All in all today has been rather doggy.

As MsDD is away on her Duke of Edinburgh award expedition, we did not have to leave our cosy beds at 7.30 this morning to take her to Saturday morning music school. We’ve had a busy, tiring week so we took the rare opportunity for a lie-in and finally got up at about 8.30. The OH went downstairs to prepare breakfast and feed the dogs and I followed him about 10 minutes later.

As he carried the breakfast things into the morning room, the OK gave a start and retched. Mr Raffles had done a poo in his empty breakfast bowl! We’ve no idea whey he did this: he doesn’t bark or whine to go out to relieve himself but I guess he was showing his disgust at us making him wait so long for his little excursion outside.

While the OH cleaned up the (contained) mess, I took him into the garden where he promptly vomited. With that an poor Oscar looking decidedly subdued at the moment, I think being confined in the front room and temporary kitchen is taking its toll on them. I think this is why Oscar has developed puppy dandruff which is often due to stress too.

So it was just as well we had planned a doggy day out with them for today. Paws in the Park is a doggy fun day that takes place twice a year in different venues around an hour’s drive from home. Today’s venue was the South of England Showground in Ardingly, Sussex. It was a beautiful sunny day and driving down the country roads in the sunshine was simply lovely. In my view this is the best time of year in England, when all the blossom is out, and the leaves on the trees have yet to take on any hint of drying or brown-ness since they have not yet been exposed to enough sun.

Our training group, Dog Solutions, was running a scurry and the demonstration team giving two shows on each day. We arrived just in time for the afternoon demo. I’ve taken some photos here both of our dogs in the scurry, and some surreptitiously- taken photos of some of the dogs and their owners milling around. It wasn’t as busy as I’d expected, but perhaps Saturday is the day for chores and Sunday will be the big day out.

You’ll notice that, for some reason, half of these photos have come out in beautiful monochrome. I really have no idea why. I think it has something to do with the buttons I must have pressed accidentally on the camera whilst filming a little bit of the gundog demonstration. I wish I knew what I did because it might be quite useful another time. Still, the black-and-white photos give that feeling of the beautiful clear sky in the bright sunshine today, even though the biting easterly winds still lingered to take the edge of the temperatures.

The dogs seemed to enjoy their day socialising in the sunshine and the fresh country air has worn them out, it seems.

Anyway here is a short video which I hope you enjoy.

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