Town and Country Fair ~ now finished

Hello everyone,
Here I am with my Auntie Sylvia, my Daddy and Jaja.  Dont look at the mess they made of the stall here, this is day one it had just finished totally pouring with rain so everything was still dumped inside, they made a better job of it after Mum took this photo.  Sadly due to the weather the show was very quiet on this day, but as you see with my place at the front I did manage to draw a few in and get lots of fusses.  Jaja (and Tess) stay behind the table as they are not as happy with lots of people as me.

I even did my bit for the agility team, here I am starting off with my Daddy - arent I a good boy?

and next my favourite running around those jumps, its easy..

That was just the first day, and I was just sooooooooooo tired after that..

Day 2 the weather was better, well at least it was dry though still very windy.  My Mummy and Auntie Sylvia had the day off, but Auntie Heather and her dog Woody came to help out.  Woody was great fun and Auntie Heather had lots of yummy treats so she is a new best friend too.  Here is me and Woody loving Auntie Heather so much.

The weather sure did take a turn for the worst that night, Mummy and Auntie Sylvia were on the phone very late at night with plans of how to improve things for the next day as they were not making enough money for the needy dogs.  When we arrived on Monday the weather was awful and lots of the other traders had gone home (mind you they had no gazebo's left as they had all blown away) so we all had to work very very hard to raise the money and pull in all the people there.
We got home about 7.30pm last night totted up all the money and had manage to raise £465 over the three days, which was quite impressive to say the weather was poor and not so many people around to spend their hard earned pennies.
Now me and Daddy were 'really' tired whilst waiting for our tea - dont know what Mum does all day not to have our tea ready a bit quicker than she does?  here we are all tired out.

.. and they are trying to keep this a secret but just look at what Daddy ate after tea and didnt share any of it with us!

Thankfully thats it now for outdoor fundraising for this year.  We are hoping to go see some of our pals at the Greyhound Gap show later in September, but we are just visitng and enjoying that one.  My next blog entry will be going back to my story and introducing you to Bailey who we walk with each day, and then my very best friend in the world Zac who owns Auntie Sylvia.

Alfie xx

Edit by Alfie's Mum, Alfie forgot to say thank you to Sam's High Flyers agility team who raised funds for other dog charities and Woof Beginnings, donating £33 toward our total.  Thank you very much to Sam and the team.

We are having a break from my story as we are to be very busy this weekend.  This is what I will be doing, as well as keeping a close eye on Mum, Dad, Tess n Jaja working the stall.

This weekend we are out raising funds for http://www.pleasehelpourdogs.co.uk/  to help the rescue dogs not quite as lucky as me and my house mates.
The humans are running this stall, but also now with a HUGE tombola, that they say is the best in the world!

This was Daddy still setting up last year. You can find us at the Town and Country Fair, Stanley College Field in Southport.
Oh, and here is Jaja the daft Lurcher who is so totally useless at agility he still wears a coat with 'L'plates to excuse his appauling behavoir in the ring, and he has been doing it much longer than me, he is more than capable but unlike me just does not see the point and isnt too fond of the crowds, he normally just runs straight out of the ring leaving Daddy looking very silly!

Proably wont be much more said from us now till thats over as we get all get very tired, they are long days and we are there Saturday, Sunday and Monday.  (well, me and Daddy are - Mum, Tess and Jaja have to have Sunday off as Tess doesnt like it)

Hope you all have a super weekend, and the weather smiles on us.

Alfie xx

My First Real snow ~ January 2010

It wasnt long before those pesky stitches were removed, and as luck would have it (for me anyway) more snow came down, this time I got to play properly.  Mum said 'that op' had improved my behavoir a little and the training classes were also helping, I was starting to appreciate that playing was far more fun than trying to pick fights.  The humans told me this yellow Labrador was around 9 years old, seems to be a great young playmate to me.

