather forecast but as a friend and her dog was coming along we decided to stick to the plan.

A reasonably early start meant we made it there by 10.45 am (it's about an hour and 15 min drive from here) and we then started on the Long Walk. We did this walk last year and I can't remember the hills being quite so steep!With plenty of refreshments (cold drinks for us and the dogs) we started off. The first part of the walk from the car park we use is up a very steep set of steps ( must be over 100). With 4 more steep hills to climb the walk takes it out of you at times but some of the views are stunning.

We had 2 stops on our 4 hour plus walk ( not counting the stops up the steep hills). The first was at the tea-hut where we had a 15 min rest and then the second was at the visitor centre about 1 miles from the end of the trip. We planned the route so it downhill all the way back to the car from the visitor centre.

For a place that big it's crazy that you don't see that much wild life - one rabbit was all we saw but we had a great time. We must head back there again soon but will try to choose a cooler day.

On our walk this morning we came across a film crew in the local park.

The bandstand was decorated and we saw Jaimie Oliver and others being put through thier paces filming a new commercial for Sainsburys.

The whole ad will probably only last about 30 seconds but it looks like they will take 2 whole days to set up and film it. Quite interesting to watch but the dogs were not bothered at all.

As an experiment we have added uploaded a mobile version of the site. Not as many photos, only 2 vidoes and of course the blog have been added.

If you look at the site on your iPhone you should be redirected.

Let us know what you think!

Not that much been happening here. Still going for walks in the local parks and then a Sunday treat somewhere else.

Vader is not that great a traveller as he sometimes gets a little sick in the car. Always on the way there - never on the way back. We think it is mainly excitement that causes it but he has been pretty good lately. As you can see from the pic though once he knows he is nearly there he is a happy boy.



Chewie on the other hand is much better but she is generally more chilled anyway. She often finds herself in some funny positions as you can see from the picture. I wonder what she is thinking. I took the pic through the visor mirror - Chewie usually moves when she is having her picture taken but I did get a couple of direct shots.

Had a good couple of week with the puppies having fun in the forest and relaxing in the warmer weather with Luke Skywalk having some time off from work. As you can see Chewie manage to get her face filthy when in the forest, although after chasing ‘Bugs’ they were both much dirtier later in the walk. You feel a world away from everything when in the forest and as it is pretty big you don’t see that many other people there. It is busier at weekends but even then, with busy car parks you hardly see anyone (apart from the cafe for the coffee stop) as it is nearly 6000 acres.

As you may have noticed you can add comments in the blog. A feature that will probably hardly ever be used but at least I know how to add comments now.

The Puppies are totally different in their approach to resting!

Vader seems to like luxury - he will often be found on the bed, admittedly not with the covers on him but he does like the bed. Most mornings he wakes us up around 5 am with a toy in his mouth (if he is awake we all have to know) and he tries his luck getting on to the bottom of the bed.

Chewie on the other hand nearly always has to be asked to come on the bed and prefers her own company a lot of the time. She also likes to squeeze herself into some funny spaces as you can see.

The both put a smile on our faces so we can’t complain. You can see some more photos in the new gallery.

Vader seems to have reverted back to sleeping under the bed again. He does have his own bed but it looks like he prefers the carpet again. A couple of times he has got so far under that we have had to lift the bed so he can get out. he is silly but we do love him.

It has been Chewie’s turn at the vet recently - she has had an ear infection but thankfully that has cleared up! You can see how totally unimpressed she was when we had new flooring put down from the picture.

We bought a furminator (dog brush) in the last week and the puppies are now quite a bit lighter.

Not sure if anyone has seen them - there are some great videos on you tube and I’m pleased to say, that although we got quite a bit of fur out of the puppies, it was nothing compared to some of the videos.

Our two are brushed quite often but in the past no matter how long you brush them for you would still get handfuls of hair a couple of minutes later. Although you still get a little hair falling out it is nothing like it was so it looks like it was worth the purchase. One of the people we walk with even thought they had been clipped.

It was our vet who talking about the brush at Vader’s last acupuncture session. He has made such great progress that he does not need to go back which is fab but we need to monitor him and perhaps have a session once a month or so.

3 and a half weeks after Vader started limping we were back at the forest this week. Although the puppies have had some long walks they don’t run about as mad in the local parks as they do in the forest, even Chewie runs a bit more.

We had a great time walking for just over 2 hours and took a slightly different route than normal. We did get muddy but the puppies had a swim in the pond to clean up before coming home. The puppies love it in the forest with all the different scents and as it is so vast that they run for miles.

My main concern was the effect it could have on Vader and I was so relieved that he showed no signs of stiffness or limping the next day. It looks like the 3 sessions of acupuncture are working and we have had 3 sessions left. As you can see from the photos they have a completely different way of travelling

The snow has gone, here in London, but there seems to be lots elsewhere in the Country.

The video of the puppies playing in the snow has been added. Hope you enjoy it!

Vader seems to enjoy his acupuncture and there is no sign of him limping again which is fantastic.

Lots has been happening in the last week or so.

Vader has been limping therefore a visit to the vet was in order. Looks like he has aggravated his elbow problem so it was lead walks for a while, some medication and also some acupuncture.

Thankfully he is on the mend and just in time for playing in the snow. We had about 8 inches in London from yesterday evening and it is still snowing just now. Lots of fun has been had and some video will be added later. In the meantime enjoy some photos in a new gallery!

Happy New Year

All back to normal here again. The tree is down and it is back to work!

It has been a pretty restful period with lots of long lies and walks in the cold bright days through the local parks and further afield.

We had some great walks in Epping Forest, Wimbledon Common and a nature reserve near St Neots for a nice long walk to the pub and back! Got to chase some squirrels and rabbits so that was fun!

There are still lots of treats left from Christmas to eat so no doubt they will go down over the weeks as we are being rationed.