It's a wonderful life

Hello, crafting friends!

 

Lorraine at Allsorts Challenge has chosen a theme very close to my heart this week: For the Love of Animals. "It would be great to see entries with the animals we have as pets," she says on the post. Say no more Lorraine, I need absolutely no encouragement!

 

As a golden retriever owner, you'd think my shelves would be groaning with retriever stamps, but no. Stamp manufacturers don't seem to understand that these are the best dogs in the world (this may actually be just my own biased opinion!) and golden retriever images are sadly few and far between. I do have a Penny Black set though, called Doggone Sweet, which does represent my pair of rascals pretty well! 

 

 

The dog nearest the hedge is Eva. At nearly ten years old she is the sensible one of the pair and occasionally demonstrates this. She has no toys near her - we, the humans, are her toys! She plays us for fools all day long, taking breaks for well-earned snoozles. If we aren't available, Eva does like to tear apart a toy sometimes, imagining herself to be a great huntress, and if we have guests she likes to rummage about in the laundry basket and parade through the room showing off our oldest underwear!

 

We adopted Lulu last year. She was four years old and will be five in June. She still behaves like a puppy despite my efforts to train her to be a Grown Up Lady Dog. She expends a lot of energy chasing things and trying to communicate her urgent desire for snacks, so she needs plenty of naps too. She loves a ball and her little plushie toys and uses them as a comfort blankie when she gets confused about life. Her sleep style is pretty much always on her back with her paws all over the place. Both dogs' hobbies include getting wet and muddy, snacking, rolling in nefarious stuff and pretending they have no idea what 'No' means.

The card is very simple: edges of card base masked off with low tack tape; dogs stamped and masked; sky and foreground sponged in; hedge and trees stamped with retired SU sets; masks removed and dogs coloured and detail added with ink and paintbrush. The sentiment, from an old Clearly Besotted set, was chosen with a chuckle - there aren't any days that aren't wonderful in these dogs lives. The worst that happens is that Mum goes out for an hour or two to replenish stores of Meaty Chunks and Fishy Treats!!

 

CHALLENGES

I'm linking this card up with Allsorts but also Stamping Sensations, where I've been inspired by the spring mood board, and We Love Stamping where the theme is also Spring. Double D's challenge this month is Cute Little Animals and although I explained to the golden girls that they are NOT little, they insisted that they are extremely cute and practically handbag dogs, so I'm joining in there too ;)

 

AND IN OTHER NEWS

I've been very light-hearted about the dogs but when Lulu came to us, she was very stressed, had lost a lot of weight and was really scared to be in new surroundings. She had begun to be reactive around other dogs and had to be toilet trained all over again. She didn't want to let me out of her sight and barked her head off if I left the house. She slept on the bed right from the beginning and would wake multiple times in the night whimpering. I would just cuddle her until she fell back to sleep. Eva is not a dog that likes to be in close contact with other dogs but gradually, she began to help to comfort Lulu. They bonded on our daily long walks which really helped Lulu to unwind and let go of her fears. This is a (very bad, sorry!) photo of her in the early weeks cuddling up at night with Eva and with a stuffed toy as her comfort blankie.

 

Today, she has put on weight and become beautifully fluffy! She knows our routine and is no longer stressed. We have just come back from a long walk and she has swum and fetched sticks from the river and frolicked about with Eva. We met several dogs and she greeted each of them calmly with a friendly wag and a sniff. On the way back I bumped into a lady I know with a lab and a wolfhound, and we all walked back together while the dogs sniffed and played. I am so proud of Lulu's progress and of Eva who has helped to rehabilitate her sister.

Thank you for reading my ramblings about my beloved dogs! Sending hugs,