Thor's Cave

Long Walks Always Make Me Thirsty

Too Big For the Gap!?

Parkhouse Hill

Dirty Shoes - Quite Common in the Peak

Great View From the Top of the Hill

Birchover

Little Wittenham

After all the excitement about the big dog we went on our walk to Little Wittenham. Because it had rained all day on Saturday, it was very wet and muddy. I don't mind though, the mud feels quite nice in between my toes. Judith, Sophia and Dimitri also came along. They said the village was very nice. I liked the sheep much better though.

Big Dog

Today I met a really big fellow ... he was quite friendly, but I thought I better behave myself around him ...

Exploding Lasagne

Yesterday something very strange happened. My people and the visitors from the Netherlands were having dinner and I was quietly snoozing off under the dining room table. Then, all of a sudden a huge bang ... nobody knew what had happened but there were little black pieces everywhere. There were pieces of lasagne as well ... apparently Gunnar's plate had exploded ... I have never seen something like that before ... neither have my people.

More Visitors From the Netherlands

This time Margriet's sisters (Judith and Sophia) and Judith's husband Dimitri came to visit. I was very excited about this!

Oxford-Cambridge

Yesterday Gunnar went to his very first live rugby game. You remember the weird sport with the egg, don't you?

He was accompanied by Nick and the two boys got very excited about it.

It was a very traditional match apparently: Oxford vs. Cambridge at Twickenham/London.

Gunnar came home smiling ... particularly because Oxford won 33:29.

Individual Lesson

Today I had my first individual lesson at the Banbury and District Dog Training Society.

My new teacher is called Carla. She is Dutch like Margriet and very nice! Furthermore, the place is gorgeous.

We learned a lot and I look forward to our next lesson.

Buscot and Kelmscott

The day before yesterday we eventually went for our next trip. This time we explored the area around Buscot and Kelmscott, two beautiful villages close to the River Thames. It took us more than two hours to get back to Billy and I was exhausted, but it was worth it! We would have gone for a drink to the pub again, but Gunnar wanted to go back immediately to watch the football (German Bundesliga and English Premier League) ... what's that in aid of?

Sinterklaas

Today we received a parcel from the Netherlands. Sinterklaas had sent us presents: DVD, book, pepernoten, chocolate and ... a bone for me :-) !!! My people enjoyed watching 'De brief voor de koning' plus pepernoten and tea while I was busy with my bone. So we had a very nice Sinterklaas evening. Thanks a lot!

Visitor

This weekend we had a visitor from the Netherlands. His name is Johannes and apparently he knows Margriet for a very long time ... from the days they went to school together. Anyway, I liked him so I let him sleep on my sofa ... ;-)

Busy Saturday

Last Saturday my people and me were very busy.

First we went to Witney Lawn Tennis Club. That's the place where Gunnar works and he was supposed to coach children between six and ten in the morning. I have no idea why the lessons were cancelled though. Due to the puddles on the courts? Blimey! They were great in fact! We definitely missed the opportunity to have fun.

Afterwards we attended a lesson at Banbury and District Dog Training society (unfortunately, my people forgot to take pictures). I wasn't allowed to take part in the exercises :-( because everybody was practising for a special trial, but the venue (outdoors this time) is beautiful and I made new friends. My people will arrange private lessons for me for the short term and in January a new working trial course starts. Sounds excellent to me!

Port Meadow

After this we went for a proper walk to Port Meadow. I had been there once already, but this time there were loads of animals. My people didn't let me play with them though. As if I would have bothered them ;-) ...

Then something very weird happened. I was about to drink some water from the river when people turned up who were gliding on the water by using long sticks. I don't know how they did it!? My people told me that rowing (that's what it's called apparently) is very popular in Oxford. I'm sure that they were taking the mickey out of me. It must have been magic.

As always we had a drink in a pub in between. The Perch Inn burned down two years ago, but fortunately, the owners rebuilt it.

The Blanket and the Egg

But there's more to it than that.

We paid a visit to aunt Kathryn and uncle Nick's and fancy that: They gave me a homemade blanket with my name on it as a present :-) !!! I couldn't believe it ... they are so nice. I thanked Kath and tested the blanket immediately. Unfortunately, Nick was out, but I asked Kath to let him know how happy I was.

And then another strange thing happened. Kath and my people started watching TV. I do know what that is because sometimes my people keep watching TV though I'm bored. But I found out that I can force them to pay attention to me by standing just in front of the screen. Cool, isn't it?

Anyway. Apparently, the people we were watching were athletes ... and they were behaving like playing dogs!? All the time chasing and attacking each other! Now I am at a loss why my people tell me off sometimes when I behave like that. It seems to be perfectly alright.

The odd thing was that the so called rugby players were using an egg to score (South Africa did that 20 times, Wales unfortunately only 15 times - Nick who was watching the match in the stadium wasn't pleased at all). I would have eaten the egg instead and used a ball to play with. I demand an explanation!

It was a busy, but very exciting Saturday. I think it's time for a nice nap on my blanket now. Take care!

Dorchester on Thames

Even though it was cold and grey on Saturday, we went on another trip! Yippieh! We went to a village near Oxford called Dorchester on Thames. First we had a look at the church. My people said it was very beautiful. Then we went for a good walk along the river. That is more my kind of thing. We met dogs, other walkers and a man sitting on the side of the river with lots of sticks and a bucket of little wiggly things that smelled very interesting ...

... I learned that the sticks are not for playing :-( because the man needs them for fishing!

Anyway, after all that excitement we went to the pub. While my people had a drink, I got lots of attention from other people.

All in all a good Saturday.