Mucky Pup

Jake and I had arranged to meet Sally and Bramble at The Clumps this morning for our regular perambulation. Last week I didn't think I'd be taking Jake for a proper walk ever again, his back and leg problems suddenly got so much worse he could barely manage to stumble around the house in a lot of pain and kept falling over. It was really upsetting, particularly after the huge improvements his new drugs seemed to have made. Fortunately, after several days of terrible worry, he got better again and has been bouncing around the place like a puppy. First thing this morning though The Clumps looked like a really bad idea, the rain was pouring down and the wind that's been howling all week was still pretty strong. I half expected a call cancelling the whole thing but it didn't come and somehow I didn't cancel either and so off we went. As soon as we got there I'm delighted to report the sun broke through, the rain stopped and for a brief but adequate interval it was a beautiful day.

I didn't manage to go very far and cut the walk short but even so Jake and Bramble managed to cover a fairly massive range as they ran way off into the distance on the trail and then came cannoning back at us, have a quick reassuring run around us to make sure we were still there and then went barreling off in another direction. They managed to practice their herding skills on a few other walkers and interact socially with a select company of other dogs including a cute little 6 week old puppy who was REALLY pleased to meet everyone and looked not so much like a dog as a small, enthusiastic black lamb. Jake used every opportunity to carry out intimate genital examinations...on the other dogs that is.

The only problem was that the incessant rain had turned the whole estate into a Somme-like quagmire. Jake ended up plastered in mud and despite my best efforts to clean him up now has a chest and tummy of spiked up fur that looks like a demented fashionista has been let loose on him with 50 gallons of maximum hold hair gel. The interior of my car looks like two prize boars have been mud wrestling in it.

He is pictured here ( yes it's yet another portrait blip of his majesty) utterly exhausted and barely able to open his eyes or hold his nose up and taking up most of my sofa. Returning, after disposing of the now distressed towels with which I cleaned off the muck, I found him in residence in my space and also noticed the mud plastering the top of his head in a strange arrow shape and distributed about his nose and even his eyelashes. I had been so focused on scraping it off his undercarriage I'd failed to notice the stuff up top. When it comes to getting dirty he's in a league of his own! I am really impressed with the arrow across the flat top of his skull though - designer mud! It's almost war paint!