Calendar Girl

This is the front of this year´s Dora calendar. I have one made for her doting daddy every year. Last year was very stressful for him so this year I hope that he´ll have more peace and relaxation. I wish the same for you.

Won´t You Guide My Sleigh Tonight?

The Red-Nosed What?

Off To The Coast

A Dora A Day...

A Dora a day may not keep the doctor away but she definitely keeps the blues away with her antics. That´s the reason I always order a Dora calendar for Herbert as a Christmas present so that even while he´s at work she can still put a smile on his face. 

I´ve just finished uploading a selection of this year´s photos. It´s such a difficult task to choose which I like best I always wish there were more than 12 months in the year. While I was uploading them I took some screen shots. Here are just a few which are so typical of Dora I thought I´d share them with you on a dull November day.

January shows Dora in an unusually sad and reflective mood because, for our playful Dora, a day without a ball is a day without sunshine, especially when she´s on holiday in Domburg.

In February she´s still in Domburg and she´s got not just one but two but she´s still not happy because her ball-thrower is more interested in reading his newspaper than playing with her.

It´s so typical of Dora that once she´s finally got her playmate to participate she does her utmost to make sure that he can only do so once...Notice the determined way she holds one ball down with her

paws and the other with her nose while the third is tucked right under her chest.

 

August shows Dora in a typical awkward situation where she´s got a hold of her ball-on-a-string and has dragged Herbert all the way down the lawn until she´s stopped in her tracks by the prickly bramble bush. (called blackberries by non-Scots) At this point Herbert knows that it´s stalemate and he only has 2 alternatives. Either he lets go of the ball and Dora is propelled backwards into the prickly bushes and then shoots off down the lawn as if she has a bee under her skirt, or he just keeps hold of it. This is not a good strategy as he could miss dinner that night and possibly even breakfast the following morning. Dora can be very determined.

As you can see by November´s photo, once Dora has got her favourite toy she´ll guard it with her life. Don´t be fooled by the butter wouldn´t melt look. Make one false move and the nose goes down and the front paws tighten up and you´ve no chance at all of getting it away from her until she graciously allows you to throw it for her again.

There are times though when a human participant can be essential not just as a ball-thrower but as a ball-retriever. To explain April´s rather strange photo, on her walks Dora has the uncanny knack of finding toys which other dogs have either lost or abandoned. Herbert lets her play with them for a while before putting them out of reach in a tree so that other dogs can also play with them or the original owner can get his/her ball back again. Sometimes when he forgets to bring a ball with him he resorts to picking these strange fruit. The way Dora looks at him in this photo says it all even without the caption.

The following photo is also typical of Dora although it has absolutely nothing to do with her favourite occupation. See it from her point of view. She´ll be lying quite happily on the lawn when I´ll sneak up on her with “that annoying clicking thing.” She´ll immediately turn her head away and put on her long-suffering here-we-go-again look.

As a last resort she´ll get up, give me a withering look and stalk off indignantly to her favourite retreat under the Russian vine where she´ll lie watching me quite convinced that she´s safely in hiding.

 

I´m so looking forward to the arrival of this year´s calendar but in the meantime I hope that Dora has brightened your day as she always brightens ours.

One-upmanship

Recently a friend gave Herbert a book called Liebe Hunde, which translates as Dear Dogs, but which should really be called Hilariously Funny Dogs though I suppose that doesn´t exactly roll off the tongue. Unsurprisingly, there are several boxers in it as in my opinion the boxer is the king, or in Dora´s case the queen, of canine lunacy. Having watched Dora´s various antics over the years I´d imagined that she´d thought up just about every kind of silliness with which to entertain us...until I opened the above mentioned book and discovered that there was one trick that Dora hadn´t – yet (give her time!) - mastered, namely standing unsupported on her hind legs looking ridiculous. I couldn´t help wondering what Dora would think if she could see these clowns. (The little fellow with the enormous mouth and the ill-fitting turtle neck sweater isn´t a boxer but I couldn´t resist adding his opinion.)

