A whole year has passed...........or have you ever seen a Labrador with chewing gum!?

Today is the anniversary of the day we bought Bella home. I was going to write some meaningful blog about the joys of having a dog. It was going to bring tears to your eyes. Bella has other ideas. I just caught her sneaking up the stairs. She bypassed the cats, the cat food, the cat litter and straight into moody teenagers room. He is out. I get her down the stairs to find she is eating something - she is chewing and chewing and chewing and chewing. I prise open her jaws - it looks like Blu Tack but smells of peppermint. Yes it is chewing gum! Its another first on the list of things she has eaten and I'm fairly sure it was wrapper and all!

Back to the anniversary. It some ways it seems to have flown by, and it other ways it feel like she has been a part of our lives forever. I can't remember what life was like without her. She is always pleased to see you, she is always in a good mood. She loves every meal that is put in front of her. She loves any meal that is NOT put in front of her! You never quite know what is going to happen next. I wouldn't be without her for the world, and I don't regret for one second getting her.

Here's to the second anniversary!

Just in case you were worried!

Labradors are well known for eating a wide variety of objects, and sometimes they cause problems when they get stuck. I was beginning to get worried about the absence of the sock that she ate on Sunday. I have been watching closely for signs of ill health - but there were none, and I am very pleased to report that it finally appeared today. I looked carefully to check I wasn't mistaken and was very surprised to find out it was a pair of ladies pants instead of a sock! Just waiting for the earphone bud to pop out now!

There's been a lot going on in my life............

I had thought I had given up this blog but Bella still gets up to so many antics that I have decided to resurrect it after yesterdays antics.

I was visiting a friend in Marlow and we went for a dog walk along the Thames tow path. It was very exciting for Bella who is not used to so many new things... lots of people, picnics, ducks, swans, cyclists,water..... the list goes on. Ah yes water! Labradors love water so it as no surpise when she jumped in, did a little dogggy paddle and jumped out shortly afterwards. It was so much fun she did it again.....and then once more. The only problem the third time was she jumped in just near a group of children canoeing. She hadn't seen this before and so she was off after them - a big yellow submarine! The Thames is quite wide you know but that didn't deter her! She was oblivious to our calls but just when I was thinking I was going to have to jump in after her, back she came. She must have swum the equivalent of a width of the Thames and best of all no one capsized! Of course as soon as she got out she shook the water all over me!

Her eating habits remain diverse and varied. Letters, cardboard, balloons (inflated) and last night her piece de resistance a whole sock. I am now on sock watch as I am rather worried that its not going to come out the other end. Its been 24 hours now but she seems to be fine. The good news is that it should be early easy to spot! The headphone earpiece may be slightly harder to detect!

Its been a while.........

Sorry not have blogged for so long. I was a little busy with the small matter of riding to Paris on my bike! It was a fantastic experience by the way, and I would highly recommend it to anyone.

Anyway back to Bella. Well what can I say about the one dog danger machine!? Life carries on with an almost daily dose of trouble of one kind or another. I frequently find her in the garden devouring something from the house, more often than, not a stolen item. If I catch her before she has eaten it she usually throws me a surprised look as if to say "how could you possibly think it was me?!", followed by "we usually keep the Cherios under the tree in the garden don't we?" or "of course my food lives in my basket"!

She was spayed last Tuesday so I was expecting a quiet week. How wrong could I be? Firstly 3 days
post-op she devours a box of chocolates. We were due at the vets for a check up, and the vet and the nurse both agreed that she should stay in and be made to be sick. She came home still loving the vet surgery and none the worse for wear.

Yesterday I left her unattended and she ate some plaque disclosing tablets. You know, the ones that dentists give you to show where the plaque is on your teeth. I am pleased to report that her teeth remained very white so no plaque there then, and her tongue was a lovely shade of purple! I tried to take a photo but it was impossible especially as I kept on laughing!

Later we went to the park. She is supposed to be having a quiet time so she had to stay on the lead. Anyway between us we managed to entertain the whole park when she managed to get away from me and tried to join in 2 different games of football, with her lead trailing behind and me in hot pursuit! Both the footballs miraculously survived their encounter with Bella.

In case you are wondering we are still going to training classes. Our trainer announced last week that we are going to do a series of tests. If we get 7 passes we get a rosette, and if we can do all 40 things we get a silver engraved cup. She has only ever given 3 away and she has been doing it for years. I think it is safe to say we are not going to receive the 4th.

Dog walking

One of the reasons that I wanted a dog is because it forces you to go out and walk. I hadn't realised what a social experience it was going to be. Nearly every walk you go on you end up talking to someone.

Today we went to One Tree Hill for the first time. I have been there before we got Bella but it was her first time there. It is very hilly and I am slow both up and down hills so Bella had to keep coming back to find me. The bluebells are out and the sun was shining and it was so beautiful.

Of course with Bella there had to be some sort of incident. As I was struggling up a particularly steep path, and Bella was ahead we came across an elderly couple sitting on a bench having their picnic lunch. They didn't hear her approach and quicker than a flash she stole one of their sandwiches. They were very nice about it but I was feeling guilty about it as we walked on.

I decided to take a different path home - big mistake. On and on we went, down a footpath, down a bridleway, crossing a road I didn't recognise until we finally reached a pub that I know. The only trouble was I didn't have any money and it was miles from where we needed to be! No other option than to retrace our footsteps. I normally only walk her for an absolute maximum of one hour, but it was almost two hours later when we made it back to the car.

