I should know better

The family planning method you can really rely on....

I took this picture in our local chemist`s. It illustrates the traditional Scottish method of contraception: you kick the bugger out of bed and replace him with a little rubber bag filled with hot water in a cosy tartan cover.

This method is guaranteed to be one hundred percent successful, and probably acceptable to most religions.

.....Tamara`s five week old daughter Rio, who finds her aunt Solitaire a very soft touch when it comes to play. In the background her brother is making inroads on the furniture.

I forgot to turn off the TV, so you are also being treated to an authentic Scottish news update !

The right way to travel to dog shows......

This is the height of the show season for me, with a Championship show every weekend and the routine of packing up everything - World War II was won with less equipment than I take - and boarding the old white bus about midnight with Allegra (bouncing with excitement), Marcus (dreaming of all those bitches) and Truly (throwing up).

Last weekend was a show at a venue almost on the south coast, the farthest I will go. 800 miles on a coach with dogs - some of them Bassets -gentle reader, just don`t go there. Easier to harness the dogs and try for the South Pole instead

And when we arrived it was hot. Not even any mud. Fainting Peke weather. In September !

Papillons cope quite well with heat Marcus did feel it, but with the big dark eyes of all those girls waiting for their turn upon him, he refused to show it, and did his little best, to win a large class. As we waited our turn for the judge, he searched out the owners of bitches at the ringside and gave them melting and confiding glances....."I am just what you and your girls need"

Truly said she would probably drop her tail and I told her in fractured Swedish what would happen to her if she did, and she didn`t. I find she responds well to really bad Swedish, which I can always provide.

Allegra didn`t even notice the heat. She lives in a frenetic world of her own, with an attention span of about 4 seconds and inexhaustible energy. Handling her, I sure felt the heat.

All this and taking photographs and videos for the website and not missing one iota of gossip....
then loading it all back on the bus (with the bassets) for a nine hour journey. In bed by 4am.

And this weekend we go again.

A busy time with puppies. The older ones are running me off my feet, while I try to persuade the younger ones that eating solid food is a Good Idea....Tamara`s daughter is willing to try it, but Fat Bob is determined that his mother will feed him until he is a very old dog, and has decided that those new teeth which arrived out of nowhere are just for testing his sister`s ears with. She is unbearably cute, and manages to convey perfectly just how much she despises him as she poses and flutters her eyelashes.

He has a lot to learn about girls.