My cavalier King Charles Spaniel, Henry, at about 5 years of age

On September 25th, 2009, our cavalier King Charles spaniel, Henry, died after a stroke at the age of eleven. Because it’s now September, he is very much in my mind. He was a sweet and lovable dog, very typical of the breed in that respect. I still miss him and think about him a lot.

We got Henry when he was 8 or 9 weeks old and we always had him with us, we never put him into kennels while we went away or asked other people to look after him. As a puppy, he was the sweetest little thing you can imagine. He was irresistably cuddly and it took a lot of will power to put him down once you picked him up.

My partner, Jim, would use any excuse, or none at all, to pick up Henry and carry him around. I’d say to Jim, “Put that dog down, he’ll lose the use of his legs.” Or I’d say, “That dog can walk perfectly well, he’s got a leg on each corner.”

Henry was a greedy little thing but he never put on excess weight. Jim said that Henry could be down at the bottom of the  garden with all the house doors closed. We could be inside and the moment one of us took a bite of food, he’d hear us and come racing in through the dog flap in the back door to beg for food. He would sit quietly and do that typical doggy trick of pleading big eyes that seemed to say, “I’m starving.”

He was not a big brave boy. When he went to the vet for his first vaccination, the vet did it in the scruff of the neck as usual. Henry screamed, then he cried all the way home – about ten minutes. What a cowardy custard!

He loved watching animal programmes on television. He would lie on the back of the settee or armchair, for a good view, and watch dogs, chimpanzees, elephants, horses, any kind of animal, for at least 30 minutes, even longer sometimes. He only lost interest when people came on. I’ve never seen another dog so fascinated by watching animals on television. He never barked or growled at them like some dogs do. He just watched the TV intently.

Most of all, he was a little sweetheart. He loved people and other dogs. He even tried to make friends with cats, a few times successfully, but mostly the cats were too proud to even consider befriending a dog.

I wish I believed in the rainbow bridge and that someday I’d be reunited with Henry. My consolation is that he had a happy life and was truly loved.

If you want to know more about Henry, you can read his Biography: A Small Dog’s Tale. I’ve also dedicated a page of poems about dogs to him.

Squidoo Quiz: What Do You Know About Chocolate?

Although the quiz template has been available on Squidoo for quite some time, I made my first Squidoo Quiz last week and then immediately went on to make another two. I found them very enjoyable to do.

Of course, the hard part is thinking of questions to ask and making sure the facts are correct. Then you have to think of likely wrong answers as part of the multiple choice you need for each question.

Another consideration is to pitch the level of difficulty just right. Make it too difficult and people probably won’t enjoy doing it but they won’t feel much sense of accomplishment if it’s too easy either.

I have to admit my first Squidoo Quiz on Classic Poems for Kids is probably too hard for many people particularly as there is a difference between my British education and the American one most readers will have had. For a start, we probably learned different poems at school. In spite of this, people have taken the quiz and said they enjoyed it.

My next two quizzes, What Do You Know About Fruit? and What Do You Know About Chocolate? are easier but I wouldn’t say that many of the questions are very easy.  Again, people seem to be enjoying them.

I’ve tried to include some other interesting content like relevant quotations, two polls asking opinions about the quiz and the lens, and some editorial content too.

I think quizzes are also a good opportunity to make a mini lensography publicising my lenses on the subject of the quiz. It makes sense that someone doing a chocolate quiz might then go on to look at one or more chocolate recipe page, for example.

I intend to make a few more quizzes on topics related to my Squidoo pages then I can make a mini lensography of quizzes!

Although I have carried on quilling since I wrote about it on this blog in January this year. I’m still not an expert, though.

I’ve found some good videos on You Tube showing how to do simple and more advanced quilling so I thought I’d share them here.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The one above shows simple quilling techniques while the one below deals with more advanced ones.

Click here to view the embedded video.

See I’m Going to Try Quilling

The result is Henry’s Biography: A Small Dog’s Tale. Outwardly, he’s a very sweet, lovable dog but, reading this, we find out he has his acerbic side and quite a sharp tongue.

He’s also not above a little play-acting, it seems, to prolong cuddles and attention.

I knew he had a difficult time with Saffy, our other dog, who was not happy when Henry arrived in the house. She thought getting another dog was the worst idea we ever had.

Truthfully, I think I’d better admit I wrote the lens. I’m sorry to disappoint you and it was very bad of me to lie about it.

I often make up remarks that I think one or other dog is making. Like when we give them dog food they don’t like and say to them, “Try it, it’s nice” and “Yummy, yummy, in your tummy”.  They sit there with stony, cynical expressions on their faces. I’m sure they’re saying, “If it’s that nice, you’d eat it yourself.” Or when I have the flea spray out and call them to me. They look at me and seem to say, “You’ve got to be joking. We can see and smell the nasty spray.”

Even if I did write Henry’s Biography myself, it’s still a fairly accurate story of his life although he might not hold all the opinions that I put in his mouth. He looks like he does, though.

Saffy, aged about 5 years, running as usual

Next month Saffy, my springer spaniel, will be 12 years old. Springers live for about 14 years and she’s already looking like an old dog. Her face has a lot of  grey hairs among the red-brown. She’s got arthritis in her hips and can’t jump into the car anymore. She can put her front paws on the seat and then I have to hoist up her back end.

When she was younger, she could run for hours. We used to go to Westonbirt Arboretum where we would spend maybe 2 or 3 hours. Saffy ran the whole time in huge circles around us as we walked and looked at the trees and views. When we were ready to go, she’d jump in the car and sleep for the 20 minutes it took for us to get home. Then she’d be ready to run and play again.

She has always been crazy about balls but never much interested in food so I had to use a ball to train her. I wouldn’t throw it till she sat or came or whatever. If we forgot to take a ball when we took her for a walk, she’d keep sitting expecting us to produce it and throw it. I can’t tell you how much emotional blackmail that inflicted on us. She did  train us not to forget the ball, though!

Nowadays, I never take the ball with me and she walks quite slowly. She hardly ever runs just for the joy of it. I feel so sad when I see her plodding along and remember the way she would run and run and run. My partner still takes a ball when he takes her out but she will only chase it a couple of times, then she won’t bring it back but carries it around in her mouth instead.

When she was younger she never bothered about the weather. She didn’t care if it was pouring with rain, snowing, blowing a gale or extremely hot. Whatever the weather was doing, she still enjoyed racing around. Now she doesn’t like the cold, I expect it makes her arthritis worse. She hated going for a walk when we had the snow in February and would take a short cut then stand next to the path home rather than following me and our other dog, Henry, a cavalier King Charles spaniel.

She still seems happy enough and contented. I don’t think she is in any real pain either. She eats well and wags her tail enough to convince me she still enjoys life – just at a slower pace than before.

You can read about the time Saffy was in danger of losing her front leg or even her life when she was just a year old in The Saga of Saffy’s Paw.