DYLAN'S DIARY - RECOLLECTIONS FROM HOME

In My Prime

Once again I must apologise to all my friends for having deserted you for so long, I think it was last June that I was in touch but for various reasons I seem to have had writer's block and nothing was going to shift it.

Needless to say, you haven't really missed that much as the back half of last year was pretty uneventful. Both Mum and Dad were working which meant that we didn't spend so much time at the caravan as in previous years and that meant less time on the beach much to my dismay as the roads and fields around home are not much compensation. I know it sounds silly but I feel a lot safer running around on the beach, I don't get those feelings of paranoia whenever there is a loud bang or something unexpected happens and I just wish I was curled up indoors. It's something that I have had to live with since I was born. I know what caused it but I can't tell anyone which makes it all the worse as I can sense Mum and Dad becoming more and more exasperated with me. Apparently my predecessor Stormy was fanatical about walks and was never happier than when out for hours on end. I just wish I could be like that but those demons in my head don't help!

Safe and Sound

With all my foibles, the options for me to go out are becoming less and less. Wherever I go, strange noises always seem to arise and that sets me off, heading for home. Fortunately, I do have the sense to wait at the gate but I remember once a couple of years ago when I didn't and all hell let loose as I ran across the main road and headed for the house unbeknown to my Dad who was frantically searching for me around the local estate. I got the feeling that I was definitely not flavour of the month for a while. Hopefully that was a one-off and my homing instinct will not out-weigh my common sense!

It's normally this time of year that talk turns to when we will off to the caravan, the beaches (Hooray!) and wining and dining al fresco but this year things seem very muted. I rather think that not all is well with my Mum, lots of her friends keep popping in to see her and she is out a lot with talk of hospitals, appointments and operations. I must admit that I have not been at my best lately, getting very worked up at all the comings and goings which is not helping. To cap it all, I have now got an ear infection which is really irritating me so we had a quick trip to the vet. Unfortunately she immediately spotted that I was a bit overweight due to too much of the good life and not enough exercise, so onb top of everything else guess who is now on a diet!  They have also given me some tablets to try and calm me down and get rid of the demons in my head but all this is really trivial to what my poor Mum is going through and I just hope and pray that I can help her to get better so we can all enjoy the Summer together.

Well I think that is enough for now and I will be in touch again soon, hopefully with lots of good news about both my Mum and me, not forgetting my dear old Dad as well.



Absence Makes The Heart Grow Fonder

HOME COMFORTS

It seems absolutely ages since I was here, actually it is only couple of months but I am very sorry for the absence which I am sure you can understand was mainly  out of my control.

It was back in March that I had my first pampering session, wasn't too keen to start with, strange people, strange surroundings but in the end I thoroughly enjoyed it. You know me, I do like a fuss being made of me and I did smell nice at the end of it, very fragrant. Rumour has it  that there could be a return visit in a couple of months time. It was a shame that I didn't have a good looking girl to show off to but I think my efforts in that department have been put on permanent hold after my exploits with Gracie. Talking of which I hear that my daughter Daisy is still behaving in a way that would make her dear old Dad proud. Hopefully we can meet up soon and have a bit of a bonding session in a nice field somewhere. I often wonder how the rest of the family are getting on, I do hope that they found good homes and are as well looked after as me and will be keen to carry non the Dylan line.

My beach-combing activities have been a bit limited so far this year as we haven't been to the caravan much. I did spend a few days down there with my Mum early in May but it was very quiet and the weather wasn't too brilliant. Dad hasn't taken me down there at all but he does seem to be very busy especially in the evenings, he keeps popping out for a few hours and then coming back late at night with some very tasty morsels which I understand are called pizzas and are hard to refuse but not good for the waistline! We may try to get down to the caravan this weekend for a couple of days which would be good especially as I hear that the dogfish are back on the beach! I have to admit I do miss New Quay even if a lot of the time we just sit ther and gaze out to sea and imagine Dolphins as far as the eye can see. I can't see the attraction, to me one fish is as good as another and you can't beat a nice smelly dogfish and the added advantage is you don't have to go too far to find them!

