Introducing Tess

Meet Tess, she is the old girl I live with.  Though I am told my arrival took years off her.  Tess was adopted from Labrador Rescue by the folks some 9 years ago, she had a tough past before they adopted her at around 2 years of age and is a very timid girl most of the time - but not with me..

Here we are playing at our pond on our daily outing - she doesnt do so bad for an old duck dont you think?  She didnt like me very much when I arrived, but I suppose I was a bit on the 'forceful' side before they took me for 'that' operation.  But she loves me now, we even share a bed quite often, but most of all we like to play.  Here we are in the snow earlier this year

See I love her so much I even let her get the ball - sometimes....

Hope you all stayed dry today been a wet one over the UK today - not that it bothers me of course but the Lurcher isnt so keen on it, his turn to be introduced next time.  We were very lucky and missed the showers but my bestest pal Zac was out early with his person today and I expect they got very wet indeed.

Just Jaja's turn to be shown off next then you get to meet my pal.

Alfie xx

Introducing Bailey

As promised its now time to introduce our pal Bailey.  Here he is with me on one of our beach walks.  My Mummy has been walking Bailey for a couple of years now.  She met Bailey on our daily dog walk with his Mummy Jess, they used to walk together a couple of days a week, turned out they had plenty to talk about as Jess knew my Granddad Geoff, they went to school together.
Sadly Jess got sick, so Mummy and her friend Julie used to walk Bailey for Jess and her son Paul (who is really Baileys Daddy) More sadness followed as Jess passed away, his Daddy Paul has to work full time so Mummy and Julie took over dog walking duties for Bailey, so Bailey comes with us most days on our walkies.

He is a big handsome lad, dont you think? we get on great though Bailey steals the ball all of the time and wont give it back, takes me most of the walkies to retrieve it from his mouth, he can also hold 3 tennis balls at once, Mummy gets very cross with him sometimes as other dog owners do not like it when he steals their ball and refuses to give it back, personally I dont get it? I love to bring back the ball for everyone to throw it for me again and again...

Here is Bailey this Easter with his Daddy Paul, you can tell just how much his Daddy loves him, what a lucky boy Bailey is.

So there you have Bailey, I will tell you about my housemates next - before we get to the best bit of my very best friend Zac - I love Zac.

Alfie xx

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