Dlog (Dog Blog) | Earth Gallery https://www.earthgallery.com Tue, 07 Jan 2020 05:39:44 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=5.6.13 Merlins Story – Part 2 https://www.earthgallery.com/merlins-story-part-2 Tue, 01 Sep 2015 17:46:55 +0000 http://www.earthgallery.com/?p=1193 By Neville Ryan When I finished Part 1 things were very sad in the house. Mum had left us and dark days followed. My Guy was very sad and I tried to help by staying as close to him as I could. I followed his every move and he called me “his little shadow”. I […]

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By Neville RyanMerlin2

When I finished Part 1 things were very sad in the house. Mum had left us and dark days followed. My Guy was very sad and I tried to help by staying as close to him as I could. I followed his every move and he called me “his little shadow”. I was a bit irked by that because I was a big boy but I didn’t let him know that it bothered me. Even though he was sad we still went for walks. My Guy needed to get out of the house a lot! We walked to the park, we walked during the day, we walked in the rain, we walked to the docks to meet Eddy and Irie and we walked at night (often at 3am). It turned out that having me meant that during the early hours we could walk anywhere we wanted at any time and the local gendarmes wouldn’t ask us “what the hell were we doing out at this hour of the morning”? I loved it! We went everywhere together. Either walking or in the car. The car was my favorite. I could stick my head out and bark (I mean talk) at every imaginable dog, person or object.

As time went on things started getting better. Less walking in the early hours and less walking in general but the play time was steadily increasing. We would go down to the canals near us and play with the Frisbee. We did this until My Guy started getting annoyed with the way I finished the game. He would have thrown the damn Frisbee forever but I would get tired so when I wanted to end play time I would walk over and drop the Frisbee in the canal. Normally he wouldn’t mind, but after I did it a couple of times when the tide was out and he had to use poles to try and lift the Frisbee from the mud (about 8 feet) the Frisbee was left at home. I had a great time running around the canals because My Guy would take my leash off and I could run and sniff to my hearts content. All was well until I cut my foot and we had to rush off to the vet. When I recovered, we went back to the canals and I ate something and almost collapsed which meant another dash to the emergency animal hospital at midnight. After that no more canals!!!!!!!

Life started getting back to normal. We would see Eddy and Irie a lot. Irie taught me how to swim in a river and I actually liked it. A river is so much nicer than the ocean which has waves or a pool which has steps. My favorite time was walking down to the docks at night and meeting Eddie and Irie at the little cafe on the waterfront. We would sit outside and while the boys were having coffee we would get treats and people passing by would play with us. Then we would all walk the full length of the waterfront and Irie and I would stop to sniff and pee the whole way. On the way back we would say goodnight to Eddie and Irie and we would walk home. What a great night. At other times we would visit Kerry and I would play with her Sylvester toy. It was my favorite toy in the whole world and she gave it to me when we left Florida. I really looked after it until Sammy got hold of it and ate his head. I still play with it when it is brought out of hiding but Sammy is not allowed to touch it. We would visit with Dana and Maggie and the cat and I would try and eat the cat’s food. Good times!

Things continued to improve but I could still sense an under current of sadness. As much as I tried I couldn’t help to lift it. What to do? I was lost. Then one night it all changed. He called someone and ended up speaking for 4 hours. I was exhausted listening to it all, especially when you can only hear one side of the conversation. After that conversation life changed. Their was a lightness in the house and My Guy was genuinely happy. These phones must be magical because they seem to have the ability to make people happy, angry or sad. Luckily, this time the phone brought joy. The phone calls kept happening and My Guy was getting happier by the day. I used to love sitting outside with him on the verandah while he was talking. The lightning was flashing, the thunder was booming and it was raining cats and dogs. I wish it was really raining cats. After one of these phone calls I could tell his joy had returned. He looked at me and gave me a big hug and said “We are going to California”. Whhhaaattttt?