As far as one-upmanship´s concerned I think it´s fair to say that Dora wins paws down.

By the way, no dogs were harmed with nicotine poisoning in the creation of this page. Dora´s impression of the famous cigar-smoking Sir Winston Churchill entails the use of a chewed up stick. Also, though it may look as if she´s devouring a black cat from the tail up, she really is knitting. She just hasn´t decided what it´s going to be yet....

Rolling For Joy

I said recently that when Dora started doing her daily doggy aerobics on the lawn again I´d know that all was right with her world. No sooner said than done. On Sunday, just 4 days after her operation, to prove to me that she was feeling well and happy she trotted purposefully towards the lawn as if she had an urgent appointment and then threw herself down and started rolling ecstatically among the daisies.

By this time her Santa trousers had already been reduced to just half a leg after they´d started sliding down spewing cotton wool at every step and gathering in folds around her thigh. Herbert cut part of them off and hoped that the next ones would remain intact.

Yesterday when he took her back to have her bandage changed the vet was astonished by the fact that she was already walking on all 4 legs. Herbert told him that she only uses 3 legs when she runs. The very thought of any dog actually running 5 days after such a serious op astonished him even more. When he examined the wound on Dora´s knee he said he´d never known a dog to heal so quickly and that she was quite remarkable. Well, that doesn´t surprise us as we´ve always known that Dora was remarkable.

 

When Herbert brought her home I was amused to see that her disreputable looking Santa trousers had been replaced by something that looks very like the Scottish Saltire.

After another couple of aerobic sessions that pristine white will be dingy grey but I won´t mind her abusing my national flag in such a good cause. I´m just so relieved that she´s already back to her old happy self.

Home Again

Dora got back home in the late afternoon yesterday looking dazed and confused but struggling gamely to walk without help. It was a warm day and I´d already laid out her rug on her favourite spot on the path to the garden and she headed straight for it and lay down. As you can see from the photo she looked as if she´d borrowed half of Santa´s trousers and I didn´t know whether to laugh or cry.

She had that look on her face which means she feels hard done by and she knows exactly who to blame for it. It´s always directed at me, never at Herbert, and it always makes me feel guilty. Of course that could just mean indignation at having a camera shoved in her face when she feels she looks slightly ridiculous and can´t do anything about it. We let her lie outside for a while so that she´d know her beloved garden was still there and then Herbert carried her indoors where she stretched out and instantly fell asleep. When I got up early this morning she was lying in front of the bedroom door and started wagging her tail as soon as she saw me so at least I knew she wasn´t feeling as bad as I´d feared and had also forgiven me. Dora´s never been one to hold grudges. When I went into the kitchen I saw that at some time after I´d gone to bed she´d eaten her dinner and that made me really happy. Dora´s not a greedy dog and doesn´t eat if she´s feeling unwell so that was a good sign.

She´ll have to keep Santa´s trousers on for the next 6 weeks and have the bandage changed every second day then her leg will be X rayed by which time she´ll hopefully be back to her old self. I think I´ll only be convinced of that when she starts doing her daily doggy aerobics on the lawn. Then I´ll know that all´s right with her world again.

Get well soon, Dora.

