Trail of Destruction!

I've been trying to remember everything the puppies have destroyed over the last 9 months, but the list is so long I simply can't remember everything but here's what I can remember.

5 pairs of shoes
1 pair of sandals
1 pair of slippers
1 pair of flip flops
chewed through telephone cable (twice!)
chewed plug off table lamp.
chewed through hose pipe.
Max has chewed through 4 of Pepsi's collars (while he was wearing them!)
One pair of spectacles (not funny, cost £300 for a replacement!)
Dug out a patch of carpet 8" x 3" on the landing (after we had just found a buyer for the house!)
Chewed through several sections of the garden lighting wiring (see previous)
Stripped large patches of wallpaper from the kitchen and rear hall walls.
Totally shredded several complete rolls of toilet paper.
Dragged out Ians computer briefcase and chewed the zip pocket off as well as some of the contents including a calculator and various computer connections (fortunately the laptop wasn't in it at the time - phew!).
Bent the frame of the dog door.
Chewed up at least 3 door mats
Dug out a large potted palm leaving soil across a 10ft square area of carpet.
Pepsi knocked off and broke a beautiful Waterford crystal bowl that was on the lounge windowsill.

That's it for starters, I'll add more as I think of them.

Then of course there's all the expensive trips to the vet!

1) Pepsi sustains a suspected broken leg and needs x rays etc.
2) Consumption of a bag of foil covered chocolate coins necessitating a mad dash across town to see emergency vet on Christmas Eve to get their stomachs emptied (turns out it was Pepsi ate the lot and poor Max went through it for nothing!).
3) Pepsi splits his dew claw and has to have it removed.
4) Max develops rash and has to have antibiotics, cream and special shampoo.
5) We get Pepsi & Max deknackered to stop them humping each other! boy were they confused, especially Pepsi who used to hump Max's head!

Life is never boring with the boys!!!

Andrex Puppies!!!!!

Pepsi & Max have just come in from the garden filthy dirty and proceeded to trash the back lobby and adjoining bathroom. Not only have they liberally spread mud around, they've shredded a toilet roll they found in the bathroom and started redecorating by stripping off some of the wallpaper! I love that 'Who me?' expression on Pepsi's face, talk about butter not melting in the mouth!

This is Max aged 4 months taken on 14/1/2005. He has got to be one of the most laid back dogs I know, if he was any more laid back he'd be horizontal. (which actually he is for much of the time, the only time he becomes really animated is at dinner time when he goes into a lovely little dance). If Pepsi didn't keep him on his toes and give him a good runaround several times a day he'd be a real little pudding. We weighed them both yesterday and Max was a pound heavier than Pepsi, despite him being 3 months younger!!!! We really have to watch him, he can finish off Dinner in 30 seconds flat (and frequently does, I've timed him!) and then goes after Pepsi's.

Pepsi at 6 months old

Pepsi is a real sweetie, but if there is trouble, whether it be of the chewing , peeing, pooing or eating variety he is usually behind it!

Well that was Christmas that was!

Well Christmas started as it meant to go on. My daughter rang on Thursday from Devon to say she wouldn't be coming to stay for Xmas that afternoon as she had just run into the back of a 4x4 with a large towbar and spare tyre which had not done her radiator and bonnet a lot of good! Fortunately her dad came to the rescue and got her back to his place and then bless him, drove her all the way up here that evening so she wouldn't miss out on the family festivities.

Mark came up on Friday afternoon and helped us clear out the spare room so they could sleep in there the rest of their stay. Its such a relief to have that room sorted out. We had to get rid of an awful lot of rubbish to make space for the two beds.

Friday evening was interesting too! I'd popped up stairs fot the vacuum cleaner for the spare room and checked on the pupsicles and they were fine. Half an hour later Ian went up to be greeted by the sight of the two of them sitting in their crate surrounded by bits of gold foil with an air of innocence on their faces. On investigation he realised that this was the remains of a whole bag of chocolate coins that they had somehow managed to drag into the crate and extricate the chocolate from the wrappers! We knew chocolate was not good for dogs, but not how bad, so I did a search on the internet to find it can be lethal! There is a substance in chocolate which they cannot digest and is absorbed by the liver and then recycled constantly around the dogs system building up toxicity which can eventually be lethal, giving them a very unpleasant death. Fortunately we knew roughly how long it must have been since they ate it and how much (approx 65g!) so rang the vet straight away.

Of course it being Xmas Eve the only vet on duty was the other side of Bournemouth so we bundled them both into the pet carrier and raced across town. The vet was waiting for us and rushed them straight into the surgery to induce them to vomit up what they had eaten.

Fifteen minutes later he brought them back into the waiting room and informed us that Pepsi was the main offender as he seemed to have eaten most if not all of the chocolate. So poor Max had had to be treated for no good reason, but we couldn't have taken a chance as we simply didn't know who had eaten what. As Ian was paying the bill - a painful £94.00! - I heard Pepsi retching and dashed to get him out of the crate just as he threw up over poor Max's head. We pulled him out far enough to put some paper down under his head to vomit on but then to add insult to injury he started to get diarrhea out the back end which as he was standing just in front of Max again poor Max bore the brunt. We hauled Pepsi out onto the floor of the waiting room and there followed a merry game as we tried to get him to stay still so we could keep the mess he was making to the paper towels we were putting down. Alas it was not to be! I have to say the vet and his assistant were very good about it all. They even took them away again and cleaned them up as best they could.

