Introducing Merlin - taking control.............

I’m a little put out and rather sad today as I’ve been told I’m being retired and a new young whippersnapper is taking over the blog for Dorwest in the run up to this year’s fireworks period. His name is MERLIN and he’s the dog in the Dorwest logo. He’s very cheeky and quite a character, but to be fair he’s a really nice young lad and very plucky too, as he has a crippling firework phobia just like me but he’s decided to take control and conquer his anxiety once and for all. He’s bravely agreed to share with everyone how he manages to overcome his fear. I’m sure he’ll be giving lots of useful advice too and letting everyone know how he gets on. I can’t wait to read all about it and you can follow him too at www.merlintakescontrol.wordpress.com Meanwhile, I’m off to have a rest – I think I deserve it after all my hard work over the years and I’d like to say thanks to all my fans who have followed my comings and goings over the past couple of years – I’ve enjoyed it very much, and I hope you have too……….. woof woof to you all

Was I bothered? Not a bit...........

Well it was a bit noisy last night and went on for hours, but was I bothered, no I wasn't. The Scullcap & Valerian Tablets did the trick and taking them for a whole week or so beforehand really paid off as I didn't so much as even slightly shake or jump or dribble or anything. What a brave Border Terrier I am ! In fact if you didn't know I was frightened of noises, you wouldn't have guessed.

I enjoyed my toy, a yellow ball on a rope, I stayed in my bed most of the evening and that was that. Apparently I even went out for a quick cock of the leg during the evening and didn't appear to even notice there were fireworks. I didn't even need to have any Valerian Compound this year. Do you know what? I think that maybe I'm not frightened anymore, but then again maybe without all the help and careful planning I would be scared.

I hope you all had a relaxed time of it, but take care there could be more to come - always someone who lets them off after the event just when you don't expect it.

The weekend starts here...........

Well the weekend is nearly here. We've finished work, or at least I have, and all is well. There've been a few bangs, whizzes and crackles this evening but to be honest if one of the whippets hadn't told me about it when they came in from the garden, I don't think I'd have known at all.

I'm off now to get tucked up in bed in my snuggly blanket, with my new toy, the curtains are already pulled, I've had my Scullcap & Valerian Tablets with my dinner tonight, got some of the lovely Lily's Kitchen bedtime biscuits to settle me into my bed and Snoop Dog is playing on my iPod. I'm as happy as the proverbial pig in .... I hope you are too and that you have a peaceful weekend.

Remember to make sure your humans take you out for your evening walk well before it gets dark tomorrow evening and that they make sure that your cat companions are all indoors as well and have had a few drops of Organic Valerian Compound put on their bedding. Then all should be well.

See you soon and remember
DORWEST SAY RELAX - and I do too !

Ghoulies, ghosties and things that breathe down your neck..........

I was right, they are preparing us for something. I know this because there are all sorts of strange goings on still. Firstly I found these big orange heads sitting on walls and doorsteps around here - they all had great big toothy grins and look pretty scary. But that's not all, this evening all these heads, which are without bodies as well, started to shine and light up and they look pretty frightening. We went to the local pub and that was even worse, there were spiders, skeletons, witches, ghosts and other horrid frightening things hanging up all over the place. So all I can think is that these are put there to see if us dogs and cats will be scared or not - well as I'm feeling pretty chilled I wasn't really scared at all, just a bit confused really, just what is going on?

Then, believe it or not, they decided that I should be really put to the test and they put this ENORMOUS big black spider on my head to see what I would do. Of course I couldn't see it, but it was breathing down my neck and I didn't like that much. Still I must have passed whatever test it was as they gave me a treat afterwards........every cloud has a silver lining!

Why is it dark and why's my dinner late?

Something odd is going on here and I can't work out exactly what it is.
Everyone got up late and I didn't get my breakfast for ages and ages, it felt like it was nearly lunchtime when they gave it to me. Then this evening I got my walk later than usual, it was nearly dark for goodness sake. None of us got our dinner at the proper time and we had to gang up and pester them to give it to us. I can tell you that I'm pretty good at knowing when it's dinner time, and an hour late it not what I expect.

I suppose we'll all be going to bed late as well, very odd I just can't work it out. I think that perhaps they're getting us into training for something or other but I can't think what. I wonder if it's anything to do with 5th November? I just don't know but I hope it's better timekeeping in our house tomorrow.

Just as well I've been having my Scullcap & Valerian Tablets every day now for the past week, at least I'm not getting stressed about it, but you have to admit it is strange...........

Time to get your music sorted

Just a week to go, although my friends tell me that in some places the bangers have already started and Diwali celebrations are already underway, so I hope that you dogs and cats are all safe indoors and feeling chilled.

If you haven't already done it, now is the time to sort out the music that you want playing when the fireworks start - I know some people like soothing classical music and others the old crooners, but myself I'm a fan of Snoop Dog. I like all that beats and rhythms and I find it drowns out anything else that's going on - why don't you see what music suits you and get it ready for when the fireworks, bangs and whizzes start?

If you are using a de-sensitising CD then you should have started this a few weeks ago and I'm told that they can be very helpful as they get you used to the noises, but it does take time, so it's not much use to start now as there isn't enough time for you to get acclimatised to the noises.

I met a very young pup when I was out for my walk today. It was a yellow labrador and is going to be trained to be a Guide Dog. It is living with it's puppy walker at the moment who's doing its basic training before it goes on to the proper guide dog training when it's older. It was a lovely little thing and I'm sure that it won't be frightened of fireworks as these dogs are so amazing that they are trained from a very early age not to be put off or frightened of anything. I do hope it does well.

One final thing - for those of you who have asked about the bit of a bladder problem I had a few weeks ago, well I'm pleased to reassure you that I'm fine again now, here I am having a very good cock while on my walk. (I promise I won't ever mention this again!)

Busy time - checked out the podcast, visited Bertie and slept through the storm.

Everyone's been madly busy here this week, lots of phone calls, faxes and suchlike. Rushing around with sacks full of parcels, I thought Santa had brought my presents early but apparently they are lots and lots of parcels going to customers, vets, pet shops and the like who all need to get their products quickly. It's only a week to go now before Bonfire Night so not much time at all to get organised.

I found out about a really good podcast today - it's by Karen Wild a top behaviourist who knows all about us dogs. She's got a brilliant podcast that you can watch with lots of advice to help dogs and their owners overcome their fear of fireworks, so have a look at http://intellidogs.com/blog/dogs-and-firework-fear/ or go to the Dorwest Facebook page where there is a direct link. I thoroughly recommend this.

I went to visit my friend Bertie yesterday evening and very nice it was too - his humans have an AGA in their kitchen and it was lovely and warm. I wanted to check that Bertie is well prepared for firework night and he told me that he's already got his stuff sorted out - nice new toy, a warm snuggly bed that they've put into their sitting room for him, and he's already having his Scullcap & Valerian Tablets. So that's a comfort as I know how he suffers at this time of the year and glad that they've got all prepared. Before I left both Bertie and I had a special treat for being such good boys - well we're both quite elderly now and naturally are always good (especially when a treat depends on it!).

Last night there was thunder and lightning and I really don't like that much in the normal run of things, but thank goodness I've been having my Scullcap & Valerian Tablets for a week or so now, as I was nice and relaxed and didn't notice it was happening until someone mentioned it, but even then I couldn't really be bothered to lift my head from the bed to check it out. DORWEST SAY RELAX has definitely worked on me, I'm so relaxed.