Winter Fashion

Well the rain has stopped at last but now it has become very cold. We had a frost last night and even though the sun is shining it is very cold here today. So Leigh thought we could look out our winter jackets for a fashion shoot in the garden. That was fun for the hens who all came to watch!

I am modelling my bone pattern hoodie (from last year but I don't mind not being seen in the latest fashion :-))

Trilby has the red silk lined Burberry jacket although she was more interested in furtling than modelling!

and Aoife has the diamond quilt padded jacket in black - as you can probably see she was not impressed and said she couldn't even stand let alone walk in a jacket so she sat for the picture. Affenpinschers prefer to go au naturel and Alfie Crybbe couldn't even be persuaded to try his winter togs on. Maybe when the snow comes?

This is me and Trilby just checking that the stranger in the jacket wasn't really a stranger but a close relative BOL :-)

Our First Xmas Card & a Schnuggle of Schnauzers

We got our very first Christmas card this weekend! All the way from the Philippines with pretty stamps on the envelope. It was from our dear friend Haopee - thank you so much Haopee - our card is on its way to you :-) Trilby was so excited as she has never even had a Christmas card before she wanted to keep it by her bed so she could keep looking at it.

Look at those little baubles with the faces of our furry friends!

Our other news is that we will be getting a new carpet before Christmas so we won't be putting up our decorations just yet.

Somedoggy chewed a big hole in the stair carpet but we think they were just letting the peeps know it was time for a change. So we are getting a lovely new bright carpet in a couple of weeks. There will have to be a lot of moving things around and the house is getting all topsy-turvy clearing rooms for the carpet men to come. We decided to keep out of the way on the sofa and then what happened:

Hundreds of furry toy schnauzers joined us!

Trilby said the peeps called them Steiffs and said they were very old German schnauzers and not for playing with :-(  but she did manage to run off with a 50 year old 'Tessie' until Judith caught her and got it back. 

Fancy having all these toys and not one for playing with!!

Autumn Storms

Last night was very stormy and the rain has left the fields behind our garden full of puddles. We are lucky that we have the fields though to soak up some of the water - in some places in the UK the streets and houses have been flooded.

On my walk this morning we had to watch where we were walking for all the mud and water - I don't like to get my paws wet :-)

There were plenty of good smells though:

And when I got home we all went out to see what was happening in the garden. All the leaves are nearly gone from the trees now. The hens have leaves from the cherry tree in their run:

And we can see the birds in the silver birch like this wood pigeon catching some sunshine:

The only trouble with the leaves falling off the bushes is we can see peeps and dogs passing in the back lane and we just can't help but bark at them - it looks as though they're in our garden to us. Even with the gate we can look through and see them:

Me and Trilby

Aoife

and Crybbe putting back his head and letting them know this is OUR garden!

Then it's back indoors to check if there's anything tasty to eat :-)

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday - Kaska

Remembering Kaska who passed over the Rainbow Bridge a year today - always in our hearts.

Northern Schnauzer Club Championship Show

Hallo friends - it's been over a week now since I last blogged and that's because my peeps have been very busy. First they were getting things ready for the Northern Schnauzer Club show last weekend where they had a stall selling schnauzer goods and cards.....and then they've been trying to sort out all the boxes of schnauzer goodies they brought back home with them! As you can see from the photo above, me and Trilby have been catching up on our beauty sleep when we can find a sunny spot on the best bed :-)

This is one of the fun schnauzer items Judith & Leigh were selling in their little schnauzer club shop. They said they would like to buy all the things there but they have run out of money :-(

This is the picture of 2 minis and a frog on a set of place-mats.

and this is a cute pen pot or toothbrush mug!

They also have lots of lovely schnauzery Christmas cards and a special calendar for 2013 with pictures of schnauzers for every month. And guess what - my Trilby and Malfi are the August schnauzers :-)

Anyway a good day was had by us all - even Crybbe and Aoife went along to support the schnauzers and Trilby strutted her stuff in the ring and came away with a green rosette and card for Reserve. She was 4th out of eleven dogs so my peeps were very happy she had done so well. 

The Eye Test

This is where I have been today :-( - yes my bloggy friends the V-E-T!

The good news is though that I am not ill - but I have to have an eye test every year to make sure that I haven't got any of the eye problems that some poor mini schnauzers suffer with. It is sadly true that many mini schnauzers who are not loved and cared for are used to breed puppies in barns and sheds and they are never eye tested so if they have problems they pass these on to their babies too. Here I am waiting to be seen by the specialist eye vet:

Before I saw the vet I had to have my microchip scanned to make sure I was the Magic my peeps said I was.

You can see I was eager to know that everything was OK there!

Then when they knew it was me, I had to have drops put in both eyes:

Then we had to wait for half an hour for the drops to make my eyes ready for the eye test.

The vet was very friendly and he had lots of strange equipment and bright lights to shine in my eyes. It was too dark to take any photos in the vet's room but I can tell you that I officially am not affected by hereditary cataracts, congenital hereditary cataracts or progressive retinal atrophy - phew just as well Leigh was typing that :-) I had my Kennel Club papers stamped and signed by the vet to make it official and we got copies of my results to take home. Then it was back to the car for the journey home. It was quite a long way as we couldn't go to our regular vet. The tests have to be done by an eye specialist vet so we had to travel 35 miles to our nearest one - just as well it's only once a year :-)

Trilby gains her Good Citizen Award

This post is just a little celebration of my girl Trilby who gained her Bronze Good Citizen Award last weekend. She has wanted me to tell you about it all week :-) Here she is just checking the rosette is fixed right.

Yes Trilby I will tell everyone what you had to do. The test was held in the town of Harrogate which is a bit of a drive from where we live. There were quite a few dogs taking the test on the day and they didn't all get through :-( . For the test Trilby had to show that she can walk and behave properly when on lead, including walking through doorways and walking around other people and dogs, that she can stay in one position for 1 whole minute when asked to do so (very hard for Trilby!), that she can wait patiently while her handler is having a conversation and allow herself to be groomed and inspected calmly; that she will come when called. She had to wear a collar with identification tag and be on lead and Judith had to make sure she carried a supply of poop bags and knew the answers to the examiner's questions too. The full details are on the Kennel Club website if you are interested just click this link.

One last photo Trilby - I've got this award already too you know..but maybe not at only 7 months old :-) We are all proud of you baby!