Higgins Hörna

April 27 2005
Biscuits at bedtime

I know that quite a long time ago someone asked me how you get your mum to give you biscuits to search for at bedtime. It's very simple, just make sure you have a mum who takes some bits of advice seriously. I have a mum like that, and when she got me - and even before - she was reading up on a lot of things about dogs, and one thing she read was that at bedtime it could be a good idea to give the pup - in our case me - a biscuit or two at bedtime to keep the pup occupied. What that advise didn't say was that if you start giving your pup a couple of biscuits at bedtime they expect to get it for the rest of their lives!! When I wasn't just a small pup who'd just moved in, mum decided to make it a bit harder for me, and she started to hide the biscuits in my bed for me to search for. That is so much fun! I'm also very prepared at searching for the biscuits since several times a day I usually go to my bed to search for possible hidingplaces mum might use. It's always good to be prepared!!

So, every night when it's time for bed mum has to bring a couple of biscuits, and sometimes a livertreat or two in to the bedroom and hide them in my bed. Sometimes I'm so excited I start searching even before she's had time to hide anything, and mum always tells me how silly I am when I do that. I just like to be on top of things, so I don't think it's silly at all. After I've done a thorough search of my bed I always search mum's bed too just to make sure there aren't any biscuits hiding there. I take absolutely no notice of mum who is usually lying there reading a book, so I walk all over her and all over the bed sniffing after possible treats. I stick my head in under her duveet and search and it's not until I'm absolutely sure there are no more hidden treats anywhere that I can relax, make a deep sigh and lie down. The relaxing part doesn't happen until I've also searched under mum's pillows and I don't care if her head is on the pillow, I stick my nose in under it anyway.

Now it HAS happened that mum has forgotten to hide treats for me at bedtime, and that makes me very upset. When that happens and I've searched all over the place without finding anything I jump up in bed and sit right beside mum. Then I start to talk to her gently, and lightly hitting one of my front paws in the bed. If I don't get a reaction I start to talk more and louder, and hitting my paw harder on the bed Sometimes I hit both my front paws really hard on the bed and talk really loud. If that doesn't help I start pusning mum in her face with my nose and if I still don't get a reaction from mum I start licking her face away. Now I'm not sure, but sometimes I think mum forgets to hide treats on purpose because I've noticed that she sometimes is laughing very quietly. It's even happened that she's laughing so much the whole bed is shaking. Anyway, I don't give up until mum drags herself out to the kitchen and gets a couple of treats which she then hides in my bed. After that I'm all ready to go to sleep.

April 26 2005
Bath and food

Monday I had a very exhausting day. Mum was messing around with me all day and it made me so tired. We did our usual walks of course, which wasn't the reason for me getting exhausted, and then mum decided it was time to clean me up. First I had to spend a very long time on the table and mum brushed me and cleaned my ears with that special stuff she puts in them sometimes, and I was not happy at all about my situation. Then later she put me in the tub and gave me a bath! Horrible mum! The only fun part about a bath is when you're let out of the bathroom and can run wild in the apartment. I love drying myself on mum's bed... Then after I've been running around for an hour or so, I know it's going to be horrible again. It's back up on the table for another brushing and using of the hairdryer. I really don't enjoy days like this, and it makes me totally exhausted, but mum always seem very satisfied after I'm done. She says I smell nice and that my coat is really soft. I prefer to be a bit smelly and not too clean. Besides I don't think I ever get smelly...

Today on our first walk I fixed the clean part. I was following a nice smell and went in under christmas tree. Actually, mum says it's not called christmas trees unless you have them inside at Christmas, she says it's called a fir when it's not Christmas. Very strange. Anyway, I went in under this christmas tree and sniffed, and when I came out on the path again I heard mum say "oh no" and I knew I'd done something clever withouth knowing it. While under that tree, I brushed against it and got sticky stuff all over my coat! I think it's called resin in English, but I'm not sure. All I know it's sticky and when your coat is sticky, other things can get stuck in it!! Great!

In the afternoon when we were going for a walk mum took a strange way. We started out our normal route, but then she took a weird turn and I wasn't sure where she was taking me so at first I didn't want to come. But she forced me and we actually ended up at the petstore where mum was getting me food. They had some sort of special thing going on today, and the shop was full of people so I wasn't too happy about it, but I met some nice people in there who petted me and said I was cute. Mum didn't let me take anything of the nice things we passed, like special chewing bones, biscuits or pig ears. She said we were only getting me food. Turned out she got a new brand of food since they had some special thing on today which meant a good deal on a certain food. Not that there is anything wrong with the food I eat, but it turned out this new food was even tastier than my usual food. When it was time for my meal tonight mum mixed my old food with the new food, and after I'd eaten mum saw I'd left most of the old food in the bowl or on the floor. She told me to clean up and eat all of it, and I actually did after a while since she wouldn't give me any more of that new food.

