whippet-tales.com

The World According to Paula

 Welcome to Whippet-Tales  and The Perils of Paula  

This is the story of Paula.

Paula - in Angelic Mode

Paula lives with me in Ireland. I have had dogs for most of my life but Paula is my first Whippet. She makes me laugh every day.

Paula - Pretending to Come Back to Me!

I did consider doing agility with her but decided against it as her ‘recall’ is not too hot. I cringe when I think of the mayhem she could cause – not to mention the hours spent waiting until she comes back to me!

Perfect for the First Time Breeder

Marco Update

Those of you who have been following the stories of Paula will know that we got a whippet x from the pound who we called Marco.

Well, Marco was not a happy chap living with Paula. Once Paula found out that Marco was a wimp she bullied him mercilessly. He was not allowed to sleep in bed with us, everything that he picked up Paula took off him.

When I was stroking Marco Paula would walk between him and me to get him away. I felt so sorry for him…

But he has now got a new lease of life. He has gone to join Lesley’s pack. He has a new name, Jimmy Choo.

He has slotted into Lesley’s pack like he has always been there. No-one bullies him, the others just accept him. He will take treats out of Lesley’s hand which he never did here – I think Paula must have intimidated him so much that he was afraid to.

I am delighted that he is now a happy chap.

Holiday Adventures

I really was hoping that there would be nothing to tell about Paula and our holiday – but of course she had to add some excitement (?) to our trip.

We had booked into a small hotel just around the corner from Plymouth Hoe.

At 6.30am we went for a stroll for her to empty then returned to the hotel for me to shower and change. At 8.15am I decided to take her for another walk before I had breakfast.

She did what she had to do and I was standing just watching a ship in the sea when she tugged on the lead. I obviously wasn’t clutching it tightly enough as it came out of my hand.

As soon as she was free I knew I was in trouble.

Paula’s recall is non existent. She just looks at me with disdain when I call her to me.

I tried the sweet voice – no response.

I tried shouting at her – again, no response.

She simply trotted out to the gate where we had come in with me in hot persuit.

Anyone who has ever tried to catch a dog that doesn’t want to be caught knows that they always trot just a tiny bit faster than you!

Anyway, off she went back down the street that we had just come up with her nice sparkly pink lead trailing behind. A builder tried to rugby tackle her but she just leapt nimbly over him and shot off.

By the time I reached the corner there was no sign of her. I was frantic…

I trotted all around the streets calling her to no avail. The worst thing was that the hotel is very near the city centre and the thought of Paula getting run over and hurt – or worse was driving me crazy.

I dashed back to the hotel and rang the police who said that they no longer deal with lost dogs and to ring the Dog Warden, which I did and left all my details. I then rang my son to tell him to bring my car back so I could cover more ground.

He arrived in double quick time and off we went.

We searched everywhere around the Hoe and the surrounding streets, the town centre at rush hour and all the back streets where a frightened whippet may hide. No sign of her. I asked everyone I saw but she seemed to have vanished. Then I started to worry that someone may just pick her up and take her home (well, she is very beautiful…).

I comforted myself with the fact that she had a bright pink lead still attached so surely someone would realise that she had escaped from somewhere.

To cut a long story short, about an hour later I had decided to get a quick coffee whilst ringing the Dog Warden to see if she had turned up. When we turned into the road where the hotel was there was a woman standing outside the hotel with Paula tucked up in her arms.

The relief! I leapt out of the car and rushed over. The lady was just about to take her into the hotel. She put Paula on the floor and gave me the lead. Paula just looked at me as if she had never set eyes on me before – not even a little wag of recognition! I think the woman was unsure that she really did belong to me.

It turned out that this woman had been driving her children to school and seen Paula running up and down the city centre road. She and another kind chap stopped the traffic whilst they caught her. It was only because she was really scared that she went to the woman – I dread to think of the end result if she had been having a great time!

I can’t thank these kind people enough for taking the time to rescue my frightened (and very naughty…) little dog.

All’s well that ends well and I bought a different kind of lead to make sure that she didn’t slip through my fingers again.

Oh, and to make the holiday a bit more interesting, she came in season again the very next day! This is her second season, she had her first the last time we came to UK  last October – just 5 months ago!

Escapology

Paula and I are off to UK again.

I went to Longford to do a bit of last minute shopping and bought a ham shank. I thought that I could have the ham on sandwiches and the bone would be good to keep Paula entertained on the ferry.

On the way home I was picking at the meat and eating it – before you say it, I know I should have waited until I got home!

I offered Paula a bit of the ‘crackling’ but, of course, she turned her nose up at it. So, thinking that a fox or some other form of wildlife would love it, I stopped the car at the side of the road where there is a very wide grass verge and fields beyond and opened the passenger side window of the car.

I got the big piece of fat and crackling that is on a ham shank and tossed it through the window. Without missing a beat Paula followed it. She was so fast that she could have caught the stuff as it was airborne!

Now anyone who knows Paula will know that her recall is non existent so I leapt out of the car (using the door – unlike Paula…) and ran round to try and persuade her to come to me.

