Billy Dogs New Blog

A few months ago I publish that Billy’s mummy ‘Maggie’ had been in touch, and I posted some pictures of her - well today Billy went to see his mum as she celebrated her 13th birthday and a family reunion!  Maggie was rightly the center of attention in her own hospitality tent, where 9 of her brood were waiting for her, including Billy.

Maggie is an absolutely lovely hound, who was rescued nearly 3 years ago and brought back from deaths door with a load of love and attention – and it shows.  In total Maggie had 22 pups, Billy must have been one of her early litters as his gathered brothers and sisters today all seemed to be younger!  There were no direct brothers or sisters for Billy to meet, but he did say hello (in that typical doggy fashion ie: not to the face) to all his half bro’s and sisters.

It was a great day out for Billy, who’s recent adventures outside the house haven’t been as fun – on Thursday the poor hound had to have 8 teeth out after underlying problems were found during a routine clean.  Thankfully though he was back to his normal self today for the party, but naturally we didn’t give him any of his mummy’s cake just in case!

Enjoy the photos!

… I mean check up, Billy went to the vets today for a check up and although we have concerns he is developing arthritis in his left leg (where we were told he had an old racing injury), everything else checks out fine.  He’s a good weight, although he’s put on a few pounds from 31lb last august, he’s now a 35lb which we’re told is a good weight.  Billy will now be taking supplements to try as a precautionary measure if he is developing arthritis, we only have suspicions due to recent bouts of limping and excessive cleaning of his left paw that might indicate an ache in the joints in that area.

But as promised here are some recent photos of Billy dog…

Sorry for the lack of updates – blame billy, he’s not done anything silly for a while (its not me being lazy honest!)

Today we had Billy’s first outside shower of the summer – basically a watering can, some doggy bath stuff and the open air of the back garden.  Not sure who got more soaked, him or me, but I now have a lovely fluffy billy dog who definately likes to be pampered – other dogs we’ve had usually had to be kept on their leads to keep them still, Billy stands still and lets me scrub his back.

Other news, well we have absolutely no problem now with his eating – every meal time he’s right there and eats his food in one go, which I must admit is great to see – for those interested his tastebuds are partial to the Butcher’s tripe range with added small crunchy mixer from Tescos, been feeding him on that for the past four weeks and bowl licked clean every day. 

Seems Billy doesn’t like Thunder storms, poor little thing has been hiding all day from the big bad world outside whilst the world (in his mind) fell around him.  He also survived an entire week in the care of my brother, whilst I took mum around Scotland, last time we left a dog in the care of my brother we witnessed a complete personality change, Rossi was such a quiet timid thing before we went away but on our return he was suddenly a big playful kid of a dog so I was a little worried if my brother would lead Billy astray but thankfully my Billy dog is still the same silly hound!

I promise I will post new pictures soon, I really should get some of fluffy dog and his new tartan colar we got him from Scotland, he also has a new favourite toy that I got him from Scotland – a farting Haggis, he absolutely adores that and I think its now on a par with his boinging ball (I had to recently purchase a new one, had it shipped over from the states, after his orignal one was played to death!).

In a couple of weeks Billy will be attending his mum’s birthday party, so I will be posting all about that as well!

It has finally happened, Billy dog so famous for sometimes taking an entire day to eat his evening meal has for the first time since coming home, eaten an entire meal in one go – licking his bowl clean and doing his ‘can I have some more’ eyes (naturally we said bugger off you greedy hound! hehe)

I will admit this fills me with happiness, I like to see dogs enjoying and looking forward to their food and Billy just always appeared way too laid back and in no hurry whenever I spent hours slaving over preparing his meal… ok, so it only takes a couple of minutes to actually prepare his food but still, I bother to feed him and he should act eternally grateful every day hehe.

So yes, today is a day to remember in the Billy calendar as the day he actually ate his dinner in about ten minutes flat… good boy Bill!

With the lighter evenings, and even some evidence of sun at times Billy has discovered a new interest – looking out of windows and doors.  Where before he seemed quite content to sit inside the house, he now ‘requests’ in his special Billy way the opportunity to stand on my mum’s bed so he can look out the window.  This obviously adds to his wanting to watch me leave in the mornings – he’s beginning to take an interest in the world outside our door.

