A Dog"s Blog

WOOF!! …my name is Shelby. I’m a Border Collie dog and this is my blog! 

I hope you enjoy reading my ‘Random Barking’ and ‘Recent Woofs’. Most of it is all about me, with photos and videos of me, my toys and my friends and sometimes I bark about other interesting doggy stuff, including other websites I think you might like (which are added to my ‘Tail Wags’ section). Occasionally I even let my “mum” put stuff here too. She has lots of her own blogs so I don’t see why she has to use mine as well, but she reckons it makes sense to have all the dog related stories over here, so I just humour her and let her put links here to her blogs (right column) and her websites (bottom of page). By the way, you can check out my older woofs in the ‘Buried Bones’ sections of the menu.

Mum took me for walkies earlier than usual this afternoon to make sure we got home in time, before it was likely to rain. We met Toby the Border Collie again. We haven’t seen him for a long time but today he was outside peeing in his neighbours’ front yard and he came over and said, “Hi”. Read more »

Mum and I go for lots of walks in the evening but today she decided we’d go earlier (around 1pm) as it looked like it might start raining later. I don’t like walking in the rain. The raindrops fall in my eyes and make me blink. Mum doesn’t like it either as she gets all wet and cold and has to take off her outer skins when we get home. Read more »

(Click image to enlarge)

Sixty-three ravens flew out of the sun
as my dog and I walked by.
“Where are they going?” my dog did ask.
“To the moon,” was my reply.

The sun was setting so low in the west
when the ravens appeared in the sky.
My dog and I counted them one by one
as they flew in small groups up so high.

We marched up the hill to the road at the top
then turned to go down the main street.
The ravens kept coming in dribs and in drabs,
ne’er before had we seen such a treat!    Read more »

Not every dog has a blog but I know that those who do put a lot of effort into making their blogs unique …with their own special “scent”.  A couple of weeks ago a particular human started following my blog, so of course I went to have a friendly sniff at her blog. I was horrified to see that her blog looked exactly like mine! Read more »

Mum noticed me licking my paw last Wednesday (13th Feb) so she took a closer look and saw that I’d somehow broken the nail on the 4th toe of my right back leg, exposing all the pink fleshy ‘quick’ that’s supposed to be inside the nail. I also had a small wound on the inner side of the same leg where some hair was missing and the skin was scraped and scabby looking. Plus, I’d managed to scrape a bald batch beside my right eye. Read more »

Although I had never met Milo “dog to dog” I was very familiar with his scent as whenever my mum visited Milo’s mum she would come home with Milo’s smell on her hands plus his doggy hairs on her clothes which I would thoroughly investigate. Milo was a Tibetan Spaniel so he was much smaller than me. Mum always liked patting Milo when she went to visit and sometimes he sat beside her on the lounge or even on her lap and enjoyed being stroked and scratched behind the ears and generally made a fuss of. Sometimes he would lie on her feet under the coffee table and gaze longingly at her with his big brown eyes, hoping to share a biscuit or two. Read more »

Shelby’s “cousin” Hammond.

My people-family all went out and left me home alone so nothing exciting happened to me today, unless you count getting breakfast 3 hours early …that was really good! …and the Schmackos, Pig’s Ear and Liver Treats I got when I had to go back outside just before they left.

They went to visit Mum’s brother and his family and Mum finally got to meet their dog, Hammond, for the very first time. I guess you could say that Hammond is my “cousin”. He’s a 4 1/2 year old Rhodesian Ridgeback / Mastiff cross and Mum thinks he’s gorgeous …but not as handsome as me of course. Read more »

Mum and I went for walkies again yesterday afternoon for the first time in a while as it was finally a bit cooler after a few VERY hot days. We live near LOTS of bushland and it’s been so hot here that my people family have got their noisy, smelly, water spraying machine-thing set up in my backyard, which is a bit annoying as it’s right in the way of where I like to run to chase balls. Still, I s’pose I can always run around it, and it is fun to try to chase the water when they start it up to test it …it makes a much BIGGER water squirt than the garden hose! Read more »

My second oldest man-brother (or “Son2″ as Mum refers to him online) took some photos of me recently, so I thought I’d share some of them here…

Ok, I’ll smile for the camera.

Read more »

Mum discovered a weird little fleshy thing hanging off my left elbow today. She told me to note it down here so she could remember when she discovered it. She read stuff about skin disorders in dogs and decided that it was probably just a benign skin tag as they are common in older dogs, especially larger breeds. Read more »

Mum took me to the vet’s again this afternoon, this time for my annual check-up and vaccinations. As usual I was reeeeeeally excited when Mum put my special harness on me as I know that means I’m going in the car. I did my very best to jump into the back of Mum’s car but she still had to help me by lifting my butt in once I got my front paws inside. Read more »

When Mum was trying to groom me and trim away some icky hair between my back legs recently she noticed I had a lump under my skin. I let her examine it and then she went to her computer and read things for a while. Afterwards she told me she thought my lump was probably a lipoma and that it was nothing to worry about, but we should go to see my vet anyway. Read more »

I had another great holiday at the Hanrob Pet Hotel at Heathcote while my people went away for the weekend. I’ve been there lots of times before this and I’ve always had so much fun hanging out with the other dogs.

Read more »

Happy Birthday Shelby!

Happy Birthday to you
Happy Birthday to you
Happy Birthday dear Shelby
Happy Birthday to you-ooooooooooooooo!

To the best Border Collie in the whole world, lotsa luv, cuddles and extra yummy doggie treats from Mum!