I'll be in touch soon and let you know how we get on at the caravan if we get that far and generally pass the time of day.   

DYLAN'S DARLING

DYLAN'S DARLING

Sorry I haven't been in touch lately but hopefully the wait is worth it! Yes, this is my daughter Daisy! Isn't she lovely, certainly takes after her dear old Dad. She was two months old when this photo was taken in December so she has grown up a lot more now and does appear to be a chip off the old block.

It hasn't taken her long to learn the art of digging holes in the garden and chewing cables although I must admit that the latter was never one of my favourite pastimes. I was more into tissue paper and the post if it was left unattended on the mat. I love to nose in people's pockets and extract tissues if they are there. I sometimes think I could be a canine Artful Dodger or maybe Fagin with Daisy as the Dodger, we could make a good team.

MUM AND DAD

GRACIE AND THE PUPS

I know Daisy is in a good home and I hope that the other ten of my offspring are also being well looked after. It's strange to think that I am only two but the father to eleven kids, perhaps I shouid call it a day now. I doubt whether Gracie (the pups mum) would want to see me around again. I think she had a hard time of it, I'm not surprised with that number of hungry mouths to feed but she coped wonderfully well and I am very proud of her. Gracie and the pups, sound like a rock band!

Well time to close but a date for your diaries, at the end of this month I'm off for my first pampering at the local beauty parlour, just in time for the first appearance of the year in my country abode.

My Little Foibles



JUST WHAT A GOOD BEACH IS FOR



Much is made of a dog's ability to walk and run and I am sure it is very laudable but I have to say that at this moment in time I am not very keen

and this seems to have created a bit of a problem with my Mum and Dad. Apparently my predecessor, Stormy, was mad keen on 'walkies' and seemed to have set a bit of a precedent. He was out for hours on end and loved nothing better than chasing after a frisbee or a stick. I think my Dad naturally assumed I would be the same but I can't really dredge up any enthusiasm or interest. Chasing after, catching and retrieving a frisbee does not compare in my eyes to a really good sniff!

Walking off the lead I don't mind too much but I cannot stand being on the lead. I'm not too sure why but I think it goes back to when I was very young, only a few weeks old on the farm, and used to be held by the scruff of the neck. The result is I don't like anyone touching me around that area and having a collar on is a pain. When a lead is attached it's even worse and any desire for a walk soon disappears.

As I said before I am quite highly-strung and this doesn't help when going for a walk. Sometimes I am fine but other times I just do not want to go out and just want to stay safe indoors. Even when I am out, the slightest little thing can set me off. I remember one of the first times we were down on Cei Bach beach early in the morning and nobody about, the whole beach to ourselves or so I thought for far in the distance I could see this one solitary figure coming towards us. At first I didn't think anything of it but as he came closer wrapped in his 'hi-vis' bright yellow jacket, he took on the guise of a demon and I was off, back along the beach,up the path and back to the car without stopping. Poor old Dad arrived sometime later and I am not sure to this day whether he had a look of despair that I had run off or one of relief that I was safe.

Noise is another thing that get's me going, not necessarily loud noises but one's that are repetitive. I often go for a walk in the farm fields near us or down by the river but unfortunately there is an Army firing range nearby and although the firing is not loud I do not like the constant 'popping' sound and I'm afraid that is the end whenever it starts.Apparently, a dog living just up the road, he got spooked by the same noise a few years ago and ended up a few miles away and lost for a fortnight. Touch wood it hasn't got that bad yet!

When Stormy died, Mum and Dad were not sure about getting another dog and decided that if they did, then they didn't want one too similar to Stormy. Well I can assure them that their wish has come true but I hope that I can make up for their loss and in my own way, be just as much a companion as he was. 

Introduction - Part 2

MY COUNTRY SEAT

Good Morning and to continue, once I was over my tummy troubles or at least the worst of them, I found that I had more than one home and was pleasantly surprised to be whisked off to my other home by the sea, a caravan in New Quay,what treats were in store running on the beaches, skipping through the mud and generally being made a fuss of by all and sundry.

