My Rearview of 2021

Hmmm, it looks like it's that time of year again when everything goes a bit haywire. The humans have Christmas and New Year (what on earth is that?) and I get more attention as they're kind of on holiday. But at home, so treats are always on tap, they're generally in a good mood and a certain someone in the family who adores me comes to stay. With her cat!!

Is it really one of their human years since I took a look at 2020? Yes. Better get a wiggle on then and have a dekko at what I got up to in 2021.

First of all, if you had a read of my canine musings in 2021, (courtesy of the human who feeds me), a big thank you! Nice to know you're out there. Quite important in these strange times, when we can't always go where I - sorry we! - want to.

In January 2021, we couldn't go anywhere. That lockdown thing meant we could only go out to local places not far from home, and we certainly couldn't go away in my campervan, which was a disappointment.

My humans did their best though as we walked and walked locally, exploring parts of the small town we live in which they'd never been to before. We went down lots of roads and I learned new routes, so I now have a pretty good map of where we are if we visit them again - and guess what? I remember where we are even if we've not been there for a while. And I certainly remember the way home!

But something exciting happened in January, I was awarded two first places and one second place in the Norfolk Terrier virtual Fun Day. You can read about it here. And shortly after that my rosettes arrived. My humans were pretty excited about that and of course, I was too. 

In February we did manage to go out for days in my campervan - still couldn't go and stay anywhere as we were still locked down - but we managed some chilly, muddy, interesting walks in Tatton Park, which is near my house. It was SO good to get out and sniff and run and be in some earthy green space. I saw some deer but wasn't allowed to chase them even though they looked and smelled interesting. As we'd gone there in my campervan we had somewhere nice and cosy to go back to after the walk, and we had lunch and a snooze (well, I did).

In March we lots more of those local walks, and I wrote about them here. 

April was pretty good! We went away in my campervan and swapped it for a brand new campervan - the humans do treat me well! It was very exciting as it smelled different. They called that smell "new". And we went away for a short holiday in it to a place I like on the cliffs in Devon, with lots of good walks. It was windy and by the sea and I loved it. Freedom! We could go away at last!

We went away in my new campervan several times in the summer. Oh bliss - it was good because we often went to the sea and the beach for a few days. 

I liked going to the Place called Squirrel because I found a body on the beach, and to Barmuf beach, where I found another body! It was ok in the Boxwolds, but not quite as interesting as being in Whales.

Best of all in 2021 though was being in my campervan. It didn't really matter where we were. It was always good!

Lockdown walkies

 

 

I know this might not look particularly interesting, but it is! It's where my humans take me for walks in a different place so we can all have a change from walking the usual routes during the lockdown.

The usual local routes are the ones we've been doing for the past year, and they (the humans) have names for all of them:

The lockdown walk is the one we did late every night when the lockdown started last March and they were voluntarily quarantining themselves after being on planes and flying back in a hurry from staying with the family & my friends the grandchildren. We had the roads and streets all to ourselves, apart from the occasional hedgehog.

 

The tick walk is the one across some fields, through a wood, and then across more fields with views of the hills. I like that one. They call it the tick walk because that's where I got my first tick. It was killed off by the meds they give me to stop these nasty things having a slurp of my blood, but it died attached to my eyelid and they had to get the vet to take it off as it was so close to my eye.

The cemetery walk takes us along the edge of the Heath and out into the countryside to the town's cemetery, which is small and peaceful and quite nice to walk around. I often see cows on the way and like watching them.

The Heath is not far from home and I can meet other dogs there and have a run and a play. I like going through the woods which are part of the Heath, sniffing out where the badgers live and climbing up and down the hills they've made where their sett is. I'm not allowed to go down the holes they've made though.

The back of the town walk takes us close to the edge of our small town. It's mostly on pavements for this walk, but there are some grassy, wooded places and paths. We often do this one if it's been wet and there's a lot of mud about. We've found lots of new nooks and crannies in the town to walk in whilst we've been in lockdown, especially useful for wet weather walks so I don't turn completely two-tone and black underneath with the muck and mud on the pavements.

The secret path walk goes through a tall wooden gate in a wooden fence on one side of a narrow cut through, and no-one would know there was a footpath behind the gate unless they tried it. The wooded path leads to parkland with a small stately home which is now used as offices. There's a farm at the far end of the parkland and that's where I can watch cows and a donkey. The path through the farmland leads to a nearby village.

The Park is where that photo is taken (the human who feeds me took that). It's a big park, with deer and lakes and little woods and streams and lots of interesting smells. I love going there in my campervan. When we go there for the day we have a walk or two, and lunch as well. 

