It's a Blog ! Not a Log !

Its that time of year again when the Fun Dog Show’s start and as usual we’ve been scouring the internet for any local show’s, we’ve found about 3 so far and the first one was held on Saturday just gone at Jackson’s Boat, a dog friendly pub beside the Mersey.

The event was held to raise money for the local RSPCA, so as well as it being a fun day out for me, Mel and Blue, it was also helping those animals less fortuanante.

The categories we decided to enter were :

Prettiest Bitch

Most Looks Like Owner

Best Treat Catcher

Now if Blue won any of these she was automatically entered through to the “Best in Show” categorie.

Out of the 3 we entered Blue into she came 1st in two of them, only losing out in the Prettiest Bitch catergorie, which came as a surprise as she normally wins that one, but must admit there was some stiff competion on the day.

Because of the 2 x 1st places she was then entered into the Best in Show, were sadly she did’nt win, but she came 2nd and was awarded the Reserve Best in Show rosette, so all it was a pretty good day, she got 3 more rosettes to add to her 20 odd now adorning the hallway mirror and over £400 was raised for the RSPCA.

The next 2 shows are this coming weekend, theres one on saturday at Longford Park Pageant and one on the Sunday at the Dane Road Animal Sanctuary, so if you’ve nothing to do on either day, feel free to come and cheer Blue on

Well it’s been nearly 2 months since Blue went in for her cruciate ligament surgery, the first 4 weeks were the hardest time for both her and us.

For the first 3 weeks I spent most nights sleeping on the sofa in the front room to keep her company and to ensure she didn’t try climbing onto any of the furniture, I can honestly say they were the most painful 3 weeks I’ve ever spent, my back was killing me by the end of it all, but it seemed to do the trick, as Blues recovery since then has moved on leaps & bounds.

By the time we went on holiday Blue wad managing about 10-15 minute walks with no I’ll effects, which meant we could actually go visiting places while we were in Dorset, we’d been worried that we would end up spending the whole week sat in the cottage we’d rented.
Over the week we managed to visit Salisbury, where we spent a pleasant day walking round the Cathedral grounds & checking out the shops that made up this historic town, we also got to visit Swannage, Bournemouth, Lyme Regis, Dorchester & even got as far as Sidmouth, still never managed Monkey World though, we didn’t think dogs would have been allowed in, shame really as this is somewhere I would like to visit one day.

Anyway Blue came on leaps & bounds while we were away and managed all the walking that visiting these Dorset entailed, after we got back we’ve been carrying on with Blue exercise regime & are still building up her muscles slowly but surely, it’s hard to think that 10 weeks ago she couldn’t walk without limping, and just a short 8 weeks ago she couldn’t put any weight on her leg at all due to the surgery, now when you see her walking you wouldn’t think she’d had anything wrong with her.

The cost so far for all her surgery and aftercare has been about £3500, she’s still got to have at least 2 more visits to the surgery for x-rays etc, so I imagine by then the bill will be nearer £4000, hey but at least we were insured so have only ended up paying about £2500 for the op so far, but I don’t care how much it would of cost, I’d have found some way of paying it, after all she is our little Princess.

 

We took Blue our Cane Corso to a Fun Dog show today at Morley Green near Mobberley, was hoping she might win a prize or 2 but alas she got into the final 6 in 2 of the catorgories, but did’nt place, seems she was’nt the Prettiest Bitch and she did’nt have the most appealing eyes, though quite a few people commented on the that she should have won, but they we’re’nt the Judge.

Met some nice people there and got to see lots of different breeds of dog, shame it rained so much, we did however manage to leave on a high though as we got to get Blue 2 new collars, a pink one with pink leather flowers on it and a black one with love hearts cut into it which showed the pink leather underneath, the pair for a £10 so not bad at all.

Now at home getting ready for Miles birthday bash at electriks

Liam should be here shorlty and then its off to Fiddy Centz to pick him and Sophie up.

Just a quick post to let everyone know that its Chorlton Park Festival today and we;ll be there entering Blue our Cane Corso in the RSPCA Fun Dog Show, so we’re hoping you’ll all be there to offer Blue some support.

Will hopefully post some photos and videos of the day later, details below about the event, its being held at

Chorlton Park
Barlow Moor Road/Mauldeth Road
Manchester M21 7HH

“Dear All,

The RSPCA Manchester and Salford Branch are running a Funday on the 11th of July 2009 – 12-5pm.

There will be:

* Dog shows
* Ethical and charitable stalls
* Rescue dog parade
* Flyball Demos
* Food and refreshments
* Artists and musicians
* Games and rides
* Bouncy castle
* Climbing wall
* Football tournament
* Other Sports

If any charities, community groups and ethical traders would like a stall at the festival:
info only is free
charity/community stall £10
trader/business £25

Please email for booking forms or call 0161 882 0680.

ALSO DOG MOT’S:

We will have vets doing free health checks for dogs. Fleaing, worming and microchipping can be purchased for just £1 each! Brilliant money saver!”

2 Very Tired Passengers

Well actually got back Sunday night but just not been arsed to post about it . .

What happened then ? Well we arrived at Adam’s early Saturday morning, made ourselves welcome and just chilled for a couple of hours, the afternoon was spent wondering up and down the Thames near Hampton Court waiting for Blue to do her little bit before returning to the Braggs household where we were treated to Adam showing us his fine BBQ skills, these skills were greatly helped by the handy Butchers down the road which sold what I class as some of the finest sausages I’ve ever had, they also did a nice sideline in chive and onion cheese.