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Merlin’s Apology https://www.earthgallery.com/merlins-apology Mon, 13 Oct 2014 05:08:42 +0000 http://www.earthgallery.com/?p=1015   By Merlin I owe all my loyal readers an apology. I was planning to write the second part of my life story but I came down with an unfortunate illness and have only recently recovered. I woke up one day and could hardly walk. I was like a 90 year old man with severe […]

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By Merlin

Merlin2

I owe all my loyal readers an apology. I was planning to write the second part of my life story but I came down with an unfortunate illness and have only recently recovered. I woke up one day and could hardly walk. I was like a 90 year old man with severe arthritis. I was stressed and in pain. It started with my back leg and progressed to my two front legs and it was difficult to walk and sit down and getting up was the worst of all. My Guy was in full panic mode. Neither of us slept very much and the more worried he would get the more worried I would become. A fine pair we make. Before I knew what was happening we were at the vet’s office. The vet poked and prodded every part of my body and declared “I don’t really know what is wrong with him”. Not a good sign! I had to stay in the back room all afternoon and they took some blood for testing. Ouch! The results came back and were positive in that that nothing bad showed up but didn’t show a cause for my ailment. The vet said they only had one or two cases a year like mine (just my luck) and that she had spoken to a specialist at the Animal Hospital and recommended that we go there. I didn’t like the sound of that!

I thought it was time to start help healing myself. I like to lie next to the giant crystal that is in the house because it makes me feel good and relaxes me even when I am feeling well. My favorite is lying on a patch of ground in the yard where I am surrounded by crystals. My Guy goes crazy when I lie there after a bath. I still don’t know why he gets so upset. My Guy also started giving me some pills (getting me to swallow them is another story). Within a day I started to get better and by the time I got to the hospital I was feeling a lot better. More prodding and poking and the specialist thought it was a case of Immune-Mediated Polyarthritis (IMPA).  Luckily I was feeling so much better that she decided no more action was needed for the time being. My Guy and She Who Must Be Obeyed (SWMBO) were really happy and relieved and Sam stopped moping when I got back home. My Guy took off in the Jeep (without me) and came home with more pills. Hopefully they were for him but I had a bad feeling! They weren’t for him. Poop!

I am now back to playing and talking (some people call it barking) and feeling like my old self but we haven’t been to the park for a long time. Hopefully that will change soon.

Merlin

P.S. I was well enough for My Guy to give me an acid bath. Well, that warm soapy water feels like acid!

P.P.S. Sammy had to have a bath as well and she wasn’t even sick. Ha,ha,ha.

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Merlin- My Story (Part 1) https://www.earthgallery.com/merlin-my-story-part-1 Sun, 03 Aug 2014 22:08:52 +0000 http://www.earthgallery.com/?p=968 I was born in Florida but fate often changes the direction of life. When I was 3 months old I was abandoned on the street. I didn’t know what was going to happen to me and I was scared. I ended up in doggy jail with a lot of other puppies and big dogs and […]

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MerlinI was born in Florida but fate often changes the direction of life.

When I was 3 months old I was abandoned on the street. I didn’t know what was going to happen to me and I was scared. I ended up in doggy jail with a lot of other puppies and big dogs and although it wasn’t a bad place I didn’t really like it. I had only been there a few days when a couple turned up, took one look at me and decided we were all going to be together. They weren’t allowed to play with me on that day and they promised they would be back the very next day. I was so nervous I could hardly sleep.

The next day, there they were as promised. I was so excited I almost peed. The 3 of us played for an hour and the warden of the puppy jail said I could go home with them. This time I was so excited I did pee. When they were doing the adoption paperwork an angry woman from Collie Rescue was complaining that she had come to pick up two dogs and one of them was me. All three of us froze. My people whispered to each other that they were not going to let me go. What now? Just then the warden stepped in and told her that I had found a new home. Phew! That was a close one. I later found out that my new Mom had a dream about me and she made sure that they both rushed down to find me. Boy, am I glad they followed that dream.

