Happy New Year!!

JD - We've been meaning to do this post for a few days now...

Max - ....but FH went and got something called 'flew' and O-M-D the FUSS she's been making!

JD - We'd have thought she would like having this 'flew' thing and would enjoy being able to float around and fly here and there, but ALL she's been doing is moaning and whinging and lying in bed - she's SO lazy!

Max - So we've been having fun with MH - all boys together! He's been taking us on our daily walkies and has been giving us our food and has been really generous with our treats....

JD - ....and now we're starting to wonder what it is that we actually need FH for - he he he!

JD gives one of his new Christmas stuffies a piggy back ride!

Max - But now we know! FH is getting better and is now out of bed and now WE'RE poorly with very bad tummies! Me especially - I've been barfing for a whole day now....bleurgh!

JD - Well, I'VE been a bit icky too - bleurgh!

Max - So now we're glad we've got FH back in action as, you know, she's REALLY good at clearing up after us, much better than MH apparently - well, according to us and MH anyway!

JD - So you see FH, we really HAVE missed you and we think we did well to hold off being poorly ourselves until you were well enough to take care of us - we're good like that!

Max - Anyway, we're finally going to show you a video of us opening the Christmas pressie that we got from FH and MH - we apologise in advance for FH's constant squeaking during it!

JD - And yes, you DID notice correctly that our pressie was wrapped in newspaper! We so enjoy tearing the wrappings off a gift that FH and MH now just wrap the majority of our pressies in newspaper - they claim they're saving the planet....

Max - ....but we know they're just tight, he he he!

JD - But regardless of our stingy humans we LOVE our new giant octopus - he's fab and REAL fun and VERY noisy. FH didn't realise quite HOW noisy he was when she got him for us - ha!

We show off Olly - he is totally COOL!

Max - However, even our fabulous new giant stuffie wasn't our main Christmas pressie!

JD - We're still so excited that we can hardly begin to tell you what it was that we got for Christmas!

Max - You see, our gift was the culmination of 2 years hard graft!

JD - Yes indeedy! After 2 years of living with our humans, of training them on a daily basis, of constant tutoring and patient guidance we have finally - FINALLY - got our humans well behaved enough to allow them to sleep in the same room as us!

Max - This is something we've been wanting to do since we first arrived here on the 19th December 2008, but we knew that the humans were FAR from ready!

JD - It has been a labour of love but they finally got there - we never lost hope!

FH - I'd just like to say that I've wanted the boys to sleep in the same room as us for a while but it's taken us a long time to get the house suitable as well as getting the boys comfortable enough with it. JD likes to sleep in his bed by the side of our bed - I now often wake up to JD staring at me - he's a good boy and waits for permission to hop up on the bed for a cuddle. Max likes to sleep at the foot of the bed draped across any convenient foot, which is especially nice at this cold time of year! Before they were allowed in the bedroom I'd been getting up at 5.30 am every single day as they used to make such a racket at that time . I now realise I have a couple of dogs who are very happy to sleep in and on Christmas Day I was treated to a lie-in until 8.00 am which was absolutely wonderful! So I'm pretty over the moon about this situation too!

Max - Okay FH, enough of the 'blah blah' - this is OUR blog we think you'll find!

No real reason for this photo except that FH really likes it - and we think our tails look pretty nifty too!

JD - We hope that everyone had a happy new year! Unfortunately FH was too poorly to enjoy it and says that we're going to celebrate next weekend instead!

Max - We think that means she's going to open some bubbly and wear something other than sweats with dog-slobber on....

JD - ....which means she'll expect us to be on our best behaviour - sigh!!

UPDATED!! Wordless Wednesday Interupption - JD is in Surgery....

FH - I apologise to Max for cutting in on his WW photo but I just wanted to let our pals know that I've just come back from the Vets without JD - his paw unexpectedly took a turn for the worse last night and he's been kept in for surgery.

I feel so guilty about my quips about him only limping to try and get round me when he was being told off for being naughty now, but he's done this kind of thing before - he's too bright for his own good sometimes!

He was walking almost perfectly by Monday, he started limping again quite badly last night so we gave him a thorough paw inspection but could not see any reason why he would be in pain again. So we put it down to him possibly overdoing it and irritating the small wound where the grass seed had been. However, this morning he woke up very distressed and the entire inside of his front left leg was swollen and puffy - there was obviously a lot of fluid in there.

We got him to the Vet as soon as we could and they wanted to sedate him immediately to either drain or cut away whatever it is that is bothering him - it might not actually be a grass seed, the fact that we fished one out of his paw a few days earlier might actually turn out to be totally unconnected. They're going to try and carry this out under local anaesthetic but it will depend how distressed he gets - apparently most dogs need to have general anaesthetic for this sort of procedure.