When we went there last time, we discovered we'd parked somewhere with deer poos all over the place. I wasn't bothered too much about sniffing them but the humans were careful where they put their feet, and they've called this parking area the Deer Toilet! 

 

There's nothing better than being in my van, even though we can't yet go away in it and stay somewhere.

 

 

Dog napping

 

There has been a lot of focus on pet theft recently, and apparently (so my humans say) it's good practise to stay vigilant when at home and when out with us dogs.

It seems that dog napping has increased since we've had the lockdowns, and personally, as a dog, I can think of nothing worse than being stolen and separated from my beloved, besotted humans. Unthinkable. What might happen if we were stolen, sold on to a new home, or taken to a puppy farm for breeding? Horrible.

The Kennel Club (I think they must be specialists of some kind) have some good suggestions about making sure we pooches are kept safe - you can read about it here. There's some useful info.

But common sense is a wonderful thing too, so make sure we're always in sight or on our leads when we're out (it's always safest on leads actually, especially if there are sheep or other animals about).

Please don't tie us up outside a shop and leave us while you go inside. The human who feeds me witnessed a dog theft a few years ago. The dog had been tied up outside the local Co-op. She was walking past and noticed two women untie the dog and start walking along the street. At that moment, the owner fortunately emerged from the shop, saw what was happening, shouted, gave chase and got her dog back. Nasty experience.

Make sure, if you have a garden, that it's secure and that the gate is locked. My humans had to make my garden secure because I started digging my way out under the fence and escaping to the next door garden to find their cat......but that's another story and we don't refer to it very often.

Make sure, too, that we're microchipped. That's an important one.

By the way, my use of the word "napping" definitely refers to kidnapping, and is nothing whatsoever to do with having a nap in the sun, in spite of the picture my owner has chosen to go with this blog post.

Before the lockdown

Hmmmm....no signs yet that we can get away and stay somewhere overnight (or longer) in my campervan, so I'm having a bit of a daydream about what we did last February, in 2020, when we could go away. Oops, just realised that this was  possible because it was before the endless lockdown hoo haa's  began. I'm feeling a bit nostalgic and just a tad sick and tired of visiting the same places on my walks. They're very nice but, you know, it's all a bit samey. Anyway, here's what I wrote a year ago, before that coronavirus thingy:

I went away with my two humans, for a few days in my motorhome. Camping at this time of year - February, wet, stormy, windy - is perhaps not the best but it's sometimes good to get away and see new places. Or in my case, smell new smells. And the van is one of my most favourite places to be.

We stayed in a place called Rutland, on a campsite which had plenty of space to walk around and it had a dog walk too, in a wood. But it was muddy, very muddy, and every time we went out I had to go through that rubbing and cleaning of my paws when we came back in.

We went to a place they called Rutland Water to look at birds. Boy was it muddy there! I couldn't go into part of it as it wasn't dog-friendly, but there is another place in the bird reseve that is OK for dogs. We didn't go there because my humans had enough of the mud they had to walk through to get to the bird hides. I stayed in my van, in the warm, and they walked me around the parking area and along the road nearby. Needless to say, it was wet and muddy. I think I came off best when I saw what was on their walking boots!

Rutland Water

We went to a town called Oakham, which was very dog-friendly. I was welcomed into the Castle area and the old building which was a sort of museum with masses of horseshoes all over the walls.

The best bit of the winter camping trip was a visit to a huge country park with a massive posh house. It was called Burleigh House but it was closed (there were signs saying No Dogs so I couldn't go in anyway) and we walked in the grounds. It was very windy and cold and I wore my fleece onesie, which keeps me dry and warm and clean.

We walked past the big house which had a ditch thing all around it. My humans said it was a ha-ha. I thought they were laughing or something.

The  ha-ha

We also went to the nearby big town called Stamford, which my humans seemed to like quite a lot. I suppose it was quite a nice place as I was allowed to go in everywhere. There are several churches there which I could go in as they were dog-friendly too.

What a difference it makes to find so many dog-friendly places to go to when we visit somewhere new in my van.

 

A day out in my campervan

My  campervan has been sitting on the drive for a while, and sometimes when I've been out for a walk I wistfully walk towards the sliding door at the side and hope we might be going in, but no, we carry on up the road instead. So it was with great excitement the other day that I found some bags of food (dog and human) and the cool bag on the floor by the front door. I was told "Bozzy in the van" when we went out. Yesss!!

The sliding door was open, the humans put the bags inside plus my blanket to travel on, then they hooked my harness to my seat belt and off we set. Neeless to say I was very happy. I had no idea where we were going - I never do, but that's OK because it's always good to go somewhere in my van.