My new Mom wasn’t well for the whole time I knew her so she couldn’t do a lot of things with me but I used to cuddle up with her whenever I could. I used to love jumping up on the bed and snuggling. With My Guy however, we did lots of things. We would walk every day and go the dog park every day. I loved the dog park. There were acres of land to explore and lots of dogs to play with. That was where I learned how to swim. I was standing next to the pond when a group of big dogs came rushing toward me and pushed me in the water. I didn’t even know I could swim until that very moment. It turned out to be ok because from then on I would cool down in the pond every day. Every time I went in the pond I had to be hosed off and dried before we could go home. A lot of muttering, I don’t think that was My Guy’s favorite activity. Sometimes he would take me into “The Room” and make me stand in a sink then cover me with boiling acid. (I know he said it was only warm water but I knew better. To this day he still tortures me the same way. “Oh the humanity”). Next came the sweet smelling stuff and I became one giant soap bubble. More acid then my favorite part….The Towel. Just before The Towel I always liked to have a good shake and spray water everywhere….more muttering. He would always called me a big fluffball. I was a little embarrassed in front of the other puppies but I liked it. My Guy used to carry me in the crook of his arm and I would be asleep before we were out of the car park. Ahhh. Those were the days!

Life continued until one day everything changed. My Guy turned up with a big truck, loaded all our stuff and the three of us were off. When we arrived at a house he said “this is your new home”. I was really excited and spent a lot of time sniffing the place out. I thought that I might have had some say in the matter but I later found out youngsters (especially puppies) don’t have much of a choice when it comes to moving. It didn’t really matter. The three of us were together and that was the important part.

I remember that it was close to Christmas and it was cold but we still went for walks and I met my first girlfriend Irie. We had a great time together chasing squirrels and ducks and I found out that my greatest joy was chasing lizards. I fearlessly hunted them every day and once I almost caught one. That was a great day! My Guy was also happy because he met some wonderful people who it turned out were a great help to him in the dark days to come.

We had a good Christmas and New Year then something changed. I didn’t know what it was but I felt a great sadness descend on the house. I tried my best to keep everyone happy and My Guy said I was the best present he ever had. I gave him a big lick for that one.

Life went along then suddenly things changed again. A big van with flashing lights turned up (they called it an ambulance) and they rolled Mom inside. I never saw her again. My Guy rushed off and I was left alone at the house. What was happening? Later on I heard a car arrive. It was My Guy. He was feeling very sad but he took me for a walk. I was really happy to have some company and be outside. It was cold and rainy but we didn’t care. I sniffed and played and when we got home I thought I would get the towel and we both would be off to sleep. It didn’t work that way. My Guy was off again and I still didn’t know what was happening. I was alone and I was scared.

It was still dark when My Guy came back. It must have been raining because there was a lot of water running down his cheeks. He came in and hugged me and I licked the water off his cheeks. It tasted salty and it didn’t stop even though he was out of the rain. While he was hugging me he told me that Mom had gone and wouldn’t be coming back. I didn’t understand what had happened but I stayed close to My Guy all day and gave him lots of kisses.

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Neville and Eddie Defend Their Dog’s Honor in Court https://www.earthgallery.com/neville-and-eddie-defend-their-dogs-honor-in-court Wed, 08 Jan 2014 19:02:27 +0000 http://www.earthgallery.com/?p=663 By Neville Ryan This happened when Merlin & I lived in Florida. To those who have seen this before, I apologize. However, our Earth Gallery Dlog site is a new venue & we are now sharing with the world. Neville Eddie and I we were unjustly accused of having our dogs off the leash in […]

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By Neville Ryan

This happened when Merlin & I lived in Florida. To those who have seen this before, I apologize. However, our Earth Gallery Dlog site is a new venue & we are now sharing with the world. Neville

Eddie and I we were unjustly accused of having our dogs off the leash in a public park and we were each given a ticket by an over enthusiastic police officer. I guess “unjustly accused” might not be strictly accurate. “Caught red handed” might be a tad closer to the truth. We were overcome with righteous indignation and we decided we would rise up and strike a blow for all dog owners in Tarpon Springs. “We weren’t going to take it anymore”!

