Hope the dog walk went ok. It rained so much over night that all the fields around here were badly flooded. Hope you did'nt have to go countryside way? How many dogs were on the walk and was Tootsie ok with them?

Sounds like she is quite good with her training. I know what you mean about letting them up on the furniture. When l lay on the sofa this afternoon watching the motor racing, l am afraid that l did let them go to sleep on me! Part of me knows l should'nt let it happen and part of me loves it that they want to snuggle up to me. Yes Karen l know it is rack elevation and cold - but they look so cute!

Last night did not go as planned. DH watched a movie but l decided to go on my computer so l suppose by the time it was bedtime all 3 dogs had seen little of me and also had been sleeping most of the evening.

I did go down to settle them down but after a few minutes they started to bark. Now l would have been quite happy to let it go on as surely going down to them made their barking pay off. The bark - owners come running and so forth. Unfortunatelly DH got very agitated though about next door neighbour as he is a complete moron and has been moaning a lot about my mutts barking on a Sunday when l visit my Dad.

Hubby told him that so long as it was not after 11pm he did'nt have a leg to stand on. Now he is not speaking to us - the good thing about it is l don't have to put up with his pervy comments everytime l see him. (Actually that is exactly what l told him as well - so that might also explain why he is picking us up about the dogs!) Mind you l have put up with his comments for almost 20 years so all l say is - girl power or in my case - menopausal power!!!

Getting back to last night - the mutts decided to kick off just as we were hitting 11pm. l did'nt go right down the stairs just called from the top to say No enough be quiet and then went back to bed. Realised that it was Schmoo setting the others off so the next time l went down i called Schmoo then said No etc. He did actually stop and then all 3 settled down!

This morning it was no good - l had drunk loads of orange juice and like the orange - l was bursting. I just could'nt hang on any longer and then DH went after me. That was it - all 3 were awake and wanting out. I suppose it was quite light. I put them out - got them back in and decided to go back to bed but by then they definately wanted company. I was lucky as DH got up and l ended up going back to sleep.

I did feel very guilty though and having thought about it - they are just like babies and children and l owe it to them as their owner (mum) to look out for them. As DH says he is the cat person and l am the dog person. It's just l also like sleep.

I think the walks are going a bit better. Met 2 people l knew walking towards - agin did not have time to put all 3 back on leads without having a complete breakdown. The 2 little ones did bark and run towards them along with Seiger trying to keep up - l called them all to me and they trotted back but trotted off again. They were not aggressive so that is a good thing but l was not impressed that even though they knew l had chicken, they really wanted to investigate these people. When they drew level with me we all had a little chat and the dogs just mingled around us. I definately need to work on the recall and try and find somewhere where l can come across other people and mutts as the occassional meetings are too few and far between. Again if they looked on me as pack leader they would have obeyed me instantly. I did fleetingly think of turning round and running to make them follow me but l really need them to meet people. We have been isolated long enough.

I'm off now but before l go l just need to remind you that DH stands for Dear Husband and not Dick Head as my 27 year old uncouth daughter thought l had said. He may be a pain in the rear end at times but l would'nt go that far with him. ttfn xxx Kittysoo