April 18 2005
A walk in the forest

Today mum and I went to visit her parents, and what a strange sight I saw when we got there! Mum's father was standing on a ladder looking in through the window! I heard they said he was cleaning the windows, but I know he was just looking in the window because when I went inside to say hello to mum's mother I could see he was just looking in. Strange man. Anyway, mum and I got her father off the ladder and he came with us for a walk in the forest. Mum's mother were going somewhere in their car, so that's why she didn't come with us. I can tell you she missed some great fun!

We started out our walk on places I recognised since before, and almost the first thing we did was meeting another dog. I had a hard time making up my mind though if I should go over and say hello to the dog, because right behind it was a huge horse with a human on top of it. I don't like horses, they are too big for my taste. So I waited a while until the horse had passed, and then I said hello to the dog. It turned out that the dog and the horse with their humans were going the same way mum and her father had planned to walk, so mum was a bit disappointed since she'd planned to let me run off the lead. But, a bit further down the road the exciting part of our walk started! Mum and her dad decided to take a turn and walk in a direction I've never walked before! Mum said she hadn't walked that way for more than 20 years, so I think she found it a bit exciting too. We started walking over a big field where I think there are cows walking around during the summer, but since there were no cows or other creatures in sight, mum took my lead off and I could run around sniffing all sorts of interesting things! I really enjoy running around without the lead on, but I always make sure I don't run off too far. I don't want to loose sight of mum! So there I was running around, sniffing and inspecting things, and suddenly there was a place where the path went in different directions, and somehow I knew which way we were supposed to go. Mum said it seemed as if I had gone that way before, but really, I hadn't a clue as to where we were. I just thought it seemed like a good place to walk. Along the path were ditches full of water, and I heard mum say to her father that she was glad to have a somewhat unusual cocker. She said that most other cockers would throw themselves in to the waterfilled ditches and walk through every puddle of mud, but I always make sure to walk around places like that to keep my feet and the rest of my body dry.

The walk in the forest was really exciting! Parts of it went over open fields, sometimes we were surrounded by a wall of trees, sometimes we were in places where plenty of trees had fallen down during the storm earlier this year, and I found every part of the walk highly interesting. There were so many things to check out! I was running along first, then mum's dad and mum was last in line with her camera, and mum kept saying she was amazed to see how I seemed to know exactly where to turn and which path to follow when it devided in two or more paths. At one place it got a bit tricky, because we came to a spot where the path was all wet and muddy, and around it was a mass of trees and no way to get around the wet. I hesitated and wondered how to get over on the other side without getting wet, but mum's father came to my rescue and carried me over. He saw me hesitating and asked "do you want me to lift you over that" and I ran straight to him so he could lift me up.

Mum took the above picture after she had passed that muddy place I got help getting over. It doesn't look so bad on the picture though, but there was no way I'd walk through that! We came to some other places where there were water or mud all over the place, but I could either take a turn and walk around it, or there were little bridges I could walk over. Very clever having bridges in the forest! It was only one other place where I needed help even though it was a bridge there. The problem was that the planks in the bridge were a bit too far apart so you could see too much water through them, and also the first planks were missing so I was afraid to fall in the water. But mum came to my rescue there and carried me over. After that bridge we were in a place I recognised and I knew we were and shortly after that mum put my lead back on. She said that part of the walk is where there's a big chance to meet other people and dogs, and also there are fields around with horses and sheep. Mum knows I feel a bit scared around horses, so she's always afraid I'll take off if they come too close to the fence and the path where I'm walking, so to be sure I'll stay with her she put my lead on.

We did make a stop at the field where all the sheep are, because there were little baby sheep - I think they are called lambs - in there. Mum's father was telling her that the day before it had been two little lambs in there, and today when we walked passed we could see four little lambs. Mum said they were so cute and she took pictures of them and their mum.

Above you can see mother sheep with her two little lambs. All the lambs were black and had a funny white stripe of hair sticking up on their heads. According to mum they were just a day or two old, and she said they were so cute! I thought they looked very funny with that white thing on their heads, but sheep smells weird and make funny noises. And look at that mother sheep! I'm not a big fan of brushing, at least not every day, but look at her! She must have a very bad hair day!

