Somewhere Over the Rainbow

Yesterday was a very sad day for us all. My brother Kaska crossed over the Rainbow Bridge and we are missing him very much. I will get back to blogging again soon about my adventures but today Leigh is putting up a kind of memory tree of pictures of Kaska from when he first came to live with the family eleven years ago.

Here is Kaska the day he arrived as a little ball of fluff being inspected by Maisie who was head of the canine household back then.

Kaska investigating the guinea pigs' run.

Kaska needing a hair cut!

Kaska in his show cut. He won many prizes at dog shows and became the very first miniature schnauzer dog to gain 1st place in the Good Citizen Dog class at Crufts in 2004 the year it was first introduced.

Kaska (centre) on the Norfolk Broads with his sisters Maisie (L) and Zeta (R).

On holiday in Wales with Maisie (R) and Zeta (L)

Kaska on his 11th birthday this August.

Kaska with his Dog of Courage Awards from DBARC in recognition of his struggle with disability after his spinal cord trauma.

Kaska on an outing the day before he died.

"Goodnight sweet prince and flights of angels sing thee to thy rest"

A Tiring Week

Hi this is me - Caoimhe taking over Magic's blog for a day. I thought I would show you a picture of me modelling a lovely Christmas bandana made by Dex & Lou's Mum for the Northern Schnauzer Club shop. I wanted to wear it all day but I was entered for a show and had to take it off. Leigh said it would be safer on a Steiff schnauzer whatever that is! Here is my rival for the bandana with Alfie Crybbe posing beside it:

Our whole canine family went to the Northern Schnauzer Club Championship show on Saturday as Leigh & Judith are running the shop to raise funds for the club. They have lots of schnauzery things and people came to buy their Christmas cards and stocking fillers.

There were so many schnauzers at the show from minis of different colours to standards and Giants! I was just old enough to enter as a minor puppy and there were eleven other puppies in the ring with me. I wasn't too sure about those others especially one who kept making faces at me. Anyway I didn't win anything but I did get chicken treats just the same and met lots of people who thought I was very smart even if I didn't get a prize. I have another show next month in Birmingham so I will let you know how I get on there.

Anyway when we got home I wanted to play with my toys but after a little while I was so tired I just fell asleep with my Teddy. We had been up at 5 am and even we dogs don't usually get up that early!

Bark and Read

This is Aoife posing with one of her favourite books to help me tell you about a new scheme being launched in the UK this weekend. It's called Bark and Read! Sadly there are lots of children who don't know how to read even though they are going to school. They get scared about making mistakes and being laughed at if they say the wrong word so they just don't look at books. Of course if they were like Caoimhe they would probably be eating them!

But as you know we dogs are not so mean as to laugh if someone makes a mistake and we are quite happy to lie down and snooze if little peeps want to read us a story - we won't mind if they don't know a word or stumble when they read. This kind of scheme has been successful in the United States and now the Kennel Club in England are launching a foundation to support schemes like Pets as Therapy and Reading Education Assistance Dogs that take dogs into classrooms so that children can read to them and become more confident about reading books.

It is being launched at Discover Dogs which is a big event where people can go and meet dogs and find out about different breeds - and about this new scheme. It is on at the weekend 12-13 November at Earls Court in London. Children under 12 go free and can go and read to dogs in a special area set aside for them.

If you want to know more about it you can find it on the Kennel Club website:
www.thekennelclub.org.uk/barkandread

We think it is a very good idea because if the little peeps grow up not knowing how to read how are they going to read about our blogging adventures or the books that tell them about how to look after us? You have to plan for the future and little peeps are our future owners!

I also wanted to tell you about a great day I had yesterday at York Racecourse but it was so dark and misty the pictures did not come out very well! That was Leigh's excuse anyway but we met a lovely mini schnauzer puppy called Daisy with her owner and had a good time chasing seagulls:

This is Daisy in her lovely bandana and here she is with me. I'm looking a bit cross because I thought Daisy might have been going to get a treat for her lovely pose!