Mum and I went for another walk today. She wanted to stay home and do that boring stuff she calls “housework” but I had other plans. When Mum got annoyed with me for constantly bringing toys to her and nudging her hand with them I flopped down on the floor. My sad, bored look eventually got to her as I lay despondently on the floor, doing my best to look neglected, and she finally gave in …hehe …works every time! Read more »

Hi …Shelby’s Mum here. I did one of those silly online quizzes just for fun. This one was called, “What Dog Breed are You?” I was quite blown away by the result. Read more »

I’m very particular when it comes to choosing a snoozing spot inside my family’s big kennel. I strategically place myself to have maximum awareness of the surrounding areas so I know where everyone is and I can see what they’re up to. Basically, I guard the crossroads so that no matter where anyone is, especially my Mum, they have to step over or around me to go anywhere else. If I think I’m about to miss out on something I simply stand up as they try to step over me …that usually slows ‘em down, hehehe …especially as I’m 63cm tall at the shoulder! Mum took some photos of me on “guard duty”. Read more »

It was just before the time that my people called “Easter” that I found some really yummy things to eat. For some reason my family seemed quite upset that I’d been able to find this special food and had eaten it. I thought it was probably for me, after all, it was left on the floor …and it smelled soooo yummy I just had to have it! But, I suppose I should start this story at the beginning… Read more »

Daisy the Labrador was my friend and came to my place to play with me sometimes. I called those days “Daisy Days”. She belonged to the girlfriend of one of my man-brothers. Mum took photos on a couple of occasions when Daisy came to visit so I thought I’d share these pictures of Daisy and me having fun taking turns in my big water tub on a hot sunny day on 15th January 2009. (You can click on the photos to enlarge them if you want to.) Read more »

One day a long, long time ago when I was not quite 13 months old, my mum took me to a very scary place. Mum must have known something unpleasant was going to happen to me there because about an hour before we went she gave me a couple of tablets that she got from my vet. They made me feel kinda relaxed …just a little bit anyway. Read more »

Mum helped me to upload some new header images for my blog. There’s eight different photos of me, looking really handsome of course, at various stages of doggy cuteness. They’ll show up randomly whenever you look at a different page of my woofs and barks. Enjoy… Read more »

Mum hasn’t taken me for walkies much over the last week so tonight we went on a really long walk …and we saw a big hopping animal go bounding across the road ahead of us. Read more »

(Mum wrote this story about dragons and me on February 11, 2012. ~ Shelby)

Some grey, rainy days feel more “dragonish” than others, and today is such a day. As usual I invited my dog Shelby to come inside to have his first meal of the day and settle down for some relaxing “inside time” snoozing on the rug in front of my altar. However, that was not to be …as soon as he finished gulping down his food he heard the first rumblings of the Dragons in the distance and started to growl then bark, trotting from room to room in an agitated manner, fiercely protecting his home from the perceived intruders. I tried in vain to get him to stop barking …he’s a big dog and has a BIG bark which is quite an unpleasant aural assault within the confines of my home. Read more »

(Shelby here — my mum wrote this one on 10 January 2012.)

“NO! …don’t bite it!” …my repeated shouts a little while ago (especially the word NO!) as my dopey dog Shelby decided to chase and snap at a fine, LARGE example of an Abispa ephippium or Australian Hornet or Mud-nest wasp! It’s a beautiful beastie but not when it’s chasing my dog, or me for that matter, and unfortunately for the hornet I chose to take action that was in the best interests of my dog rather than the poor old hornet, who was probably only trying to feed her babies. Read more »

(Hi, Shelby here again. My mum originally wrote this post on 30 April 2011 — the eve of Samhain in the southern hemisphere.)

I’ve been aware of the veils thinning for a few days now, leading up to the period from tonight and on through next week when the 6th of May (at 6:20AM AEST) is considered by some to be the “exact” moment of Samhain (see here). I’ve been reminiscing about my dear old doggie — Peter — who died 26 years ago. The desktop photo on my laptop, for the last couple of years, has been a photograph of my dog Shelby. Tonight I decided to add a photo of Peter to it as well. The only suitable photo I had that was already on my computer was a scan from a very old, faded and slightly blurred colour print. I do have other photos of him but I’ll need to search through old albums here and at my parents’ place to find them, then scan the photos. For now though, I’m happy with my newest creation. Read more »

My mum wrote this too (on 25/10/2008) – she want’s to put all her early stuff about me here before I’m allowed to write any new entries. ~ Shelby

Today is my 28th wedding anniversary. So close to Beltane and I never realised it back then …so many years ago now. How does one spend a 28th anniversary? Well, just like any other day really. I did a couple of loads of washing, picked up dog poo off the back lawn between wash cycles, Read more »

(This is an article my Mum wrote back in August 2008. ~ Shelby)

My interest in observing animal behaviour has been rekindled since we bought a beautiful 7 week old Border Collie puppy last September, who we named Shelby.

My baby at 7 weeks old, snoozing after a long day.

I’ve been observing Shelby’s behaviour over the last few months since we’ve had him and I’ve become aware of an interesting, but slightly disturbing trend. My darling puppy gets a special ‘crazy-eyed’ look and is much more excitable, snappy and potentially dangerous around the time of the full moon, starting a couple of days before the moon reaches its fullest and calming down again a few days later. His play becomes far more aggressive and impulsive and he is more prone to ‘bitey’, snappy behaviour – never serious rip-your-arm-off biting but overly aggressive play biting, which still hurts a LOT when he makes contact – ouch! Read more »

Here’s a little article my mum wrote about me for the Spheres Of Light eNewsletter – “Axis Mundi” – in June 2008. ~ Shelby.

Pagan Pets ~ “Shelby”

Shelby

Meet our first “Pagan Pet”, Shelby, an 11mth old Border Collie owned by Jenwytch. As well as snuggling up in his warm, cosy doggy bed and spending time inside the house with the family, being attended to and adored, Shelby enjoys being outside playing tug-o-war, chase and fetch games, and going for walks. Read more »