Now I have to admit I think I was put on this earth to sniff and there is nothing like a good beach for sniffing, endless sea-weed and for the first year I was there, a good supply of dead dog-fish. Even better, you could pick them up, put them down, roll over on them, anything but eat them. The only problem was the proverbial stink in more ways than one when I got back to the caravan. However you are only young once and you've got to have a bit of fun.

There are some lovely beaches around New Quay but on the whole I was not too keen on the ones closest to the caravan as there were normally too many people around and anyway during the Summer months they were closed to the likes of me. I should admit at this stage that I am quite a nervous dog. don't know why, some people say it's because of my problems when I was first born but whatever I don't think I will ever change. The end result is that any strange noises or people and I am off. However, my favourite beaches are at Cei Bach, normally empty and the main source of the dog-fish, and Poppit Sands, never seen so much sand and if ever it is busy, there are always the dunes to get lost in.

All in all it is a lovely place to spend the Summer and can't wait to get back there this year. If the weather isn't up to much, I love sitting gazing out the window at all the comings and goings or just lying on the decking in the shade and having a surreptitious nibble at the plants growing there. The first year we were there I always seemed to be on the move, whenever Mary and Dave, Mum and Dad as I call them, went out I went too. I didn't mind as I like travelling in the car, I like confined spaces as it makes me feel safe. I don't think they trusted me to stay in the caravan on my own, can't think why not! This last year things were a bit different and I spent a bit of time on my own which was no bad thing.

Even at the tender age of two, it's funny how the opportunity of a bit of sex can concentrate the mind! Everybody seemed to think I was up for it and it was a bit like an arranged marriage. I was taken off to see Gracie, another Retriever and very nice too. They all stood about and waited for us to perform so we couldn't let them down and we didn't. The end result was fifteen, yes fifteen puppies. I did feel sorry for Gracie. she had a hard time of it. Unfortunately only eleven survived but hopefully have all gone to good homes like me. One of them, Daisy, is living with a friend of Mums and has already been up to no good chewing cables, she has not got that habit from me, I can assure you.

That has basically got us up to date so I hope you will to continue to accompany me on my journey.

Introduction - Part 1



 Hi,

GLAD TO BE HERE

I'm Dylan, a Golden Retriever, and welcome to my Diary. Unfortunately due to the ignorance of my owner for all things technical (especially blogging), we have not really started at the beginning so please allow me a bit of time to back-track and introduce myself and bring you up-to-date with what has happened in the first two years of my life.

I was born on a farm in West Wales in September 2008 and spent the first couple of months with my brothers and sisters which was comforting but there was little human affection. In fact, there was very little contact with anybody and we were left in a dark damp outhouse. Whilst we were all together it wasn't too bad but gradually the other puppies started to disappear until there was only one brother and myself left. I couldn't understand what was happenung and by now, I wasn't feeling too well. I think my brother was feeling the same as he was making some funny whining noises.

Early in November, everything changed when we were hauled outside, one under each arm to be inspected by prospective owners, we must have looked a funny sight with me trembling and my brother whining. I don't know how they chose me as we were pretty similar except for my brother's slightly darker coloured ears but the gods must have been smiling on me as I was the chosen one and the last I saw of my brother was being put in a cage to be taken off to other prospective owners. In retrospect, I hope that he has been as lucky as me. With little delay, I was in the car and off to my new home and I have to say that never has the saying 'parting is such sweet sorrow' been so irrelevant!

Despite moving to my new home in Chepstow, the next couple of months were a struggle, not only to shake off the memories of the past but I was still feeling ill and seemed to spend  my time in the garden making a mess. All I heard was the comment that it looked like the Somme on a bad day! It transpired that I had got Coccidiosis and Campylobacter infection at the same time which takes some doing and I was quite poorly for a while. Several visits to the vet were required and at the time I was a real pill-popper. 

I think that is enough for now and in my next blog I will bring you further up-to-date with what has happened to me so far.