Wishing Dora Well

Last month our vet said that the limp which Dora had was caused not only by arthritis but by a damaged tendon in one of her hind legs which might require surgery. He made an appointment at a veterinary clinic for her to be X rayed. At the clinic Herbert was advised to leave her there and they´d phone late in the evening once the sedation had worn off so he was surprised when they contacted him only a few hours later and said he could collect her. Apparently she had been so calm and well behaved that sedation hadn´t been necessary in order for her leg to be X rayed. However, that was the only good news. Apparently, while examining Dora the vet had discovered a lump on one of her front paws and had taken a tissue sample to send to the laboratory because she was certain that it was a malignant tumour. An ultrasound scan had not shown any traces of cancer in her internal organs but the cells might still be too small to be apparent. Only the results of the biopsy would tell whether the cancer was still only localised or was at a stage where it had already metastasised. The vet said that in any case the least which would have to be done was a partial amputation of Dora´s paw and asked Herbert if he wanted to leave her at the clinic for immediate surgery. Herbert, in a state of shock, said he´d rather wait for the lab results. A week went by with no word from the clinic. After that Herbert phoned every day for another week and then contacted our own vet who phoned both the clinic and the lab only to discover that there was no trace of either the tissue sample or the report. I won´t describe how we felt after 2 weeks of constant anxiety. If you´ve ever had a beloved pet you´ll know without being told. The vet immediately took another sample himself and sent it off to the lab with instructions that it should be given priority. When he eventually phoned with the results we were both so stunned we could hardly believe it. The "cancerous tumour" was in fact a simple case of inflammation with not a trace of malignancy. The relief was indescribable.

As for the surgery, in a strange kind of way our 3 weeks of anxiety have paid off. Our vet had originally intended to send Dora to the veterinary clinic in nearby Mönchen Gladbach because he has great respect for the expertise of one of the surgeons there. Unfortunately, the surgeon in question was at the time attending further educational lectures in Washington. By the time the cancer scare was over he had already returned from the USA and we were lucky enough to get an appointment with him. I can´t tell you how relieved we were to hear that Dora would be in such good hands as we know from experience that vets who train in the USA are the best in the world - but that´s another story.

Dora´s surgery is taking place as I write. Herbert has just returned from the clinic with a very favourable impression of the surgeon. What particularly impressed me about the procedure is the fact that while he was explaining exactly what the surgery entailed, Dora was gradually falling asleep after having had a sedative so that she wouldn´t experience the trauma of being parted from Herbert and led away by a stranger. The surgery consists of the bone on Dora´s “knee” being split and a metal wedge inserted. This will strengthen her leg and take the place of the damaged tendon. 

We are naturally a little anxious about her but confident that this is all for the best and that very soon Dora will again be doing all the mad things that Dora does best such as... 

...and later on while we´re on holiday in Domburg..

...and, of course, her very best trick...

Of course the best news of all is that she´ll be doing all this with all 4 paws intact!

I´m sure you´ll all join me in wishing Dora well and tomorrow I´ll add a PS to this to let you know how she is after her surgery.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

For years Dora´s little dachshund friend, Tessa, has been trying to learn Dora´s 3-ball trick but so far the best she can do is to pick up 2 and practically choke herself by holding one behind the other. At least in her Christmas costume she´s outdone her best friend.

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Compromises

Usually by this time I´ve already been to Scotland but this year instead of putting it off indefinitely I decided to compromise and go in November instead. I hoped that by that time I´d finally have had the source of my headaches diagnosed and successfully treated. At least the first of these assumptions has proved true. To cut a very long and boring story short my problem is caused by a dislocated atlas bone. That´s the aptly named bone which holds the skull in place. The treatment is complicated so I won´t go into that right now, but considering the fact that I couldn´t get a consultation with – yet another! - specialist until the end of November, I may still have to stock up with painkillers before my trip. At least, after a year of agony, now that I finally have a diagnosis I feel a lot more optimistic than I did before. With any luck I may even feel up to designing again once I feel better.

And, talking of compromises....by sheer coincidence, after a week of rain, I was again checking up on my strange “white” rose bush when I was astounded to see THIS!

 

It looks very much as if one of the little gardeners has decided to compromise by painting the Red Queen´s roses pink! But there´s apparently no pleasing Her Ferocious Majesty. At least the usual culprit is off the hook...

It´s such a pretty colour too as you can see from the close up.