Because of the very poor weather, Mums car was snowed in, so I got to play on the local park with Tess, not too many other dogs (or people for that matter) around so we had lots of fun.  My other housemate, the lurcher above called Jaja, went out in Mums friends 4x4 with the other dog she walks, you will see a lot of him his name is Bailey, he sadly lost his Mummy a few years back, so my Mummy takes him for walks with us each day, as his Daddy has to go to work so cant do the fun stuff.  I will show you Bailey in my next blog post, Mum has lots and lots of lovely pictures of him, I was friends with Bailey straight away as he is a nice dog and likes to play ball, only thing is he wont fetch it back, and he calls himself a retriever?

Till next time, wish Mum would hurry up with this past stuff - I'm a dog, I live for NOW!

Alfie xx

My First Christmas By Alfie

Hello again
So sorry for delay, Mummy and Daddy wanted my first Christmas pictures which they had copied off to discs, its taken silly Daddy 2 days to sort through 44,500 pictures only to find they already had them to hand - I mean what hope is there for a dog when the humans can be so useless sometimes?

Anyway, here I am on my first Christmas in my new home and it snowed, would have been so much fun but I was stuck in that simply ridiculous blown up collar and on a lead to take care of my stitches.  But, I showed them after that particulary fun-less walk I came home and ripped it to bits.  So the rest of my day was spent playing with mine and Tess's new toys.  This is Tess, she too is a rescue Labrador when I arrived she was around 9 years old she is around 11 now.  Thing with us rescue dogs, sometimes our exact age is not known.

Must admit though, looking back once that horrendous two weeks of confinement was over life got a whole lot better.

Alfie xx

In my new home

So, let me take you back to November/December 2009 in my new home.  I loved being with my new canine housemates Tess the Labrador (I 'really' loved her often) and Jaja the Lurcher, who wasnt really such a close friend back then, I heard my new Mummy say he was quite horrified whatever that meant.  I started off on the big walk with all my friends each day, but I didnt quite get it, and it wasnt long before I stopped attending the big walk and was left alone while the others went, then walked miles on the lead with a lot of training, and a halti to learn to walk properly and be a good dog.

Dad still took me though, here I am on one of my first walks with my new friends and my new Daddy.

I was still attending the doggies school, and even had my own bandana with 'Asbo Alfie' printed on it, lets face it I was quite a naughty lad at times, little wonder Mummy used to get so exasperated with me.  But I really dont think there was any need for this at the Dog Club Christmas party

.. but worse was to come.... I was dumped at that nasty place they call 'the vet' and parts were taken away, that sure did calm me down, and stopped me from being quite so over friendly with Tess, to stop me interfering with the stitches they then did this to me

I had thought this to be a great new home, but was not quite so sure at this time and for the next few weeks, but it did get better.  I will tell you next about my first Christmas in my new home.

Love Alfie xx

Hello from Alfie

Hello, I am Alfie and this is my first blog post.  My Mum has a blog and after reading her friends blogs she in her infinate wisdom has decided it is about time I had my own.  (I think she has a bit of work to do yet to get it right though)

Alfies Introduction

I first went to meet the two humans in the photo during October 2009, my people took me out for a walk wtih them and their two dogs Tess the Labrador and Jaja the Lurcher, I had a fun time though I wasnt really allowed to join in much.  Two weeks later my human took me in the car with my toys and food and drove off.  Seems this was my new home...  I was only 18 months old and not seen very much of the world really, certainly had not been allowed to play with other dogs.  On my very first walk I saw all these other shapes and sizes of dog I had never seen before, and they didnt like me very much, I could not understand why, but I saw an awful lot of teeth from them, this made me very sad, and within a few days I learnt to show my teeth back.  I heard my new Mummy on the phone to a lady called Maureen, who has a big hall she teaches dogs how to behave in.  I was soon taken there.

Maureen, and another nice lady from Battersea Dogs Home, called Ali told my new Mummy I had not been socialised with other dogs, and all my body language was wrong I would have to learn, and recieve some training.  Worse than that, I also needed a visit to the vets for 'that operation' as I was shamefully accused of also being a dominant dog.

You can see what happened next in my next post, I will also be introducing you to my house mates and my very best friend in the world.

Alfie xx