Do Dandie Dinmont Terriers Watch Television?

A resounding yes!

Old Boy is in his element if children's TV is on - cartoons or even some of the younger children's magazine-type programmes. Nothing wrong with his eyesight, he sits on the sofa and enjoys.

Sister Bliss, however, has a different style of viewing. It was first noticeable the other night when I decided to go to bed at a reasonable hour to watch a film - can't remember the name but it was all about the Jekell Family - those of Jekell and Hyde fame. It was one of those quite spooky movies with dark streets and ominous music. Well Bliss couldn't contain herself. For a non-barking variety of Dandie Dinmont she went ballistic at the TV poor lass. Barked her head off whilst I tried to grab the channel changer. Phew - managed to find the main TV channel menu - ah, that should be OK - Hetty Wainthrop murder mystery stuff. Little old lady finds the culprit.

NO! That episode took us straight back into a scene of grey people skulking around the back streets of some town or other with spooky music again. Sister Bliss voiced her complaint vociferously again.

By this time it must have been 1am. Boy was stoically ignoring us, I was trying to wind down and this little beastie at the end of the bed was making us both aware of her dislike and probably worry about the programme.

Nothing for it but to change channels again. Not a lot on so we went for a Do It Yourself kind of programme. Peace at last. Bliss had been pacified by a hammer and nails and Boy and I drifted off into a deep sleep - not even staying awake long enough to turn off the TV. Ah well...

Meet the Beach

Sister Bliss has two more members of her Dandie Dinmont 'family'. Oaksleigh Natty Dread at Rontybrig and her son, Rontybrig Maxxi Jazz - known as Natty Dread and Maxxi. They live just about on the beach. A gorgeous, sandy beach with little bays between the five man-made reefs which protect this part of the North Norfolk Coast and the Great Crested Newt.

With no public access to the beach at this point, it is usually very quiet. But this weekend has been a Bank Holiday and there were at least five groups of people enjoying themselves - grid lock!

Sister Bliss had been to the beach once before - as a puppy - when she was carried over the sand dunes. But it was winter then so no meeting the waves for her that time. Maxxi and Natty Dread love the sea and when we walked to the water's edge, they lept into the small waves joyfully. Dear little Sister Bliss didn't hesitate. She too made her way into the water - it didn't seem to phase her in the slightest. We keep the dogs on flexi-leads just in case they swim to the Netherlands, the nearest landfall due east. They were just like 'kids' on the beach - checking every piece of flotsam and jetsam and shrieking with excitement when they found a large crab. Sulks followed of course when they had to leave it behind.

It was a lovely warm afternoon with a clear blue sky and I enjoyed myself too! So nice and warm that the dogs were dry before they got home via the foxhole that has just appeared which needed to be inspected.

Boing! Boing!

Bliss, the Dandie Dinmont Terrier, has a new game that started a couple of days ago. It's called 'Boing Boing' also known as 'Isn't it fun getting up in the morning!'.

I've already told you about the getting up routine - starting with squeaks then, if I don't respond appropriately and quickly enough, developing into a little insistent bark. Now there is a third stage, the Boing. Oh - it's pronounced as in coin not as in the airplane.

As soon as my feet are on the floor it begins. She coils like a spring, jumps in the air with all four feet and lands in a different place - on the bed of course. Using the springiness of the bed she achieves quite a height and always lands neatly - she never lands on long-suffering old Boy who is probably trying to sneak in an extra hour's sleep. She does four boings but can easily be encouraged to do more if I pretend to catch her!

I haven't quite worked out whether it is 'hurry up Mother I want to get out and cause mayhem' or if it is 'gosh! isn't it great to be alive' but I really do suspect the latter and will report back.

Come Here Bliss!

Up first thing in the morning, orchestrated by Bliss with the backing of Boy, Rontybrig Ringmaster, my old Chap of nearly 14, who is Bliss' mentor. A slight change this morning. She barked. A squeak at first, ignored by me and my dream, and then a definite 'it's time to get up' bark.

Dandie Dinmont Terriers are great organisers of their people. Ch Rontybrig Jemima, when I had to get up at 5am each morning for work, used to make a terrible fuss to get me out of bed in time. She always succeeded and then promptly went back to her bed fast asleep. She wouldn't even go out to do her puddle unless I carried her! A great sense of duty.

Bliss is just full of the joys of spring and, despite the clock change, knows precisely the time that we should be up and doing things. Check Mrs Coot, scare the pidgeons, make sure the rabbits have left their bed and breakfast accommodation and, her ultimate favourite, try and catch a mole in its hole.

'Come here Bliss' - she's very good at that - but this morning there was no response. After the other morning of worry I was calmer today. Sure enough, a few minutes later, my gorgeous 'just about in show condition' mustard coloured Dandie puppy came creeping in with her front paws and face absolutely black with soil saying 'don't put me in the bath - pleeeease!'. There was no mole in her mouth but it is only a matter of time!

The bath can wait - it is going to be a lovely warm dry day here today so it's not the claggy mud that needs immediate removal. There are only so many times in a day that a Dandie can have a bath and I'd rather share her joy and enthusiasm for all these new exploits.

The Fascination of a Nesting Coot

Bliss lives in a Nature Reserve, one of Europe's best 'wetlands' and a haven for wildlife. Our garden is bounded on two sides by drainage dykes about 8ft wide. The edges of the dykes are populated by Norfolk Reed, the kind that is used for thatching house roofs and the sort that 'whispers' gently in the wind.

If you were a Dandie Dinmont Terrier Puppy, in the first Spring of your life, what would you think if, when you stood at the edge of your property, you looked straight at the black and white body of a broody, quite scary looking, nesting Coot, staring at you intently?

The Coots come here every year, just one pair. There is a flurry of nest building in the reeds. But each year the nest just isn't good enough for Mrs Coot so they build another one a few feet away. Actually they 'chop' the wood to make a nest - it sounds just like someone banging a nail into a block of wood - fascinating.

However, Bliss and Coot have reached a compromise. Coot sits tight on the nest and stares whilst Bliss sits on the bank and stares back. Each species fascinated by the other but separated by, for the Dandie, an impassable stretch of water.

Long may the 'truce' remain in force!

A Vanishing Tale

Keep Calm. She can't be far away. Call her. Blissssssssssssssss? Not there.

Podge. One minute she's at the end of the garden hiding her 'sock puppy' and the next minute she has vanished. I really thought the fence was completely fixed.

Out of the gate, round to the neighbour's garden - no sign of Bliss. Check the ponds and dykes - no Bliss - phew!

An unsuspecting early morning male dog walker, dutifully displaying his dog's pooh in a plastic bag, approached me, a semi-clothed rather ancient female trying desperately to describe a Dandie Dinmont Terrier to someone who had never seen one.

"I've lost my puppy" I wailed. "Can you keep an eye out for her please? She is long, brownie coloured, very friendly - she's called Bliss and she lives over there". Of course he said he would.

Then I began to get suspicious - 'Nature' wasn't in a panic. The birds weren't singing their warnings. Duck couples were still waddling down the middle of the road and the rabbits were still re-enacting Watership Down. No Dandie Puppy was causing mayhem in their world.

Returning to my garden, still shouting the 'B' word interlaced with 'come here' and 'now' and, pathetically, 'good girl' in case she had taken offence as only a Dandie can, there was still no sign of her.

I am not a panicker. It doesn't solve anything. Far better to stop and work out the options. So I went into the house and thought. Where on earth could she be? There were only four rooms and a garden that she had access to. Surely I should be able to find her.

A final 'come here' and I heard a 'squeak'. There she was sitting on the stairs, confined by the baby-gate that she was supposed to be on the other side of. Squeaking - and I mean squeaking - it's her equivalent of every other Dandie's bark as a method of demanding something. How she managed to be there I will never know. I had been sitting in a chair by the door watching her at the end of the garden and when I went to see where she was she must have doubled back. The little minx!

Lesson remembered (I learned it long ago but had forgotten):

"If one is in the house, Come Here doesn't apply 'cos I'm already here. It's not my fault if the human can't find/see me - I am already here."

Oh Bliss!!!!!!!!!!

Socks

It was socks again this morning. Carefully carrying them downstairs with a Mother's care to disappear in the long wet grass, Bliss finds a little hiding place for one of my 'used' socks in the garden. Probably the first of the day. But she isn't a Mother yet. Is she practising? Will she take her puppies softly in her mouth and carry them outside? Maybe she is planning already? Well I won't find out yet! She is just six and a half months old and has a lot of life's experiences to go through before having puppies. But eventually I find my socks and they are never harmed - just a bit soggy!