Well it’s been a while since I’ve posted a really naughty Billy story but suffice to say he may have trumped the Christmas present he left at my work story a couple of weeks ago.  I needed to pick up my mum from work so I thought it would be lovely to give Billy a ride in the car, considering he usually spent most of his days in the house I thought this would be a nice treat – previously he’s always enjoyed looking out at the traffic and what’s going on. 

 However, unlike previous car journeys, this time he got spooked by a rather loud motorbike engine that roared suddenly after being stationary at some lights… suffice to say Billy literally cacked himself, like a repeat of the number two work incident at Christmas - all I heard was a little tommy squeak and then glanced back at the horror that was now my back seat, to add to the ‘bonus’ Billy had helpfully removed the blanket that usually covered the back seat when he is in the car.

We’re still cleaning, thankfully the fabric doesn’t appear permanently marked, the smell has gone and the worst of the damage has been removed but I imagine that might be a hard stain to explain to the car dealer when I trade my car in – I’m sure a couple more cleans should shift it completely but I think I might have to invest in some nappies for the hound at this rate!

Just an aside – please try and erase this story from your mind if I ever offer you a lift home in my car and you need to sit in the back, just pretend this never happened… ignorance is bliss, hehe

It had to happen I guess, Billy finding the bathroom.  The day we came home to find an entire room in the house covered in toilet paper was really just the beginning.

He’s definately in training to be considered for one of the Andrex puppies, I guess he’s not realised the role doesn’t normally go to dopey long legged retired greyhounds, but that hasn’t stopped him practicing the art of taking one end of the roll and seeing how far he can go in the house with it before it runs out.  Ultimately though he just likes to rip the rolls apart, and has so far managed to successfully destroy 3 rolls and unravel one.

We also now have to keep the toilet lid down at all times (though obviously not when in use.. ahem) as Billy is under the illusion its a glorified drinking bowl otherwise.  To think he ignored this little room for so long and now its  a job to get him to stay out – we simply can’t afford the toilet roll each time he gets in there!

Now we’re left wondering what will keep him entertained next once he gets bored of the bathroom, he’s running out of ways to be naughty!

Don’t wake up the billy, he’ll get up when he wants to get up – his latest ‘development’.  Seems Billy is loving his beauty sleep and no longer is the first to get up – gone are the 4am wake up calls because he wants to go out, now at nearly 9am, we might be able to convince him to stir enough to go outside.

The record so far is him not moving is 11.30am, again with this myth that Greyhounds are active and needs lots of excercise!

Of course, when he is awake and has bothered to move his bum he’s pretty active, chasing his 100+ toy collection around the house and doing circuits around the garden… just on his terms and when he’s feeling awake enough.

Oh and he also leaves his bedroom in a complete mess, he never makes his bed and leaves all his toys lying around… I think he has all the makings of any excellant teenager, just waiting for the tantrums now… ahem.

Seems Billy has a new mission in life – to be naughty and enjoy it!

One biscuit box – empty, a sausage, the lid mysteriously missing off his tub of chews, missing chews, objects that shouldn’t be on his bed finding themselves on his bed, a strange interest in running away with a half made rug… all recent crimes commited by el billbo and he’s loving it.

I have to give him credit, he’s learning some neat tricks in the art of theft – the sauage theft a particuarly skilled take that involved faking interest in the carpet around the table and then swifty bringing his head up, and in points of a second taking the sausage and swallowing all evidence – had he not been seen in that split moment its very likely he might have got away with the crime of the century.  Sadly, his other crimes haven’t been so well disguised… the empty buicuit box on his bed was a bit of a giveaway, and his apparent need to leave the items he’s stolen on his bed is also a major clue when we’re searching for the culprit – he does do a very good innocent face though, I’ll give him that.

The lid missing off his chews tub however was sneaky, because we didn’t notice that for a few hours but did start to suspect something was amiss when Billy kept leaving the room for a minute or so and return licking his lips.  He could have eaten the whole tub of chews when he first managed to dislodge the lid but Billy seemed to prefer to pace himself, which was probably a good thing because I don’t think it was a coincidence that shortly after this crime Billy had a sudden thirst and nearly drank us out of house and home, that may have taught him a lesson but it’s hard to tell.

So, that’s what Billy’s been up to lately – all harmless fun but suffice to say we’re having to train ourselves a bit more now not to be so relaxed about leaving stuff around the house that might appeal to lil bilbo, he’s now an expert thief!