When we got back to mum's parent's house I was really thirsty and was happy to find my bowl of water in its usual spot. A little while after we got back from the forest, mum's mother came home and the humans had coffee before mum and I went home to us. I was so tired and spent most of the evening relaxing. Mum took me out for another walk, but I wasn't really interested in taking another walk since I'd already been on two really long walks and one shorter, but mum said I had to pee before going to sleep for the night

April 14 2005
Unexpected delay

I know it sometimes goes a long time before I get to update my diary, but this time it wasn't mum's fault or her being lazy. It was the computer that broke down and it's been in for repair for the last two weeks! Finally it came back and mum has spent most of the day re-installing the programs she needs. I'll try to tell you in short what's been happening over the last two weeks.

I'll start with the sad part which is that my friend Rusty is no longer with his mum and dad. Exactly one week ago he left his mum and dad and went to a place called Rainbow Bridge. Apparently that's where all pets goes when they fall asleep never to wake up again. I'm not sure if humans go there, but maybe they do. I've heard it's a nice place to be in, it's nice and cosy, you're not forced to take baths and you can eat all the biscuits you want! At least I think so. Mum says that I will meet Rusty there some day, but I don't plan to see him anytime soon. If I go there, who will look after mum?? Besides, I'm busy with other things so this Rainbow Bridge place can wait.
Anyway, Rusty left a big empty space with his mum and dad and they miss him a lot. I have to admit I miss him too even though he wasn't the most entertaining friend you can have. I've even forgiven him for calling me " the little black shit". I will write more about Rusty in a couple of days when mum have time to help me.

Above you can see a rare picture. It's rare because me and Rusty actually are actually in the same picture together, and nearly cuddling up next to each other. Mum took this picture in December 2004 after we'd been out playing in the snow.

So, I think I'll start telling you some more fun things. Like yesterday for example when I was on a little squirrel hunting expedition! Mum and I was walking along a path, and suddenly I saw something small running across it. It turned out to be a squirrell, and I really wanted to get close to it to say hello! I've never met a squirrell really close, and I think it would be fun meeting one. They look so much fun with their long fluffy tail!! But this silly little thing did as they always do, he ran off! I was a bit annoyed I couldn't get after him since I had my lead on, but I really tried. I saw the squirrel starting to run up a tree, but then he changed his mind and ran a bit more on the ground. Just as I thought I would get close enough it ran up another tree, but I followed it with my eyes to see where he was going. I saw him getting really high up in the tree, jumping out on a branch, and then he took another jump over to another tree that was on the other side of the walking path. At that time I sort of lost my concentration since I could smell another dog, and when I took a look I saw an American cocker walking passed, so I decided to say hello to him instead. He was black just like me, and I think he was 3 years old, or maybe 4. Anyway, it was nice meeting him!

During the two weeks mum's computer was gone mum has been doing lots of other things, some of them really boring. One day for example she was dusting most of the day, and that was very very boring. She hardly sat down at all so I couldn't lay on her lap or cuddle up next to her at all! I know mum found the dusting very boring too, so I don't know why she continued!? All I can say is that humans are so strange sometimes. Another boring thing was that I got a bath. Mum says I would have gotten one even if she'd had her computer home, but maybe she'd forgotten about it had the computer been home... We also spent a lot of time lying on the sofa watching TV or mum reading a book. Sometimes I cuddle up in the sofa corner, and sometimes I lie on mum's stommach cuddling. It's so relaxing lying on mum, and I usually stretch out on my back. Very cosy!

We've also been visiting mum's parents several times so that mum could lend their computer to check her e-mails. While she's been at the computer I've either been lying on her lap or trying to convince her parents that mum doesn't feed me. Can't say though that I much success convincing them I was starving, but I did get a few treats. A couple of times I've also gone on walks with mum's dad, I guess he enjoys my company. ;0) Last week when we went to visit mum's parents little Martin was there too since mum's parents are his grandparents. When I saw he was there I hurried in and investigated the areas under all the tables. I was hoping Martin had been eating at the tables maybe dropping some crumbs.

Even better than crumbs is visiting mum's sister! We did that a couple of days ago because Camilla and Stefan had asked if mum could help them with their computer. I don't know why they asked mum since she couldn't fix her own computer, but never mind, maybe they didn't know that. Before they started fixing with the computer they had coffee, and that was great! First of all when Stefan came home I did my usual trick which always works with him. All I have to do is follow him around, looking at him and sometimes give a little bark. Then he gives me stuff to eat! So during the hours we were there I got sausages and ham and stuff mum doesn't even know about! Also when they were having coffee, Martin dropped a cinnamon roll on the floor which I tried to swallow in one bit, but when I realised no one was trying to take it from me I chewed it before swallowing it. So I must say that visit was a very good one!! Mum points out that maybe I should mention that when we came home and went for a walk for about 20 minutes I had to poop three times, but I can't see what interest that can be to anyone...

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