Truffle and the Robin

Our doglett Truffle loves the garden. Any opportunity to be out there and she is in doggie heaven....... and if you haven't already noticed, she manages to feature in many of the photos we've taken of gardening progress to date!

One thing that drives her potty is wild birds. We do our best to educate her that chasing birds is not acceptable behaviour but it's an ongoing battle and her natural instincts - being a Spaniel born of working stock - are hard to suppress. Roosting pheasants clucking in nearby trees at dusk are a particular tease ...on hearing the call Truffle goes into high alert, ready for the big chase into the distant mist.

The Robin is a different ball game altogether. Well known for being territorial - indeed they will fight to the death to defend their territory, our resident read breast is no exception! He seems particularly peeved that we have the audacity to invade his personal space and follows us around the garden watching us with his beady eye.

Truffle in turn, stalks him and watches his every move. Never quite quick enough to catch but just enough to tell him that this is her garden not his. So the stand-off continues and neither party wins.

You would think that Robbie would be grateful for all the tasty morsels we reveal for him but judging by his angry chattering from the shrubbery he is not happy! In fact if I were to translate his chirpings into human language...it would be full of obscenities!

Truffle's Troupe

Truffle, though one of the more spoilt dogs in the universe, loves her toys unconditionally. Here we decided to pile them all back into her box (this is minus the random 'fluffy things', and tennis balls of her collection) - where they won't stay for long. To Truffle, toys don't belong in a box, they need to be thrown around the house as much as possible.

So here is a rare occasion on which you may be introduced to Truffle's troupe. From the left we have the Dulux dog, who actually forms part of her doggy day bed next to mum's computer, large enough for Truffle to sleep on, chew a bit, and fling around occasionally if she's really bored. To the right of Dulux, we have brown bear and above him the mini-Truffle who are on a par currently in Truffle popularity terms. Finally, on the far right, we have the latest addition - Doggleberry. Doggleberry is currently Truffle's pride as he used to belong to me and she had had her eye on him for a while. And, rather hilariously, his head is about the same size as Truffle's, but she still loves to lug him around and present him to you several times a day.

In fact, by now I think the box is now empty again.