Go Pro
Posted: January 31, 2015 Filed under: dogs, friends and family, photography, technology, Uncategorized, we love | Tags: go pro, harness, JRT, photography Leave a comment
Max the Go Pro Mule
JC bought a Go Pro Hero 3 + black edition in August 2014 and has been playing with it and buying bits for it ever since. He is officially in love with this little bit of tech heaven and now our friend’s daughter has one (from Santa) so they can be geeks together.
a few adjustments required
Geek aside, it is rather sweet to watch them getting over excited about a tiny box of tricks. There are a good few decades separating them.
nothing unusual about having a big black box on your back
Anyway, in the interest of Go Pro advancement in our household, our terrier Max has been persecuted with a cumbersome harness and a little camera recording his every move on some of our weekend walks.
camera position adjusted to front
To be fair, Max is completely ok with all of this and just takes it in his stride.
I think the harness is designed for a larger dog and some adaptions will be needed to the straps but they get by and Max seems unaffected by it. On occasion, he does try to bury into a straw stack or some undergrowth and can’t quite seems to understand why his progress is limited.
returning with a little more than just the camera
JC doesn’t have much footage that he has chosen to keep yet but he is persevering and we have some half decent stills so far.
Cool as a cucumber and couldn’t care less
Watch this space, our little Go Pro mule might offer some interesting images to show you yet!
Water Baby
Posted: October 18, 2014 Filed under: countryside, dogs, friends and family, funny, Uncategorized, we love | Tags: dog, dog swimming, fetch, jack russell, jack russell terrier, JRT, pond, retrieve, Water Leave a comment
retrieve
It’s safe to say that Max does not like the water.
He’s spent an extraordinary amount of time getting wet with weekly baths to sort out his skin problem so I can understand the aversion to it.
not letting the stick go
But even before the allergy started, he wasn’t the first into the sea or any body of water that you’d throw a stick into.
He might venture into the shallows to retrieve a treat but we have lost a lot of balls and toys on the beaches of norfolk because he just won’t go in to get them if a swim or deep water of any kind is required.
Hamlet and Max waiting for the throw
Add a bit of competition though and that is a completely different matter as we found out recently.
fish eye olloclip lens on iPhone 5
We have my sis’s JRT, Hamlet with us for a while again and we took Max for a walk with him to a pond nearby and as soon as there was a chance that Hamlet might beat him to the retrieve, he was right in there.
I’ve got it!!
Swimming no less!!! (well, it actually looked a lot like drowning a lot of the time to be fair).
It was such a lovely evening that we stayed for ages, wearing out the boys and enjoying the sun set.
sun set
Hot Dog
Posted: July 20, 2014 Filed under: dogs, friends and family, funny, holidays, we love | Tags: dogs in the heat, hot summer days, JRT, keeping cool 2 Comments
the chase
It feels like an age since we were on the beach with Max and his little blue ball and this warm weather really makes you want to be somewhere with a cool breeze and easy access to the water.
cool damp sand under foot
This heat is very hard on dogs and owners are frighteningly careless with their 4 legged friend’s wellbeing at this time of year.
retrieved
There are too many tales of windscreens having to be smashed to relieve a distressed and possibly dying dog in a hot car. Too many feet injuries from hot tarmac and surfaces that we protect ourselves against with shoes.
and very pleased with himself
We’re pretty diligent and since Max now has fur (long story), he feels the heat much more than before. He didn’t have a high rate of tolerance for it at the best of times and has been to drag along on his late afternoon/early evening second walk when it is warm and humid.
He is a terrier however and he isn’t beyond baking himself on the decking before retreating to the shade panting like a steam train but he’s able to control that.
It is easy for a little dog to forget about cooling off when he is tanking around enjoying ourself when it is hot. And I think it is easy for owners to forget too.
cool as….
