Wow

I am soooo tired! Who could have known that looking after two boys could be so tiring!

They seem to continuously want to be out in the garden at the moment which is fine until I shut the door on them and then of course they want to come inside! I played 'chuck the kong' with them this evening, they seem to have energy that knows no bounds which is great but tiring when I'm on my own.

They also seem to be obsessed with the bark we laid down in our garden about a year ago, every time I look they're chewing away on something which is quite worrying considering how little they are, I really worry about them eating something which then gets stuck and blocks them up. Rich tells me not to worry but still...

Archie is at the vets on Saturday for his second lot of injections, he's a lot better since he's been taking his anti-biotics. He was a bit poorly when we first brought him home and although we thought it would settle down on it's own we decided to take him to the vet to get him checked out and she recommended a 10 day course. I think he was poorly after his first injections so am not looking forward to Sat/Sun if he's going to be poorly again bless him. He's such a baby, we think they spoiled him a bit at the breeders and now we're paying the price. I think he'll grow out of it as he gets older though... fingers crossed anyway!

All quiet on the western front

The boys both slept through the night again last night which is brilliant, it's so lovely getting a decent nights sleep, especially as Rich is away so can't help out with looking after them. I think they're doing really well for a four month old and a two month old!

I went home at lunch time and they were happy to see me and so good in their crates. It's a beautiful sunny day here so I took them into the garden for half an hour to stretch their legs and for a good run around. They both love it when their kongs are filled with puppy paste (I do this every time I leave them) so to get them really going I put a bit of paste in and then threw the kongs round the garden for them to chase! They love it. Angus is a bit more alert than Archie, sometimes when I throw them Angus is off straight away but Archie just looks up at me as if to say 'What's all the fuss about??'.

I've been trying to think of ingenious ways of getting them to run round the garden to burn off some energy (I can't wait until I can take them both for walks although going by Archie's reaction to a lead and collar the other day I don't think it's going to be easy!) and in the past have sellotaped a piece of string to the end of a drum stick (!) with a treat on the end which I then run around with and they run after! Not ideal so I'm going to have a look into a puppy bubble machine an ingenious contraption that sends out bubbles that are bacon flavoured (as seen on Victoria Stilwells It's Me or the Dog one of my favourite programmes). Then I don't have to do the hard work, the machine does the hard work for me!

I can't wait to get home tonight to see them, it's so lovely having company while Rich is away with work.

I will update again later.

Some pictures of the boys

So I went home at lunch time...

... and all was fine! The boys were quiet in their crates and there was no mess. They had a mad half hour which was quite amusing then happily went back in for the afternoon. I took some pictures of them in the garden and will post later. Such good boys!! :-)

When the cat (owner) is away, the puppies will play...

We've had Archie for just over a week now and he seems to be settling in well. He does cry a bit still if we leave him but he settles down eventually. The boys are being brought up to be on their own in their crates during the day for four hours at a time while we're at work, I've been told that if you start them with this when they're young then they're happy like that because that's all they know.

Angus was allowed a bit of freedom in the beginning, we'd put his crate in the kitchen but leave the crate door open so that he could run around in the kitchen. Archie has been crated since we got him and he's doing well with it, he's managing to hold it all in until we let him out.

Yesterday was the first day the boys were left on their own while I went to work, Rich is away with work all week so it was down to me to sort them out. We decided it might be an idea to put Angus's crate in the dining room opening onto the conservatory so that if he needed to he could run around in there. I closed the conservatory door most of the way so there was only a small gap between the crate and the open door. Archie meanwhile was in his crate in the dining room, not too far away from Angus.

When I got home at lunch time to let them out I got the shock of my life when I looked through the living room window - Angus was happily playing on the dining room carpet!! He'd managed to get through the tiniest gap between the crate door and the conservatory door and must have been laughing at Archie still locked in his crate!

Well, I couldn't let that happen again (imagine the damage he could have done to the house and to himself!) so they are now both locked in their crates in the kitchen with a blanket over them! They are let out at lunch times for an hour for food and play then they go back in until I get home from work and are out for the whole evening (unless they decide they want a lie down!).

Last night was the first night that Archie made it through the night without me needing to take him out to do his business which was such a relief as getting up at 3am every night is not great, especially when I'm on my own because Rich is away!

So, I wonder what delights I will go home to today... :-) :-) They really are a joy to have around!

Right then, it's time to stop messing about...

I used to live in a house share and often got bored in the evenings because my other half lived two hours away so my lovely sister advised me that I should start a blog all about sausage dogs, seeing as I love them so much. I did try and set it up but didn't really feel as if I could do a blog justice without any experience of owning a dog.

I have always wanted a dog, I grew up with sausage dogs and have just been in love with dogs in general since I was little. If you ask any of my friends what I want most the answer would definitely be 'a dog!'.

Well, on 5th April my life changed forever - my boyfriend and I got our first puppy! His name is Angus and he's a miniature smooth hair dachshund. He's currently 17 weeks old but we got him when he was 10 weeks old. The last few weeks have certainly been a learning curve! He is adorable but he is also a very submissive, timid dog (we're not sure why, he is also a happy little chappy), he's quite scared of meeting new people so we're hoping to take him to puppy classes in the near future to try and help him with that.

While we were getting Angus we decided that really we wanted two puppies so that one on it's own didn't get bored. At the time the breeder only had Angus for sale but she happened to have some younger puppies in the back so we had a look... and fell in love with Archie! He is now 10 weeks old and is a black and tan miniature dachshund.

I think Angus may have been a bit spoilt in the 3 weeks we had him on his own, he is a lovely dog, very eager to please and we were getting on with training really well until Archie came home! He's only been here a week though so there's plenty of time for them to get on and sort each other out. Archie is also a lovely dog, very different to Angus though, he's far more adventurous and gets his nose into everything! He is also not at all scared of meeting new people, it may be because he's still young but hopefully he'll stay that way.

Anyway, that's my first proper post, I'm going to keep updating it so that you can all see how well they are coming along!

Do It Anyway!

Do it anyway!!

I don't feel like exercising today! Does this sound familiar? Then what happens? Do you push yourself and exercise in spite of not feeling like it? Or do you give in and hang out on the couch because you don't feel like making the effort?

Right now, you may be solidly committed to your goals. But what happens when you don't feel like cooking healthy meals or following your diet plan? If you aren't careful, you can easily slide back from being committed to just interested.

Committed means do it anyway

You don't usually wait until you feel like going to work. You just go. The same thing is true for visiting your mother or changing dirty nappies. Because you consider these things to be important, you do them regardless of how you feel at the moment.

In the same way, you don't have to feel like working on your weight-loss plan to stick with your program. To improve your commitment, learn to focus on your actions, not just your feelings. On days you're not in the mood for exercising or eating right, tell yourself to do it anyway.

Then skip the leftover cake and eat your fruit instead. Get up off the couch and put on your workout shoes. If you're really committed to your goals, you'll make these choices no matter what, regardless of whether you feel like it or not. Each day, take a few steps that will move you forward, even if you don't feel like it. Remember that when you're truly committed, you do it anyway.

Here's a summary of the differences between people who are interested in their goals compared to those who are committed.

People who are interested in losing weight

1. Stick with it until something better comes along

2. Take action only if they "feel like" doing it

3. Need to see results in order to stay motivated

4. Blame people or circumstances for their struggles

5. Easily give up when they face challenges

People who are committed to losing weight

1. Stick with their plans no matter what

2. Take action whether they feel like doing it or not

3. Assume that if they stay motivated, results will follow

4. Take responsibility for their own actions

5. Keep going in spite of challenges and setbacks

Brilliant quote from someone on WLR!