 

Poor Dora is already starting to get cabin fever. As I mentioned earlier it´s been raining a lot here recently which means she can´t stay in her beloved garden after I bring her back soaking wet from her daily walks. She´s smart enough to realise that if it´s raining at the front of the house it´s raining at the back too so she just settles down with a sigh and a hard-done-by glance at me. She knows quite well that I can do absolutely ANYTHING including causing a downpour. Such faith....and so misguided, not to say unfair! At least she´s willing to make a compromise. She knows I won´t let her out on her own if it´s chilly and if the grass is still wet as she´ll only roll about in it and probably catch her death of cold. So she´s perfectly happy to take me with her to play for half an hour or so until one or other of us – always me – gets fed up and wants to go indoors again. If I´m really lucky I´ll even get to play with the ball as well especially as she usually decides on two of them but I´m afraid my role is usually as a spectator while she does this... 

 

I call this trick How To Demolish Two Balls With One Nose. Clever, isn´t it? No prizes for guessing what Dora´s getting for Christmas!

The Twelve Dogs Of Christmas

Having a hectic run up to Christmas? Feeling stressed out? Got nothing much to laugh about?

When I feel like that I just have to watch Dora´s antics and I feel a whole lot better. So, all of you without a Dotty Dora to cheer you up, take a few minutes from your busy day to lean back, relax and enjoy the 12 short videos which feature the hilarious antics of The Twelve Dogs Of Christmas.

(Make sure you´ve got the sound on.)

There now. Don´t you feel better already?

Happy(?) Halloween

It´s that time again of “ghoulies and ghosties and long-legged beasties, and things that go bump in the night.” That quote is part of a Celtic prayer and is particularly suitable for Halloween, when according to ancient Celtic tradition, the dead walk again with malicious intent. Halloween originated in Scotland and we Scots still take our Halloween seriously. No friendly smiling ghosts and harmless leering pumpkins for us. After all, it was a grim festival with blood-curdling ceremonies. I won´t tell you what the “trick” was but leave it mercifully shrouded in the mists of time, and I certainly won´t divulge what the “treat” consisted of. I wouldn´t want to entirely spoil the day for you and make you shudder as you hand out the candy.

My husband just missed being born on Halloween by one day so I always include something slightly macabre among his presents. Yesterday he got a very trendy dog-walking jacket – nothing sinister about that - and a giant-sized lighter with this motif on it, the next best thing to having it tattooed on his biceps...

Dora, who plays absolutely no part in any of this foolishness, would be mad at me if she knew about the gruesome looking image below which shows her in an unusually unflattering light. She hates having her photo taken anyway but especially first thing in the morning before she´s fixed her face...but then don´t we all?

Having played such a nasty trick on her maybe I´d better get off now and give her a treat.

Happy(?) Halloween!

Dandegolds And Marilions

Deb´s recent tongue-in-cheek (I hope!) depiction of a marigold eating monster reminded me of my own personal marigold monster.

When we moved house a few years ago, one look at the garden was enough to tell me that if I couldn´t see down to the bottom of it without binoculars there was no way my back would bear up if I had to do the weeding. I had some reservations about delegating that task to Herbert who could just about tell the difference between a daffodil and a rose and only then with the help of a gardening book, so before entrusting the tools of destruction to him, I said, “DON´T PULL UP ANYTHING YOU CAN´T IDENTIFY!” and left him to it. Some time later I started to notice that the very minute my beloved marigolds began to bloom they mysteriously disappeared. I imagined a huge battalion of snails munching their way through them every night so I liberally sprinkled snail pellets around those that remained. And still they diminished. Then, by sheer chance I happened to look in the compost bin one day and was horrified to find a sad wilting heap of marigolds right on top. Confronted with the evidence, the Marigold Murderer looked shocked, shifty and uncertain then rallied quickly and said it must have been Dora. Now, Dora as a puppy was a keen little gardener but she was never quite clever enough to hide the results of her work in any compost bin and she certainly never left anything with its roots still attached. The MM´s second line of defence was to insist that he´d never ever weeded out anything he couldn´t identify and that even he knew a dandelion when he saw one. AHA! Case for the prosecution solved but not quite closed...Time passed and just as the MM thought that all was forgiven and forgotten he received this birthday card.