So I signed the consent forms and left the Vets one dog down. Poor Max has been searching the house for him since we got back. I know it's not as if he's having a paw amputated or as if he's got anything seriously wrong with him, but this is the first time one of my boys has had anything wrong with them that I haven't been able to fix myself and I hate that. But I suppose, as a relatively new dog owner, I'm gonna need to get used to this kind of thing.

I wanted to share this news with our pals and ask you to send some good vibes our way - poor JD does have a sensitive stomach and I'm a bit worried about the effects the anaesthetic might have on him. I'll update this post as soon as we have more news from the Vets - in the meantime here is a cute photo of the boys to keep you all going....

Synchronisity!

**UPDATE**

FH - Hi everyone, thank you for your good wishes and positive vibes. JD is now back from the Vets, curled up on his favourite spot on the sofa - he'll probably sleep for the rest of the evening. He has three stitches in his paw and ALL his paws have been shaved by the Vet, as requested by us. They pulled a HUGE grass dart out of his paw - it had gone under his paw-pad and had been festering and (cover your ears and eyes Miss Mayzie!) had even sprouted a few blades of grass - ewwww! No wonder he was in pain, poor boy.

JD dreams about turning into a blade of grass!!

He needs to go back next Friday to have his stitches removed and our main problem will be to stop Max from nibbling his stitches! As soon as his stitches are out we're going to get both of the boys a 'nudie' cut. They were cut and groomed just two weeks ago, but in this hot weather their fur seems to be growing so fast you can almost see it getting longer in front of your eyes!

A very poorly paw indeed!

JD meanwhile seemed to have a nice time at the Vets - he came out with rice in his woozle as they'd even given him a light meal of boiled rice and chicken! All the nurses there were cooing over him and I think he was actually quite disappointed to be leaving!!

I know of dogs that have sadly lost their hearing and eyesight because of these pesky grass seeds so all in all I'm quite thankful that my poor boy 'only' had one in his paw. I still feel like a lousy owner for not spotting it though.....sigh!

Poorly sick!

JD - We've had an awful few days - awful!

Max - We've had no Internet connection since Sunday evening so we haven't been able to visit our pals AND we've both been poorly sick!

Poorly boys crash out on the sofa!

JD - Bleurgh - you said it bro'!

Max - Poor JD has been suffering a little bit more than me. He started throwing up on Monday morning and it has - erm - well, now moved through to his other end! I have a sturdier constitution than my brother and although I threw up this morning that was about it for me.

JD - I feel dreadful - groan!

JD - "Oooh, my tummy hurts!"
Max - "Mine too bro' - oh woe is us!"

Max - I hate to see JD suffer alone so I've been keeping him company. We're doing a great dual 'woe is me' routine for the humans!

JD - Bleurgh!!

Max - I even persuaded FH to let him have a special teddy to cuddle to make him feel better! We think it worked as he had a real good sleep on the bear!

JD - "Snuffle, snuffle! Ahh, Miss Scarlett Bear sure helps a pup feel a bit better!"

JD - We're sorry we haven't visited you for a while - what with the Internet and the ickies we haven't had a chance!

Max - Before we leave today we'd like to alert you to three things! Firstly, please do go over to visit our pal Scottie as his little brother Kenji is ill and they're not too sure what's wrong, so please do visit him to send some positive vibes as we know this will help him to feel better.

JD - On a happier note our blog sweetheart Sasha - sigh, beautiful Sasha! - has a new little brother called Rupert! He's a rescue doggie and is really handsome - well, he IS a Schnauzer cross so it's hardly surprising! We know he'd love it if you could swing by to say hi and welcome him to the blogosphere!

Max - And finally our bestest bloggie pal in the whole World, Oskar, will be holding a fun game over the weekend called 'blog about your people day!' It's going to be great - you can get details by clicking on the icon below, but we've also copied a little narrative from Oskar's blog......

"Starting next Friday, July 16th, my mom person will put a Mr. Linky on my blog for everyone to hook up their people posts. We will leave it up for the weekend for people to link up whatever day is most convenient for them. Will you play along? Please spread the word to all of your bloggie friends by including the button in your post & you can even put it on your sidebar now if you want for people to come learn about "People Day". I hope you all join me!"


JD - What a great idea Oskar - we can't wait to play!

Max - We hope to catch up with your blogs over the next few days but please bear with us as FH is still having to look after us! She was up most of last night with JD and has spent a good part of today mopping and cleaning....

JD - Bleurgh!!!!!