I did so much running on that racecourse that when I got home I just had to snooze for the rest of the evening - and my sister lay down to keep me company even though she hadn't been running at all!

Do they know it's nearly Christmas?

Here's a picture of me and Aoife enjoying the sunshine in...November! Leigh is busy making the Christmas cake and buying Christmas presents and in the garden it is warm and sunny and the flowers are still blooming:

This lovely rose is called Gertrude Jekyll after a famous English garden designer and writer. It hasn't bloomed until now! And the borders are still bright:

Oh well if the flowers don't know it's nearly Christmas maybe we shouldn't worry either. My little sister Aoife has never seen a winter yet - I won't tell her about the snow and ice and frost and -15C last year. Just let her enjoy the sunshine:

K9 Life Rules

There seems to have been so much unhappy news on the TV that when Leigh found a little piece in the dog magazine about canine life rules she thought maybe if more peeps took notice of dogs there might not be so much bad news. So she's put a few of the comments here and added some of her own:

Always be happy to greet loved ones when they come home - or even just visiting!

Never pass up an opportunity to go out for a ride in the fresh air with the wind in your face.

Run, romp and play daily.

Just because someone doesn't look like you doesn't mean you don't share the same interests.

No matter how often you get in trouble don't bear a grudge and don't buy into the guilt thing - run back and make friends.

Take plenty of naps and stretch before rising.

If what you want is buried, dig until you find it.

Delight in the simple joy of a long walk.

On warm days relax, lie down on the grass and enjoy the sun.

When someone is having a bad day, be silent, sit close by and nuzzle them gently.... And remember if all else fails a cup of tea can do wonders to cheer you up:

Wishing all our K9 friends and their peeps and other furry companions a great day!

What a difference 4 months make!

This was my little sister Caoimhe when she came to live with us on 1 July 2011 - a sweet little bundle of schnauzer furryness.

Her puppy toys were all she needed to keep her happy - such an innocent little pup!

4 months later - she's not such a sweet pup - with her eye on the wine and puppy toys long forgotten!

She's trying to let on she's a wine taster - just a little drop and she'll spit it out - oh no!
Of course we dogs would never really be allowed to drink wine. Water is our only tipple although Leigh is adding some apple cider vinegar to the water now to try and keep our beards whiter - I'll let you know if it works. We're having visitors this week so I may not be able to blog for a little while but I'll keep following my blog-friends when I can.

Convalescence and Calming Bands

I had a little message from our schnauzer pals Dex & Lou wondering if all is well here so I thought I would do a little post to let you know we're all still OK. Here's me and Caoimhe lying on the rug by the cooker to keep warm - it is getting very cold here now at night. Judith & Leigh have both been quite poorly with colds and coughs and sore throats that made their voices all squeaky but they're getting better now so I've been able to get going on the computer again :-)

Caoimhe is taking no chances on getting a cold and has a little jumper on to keep her warm. I have one too but I try not to wear it for photographs. Actually Caoimhe has been in disgrace a bit here too because she is so-o barky with dogs and people she meets. Sweet as anything at home and then as soon as she goes out and sees a dog or some person decides to try and talk to her she goes WILD! So Judith & Leigh are trying all sorts of remedies to try and calm her down. She's had her food changed for some new crunchy kibble, she has some herbal calming tablets...and this strange thing called a 'calming band':

It looks a bit scary to me but it's just a soft piece of elasticated fabric that fits over her nose and lets her know when she's barking - well I think unless she's deaf she ought to know! But it does seem to be working so she will wear it at her training class tonight and see if she can manage not to bark at all the other dogs there like she usually does.

She's giving me a cross look now for telling everyone what she's like :-)
Anyway as there haven't been any exciting outings or visits to blog about recently I thought I would make you smile with this picture of some very quiet schnauzers.... just a small part of Judith & Leigh's schnauzer toy collection: