Rain.

Hi there

What do you think of my photo? I don't look like a posh, pedigree shih tzu do I, let alone a dog who came second place in a dog show. This was me after a swim in the river when I decided to roll around in the dirt to get dry.

Well, I'm sure you're eager to know about my new celebrity status, so here goes. Last Saturday, mummy and daddy took me to The South Downs Show, a wonderful event with all sorts of things going on for doggies like me (and I suppose, for humans too.) There were lots of stalls with people selling their wares and as you can probably guess, I pulled mummy and daddy along in the direction of the food stalls. My word, there was food everywhere, bits of sausage, chips, bread, cake, you name it, I found it on the floor. Luckily, there were plenty of water holes where I could quench my thirst.

I also managed to find a nice big toy box and chose a few toys I wanted to take home.

Anyway, it wasn't all fun and games, mummy entered me into a competition so I had to be serious and on my best behaviour. We entered the ring and I was one of twenty seven doggies who had to present ourselves to the judge, she had to decide which three doggies she would like to take home. Just as I was looking my best and sitting very nicely, the heavens opened up and I ended up looking like a drowned rat. Some of the doggies and their owners ran for cover, not me and mummy, we waited until the judge came over and she thought I was a very good boy for sitting in the pouring rain like that. So, I got a lovely rosette for coming second place, although to be honest, mummy was more chuffed about the whole thing than me, I was just keen to get back to the picnic area.

The best part of the day was watching the sheep dogs, but guess what, they weren't herding sheep, they were herding ducks. Ducks are my favourite, my brother Bert has ducks at his cottage, but whenever I go out to play chase with them, they go into their pond and I can't catch them, same thing happens when we go to the beach, it's just not fair.

The sheepdogs daddy was a very clever man, he said that the best way to train a dog is always to be kind and positive. For example, we dogs love running off and chasing things, which is a bit annoying for humans, but, if we get told off when we come back, we think, why bother coming back? We thrive on praise and rewards, after all, why work for your owner without reward, we might as well be self employed.

After the show, daddy and I walked up to the top of the South Downs, which is only three hundred feet short of a mountain, not bad for a little doggy with a limpy leg.

Needless to say, I was a very tired boy that night zzzzzzzzzzzzz

Well, until I saw, would you believe, some ducks being herded (at another country show) on TV, which I still couldn't chase.

Lots of love to you all
See you next week
Love and woofs
Dino xxxxxxx