Eddie went to see the Mayor and the City Manager both of whom ran for cover. Not an auspicious start. The system was fighting back! I went to City Hall and they offered to look up the information on the city website. They searched and searched surprised that their own web site didn’t contain any relevant information. I was beginning to suspect a conspiracy. Finally they all agreed that I would find the information I was seeking at the local Police Department. Entering a police station, voluntary or otherwise, is not my first choice for enjoying a sunny afternoon but for the greater cause I was willing to cross the dark portal to further my quest. “No one here knows anything about the leash laws; you will have to call after 2pm”. Now I know a conspiracy is in force. Doggedly (no pun intended), I call back after 2pm and they offer to mail the information. Eventually a photocopied page turns up and now we have some ammunition to fight our case. It was really more like a very small bullet but at least it was a start.

Irie

Irie

 

Meanwhile, Eddie launched into his campaign and started talking to police officers, other dog owners and anyone who would lend asympathetic ear. The tide of public opinion was filling him with confidence and his determination to confront the judge was growing by the minute. To strengthen his case, Eddie started an action file filled with Irie’s (pronounced Iree) achievements, awards, tv appearances and commendations. I was quite impressed. Alas, Merlin’s file only contained a note from the vet saying “here’s mummy’s little dumpling”.

We were starting to get psyched for the hearing. An official looking notice turned up from the court. Aha! They have obviously written to apologize and assure us that leashes can be completely done away with and our campaign had worked. I opened the letter with trembling hands and because I wasn’t wearing a hat I was ready to throw the piece of paper into the air in joyous exultation. Poop! They delayed the hearing a week. The conspiracy was growing and they needed time to martial their forces. We at least had them on the run and they failed to realize that this would give us more time to fine tune our strategy.

We met at Starbuck’s for final pretrial meeting. The four of us were there. Eddie and I were planning while Merlin and Irie were barking, kissing people and doing general doggy stuff. I was starting to feel that they were not taking the matter as seriously as Eddie and I but then again they are only 2 and 3 years old so I guess I shouldn’t expect too much. Eddie decided that he will take Irie into the courtroom to show the judge how well behaved she is. He suggested I take Merlin. I thought about it then decided I would probably be thrown in jail for disrupting the court. I thought it best that he relax at home.

The court time was set for 8.30am but we were keen to present our case and arrived at 7.40am to be greeted by television cameras and reporters. At last our campaign has gathered traction and the world is here to see us fight our case. Unfortunately it appears they were there for jury selection in a murder case. In we go with Irie, through security screening and on to the courtroom. Security now jumps into action to ask why Irie is in the court. Eddie explained she is a therapy dog and showed her credentials. He didn’t tell them she was evidence. Crafty move Eddie!

Merlin

Merlin

 

The tension in the air was so thick you could cut it with a knife. (That might be a good line for a movie some time). This is it. This is when   we will strike a blow for dog lovers not only in Tarpon Springs but around the world. The Prosecutor states that she has a short statement to read. “At this hearing you will have 3 choices. Plead not guilty and come before the judge on June 9th.  Plead guilty, pay the fine and it goes on your record. Plead no contest and therefore admit no liability, pay the fine and no record. This is the most popular choice.”

We were stunned. I started to laugh and Eddie went into shock. Our turn came and our big court appearance consisted of us saying “no contest”. That’s it! Turns out they thought Eddie needed his therapy dog with him because of the stress of being in court. On the drive home, even though the system had ground us into the dust I couldn’t stop laughing.

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DLOG #2: ME, THE DOG, THE CAT AND THE VACUUM CLEANER https://www.earthgallery.com/dlog-2-me-the-dog-the-cat-and-the-vacuum-cleaner Wed, 20 Nov 2013 00:27:58 +0000 http://www.earthgallery.com/?p=620       “While I admit to being a party in the adventure shown below I believe my role was highly exaggerated under artistic license by the writer. As much as I love him he sometimes gets carried away when writing. He probably won’t tell you that we were in Florida at the time and […]

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Merlin

“While I admit to being a party in the adventure shown below I believe my role was highly exaggerated under artistic license by the writer. As much as I love him he sometimes gets carried away when writing. He probably won’t tell you that we were in Florida at the time and the humidity was driving us both crazy.” – Merlin

 

I decided to vacuum tonight. In hindsight it was probably not the best idea. I switched the vacuum on and the cat immediately panicked and headed for the door at 100mph. My dog, Merlin, is barking and jumping on and off the couch at 100mph.The Shop-Vac motor is roaring and the suction is at 100mph. I am trying to open the front door to let the cat out and the Shop-Vac nozzle has glued itself to a cushion and is trying to devour it. Merlin is still barking and leaping around the room like a Gazelle.Success! I manage to get the cat out while juggling the vacuum hose but now the nozzle has attached itself to the couch. I manage to save the couch from being sucked into the Shop-Vac and flushed with this minor victory I tackle the bedroom.

