Boogie
Moderator
- Location
- Manchester UK
I also thought of Carbón
The Labraventures of Carbón, Spanish (ex-) foster dog extraordinaire
- Thread starter Emily_Babbelhund
- Start date
Emily_Babbelhund
Mama Red HOT Pepper
- Location
- Regensburg, Germany
Emily_Babbelhund
Mama Red HOT Pepper
- Location
- Regensburg, Germany
Any tips on HOW to sort it out? It seems to be part of his very fibre as he does it every single time.
Oh goodness, that's priceless! I love it!
- Location
- Andorra and Spain
Oh, I had the hardest time with Squidge, but once she got it, I made a massive fuss of her. She still does it as her lazy sit, but if I want her to sit straight, she at least can now. Her "sit" cue means "sit nicely, FattyFattyBumBum"
If you are bothered about it (which you don't have to be, I was only joking) then the quickest way to do it is probably with a raised platform that's small enough that he can't do it.I saw a video the other day of this to create a beautiful tuck sit and I thought it would have been so much easier to use that with Squidge. As it was, I used a lure of a treat held above her nose high enough that it sort of pulled her up into position. It was still pretty painful to get there, though!
Emily_Babbelhund
Mama Red HOT Pepper
- Location
- Regensburg, Germany
I'll have to give it a try. I honestly don't know if he can even manage to sit straight even if he wanted to!
Emily_Babbelhund
Mama Red HOT Pepper
- Location
- Regensburg, Germany
I'm still sorting out the unpacking and Carbon's dinner and laundry but just wanted to say we've absolutely landed in the clover in our lodgings tonight. Huge house that looks over the ocean and even a bit of the Skelligs. Star Wars fans, the Skelligs are here:
Turns out the house is available for a third night, so I'm trying to juggle bookings to see if I can swing it. If not, I'm still going to enjoy it to the fullest for the two nights. The host even brought real peat for the fire and it's blazing away.
Now my big decision for the evening: which bedroom. If all of life's decisions were so easy.
Turns out the house is available for a third night, so I'm trying to juggle bookings to see if I can swing it. If not, I'm still going to enjoy it to the fullest for the two nights. The host even brought real peat for the fire and it's blazing away.
Now my big decision for the evening: which bedroom. If all of life's decisions were so easy.
- Location
- Wellington, NZ
Video unavailable in your country because of course it is. But I know the scene, and fell in love with all the scenes on Luke's Island. So it's in your current corner of Ireland?
Enjoy your amazing house!
And I love Carbon's sloppy sit, I give a little giggle over every photo because he's totally committed to it
Enjoy your amazing house!
And I love Carbon's sloppy sit, I give a little giggle over every photo because he's totally committed to it
Lisa
Moderator
- Location
- Alberta, Canada
Oh I would love to see the Skelligs! Are you going to go?
A peat fire sounds lovely. Would love to experience one of those, too!
A peat fire sounds lovely. Would love to experience one of those, too!
Emily_Babbelhund
Mama Red HOT Pepper
- Location
- Regensburg, Germany
So I've heard about my bookings and it's all worked out to stay here in the big house for an extra night! That will be nice for many reasons, including that it gives me more time to sit and plan out the trip over to the UK. Not TOO much planning needed, but I'm looking for a house down in Cornwall for the first little bit so that's what I need to sort out first.
He is AMAZINGLY committed to it!And I love Carbon's sloppy sit, I give a little giggle over every photo because he's totally committed to it
Oh drat, I hate that 'unavailable in your country' message. I get it all the time in Germany as they have such different copyright laws. But if you know the scene, then that's Skellig Michael. It's visible from the house where I am, very impressive even from this distance.
I'm not going to actually go out to them. I've looked into the trip in the past - it's a very rough ride in a tiny boat on most days, in fact many crossings get cancelled due to weather and once there dogs aren't allowed to disembark so that's tricky with Carbon, as it was with Brogan in the past. Between the very steep stairs and my seasickness, I just don't think I could swing it. However, the host at my b and b yesterday told me of a lookout point on Valentia Island that is supposed to be the best view, plus a great place to walk around the cliffs with Carbon (on lead of course), so we'll head that way today.
- Location
- Cornwall , UK
Cornwall , Yay !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Boogie
Moderator
- Location
- Manchester UK
Emily_Babbelhund
Mama Red HOT Pepper
- Location
- Regensburg, Germany
I've always said that there's no where more beautiful in the world than Ireland in the sunshine. After weeks of solid rain, you may be willing to sell your soul to get out of here, but in the sun...it's an amazing place. Today we had full, unadulterated, stunningly bright sunshine. On top of that, I had no tourist agenda as I've pretty much seen the major bits and bobs around here. My friend Cian recommended some trails and lookouts on Valentia Island, so the rough plan was to go in that direction.
First off was a ball session for Carbon on the local beach. What an addict he is, but just like most people need coffee to start their days, I fully recognise that giving Carbon a ball session in the morning means happier pup for the rest of the day. Then we were off to Valentia Island. As Kate mentioned, the ferry is shut down for the season, but there is also a bridge and coming from the house we are actually closer to the bridge anyway.
Cian had recommended a walk on the 'mountain' (more like a hill). It was pay to enter as the whole trail was an enterprising farmer's idea of how to commercialise a walk through his fields. Normally I kind of avoid things like that as it seems a bit silly in a country where you can pretty much walk anywhere, but it was actually very nicely done and well worth the entry fee. There was a cliffside lookout, a 1 mile loop walk and several areas with very interesting panels telling about local history. I hadn't known that Valentia was the first communications cable crossing site from Europe to the Americas, nor how hard it was to get the cable laid.
Carbon thought the local grass was very tasty and enjoyed loping around the hillside off leash. He also did a lot of excellent posing while looking as if he was thinking Deep Thoughts. We all know he was actually thinking, "Mmmm...is dinner soon?" but he really does appear to be thinking on something much more monumental.
After a couple hours on foot, I was happy to tool around the rest of the island in my tiny Tardis. And thank goodness it's tiny, as most of the roads are single track lanes that nonetheless are open to two way traffic. There is quite a lot of tucking in to the closest hedge - or backing up to a slightly wider bit of track - to let another car pass.
We headed up over an inland track and thanks to my erstwhile satnav Sean, we popped out at a lovely massive blue flag beach. I grabbed a ball, Carbon's newly-purchased ball stick (aka Chuck It) and we were off to enjoy the sand and sun. Carbon ran and ran and ran. At one point we were greeted by two women and their little Westie. The woman explained that she had recently lost a dog that looked like Carbon, who was the Westie's best friend. The Westie had insisted on coming over to Carbon and the woman thought the little dog may have believed Carbon was her old buddy.
In the middle of this frankly tear-jerking tale, Carbon decided to stand nearly on top of the woman's shoe and have a huge wee. I was mortified. Luckily he managed to not actually hit her shoe, but it kind of intruded on the gravitas of the moment. Even the little Westie looked a bit put out by this breach in manners and was suddenly ready to move on. So much for making a good impression on the locals.
Eventually it was time to turn back to the car, for which Carbon was not too game. He kept stopping, laying down and crossing his paws, refusing to move. What a cheeky monkey! I finally just had to snap on his lead and get stern, even though I was laughing at him on the inside. Really - over two hours beach time and a three hour off lead hike and he STILL didn't want to go back to the car? This dog has stamina...and more than his share of moxie!
Back at the house it was another amazing sunset over the ocean and the Skelligs. The view from this place just can't be beat. It's even beautiful once the sunset is over: we are located in the Kerry Dark Sky Reserve, which means the sky is a blanket of stars that takes your breath away. Add to that another peat fire, yummy dinner and a now-snoring Carbon - it's been a good day.
No photos again tonight (I can hear Carbon saying, "Aye, aye, aye, foster lady - de verdad?") but so many great ones taken to be shared in the hopefully not too distant future. Tonight however was given over to some necessary scheming with @Beanwood about my next stop and of course the all-important happy-food-coma sofa-in-front-of-the-fire cuddle with Carbon.
Priorities, right?
First off was a ball session for Carbon on the local beach. What an addict he is, but just like most people need coffee to start their days, I fully recognise that giving Carbon a ball session in the morning means happier pup for the rest of the day. Then we were off to Valentia Island. As Kate mentioned, the ferry is shut down for the season, but there is also a bridge and coming from the house we are actually closer to the bridge anyway.
Cian had recommended a walk on the 'mountain' (more like a hill). It was pay to enter as the whole trail was an enterprising farmer's idea of how to commercialise a walk through his fields. Normally I kind of avoid things like that as it seems a bit silly in a country where you can pretty much walk anywhere, but it was actually very nicely done and well worth the entry fee. There was a cliffside lookout, a 1 mile loop walk and several areas with very interesting panels telling about local history. I hadn't known that Valentia was the first communications cable crossing site from Europe to the Americas, nor how hard it was to get the cable laid.
Carbon thought the local grass was very tasty and enjoyed loping around the hillside off leash. He also did a lot of excellent posing while looking as if he was thinking Deep Thoughts. We all know he was actually thinking, "Mmmm...is dinner soon?" but he really does appear to be thinking on something much more monumental.
After a couple hours on foot, I was happy to tool around the rest of the island in my tiny Tardis. And thank goodness it's tiny, as most of the roads are single track lanes that nonetheless are open to two way traffic. There is quite a lot of tucking in to the closest hedge - or backing up to a slightly wider bit of track - to let another car pass.
We headed up over an inland track and thanks to my erstwhile satnav Sean, we popped out at a lovely massive blue flag beach. I grabbed a ball, Carbon's newly-purchased ball stick (aka Chuck It) and we were off to enjoy the sand and sun. Carbon ran and ran and ran. At one point we were greeted by two women and their little Westie. The woman explained that she had recently lost a dog that looked like Carbon, who was the Westie's best friend. The Westie had insisted on coming over to Carbon and the woman thought the little dog may have believed Carbon was her old buddy.
In the middle of this frankly tear-jerking tale, Carbon decided to stand nearly on top of the woman's shoe and have a huge wee. I was mortified. Luckily he managed to not actually hit her shoe, but it kind of intruded on the gravitas of the moment. Even the little Westie looked a bit put out by this breach in manners and was suddenly ready to move on. So much for making a good impression on the locals.
Eventually it was time to turn back to the car, for which Carbon was not too game. He kept stopping, laying down and crossing his paws, refusing to move. What a cheeky monkey! I finally just had to snap on his lead and get stern, even though I was laughing at him on the inside. Really - over two hours beach time and a three hour off lead hike and he STILL didn't want to go back to the car? This dog has stamina...and more than his share of moxie!
Back at the house it was another amazing sunset over the ocean and the Skelligs. The view from this place just can't be beat. It's even beautiful once the sunset is over: we are located in the Kerry Dark Sky Reserve, which means the sky is a blanket of stars that takes your breath away. Add to that another peat fire, yummy dinner and a now-snoring Carbon - it's been a good day.
No photos again tonight (I can hear Carbon saying, "Aye, aye, aye, foster lady - de verdad?") but so many great ones taken to be shared in the hopefully not too distant future. Tonight however was given over to some necessary scheming with @Beanwood about my next stop and of course the all-important happy-food-coma sofa-in-front-of-the-fire cuddle with Carbon.
Priorities, right?
- Location
- Malvern Worcestershire
II envy you seeing the stars, we have so much light pollution these days.
- Location
- Wellington, NZ
You've described that so well that I almost don't need photos. *almost* I've just read about the history of the transatlantic cable on the Valencia Island website - what a clusterf***!
I'm also very envious of the dark skies, it must be incredible.
I'm also very envious of the dark skies, it must be incredible.
Lisa
Moderator
- Location
- Alberta, Canada
Oh it sounds like a perfect day. Can’t wait to see the pictures! One day I’m going over to the Skelligs, I hope! (There’s such a long list of things to see the next time I’m in the UK....sigh....)
Emily_Babbelhund
Mama Red HOT Pepper
- Location
- Regensburg, Germany
I've just uploaded over 500 photos and that's just from the last four days. This is what happens when you have too much good weather in Ireland.
Luckily it has decided to be a rainy morning which lends itself to doing a few other things than throwing the ball for Carbon, though I'm sure I'll get around to that as well. I've got my waterproofs somewhere, so it's time for them to come on out.
In the meanwhile, here's a teaser from our late afternoon ball session yesterday. Small dog, big sky.
Luckily it has decided to be a rainy morning which lends itself to doing a few other things than throwing the ball for Carbon, though I'm sure I'll get around to that as well. I've got my waterproofs somewhere, so it's time for them to come on out.
In the meanwhile, here's a teaser from our late afternoon ball session yesterday. Small dog, big sky.
Lisa
Moderator
- Location
- Alberta, Canada
Oh wow. Stunning.
- Location
- Malvern Worcestershire
What beauty and how wonderful that you could be part of it and Carbon of course.