My two dogs

[JanieB]

I've had Holly since she was 6 weeks old. Her mum is a Jack Russell and her dad is a "blue" toy poodle. I love her to bits even though she costs me a fortune to keep her coat in trim.

When she was about 10 months old a friend was going to send her dog to Blue Cross because her circumstances had changed. He came from the same litter that mine was from and to be quite honest I had considered having him, but I wanted a bitch. I took him on, had him neutered (hated that, but there is no way he is going to have pups with his sister).

The reason for this post. They took a little while to settle down together but now they seem to have organised how to deal with things.

They both sleep on my bed (unless my BF is over) Holly sleeps snuggled into the back of my neck, and I spend my night trying not to be suffocated by Prince sleeping on my nose.

Evenings are interesting, I don't know how dogs communicate but they seem to have organised it between themselves. One sits/sleeps on me/arm of chair until I move whilst the other sleeps or whatever elsewhere. I move to go to the loo, get a drink, eat, etc. When I move they change shifts. If they think (currently) I may not move for a while, they just snuggle up together.

[Mrs Twigg]

Hi JanieB,
sounds like you are the leader of their pack.....sweet!
Jack Russell /Toy Poddle cross.......very intersting!.....have you any piccies?

Mrs Twigg

[Bren In Pots]

Janie it sounds like you've got your own mobile hot water bottle

[VirginVegGrower]

Jack Roodle? Dogs will always move into your spot. Warmth and your scent.

[baldrick]

I have a shower of 5 mongrels and dont need to put the heating on til mid December! I clip my Beardie x myself. Its not pretty but the £100 I paid for the clipper has more than paid for itself. Scissor them first then run the clipper over them. Curly fur is more forgiving anyway and whatever mess you make you usually find it looks OK after a couple of weeks. Baldrick is still wearing a coat in public at present but hey! Nought pounds and nought pence cant be bad!

[JanieB]

Yes. Holly got so bad I ended up with the scissors defelting her. She looked like a bit of rag for about a week until her coat sorted itself out. I'm not going to pay anyone else to clip her again because to be honest they did a cr@p job.

I bought clippers, but she's terrified of them. She's going to have to get used to them as it's the easiest way to deal with her coat and she's very uncomfortable if I don't clip her.

I'll post photos. Prince (not my choice of name, but I stuck with it) is straight haired. Holly looks like her dad and has poodle fur.

And they are called jackadoodles. As far as I'm concerned they are mongrels, but I just wanted them as companions and don't really care about bits of paper and pedigrees.

It's now 2.46 in the morning, they have given up nagging me to go to bed and have snuggled up together on a chair and are glaring at me. Night night.

[snohare]

I love the picture you paint !
I have tried to get my Holly to sleep on my bed to create warmth. When I got her it was minus 18 outside, minus 2 inside the bedroom - you can see I was motivated.
Sadly, the surreptitious sofa surfer just couldn't understand that a bed could be treated the same way. Eventually I got her up onto the bed; instead of lying on my feet, she burrowed under the duvet and crawled up until her chin was resting on my chest. When a fully grown golden labrador does this it generally carries the bedclothes up to knee height, and interrupts respiration very effectively. I have never tried again...

they have given up nagging me to go to bed

I'm relieved to find that I am not alone. Talk about irony - single, in theory free of all constraints, I have a dog that scolds me for staying up late ! Granted, I have never seen her get out the rolling pin, but as the night draws on she wakes periodically from her cubbyhole at my feet beneath the old schoolmaster's desk, and going to the side of my seat, nudges my elbow repeatedly with her nose. Coming from a laid-back snoozaholic like her, this is all but hectoring. If it's really late and I have persisted in ignoring her, she will keep nudging ever more violently and grumble at me until I let her out the living room door, at which point she goes to the bedroom, looking back with a (dare I say it) "come-hither" look...
And fur...don't get me started on fur...shear envy, that's what I have of you JanieB !
But I none of us would swap our beloved hounds for the world, would we ? Supposedly dogs have been domesticated three separate times in history by mankind - I think it is because if dogs did not exist, someone would just have to invent them. They fill a gap in our lives that nothing else can.

[Glutton4...]

... if dogs did not exist, someone would just have to invent them. They fill a gap in our lives that nothing else can.

Oh so true!

[Creemteez]

Beau's bedtime is ten-thirty - whether or not Mr Teez are heading that way. He goes up, we hear him jump on the bed. He "arranges" the duvet to suit and when we go up is invariably upside down in the middle of a duvet nest. When asked what he thinks his game is he doesn't shift except to smile and flip the very end of his tail in a, "Ain't I cute?" sort of fashion.

[Glutton4...]

Beau's bedtime is ten-thirty - whether or not Mr Teez are heading that way. He goes up, we hear him jump on the bed. He "arranges" the duvet to suit and when we go up is invariably upside down in the middle of a duvet nest. When asked what he thinks his game is he doesn't shift except to smile and flip the very end of his tail in a, "Ain't I cute?" sort of fashion.

Oscar's favourite place is upside down in the middle of our bed!

[kirsty b]

Boo sleeps all day and all night. Never known such a layabout. She used to sleep on the bed with me but she is so heavy, I wouldn't get a wink so now I am mean and she sleeps in her bed in the kitchen at night(which is padded out with an old double duvet - which I have washed this morning and smells lovely now) and the 3 cats.

In the living room, 'her' spot is one end of the 3 seater nearest the door. If we have anyone over, if anyone sits in that spot she gets the hump and will try to move you or sit on you. Unless pickle and I are on the 2 seater together and we have the blanket on us, then Boo wants to park herself right in the middle of us - and as a fully grown and thoroughly spoilt boxer she is no lightweight - even if 3 seater empty. See pic!

If you move to go to the loo/make a cuppa, she will sneak into your spot, curl up and go straight to sleep and act as though she's been there ages.

Buggers ain't they?

[Glutton4...]

That's a great picture, Kirsty!