 

I start on Merlin’s pillow and this drives him even crazier. He is leaping on and off the bed with ever increasing speed and his barking is becoming more frantic. He then decides to attack the nozzle which I cleverly move out of the way and straight on to the quilt which is now in danger of being eaten by this voracious Shop-Vac. I wrestle about a foot of quilt out of the machine which is now screaming at 200mph and as I yank out the last bit the machine attaches itself to Merlin’s pillow. You can just imagine what Merlin thought about this new turn of events. After switching off the beast and calming Merlin a degree of order was restored.

 

Now this is where a sane rational man might cut his losses and call it a night. Unfortunately I don’t qualify for this group. I foolishly decided to give the bathroom a quick once over. I rolled the vacuum towards the bathroom and at this point I should have recognized more trouble was coming by the look in Merlin’s eyes and the fact that he was crouching in the attack position. This was happening and the machine hadn’t been switched on yet. I blame my lack of awareness on the late hour and several cups of coffee. 

 

The bathroom is tiny and there is barely enough room for one person but somehow it ended up with me, Merlin and the screaming Shop-Vac all squeezed in together. To make matters worse, Merlin and I were trapped behind the evil machine which had blocked our exit. Once again you can imagine how Merlin reacted to that unfortunate situation. I decided now was the time to accept defeat and switch the machine off and hide it in the back bedroom.After all the drama and excitement I took Merlin for a walk (at midnight) to calm him down and now he is sleeping next to me while I type. All is well in the world.

 

P.S. The cat came back the next day.

 

P.P.S. “A perfect ending would have been the vacuum cleaner swallowing the cat” -Merlin

 

Neville Ryan

EarthGallery.com

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Dlog https://www.earthgallery.com/dlog Mon, 09 Sep 2013 21:33:14 +0000 http://www.earthgallery.com/?p=555 Merlin and Sam have been badgering , or should I say dogging, us to have their say on the new website. After hours of whining, barking and pleading we have given in to the pressure and given them their own DLOG. We apologize beforehand for what they might write because their perspective of life is […]

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Merlin and Sam have been badgering , or should I say dogging, us to have their say on the new website. After hours of whining, barking and pleading we have given in to the pressure and given them their own DLOG. We apologize beforehand for what they might write because their perspective of life is a little different to ours. No doggy censorship on this DLOG.

 

Merlin

Hi Everyone,

My name is Merlin. I am 4 years old, I am extremely handsome and I combine the finest traits of a Border Collie and Collie. I’ve been told I look like a black and white Lassie. Yeah, yeah, I know Lassie was a girl but let’s not quibble. Did someone say Kibble?

I love going out in the Jeep so I can stick my head out the window and bark to my heart’s content. I especially like it when we drive by a cyclist and I say hello by letting out a very loud single yelp or bark. I love to watch the bike wobble when I do that. It must be a way of them saying hello back to me.

 

Sam

Hello, my name is Samantha but everyone calls me Sam. I am a 5 year old adorable Chocolate Lab. Everyone loves chocolate so everyone loves me and I love everybody in return………except cats! My star sign is Pisces, I love to swim and I love eating everything I can find. A really good day is when I get soaking wet, eat something yummy (some might say yucky) and then get into the house and try to lick everyone in sight. We all have a lot of fun with everyone chasing me around the house making out that they want me to go outside. This is such a fun game and we all have such a great time that I try to do it whenever I can.

That’s it for now. We haven’t had a nap for nearly 30 minutes so we are getting a tired.

Merlin and Sam

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