It was good to see Adam as not seen him in about 8-12 months I reckon, also got the opportunity to meet the latest edition to the household Francesca, gorgeous child, she’s definitely got Sam’s looks, it also gave Mel the chance to get acquitted with the kiddiwinks, seems Ava there eldest was hooked on Mel, spent most of the weekend latched onto her, which was kind of cute in a non broody way.

Other house guests for the weekend were Jenny, again someone I’d not seen in a long while, probably about 4yrs ago was the last time I saw her, she’s just returned from working in New Zealand and was crashing at there place until she found work/lodgings I’m guessing.

Anyway the evening was spent drinking and watching a movie or 2, then it was off to bed.

Sunday was another early start and we left Adam and co around 9:30am to make our way to Essex for the Cane Corso day, actually thought we’d get there fairly quickly, but due to that horrible road the M25 it took us about 2.5hrs to travel 100 odd miles, arriving about 1:00pm, the event started around about 1:30pm so we headed to the local pub for a few beers and some food, I went for the Plough-mans Bacon sarnie (Don’t ask), Mel decided she wasnt all that hungry.

Anyway after relaxing with a beer for about 1/2hr we headed to the event, it was held in an equestrian centre just outside Wix and when we got there it was fairly bustling with people and their Cane Corso, never have I seen so many dogs of one breed in one place at one time, it was a sight to behold, and the difference’s in sizes, colours and temperaments of all the gathered Corso’s was amazing, before this event we’d only ever met one other Cane Corso and that was a puppy called Koo in Cornwall and now we were faced with about 50+ of them, but even though I do say it myself Blue was indeed the prettiest princess on the block, she gotta few admiring glances I reckon from all the dogs there lol.

We entered Blue in a few of the competitions, but alas she didn’t walk away with any prizes this time, which was a shame as it would have made up for the 700 miles we must have put in over the weekend just to get there and back, but all in all it was a fun day, though Mel was a little put off it all due to another Cane Corso wanting to take a bite out of Blue, but that’s to be expected when you have over 50+ of these magnificent beasts in one place. So after bidding our farewells we set off home around about 3:30pm, eventually arriving home about 8:30pm, I got myself off to bed and Mel did the same a couple of hours later and that was the end of a very hectic driving weekend.

Well Blue won 2 rosettes at Chorlton Parks Summer Festival RSPCA Dog show, she got 2 x 4th place :

4th Dog/Owner Lookalike

4th Best Six Legs

These 2 results weren’t to bad when you think that there were about 30 entries in both categories, though I think we were robbed in the Best Six Legs

Anyway after the Dog Show we headed to Orlando’s for one of there rather tasty breakfasts, you can seem what mine looked like below in a little time-lapse movie I made

So what did I do the rest of the weekend then, well on Saturday night Mel was doggy sitting for her sister and I was entertaining the lads round ours, these being John, Steve and Liam, Sophie was supposed to be joining us as well, but something came up which prevented her from joining us, shame really as this wasn’t a lads night and Sophie was more then welcome to join us, maybe next time.

Anyway once the lads had arrived we headed to the Green Windmill for a few beers, couldn’t stay all that long as we were all a bit skint, hence the idea of having a lads night in round ours, anyway the lads seemed to like the place and will no doubt be visiting it again, photos will be uploaded on a later post me thinks as pretty busy at the moment.

Sunday was the usual visit to Ivy Green to take Blue for her Sunday morning constitutionals, closely followed by another full breakfast at Orlando’s (this place is definitely going to be effecting my diet).

Did another Line Art time-lapse of the journey from Ivy Green to our house via Orlando’s using Final Cut Express and my Canon IXUS 80 IS , results below

Sunday afternoon and evening was spent in bed recovering from Saturday night’s fun, so apart from the dog show and the quick visit to the Green Windmill the weekend was fairly uneventful

Thought I’d best do my bit to advertise this festival on Saturday the 12th as I previously posted that it was in June and not July anyway heres the deets

The festival’s free starting at 12 noon carrying on till 5pm, the main reason where going is to enter Blue into the RSPCA Fun Dog Show, hoping she might win another rosette.

Not been to the festival before but have heard good things about it and when its for free its got be good (Well you don’t have to pay do you so that’s good).

Feel free to come say hello to me and Blue if you see us

Just over a week to go till we enter Blue in the RSPCA Dog-show at Chorlton Park and Mel’s getting in the training for Blue, she’s gone and bought her a hoop think that she’ll be able to get Blue to Jump through it, I’m thinking more likely Blue will end up chewing on it.

Now for those of you who don’t know what we’re on about here the poster for the show

So if you’d like to give your support for Blue on the day, feel free to head on down and come meet us, we’ll be entering Blue in the following Categories :

Waggiest Tail

Dog/Owner Lookalike

Best 6 Legs

Hoping we’ll win the Lookalike Category as we came 2nd in the last one we entered and I think this time we deserve it , probably got a good chance with the Best 6 Legs as Blue’s definitely got 4 good looking ones and mine ain’t to bad either.

Main thing about this show is that its helping raise awareness for the RSPCA and the plight of less fortunate animals, should also point out the RSPCA will be offering free Micro Chipping for any animals on the day and there will also be the regional heat of the RSPCA’s Rescue Dog of the Year, so be sure to come and help support not just Blue but the RSPCA too