We didn't go far, just to Tatton Park which is near our house and a place we walk to sometimes. The humans had been saying things about "staying local" because with this lockdown thingy we're not supposed to travel far. We'd had lots of rain but it was a dry day and the sun shone too. After they'd had their coffee we went for a long walk in a very quiet part of the park. There weren't many people about and I had a great time running and sloshing a bit too as it was muddy and puddly in places. 

The air felt good, as though Spring is coming, and the humans noticed some things called catkins on a tree. I was excited to hear that as I thought there was a cat around somewhere, but I lost interest when I saw what they were looking at. I kept an eye out for squirrels though. I'd been picking up some scents, then I saw the deer, lots of them, a whole herd of them running quickly away from some other humans in the distance. I had to go on my lead then as I'd have been after them. 

We kept walking and went back to my van, where we had lunch - well, they did. I had a biscuit and a raw carrot snack, they had soup and bread.

It was quite cosy in my van and we all settled down (me for a snooze, them for a read) before going back home again. Great day out. Hope we can do it again soon.

How about next week?

Stay at Home

Here I am on lookout duty, keeping an eye on what's going on outside. 

Hmmm....here come some deliveries.....oh yes, there's one of the neighbours going out....ah yes, there goes Murphy from across the road going for a walk....and here comes the postie. I sometimes bark or growl if there are people about outside my house, just to make sure the humans remember I'm a good watchdog too.

Of course, I go out for walks too - every day we have a very long walk -  but right now there's a lot of talk about staying at home because with this Coronavirus thing about, my humans are mainly staying at home to do their bit and help stop the spread of the virus. Not that they've got it, and they don't want it either, but because everyone has been asked to stay at home.

I like being at home. I sometimes run down the hill to my house for the last bit of our walk, because I know it will be warm and snug inside. Right now that's pretty important as there's been a lot of snow and rain and ice and I don't really go for this weather. But the humans make sure we go out everyday to get exercise. Even if it's freezing cold!

When we go out I have to wear what they call my "onesie". It's a fleece coat, a bit like pyjamas, and it keeps me warm and dry, and most important, it keeps me clean.

You may have noticed that my physique (big word!) is chunky - I have what's described in doggy terms as a "cobby body" - and my body is quite close to the ground. If it's muddy or mucky I come home with my lower half and undercarriage in need of a bath. If I wear the onesie, it's only my paws that need cleaning up and the human who feeds me washes and dries the onesie. She says it's easier than bathing me (although I'm not against a dip in a spot of nice warm water now and then).

I wrote about how I was measured up for my onesie and you can read about it here.

That happened when there was no Coronavirus and we able to go to campsites and places in my van. Ah - those were the days.

I keep my paws and claws crossed that all this will be possible again, but in the meantime, we have to stay at home.

 
 

A dog's eye view of 2020

2020 was quite a year wasn't it? Made me remember what I'd been up and how it was for me - dog's eye view and all that. The humans seemed OK but I do recall times of them saying they were getting a bit fed up, but the mood passed when they hoisted me up on to the sofa or their laps for a bit of fuss and a cuddle. I think (hope) I've been doing all I can just by being there. I do love the fuss too....

January

Visiting family from other places (one of them is in somewhere called the US), with grandchildren who adore me, return home so it's just me and the 2 humans again. We go to watch birds and it's very cold. Another dog there is as bored as I am. We go in my campervan for a couple of nights to a place by the sea. It's still cold but I get lots of walks, so it's more interesting.

February

We go away for a few nights in my campervan to a place called Rutland. The humans watch birds again. It's very, very wet and muddy, cold too. We go for a VERY cold walk in a big country estate. I liked that because it wasn't raining. Then we had to go home because there was a big storm on the way.

March

The humans go to stay with the family in that US place and leave me behind. I stay with Uncle Steve and Auntie Donna and have a whale of a time but the humans come back early, so I go back to my home. The humans have to rush home before all flights (in plane things that fly) were cancelled. I think everywhere was starting to close down very fast because of this coronavirus thing that suddenly everyone was talking about. Hmmmm. Well, now we know what that was all about. It's not gone away yet either. Everywhere goes into lockdown just after we all get home. My humans sort of keep themselves to themselves and don't see anyone for a couple of weeks in case they've got this virus thing. We go out for one walk a day (all we're allowed) but we go very late at night when no-one is about and there are owls hooting, foxes barking, and we see lots of hedgehogs. I try to sniff one and it rolls into a big spiky ball. There are no cars about, or planes. It's very quiet, I like it.

April 

More of the same. The human who feeds me has her choir sessions on something called Zoom (don't ask) and does lots of singing and laughing.

May

The weather is warm and I spend a lot of time in my garden patrolling the borders, sniffing in the corners to check if I can see Holly the Cat from next door, and I enjoy lying in the sunshine. The human who does "school" with me does lots of gardening and I spend chill out time with him.