The beach offers the chance to cool off in the water and as long as there is fresh water to drink (the effects of drinking sea water are pretty unpleasant, rapid and can be quite dramatic), it’s the best place to be in the sunshine.
hot dog
Even so, JC found a novel way to cool Max right down. He was buried up to his neck in cool damp sand while we were taking a well earned rest and a bit of a snooze over the papers.
He loved it and stayed there for ages. He even managed 40 winks at one point.
nodding off
doggy DNA
Posted: November 9, 2013 Filed under: dogs, friends and family, home, miscellaneous, we love | Tags: DNA, DNA profiling, dog, dog habits, dogs, Foxhound, jack russell, jack russell terrier, JRT, Kate Humble, pets, Steve Leonard, terriers Leave a comment
wadya mean, the hammock’s not ACTUALLY for me!
We have been enjoying the Kate Humble and Steve Leonard ‘The Wonder of Dogs’ programme on BBC2 Thursday nights which explores all the amazing things that a lot of us don’t know about our best friends.
Sadly it is now finished but it covered the science of breeding, intelligence, breed traits, how humans have ‘used’ dogs in history as well as how we have welcomed them into our homes.
what?
It is done in hand with an open university course so it is scientific in it’s approach but it is executed with a huge sense of fun. If you have the slightest interest in dogs or our relationship with them, you will find it fascinating and it can’t do dog reputation any harm after some of the horrendous and tragic articles in the news about dogs lately.
love the snow (hate the coat!)
We have taken quite a lot of stick from friends and family about the parentage of our JRT Max who was supposed to be 10″ long (the last coat we bout him was 20″ long). He displays traits that you’d find in other breeds and not JRTs (he points – sort of ha ha). He isn’t mad and yappy like a lot of terriers and he isn’t very terrier like in many other ways.
they’ll never find me in here
Fox Hound, Dalmation, labrador, beagle are to name but a few of the breeds that people have wondered what he really might be. Pretty much anything other than a Jack Russell!!
how can you resist those eyes
We did everything right when we got him, we met the parents, went to the home where he was born and all of the things that the sellers told us about the others that they had from the same parents was pretty true.
ready for action
He is a great family dog, he loves kids and he does look like his mum and his dad.
Clearly there is something else going on somewhere though and the breed traits and DNA tests that were covered in the programme a couple of weeks ago got us thinking.
So JC sent for a home doggy DNA kit (is there ANYTHING that Amazon don’t sell?) and the results were emailed through to us this week.
chillaxing
So!! To all those doubters…….
He is in fact very much a Jack Russell Terrier but he also has a bit of Fox Terrier in him from grandparents and from his great grandparents there is…………………..
WHIPPET!!
fun fun fun
Posted: August 3, 2013 Filed under: dogs, friends and family, funny, Uncategorized, we love | Tags: dog, dog friendly, dog habits, dog play, dogs, jack russell terrier, JRT, Lurcher, pets, terriers Leave a comment
you won’t catch me
We had a wonderful weekend away with friends last weekend. Their luscious long legged lady, Agnes came with them.
gotcha
She and Max officially love each other to bits.
what’s that you say?
It is very sweet to watch them and they never seem to tire of the endless entertainment that is to be had from play.
no way!!!
They conk out every now and again but the spells of rest are short lived and they are off with their playfulness once more.
eeek!!
The expressions are hilarious and even though there are teeth on show during the whole game, there are moment when they really look like they are having a bit of a kiss and a cuddle.
chase me, go on!!
It is exhausting to watch but completely engrossing.
Their physical closeness and joy that they find in each other is very sweet. If they were human, you’d tell them to get a room! It is intimate and physically close and there is nothing but play and fun in that closeness. Highly recommended I’d say!!
full submission
It is also an exercise in outwitting your opponent and moving just that bit quicker than them.
Other times they look like they are just whispering the very best secret ever to one another.
lots of mouthing and fake biting
There is nibbling, fake biting and getting as much of your opponents actual head into your mouth as possible
Tantalising and incredibly funny to watch.
and relax!!
