I love Dogs me...

Thanks for the update BT, Alfie is a lucky lad to have such an undrrstanding owner. You could also say that you are also lucky to have such a wonderful best friend, it's a win win all round.

Happy birthday to Alfie.

Does anyone know how Alfie is getting on? Not seen BT posting lately.

He’s posted once or twice but not for several months.

I tried to contact him a few weeks ago by pm but didn't get a response. Wonder if he's ok or if someone has happened to him or his family, or if he has just changed his email address.?

I don't think he visits that site any more, Nellie.

Just thought I'd introduce Bramble as I have mentioned him in other posts, he is a bit camera shy so very difficult to get a decent picture of him!

He is our third Boarder Collie, our first lived a great and long life and died of old age our second was very sadly killed in a car crash which was absolutely devastating, he was only 5 years old and left a great gap in our lives, and so we decided to get another, Bramble was 3 months old when we brought him home, he is very intelligent, but can be a bit obstinate at times. although not aggressive in any way, he loves other animals but is very defensive where humans are concerned he wears a nervous dog lead and collar as well as his HIVIS coat as he doesn't like being touched or being left without an escape route. Although he is growing out of it now, to begin with, we were quite worried, so approached our vets and behaviourists, even had his eyesight checked for short sightedness. but in the end all said it was just his personality. Now at 3 years old he loves the car, loves the Motorhome and the travelling, loves the campsites and loves meeting other animals, but,  we are always aware of others trying to stroke him. children seem to understand the collar and HIVIS, but sadly adults don't!

BRAMBLE WAITING FOR THE OFF

Thanks for that, RJ. Bramble looks a great dog.

Our last dog was the opposite as he loved people but hated other dogs which made it very difficult to take him out. People couldn't grasp the fact that he was on a lead for a reason and would let their dogs come too close despite shouted warnings. "Mine's alright, he won’t hurt" they would say. Yeah, well, mine wasn’t!

We're dogless now since he died 4 years ago - I can’t believe it’s been that long - and think we're too old now to take on another and give it the life it deserves. Instead, we enjoy other people's dogs.

Good post RJ and nice to see that picture of Bramble.

We're on our 5th and 6th Irish Setters now, Lady and Ralph, and they're anything but camera shy! 

All ours have loved camping and later caravanning - it's a great way of holidaying with dogs.Keep posting about life with Bramble, especially when you get back to trips away with him. 

 Will do.

Setters are lovely and yours are beautiful, don't fancy the hoovering up though!

Some people are just stupid, you tell them not to touch and you get the 'dogs love me' or 'I know what I am doing' etc

just as they get a mouthful of very sharp teeth wrapped around their fingers which then becomes my fault and puts Bramble at risk.

Absolutely right - I lost count of the number of times on site that we'd got ours settled down only for passers by to come across and want to fuss them. 

We get a lot of complaints (on this forum) about "irresponsible" dog owners which, IMHO, is a very small minority. But it's a two way thing - "let sleeping dogs (and their owners!) lie" - dogs love to be fussed but sometimes they need to be ignored, thank you!