Just before we got back to the car we came across an elderly couple - guess who!? They felt so sorry for the dog having walked so far they gave her the rest of their sandwiches! And for me? There was nothing left!

Marletta

I thing we are going to rechristen her Marletta as she is desperately trying to recreate the character from the book!

Have just come downstairs into the kitchen and caught her RED - PAWED with her feet up firmly on the kitchen table! She tried very hard to appear totally innocent, as if it was something we would normally let her do. It's not by the way! She then decided her next move was to be really cute instead - so she rolled on her back and with the expression "love me love me love me". The words twisted round little finger spring to mind.

My son has just told me the story of yesterday. I was out for the day and my brother was in charge of the house. He decided to make a cooked breakfast. My son got the eggs out of the fridge. "Where are the eggs? They were here a minute ago" my brother said "They cant just have vanished!"

The culprit was discovered in the garden with a whole box of eggs, one in her mouth. Her first line of defence was "I'm allowed to do this - right?" Her next line of defence was to destroy the evidence - the raw egg was eaten shell and all. Somehow 5 eggs were rescued intact.

We were out today and I decided to show one of her young admirers a trick that she does. Treat in hand I said "Paw". She sat and stared as if she had no idea what I was talking about. I waved the treat under her nose and tried again. Still no game, and the toddler gave me a look of disdain. Shown up by my own dog!

Eating

I was going to try to keep a record of all the things that Bella eats but the list is proving almost impossible to keep up with. The list so far this week includes COD7, my curtains, approximately 5 water pistols, a DK Guide to New York, a watering can, my cleaner's slippers, a dog bowl..........The dog bowl was very embarrassing as we were at a lovely tea shop, it was a hot day and they gave her a bowl of water. At one stage she was trying to eat the table leg so I was quite pleased and relieved when she seemed to be interested in the water bowl instead. It was very short lived when I realised the bowl was in pieces and any future furry visitors were going to have to go thirsty.I did confess and they were very sweet but I did feel guilty. I have bought them a new bowl and will take it over next time we visit.

She went for the entertainment award today. We went to a local park with a large lake. We took some bread to feed the ducks, but the park was very busy and the ducks were not interested. However Bella took one look at the bread being thrown in the lake and thought of only one thing - FOOD! She was joined by 2 other labradors who all swam around a bit like a cross between a submarine / crocodile / large floating object and ate all the bread. They had to swim to get it. It was like a real life enactment of the hippos swimming in the BBC trailer! In fact there was a camera crew there filming something else - they missed a great opportunity right under their nose!

Baking Tins

Yesterday my husband found her standing on TOP of her crate which was wobbling and bucking under her weight. He had to rescue her. Later my son then found her standing ON the kitchen table munching from the fruit bowl. So time for drastic action.

A friend has told me to put baking tins / oven trays around the edge of the table where she is jumping up. The idea is that when she jumps up she will knock them to the floor, frighten herself and never do it again. Simples! We now have all the baking tins from the house strategically placed around the edge of the kitchen table. It seems to be working - she has not jumped up at the kitchen table once. However so far this morning we have found her feet up on the kitchen island, garden table and kitchen worktops. I don't have enough kitchen ware to go round!

Puppy vs Blackberry AGAIN!

First day of the Easter holidays so life takes on a more relaxed feel. Am sitting upstairs vaguely aware that Bella is chewing something, but no 1 son is downstairs so I am not unduly concerned. Decide that maybe I should check it out, and come downstairs to find my Blackberry in pieces in the hall. Much berating of older son for ignoring the crunching sounds.

So its off to the mobile phone shop to part with more money for another new phone.

As a way of trying to cheer us up I come home to find that Bella has taken up skateboarding as a way of making us laugh. She can actually get all four feet on as it rolls along. It is very funny to watch.

Mother's Day

After lots of hints, and stern words with my husband, there is a flurry of secret activity from my sons. Yes they have actually remembered its Mother's Day! There is a card and some chocolates.

I am in training to cycle to Paris. Just as I am getting ready to go out for a 45 mile bike ride I go into the kitchen to find my lovely Mother's Day box of chocolates emptied on the floor and the dog busily trying to devour them. Chocolate is very bad for dogs so I manage to separate dog and remaining chocolates, quickly count up and find that only 2 are missing. Large sigh of relief - I think she'll be OK and I can go out for my ride.

Many hours later get back to find happy dog waiting, we go out in the garden to relax and she comes bounding up with a large piece of glass in her mouth. Is she trying to tell me something. Does she not like me going cycling or has she got a deathwish?

The Beginning

This is the story of me, 47 year mother of 3 boys, and the daughter I never had - my 6 month old gorgeous naughty yellow labrador called Bella!

We seem to get into scrapes every day and people keep telling me to write then down  - so here goes!

Firstly, some background history. Me, mother of 3 sons 17, 15 and 11 years old, plus husband. 2 cats and a hamster. Desperate for a dog but the old man says "its me or the dog". Thought things over and decided to go for the dog as he seems to be in the midst of a mid life crisis and thought it cant get any worse. 4 months on and he's still around, and I have the most beautiful fun loving yellow terrorist to brighten up my every day! I cant remember what life was like without her.