June

More of the same, but now we can go out for awaydays in my campervan but not stay overight, so we go to the local nature park for walks and meet up one day with human friends and have a picnic under the van's awning and all stay apart from each other. I'm in the shade under the chair. It was a hot day and I wore my cool coat when we walked.

July

More of the same again, but the lockdown rukes eased off and campsites were open, so we took my campervan away to stay in it, and went to the campsite near beaches on the Wirral, and then to a place called Chirk. Brilliant! Sleeping in my van again. Lots of walks on beaches, in woods and by a canal, Loved it!

 

August

The human's daughter came to stay and as I love being with her - and she brings her cat - it's always interesting when she's around. And we went out for awaydays in the van so I was happy.

September

We had a great time as campsites were open, so we went for a proper longer holiday trip in my campervan to Devon. Lots of walks on the cliff paths, lots of beaches. Bliss.

October

Uh-oh. Things not looking quite so good as the virus cases begin to rise, but yes, we take the opportunity of still being able to go away in my van and travel to Norfolk, where there are huge empty beaches. Loved it. You can read about it here. I even had a hair do on the way, which I sort of enjoyed - see here for more.

November

Yep, things go dodgy again with lots more people getting the virus, so we had another lockdown - only it wasn't quite like the first one in March as we could do more things. But it was back to the awayday trips to the nature park for some good walks as a lot of campsites had to close again....

December

 ....but the one not far away, at a place called Southport, was still open so we went to stay for two nights (chilly but still bliss in my van, which gets toasty warm). Then suddenly it was out with the Christmas tree thing they have, daughter and cat came to stay, there were lots of presents around and I got a blue flashing light collar to wear in the dark. And what's more, it snowed!!

Most of the year I've enjoyed - I'm easy to please and easy to get along with - but one thing I've HATED is fireworks.

In November the world around me suddenly erupted into loud bangs and flashes. I was very scared because this happened when I'd just gone into the garden to do you-know-what. I managed to hide and lodged myself behind the water butt and some garden canes and I got stuck. The humans came to find me and I was a mass of shaky, quivering jelly when I got in and needed a fair bit of TLC to calm me down. It happened so suddenly as it was very quiet when I went out. 

Then in December the same thing happened twice on the same night, first at 11pm when there were bangs and flashes to mark this crazy Brexit thing, which means I can no longer use my wonderful Pet Passport when we take my campervan abroad. And then again at midnight when it became 2021. I quivered and panted and the humans helped me through it.

I do sometimes wonder about some of the other humans around though, and if they're all quite there in the head.

 

 

Goyt Valley Awayday

They (the humans) have gone into this lockdown thing again which means we're not supposed to go far from home (how far is "far"?) but my humans kindly took me out for an awayday in my van just before this happened.

We went to the Goyt Valley in somewhere called Derbyshire, and very nice it was too. They had lunch when we got there - they heated up soup, I got a carrot to chew and a couple of biscuits - then we went for a walk.

It all looked rather pretty. There were lots of leaves on the ground to sniff and rustle in, and there yellow leaves falling on the ground when the wind blew. 

There was water - big lakes - and we walked by one of them and my humans kept stopping to take photos. Boring.

 I wanted to keep exploring, but to be fair, we did do  fair bit of walking too, and the lakes looked good (or so they said...)

On the way back to my van I saw some mushroomy things which smelled interesting, but they wouldn't let me get near them for a good sniff in case they were poisonous. They took photos of those too.

 

Then we had a drink in my van, but first I had to have a rub with the towel (it's awful damp these days) then it was back home. Shame we couldn't stay and have a van sleepover, but all the campsites were closing the next day so no chance of that. 

The lockdown thingy again. When will it end?

Winter Camping

Well the dark days are here and I'm not quite so keen to go and hang out in the garden in the dark. It's damp and it rains a lot too, and it's sooo cosy and warm by the radiator in the room where I telepathically dictate my blog posts to my human.

The best place to be when one is winter camping!

Something odd's up. They're having another lockdown but this time it's not quite like the first one earlier in the year, which was very very quiet. This one's a bit noisier and there are nore people about - lots of them not keeping their distance too well, which makes my humans a bit narky. They just want to stay safe.

We did manage to go away for a short trip in my van before this new lockdown thingy started, but now we can't go away at all at the moment as campsites are closed. So I can snooze and dream of our wintry trip in February  months ago, (cos it is sort of wintry now) and share that with you - but in truth, it was pretty muddy and chilly.

And to be honest I think it would be muddy and chilly again now, even though we can't go away. But it was good to go away in my van, it always is.