There was a LOT of sleeping on Monday with no more playful distractions.
a lusciously long legged lady
Posted: May 4, 2013 Filed under: dogs, friends and family, funny, we love | Tags: dog, jack russell, jack russell terrier, JRT, Lurcher, Pet, saluki, saluki cross lurcher 2 Comments
princess agnes
what can I say about Agnes?
chilling in what has become her favourite spot in our home
In fairness, the title does most of it for me.
chatting while chillaxing
She is a very lovely saluki cross lurcher from a rescue charity
chilling
she is about 2 years old
yes?
she loves chasing squirrels
snoozing happily
she can jump higher than ANY dog I have ever seen
snuggly
she is as fast as grease lightening
curled up into the tiniest ball
she is VERY, VERY gorgeous
want to hear a secret?
Max adores her
yes
and she is very well loved!!
She lives with and loves friends of ours who are local and she came to us for the day recently. She and Max have great fun tearing about the place chasing one another until neither can keep their eyes open a moment longer!!
It’s like a whirlwind but they are a treat to watch and could not be more different to one another – agnes is fine and delicate, gliding over the face of this lovely earth like a whisper, whereas max is solid and makes the noise of a heard of small elephants when he is on the move (no matter what the pace and no matter what the surface!!)
Feathered Rats
Posted: April 21, 2013 Filed under: birds, countryside, dogs, funny, local interest, Uncategorized, we love, weather and wildlife | Tags: dog, dog habits, dog walking, dog walks, doves, jack russell terrier, JRT, Outdoors, pests, pigeons, terrier, terriers Leave a comment
there they are
I’m not particularly keen on pigeons.
They are pests in the city and they are pests in the countryside.
They will roost almost anywhere, eat anything and make the most smelly, dirty mess. Yuck!!
I’m not alone in my disliking; my niece is unreasonably fearful of them and there are lots of people who invest a lot of hours in the pursuit of killing them.
grrrr
Someone who illustrates his own disliking in a much more entertaining way is Max of course.
there!
He diligently guards the bird feeders (when he’s not helping his greedy little self to anything that falls to the ground!!) and goes charging into the garden to skidaddle them whenever his vigilance has faltered and they’ve had the temerity to return!
lots of barking
His pursuit of them doesn’t stop there though, there is a barn on a walk that we do over the weekends that has doves in it and he clearly doesn’t distinguish, they’re all the same as far as he is concerned.
move
The noise he makes is deafening and reverberates around the barn. Bales don’t get in his way, machinery is no deterrent and once he is on his mission, he is difficult to drag away.
still there!
Needless to say, the pigeons (or doves for that matter) don’t hang around for long with that kind of din but the sight of a raging terrier stotting about on the ground below them must be more amusing than truly terrifying.
dog for victory
Posted: April 1, 2013 Filed under: countryside, dogs, funny, we love, weather and wildlife | Tags: digging, dog walking, dog walks, dogs, Gardens, jack russell terrier, JRT, london, Molehill, moles, pets, Soil, terrier, terriers 2 Comments
sniffing and snorting
Max is not really a digger.
He certainly hasn’t made any unwelcome holes in our garden or started burrowing under the fence in bid for freedom of any kind.
One thing guaranteed to get those little paws peddling at the soil though is a mole hill!
there’s something in there!!
There are quite a few around at the moment and even though it has been wet, snowy and freezing cold for what seems like an age, it hasn’t deterred the moles who regularly push up in the middle of a lawn, field or grass verge to the annoyance of almost everyone.
Some of the mole hills that have become crusted over, show signs of additional and more recent activity where there is a little extra pile of fresh earth on the top.
definitely
That is going to get max digging……
huh?