Of course as soon as we got them home again we gave them a bath each. Max was the first to get the treatment and then it was Pepsi's turn. On coming back into the study with Pepsi we found that Max had crapped in his crate and so it was back in the bath again! This is not what one particularly wants to be doing on Xmas Eve!

Should have gone to the opticians today for my new specs but somehow just couldn't get the energy to make the effort - plus the thought of all those crowds doing their Christmas shopping was enough to put the kybosh on that plan. Will just have to wait until after Christmas, tough! Ian went up to Salisbury to see his kids this morning so I had a lovely lazy morning with the Creatures from the Black Lagoon. Had intended taking Max for his first walk today but as its been raining too much had to resort to putting him on his new lead and walking him up and down the landing! He does seem to be getting more used to it so hopefully when we do finally get to take him out he'll be as quick as Pepsi was.

Although he's a pure bred scotty dog he looks more like a daschund as he has a long body with very short legs. Our vet tells us this is normal and as he gets older he'll start looking more like a proper scotty, but he's so comical looking at the moment we can't help but laugh.

Well we finally got round to starting to put up the Christmas decs this afternoon. Two long multi coloured rope lights draped around the study, along with an optic fibre xmas tree and candle bridge lights in each of the 3 windows. looks great from outside. Ian actually bumped into some of the neighbours who live opposite and they were asking when we were going to put the decs up as they enjoy them so much so he was able to tell them they'd see them when they get home. Still have to put the tree up in the lounge and decorate that and also the outside lights. Icicle lights round the bay window and multi colour lights down the length of the fence. Oh nearly forgot the curtain lights for the lounge windows! So still a lot to do! Looks like we're going to be busy tomorrow, as we still have to clear out the spare bedroom for Sam and Kieran to stay when they come for Xmas. Arrrgh!!!!

Pepsi has finally mastered coming down the stairs on his own which is great as it was getting to be a pain having to carry him down every time he needed to go out. I attempted to get Max to go up on his own but he wasn't having any of it and I could see he was still too small really so it'll be a little while before he can make it.

Ian came back from the supermarket with the ham for Christmas and is buried in recipes as to which is the best way to prepare it with glazes and cloves and the whole shooting match. He's having so much fun planning the Christmas Dinner. He's got a special turkey on order and is going to prepare it the way he did last year which was superb. He cooks the crown and legs seperately and stuffs the legs before wrapping them in buttered foil. Last year they were sensational. I'm getting hungry just thinking about it!

Well its Christmas next week and I've got a stinker of a cold, plus its now gone to my chest and I'm coughing all the time, which is very annoying and painful. Have had to have the last few days off work with it, which would have been useful, but all I want to do is sleep, as I am coughing most of the night. Doesn't seem to bother Ian - he just sleeps through it!

Just looked down at the puppies, Pepsi & Max (aka Beelzebub & Mephistopheles, the Creatures from the Black Lagoon!) They were wrestling and Pepsi had Max in a full nelson- they are so funny to watch when they play together. They are being very good today (it cant last) Neither has done a pooh off the pads and little Maxsie has only had one wet accident on the carpet which is such a relief as they were a nightmare yesterday and really drove us to the wall! But they are so sweet we have to forgive them and just hope this 'phase' wont last much longer - of course we realise we are probably just kidding ourselves! This could go on for a very long time, particularly with Pepsi being a Westie. Max is still very young at only 10 weeks but caught on to the puppy pads from the word go, he seems much more mature than Pepsi, despite being 3 months younger, but I think Scottie dogs are much more cool, calm and collected than the 'mad' Westie!

I spoke too soon - just found a Pepsi pooh out on the landing carpet, despite there being a pad only a foot away- he just doesn't seem to get it! Anyway they have both been banished to the Black Lagoon (the puppy pen) for the time being.

We watched the Royal Variety Performance last night which was very entertaining and saw a medly from The Producers with Nathan Lane and Lee Evans. It looked great fun and I've always loved the movie so I checked out Ebay for tickets and found a package with good seats and overnight accommodation in a very nice 5 star hotel called the Langham. It's just off Regent Street so is very handy for shopping and sightseeing as well. So I've booked this up for us as a special treat for New Years Day. I will have the chance to wear my new full length fur coat (faux of course!) which I've just got off Ebay so I'll be able to sashay around town in that - great fun!

Ian has just come down from the loft where he has spent the last hour or so putting down loftboards so we can use it as a proper store room. Mainly for Xmas decs, up until now we have just been piling them around the hatch. We seem to have accumulated an awful lot. I was amazed at the number of boxes that came down this year. We have also got a lot of my mums stuff piled in the spare room which can now go into the loft - and probably never see the light of day again! sadly I just can't bring myself to get rid of it.