Out of sight in the picture here is my kind Boss, who has decided to give us all a treat. As you can see, I’ve taken a leaf out of Máire’s bible of etiquette and I stood back while I let my dad Dash and my dainty sister Daisy line up for the delicious morsel the Boss was about to give us. My mum is not in this picture: she held back a little suspiciously I thought. She is really independent and clearly doesn’t march to others’ tunes: she insists on being in control of her own life and doing things on her terms. Maybe I could learn a thing or two from her, but somehow or another I find myself being a little timid around her. She’s a formidable mother dog.

This is how they save the turf to fuel fires in the West of Ireland. After it’s cut, it’s spread flat for a few days to allow one side of it to dry; then it’s raised into little clumps like these ones called “rickles”. When it has hardened and dried in this position it is put into larger clumps on the side of the road and finally brought home in a trailer and tractor.

I had never seen the like of these little black clumps before and didn’t know what they were. I had great fun chasing around them but was careful not to knock any of them. The neighbouring farmer who had done all the work wouldn’t have appreciated it…

I’ve often heard the humans I live with speak of taking a weekend break, but I never really knew what it meant. The only breaks I saw around this house since I arrived here were a few broken plates and glasses on the tiled kitchen floor.
This weekend however, I learned what a weekend break was. Máire and the Boss were invited to Galway for the weekend, and they didn’t want to leave me home alone. I gathered from their conversation that it might be presumptuous to bring a canine friend to their human friends’ home, so they arranged for me to stay in a fine dog hotel, run by a very kind man called Brian.
I was given my own room with a bed, and brought with me my favourite exercise aids. On our arrival there Brian introduced to me to Susie, who was a very friendly dog indeed, and we enjoyed meeting one another. I also got to know a young black dog, Krishka, who is just two months older than me.
Brian has a fine “living room” in his dog hotel, complete with couches, dog baskets, and other paraphernalia to make us feel at home. Just beside my room there was a lovely picture on the wall of a handsome black and white dog. I heard Brian tell Máire that it was a picture of his first dog, who lived with him for eighteen years.
After a very relaxing 24 hours there, Máire and the Boss returned to collect me, and we started the long journey back to Dublin. I had no trouble falling asleep as the car cruised along the motorway, but when we arrived back in the bumpy streets of Dublin I fear that my tummy started to rumble a bit. I think I might be a nervous traveller…. but I did enjoy my weekend break.

Máire gets so caught up in her camera that there are times when I can’t see her face without her third eye of a lens in front of it. So I realised fairly quickly that if I wanted to exercise my own will she’d not be the one I could appeal to. The Boss is altogether more amenable to imploring glances from me. Once I get this look on my face I know he’ll eventually cave in and heed my pleas for food, or a treat, or invitations to join in a game of headbutting a tennis ball or trying to knock the head off a squeaky rabbit.
Tonight however my heartfelt appeals to him didn’t really work. I know he was working very hard today about the house, and now he just wants to relax. He’s watching a favourite tv programme and is impervious to my pleas. And Máire? As for her, she still has that Cyclopean black eye in front of her face. I think I’ll slink back to my bed….

Yesterday was a very trying time. I had to make a necessary visit to the vet’s and I’ll draw a veil over what happened there. Discreet females never discuss their medical conditions; suffice it to say that my tummy had to be treated delicately for the last 24 hours as a result. I’ve learned new tastes however: scrambled egg tastes particularly good when your stomach is troubled, though I’m rather suspicious that something else might have been hidden in my dish with it as well. I also got some freshly cooked chicken tonight. This new food regime is very pleasing though I don’t think it’ll continue. In the past week, I’ve had my first haircut and pedicure, so the visit to the vet’s surgery wasn’t too traumatic. And the vet, Eamonn, had a very companionable dog of his own there to welcome me also. Clare, the nurse, handled me most gently and gave very clear instructions to Máire and the Boss about how to treat me for the following twenty four hours. That period has almost passed now, so I’m not confident that I’ll continue to be treated as a VIP for very long more.

Do you know what a little dog’s life is like? I realise I’m very lucky to live in a comfortable warm home, but life can get quite exhausting here. Every day I go for one or two walks. They are enjoyable but I don’t like to be held back when I find other possible playmates during the walks. Then there’s the whirling around the back garden. If The Boss or Máire accompany me, they often go into the shed to do some chore or other, and then I can spin, and run, and wheel, and jump, and pick up twigs and stones and toss them in the air, and climb the raised bed at the back of the garden, and sniff around at the back of the various shrubs. But today… well today I was given a bath. A real bath and my coat was shampooed. Máire’s daughter gave me a shower last week, and that was over and done with very quickly. But today I wanted to splash around in the bath water. At one stage the Boss stretched a little too far as he prepared to rinse my coat, and when I nudged him sideways a big jug of water toppled on the floor and at that stage Máire rushed in frantically with towels. I thought she was going to wrap me up in them, but no! She started to wipe the floor furiously, muttering something about water leaking through the ceiling to the room downstairs.

My ordeal still wasn’t over. My coat was rubbed gently till all the wetness had cleared, and then Máire appeared with what I learned was a hair dryer. I loved that, and kept wanting to bite it and taste it, but the Boss held me firmly. Eventually he took over as coiffeur, and brushed my coat until it was smooth again.

So now you can see why I look a bit tired. Between that and learning the difference between “Sit”, and “Stay” and “Down” I have a busy schedule. Some people come to the house and use long sentences to communicate with me, but then I hear Máire telling them I respond better to single word sentences. Yes, that’s true, but I won’t reveal here exactly how well I understand what they’re staying.

I fear I’ve tried the patience of the Boss and Máire. I thought I was just being a cute dog, but apparently I broke the rules, so now I must cool my heels in here and hope I’ll get an early release for good behaviour.

As you can see from the Garda notice this is a serious matter. I’m in an official police cell but at least they’ve provided me with a comfortable blanket. I think I’ll keep my head down for a while.

Every day I get opportunities to explore the back garden. It is full of interesting twigs and leaves and hiding places. I have great fun chasing around there, but I know when Máire walks on the path that I must follow her and stop when she stops. However she lets me wheel and whirl around the grass and in the wintry flower beds. I have more fun with the Boss ; he brings a ball with him and I’m very good at playing dog soccer up and down the passageway at the side of the house. I usually come in exhausted from these excursions and am quite happy to flop in my comfortable bed for a while.

Today I had my first walk in the park near the house. Máire put a funny harness contraption on me, and then attached a lead to it. I wasn’t too happy having my freedom restricted, because when I strayed from the route she had taken I felt a little tug on the lead. Gradually I learned that life is more comfortable with a slack lead, so I relaxed and stopped pulling. The ground was very wet and when we got home I heard Máire say that I looked like a drowned rat!

I heard Máire listening to this song recently and it appealed to me. Clearly it appealed to her too, because I heard her telling the Boss that it was a specially produced song by a group of musicians calling themselves Harry and the Hooligans, led by Neil Hannon of Divine Comedy fame. The proceeds from the sales of this song will go to the Dogs in Distress Fund. Thank goodness I’m not a puppy in distress; I just get a little annoyed from time to time when I don’t get my own way.

Meanwhile in order to appeal to Máire’s better nature I decided to practise the “one ear up, one ear down” look, and I think she just might give me another treat soon.

Should you wish to listen to the song, you’ll find it by clicking here.

Máire has some friends who are cat lovers, and in their opinion cats are superior to dogs. But I don’t agree. We can be quite clever too. Did you know that one of my ancestors was a war hero? I’ll leave that story for another day…
I got on quite well with Jimmy, the cat in my parents’ home, but apart from the few times he played with me I found him rather superior, haughty and self-centred. He lived very much in his own world, and I don’t deny that he was clever and indeed quite sly. I couldn’t however call him my friend.
I have no such problems here. I heard Máire tell the Boss that I’m the third pet that has come to the house in 35 years. The first one, Báinín the white cat, was apparently an outdoor cat, constantly consorting with the wrong company and he frequently came home with an infestation of fleas. Clearly he mixed with some low life types, and eventually had to wear a flea resistant collar to ward off the pests.
Barney, their next pet, was also a Yorkie like me. He lived here for sixteen years and had a very special place in the household. I got a little sad this morning when I did a quick run in the back garden and saw his grave with the little dog statue marking it. Clearly he has never been forgotten in this house. I hope the Boss and Máire will like me just as much….