He clearly doesn’t realise (or care perhaps) that once a mole hill is formed, there is very little chance that the mole will still be in it. He leaps on it with huge enthusiasm and dogged determination before the paws start and the soil goes flying all of which is interspersed with occasional snorts and sniffing (just in case it is still there you understand).
i’ll just have another go
If I set my feelings for him aside, and was honest about it, I can’t say that Max is what you’d call much use as terrier. He chases hares & deer when we are out walking, he scuttles off after the squirrels in the park and sees off the pigeons from the garden bird feeder but he’s never caught anything (on the rare occasions he has caught a rabbit it is generally because they are unfortunate enough to have mixxy, poor things).
it’s still in there
His failings are completely disproportionate to the enthusiasm and commitment he applies to digging when it is the task in hand and by that measure, he should be a phenomenal success.
Never mind, he keeps trying regardless of the small fact that he will NEVER catch them.
Hamlet Hound
Posted: March 22, 2013 Filed under: dogs, we love | Tags: dog, dog food, dog habits, dog walking, dog walks, dogs, Hamlet, jack russell terrier, JRT, london, pets, terrier, terriers, walking Leave a comment
he hides his face sometimes when he sleeps
Hamlet has been with us for about 6 months now and he seems settled, always delighted to see us and he is eating really well.
His appetite has, historically been a barometer for the state of his emotional health (read bonkers!). If he is off his food, he’s not a happy little dog and it signals a decline into a state of madness.
obsessing over a ball
This madness manifests itself in serious grumpiness, cowering, loss of appetite, endless licking (like anything!!), lots of sleeping and lots of barking. I truly believe he shows all the signs of severe misery!!
Hamlet is prone to being grumpy and a grumbler at the best of times but the level increases tenfold if he is fed up. Even when he is happy, he is prone to obsessive behaviour and a ball or toy is guaranteed to bring that out in him. I don’t think some of these things will ever change.
Old age is also starting to present itself and he is slowly losing his sight. There is milkiness to be seen in his eyes now and I think he gets startled and scared easily because he can’t see properly.
He has responded positively to our routine though and I think our relatively quiet and peaceful house suits him very well.
He’s a little treasure and we love having him with us
the ears say it all
When he is happy, he is a complete joy; he can’t wait for his mealtimes and will take your fingers off for a crumb given the chance, he stands expectantly at the door for his walks, he strides out and is even happy to see other dogs (that almost never used to happen!!!).
We put him on a raw diet the same as Max’s for ease and it seems to suit him, he looks fit and happy, he is slim and full of beans (between monumentally noisy sleeps!!).
He is still fundamentally the same weird little dog he has always been and I’m not surprised my sister misses him as much as she does.
lovely rheumy old eyes
let sleeping dogs lie
Posted: November 4, 2012 Filed under: dogs, friends and family, funny, life style, miscellaneous, we love | Tags: Conditions and Diseases, dog, dog habits, dogs, Health, jack russell terrier, JRT, pets, terriers 2 Comments
the sleep of the innocent
I don’t think Max is any cuter than when he is tucked up with his favourite blanket and is fast asleep.
anywhere will do
He’s a very easy little dog really, it is just so sad that he suffers with his skin so much. Apart form that, he is a good eater, a good sleeper and mostly does as he is told.
a scrunched up blanket on the floor
His ability to slumber is fabulous and I am endlessly envious. I am late to bed and early to rise with light sleep between so I don’t think I am doing very well on the sleep front. Humans all seem to suffer one way or another with sleep.
a cushion
Dogs on the other hand have it sussed. They grab 40 winks when they become available, are awake in a flash should the need arise, anywhere is suitable for a kip and there is none of this tiresome tooth brushing, hair brushing or washing business to deal with first.
a cosy chin and shoulder
The sleeping sitting or standing (the standing one that makes me laugh the most though and I’ve seen all dogs do it too).
here’s fine
With a bed or without.
a hammock is a great place to sleep
Hard surface or soft.
zzzzz
They will find the warmest spot they can, be it by your foot or the fire.
the fire is just about the best place
If remotely possible, they will find a way to sleep with you or with something that smells of you.
and if my blanket is here, well!
And no matter how small the spot, if the sun comes out, that is the best place to sleep right now!
any sunny spot
There are many aspect of well cared for dog’s lives that I envy but having sleep on tap has to be the main one!
chezlah 