Fortunately she was busy searching for the stuff that I had thrown through the window so I was able to grab hold of her jacket and haul her back into the car.

I was so relieved because the road is a busy one and, if I hadn’t managed to sneak up and catch her, anything could have happened.

Lesson learned – never, ever open window fully. Paula can jump like a gazelle from a standing start…

Snow and More Snow…

When I went to bed there was no snow, when I got up this was the view from my back door!

The dogs loved it – I had to freeze whilst they played out (can’t close the door because they behave like I am never letting them in again!)

Just a Lovely Photo of Paula

I will be adding some new tales soon but in the meantime here is a lovely photo of the beautiful Paula.

Paula Being Gorgeous

Marco Update

Well, Marco is settling in nicely now but he is still very reluctant to come to me unless I am crouched down.

That’s all very well, but at my age, it’s the getting up that is the problem!

He is still very nervous about eating if I’m around but he’s getting much better. He loves going out in the car now and it’s a race to see who can get in first - him or Paula. The good thing is that he stays in the back like a good boy- I keep telling Paula that she should be in the back but she knows that her place is the co-pilots seat.

Paula and Marco are getting on really well and are behaving like a couple of puppies – fighting and rolling around all over the garden.

Lesley bought a new jumper for Paula, she hates not having a jacket on and spends all her time shivering. I end up putting the heating on for the dogs… 

Marco tried Paula’s new jumper on and loved it.

See Photo.

Marco Posing

Paula

Introducing Marco

Paula has a new friend. He is a whippet crossed with something… maybe a terrier. He came from the Dog Pound at Meath. Marco weighs just 19lbs, is around 2 inches smaller than Paula and I reckon he is about 6/8 months old. I saw him on the Dog Pound website and decided to go and have a look at him. Paula and I went up on Thursday 29th October and he came back with us that same day. I couldn’t have left him there…(enough said!)

When he came home he had to be de-flead, wormed, bathed and have his nails cut. The following Monday he went to have his ‘bits’ removed and whilst he was spark out, Emma the vet, removed a baby tooth that hadn’t come out and was making his canine tooth grow outward.

So, for the first week he thought that I was the devil incarnate!

Now, a week later, he is practising walking on a lead, jumps into the car with Paula and comes to be stroked. I can only begin to imagine the life he had been used to previously because he was very wary of me to begin with. But he is settling down well to our routine.  Now we need to master the house training, he is fine if I leave the back door open but has not yet grasped the idea of waiting.   (Note to self: Next time you get a new dog, make sure it’s summer!)

Paula was a bit mystified to find this little creature was staying, but she now cuddles up to him at night and plays chasing round the garden – providing it is not raining (she doesn’t do rain!) More stories on Marco’s progress soon…      

Marco - 10 days after arriving

Snoop Dog

Snoop on the Beach in Plymouth

This is a picture of Snoop, my son’s new Labrador Puppy. He was just 11 weeks old in this picture. Liam called him ‘Snoop’ so that he wouldn’t sound like a ‘wus’ when he called the dog back to him. It doesn’t sound too bad shouting ‘C’mon Snoop Doggy Dog’- at least not if you’re a rap fan.                                        

Paula really enjoyed playing with this young chap when we were in England, but she did keep tipping him over. She’ll get a shock next time we see him because he’ll be a big boy then and he’ll probably get his own back…

My Dog has a Gentle Mouth…

 How do I know that Paula has a gentle mouth?

Well, when she was about 5 months old I went shopping and bought six eggs. I put the box on the floor in front of the passenger seat – Paula’s seat. I went into another shop and when I returned there were five eggs in the back of the car and just one still in the box and not one broken one!

I have to say that I was delighted that all the eggs were intact because I know from experience that cleaning up broken eggs is a job that needs to be done thoroughly or you will be smelling them for months to come.

Following some great advice from my sister Lesley, I now have a plastic box with a lid to put my shopping in (my car is a hatchback with the back seats always flat for Paula). She is working on ways to open the box now…

My Dog’s New Teeth…

To set the scene…

I have a few teeth that I can remove (not a pleasant thought, but true all the same) and occasionally I take them out if they are rubbing, which they do on occasions. I take them out sometimes at night and just put them on the dressing table.

Now when we were on holiday, I had taken the plate out and put it on the table. I found it on the floor the morning after but really didn’t give it much thought other than how I must have knocked it off with the duvet when I got up.

Paula sleeps in bed with me and, when I get up she usually stays in bed until around 7.30am. One morning, after we had got home from our holiday, I was hard at work at the computer when I heard Paula in the bedroom. I thought she was getting up for her breakfast but, after a few minutes she failed to appear in the kitchen so I thought it would be a good idea to see what she was doing.

It was a good job that I did – because she was adapting my teeth to fit her mouth – and her mouth is smaller than mine! So, there she was sitting on the bed with half of my false teeth in her mouth and the other half next to her. (I really must go to the dentist and get a permanent bridge…) Fortunately I caught her just before she managed to break them up into individual teeth.

This was the day that I was very grateful to the inventor of superglue. Paula, my darling whippet, is really very resourceful when it comes to keeping herself entertained.