Click image for a larger view

Would you believe he had the brass neck to actually find it amusing? Even the fact that I´d added years to him by depicting him as a crazed and leering demented senile senior citizen didn´t bother him at all and he even hung it triumphantly inside the door of the garden shed as if it had been his finest hour! I wonder what it would take to make him feel humbled and guilty.

Hmmm.

This page maybe?

Dora In Action

I was sorting through the photos I took in Domburg recently when it occurred to me that, apart from the video, I´d also taken several consecutive photos of Dora in hot pursuit of her cork toy. Taken singly they don´t look that interesting but blended into one I think they give quite a good impression of Dora in action.

Click on image for a larger view

I used the Marbled Blue background from Jewelled Sea on top of a few grungy layers, blended in the 3 photos and then, once I´d flattened the image, I lowered the saturation quite a bit. As you can see there was a LOT of splashing going on there – one good reason to stand well back when Dora takes off! - and I´ve heightened the effect by using the Paint Daubs filter. It was a lot of work and entailed a great deal of trial and error but I´m quite pleased with the way this composite has turned out.

Dog Days In Domburg

The reason I always spend my summer holiday in Domburg is because not only is it just a 3-hour drive from here but also because I can take Dora with me. I´ve always had a dog and every one of them has accompanied me there and probably enjoyed the beach even more than I do myself though I have to say that of all the boxers I´ve had Dora is the only one who enjoys swimming. Like the others though she also loves chasing her ball along the shore, hiding it in the dunes, rearranging the sand and apparently trying to dig to Australia just to see if Bondi Beach might be a fun place too.

click to enlarge

I created this page using only the seashell freebie plus photos of Dora doing what Dora loves to do during her dog days in Domburg.

Dora On Baywatch

Presenting the new improved Baywatch series starring Fedora von Messingsberg, the ultimate canine lifeguard. Watch with bated breath as Dora plunges valiantly into the North Sea with no thought for her own safety to rescue a precious cork toy. Admire her grace, brindle beauty and elegant doggy paddling swimming technique as she battles the elements to deliver it safely to the shore...

...where, in typical Dotty Dora style, she immediately begins to tear it apart!

(Sorry about the sound quality. This is the only camera I have that doesn´t mind being drenched by Dora shaking the North Sea from her fur.)

Dora´s Moved In!

I knew she´d get in sooner or later. There was no way I could keep her out of this room forever. I´ve told her she can stay for a while but only if she promises to be on her best behaviour. That means NO CHEWING, NO SHREDDING and definitely NO NOISY ANTICS. I´d add NO JUMPING UP ON THE COUCH but I see it´s too late for that, and judging by her speculative expression and the worried look on her teddy bear´s face, it´s probably too late for the no chewing command too. Well, at least it´ll keep her from shredding the photo album. Hmm. On second thoughts...

Happy Birthday, Dora

They say a picture speaks a thousand words so on her 5th birthday I´ll let Dora speak for herself.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DORA!

Time To Play

Dora doesn´t need a clock to tell her what time it is. There´s only one time of day for her and that´s play time. Even dinner time can´t compete though it might if she could eat her dinner without dropping her toys. Now that spring is here she´s happy to be let out again into her beloved garden where she has space to play her favourite games, most of which need my cooperation. Chase-me-round-the-rhododendron was the first one she ever taught me. The rules are simple enough for even a human to understand. I have to chase her around it until I get dizzy which I always do or else I actually catch her which hasn´t happened yet. She has others but the three-ball-game is her favourite. It´s pretty simple too. I throw three balls, Dora chases them, scoops them up and brings them back. I´ve tried to vary this game by throwing only two but Dora can count to three and always waits patiently until I notice that I still have one in my hand. This is one game she never tires of and neither do I as it always brings a smile to my face to watch her bounding towards me with her cheeks bulging on either side.


The kit I´ve been working on recently is almost finished and I´ll post the previews soon. There are over 40 embellishments in it but the clock with the optional hands/seasons is still my favourite. I´m also fond of the various birds and I´ve used one here. Well, Dora herself is a little cuckoo after all!