Today's blog is dedicated to those of you who know and love a daft English Pointer called Hooky.

A Day in the Life of Hooky

This is what happened to me yesterday:

I woke up feeling a little down, nobody had been in the vineyard over the last couple of days so apart from conning people into giving me lots of hugs by appearing outside the patio doors with my best doleful face, I'd had nobody to play with.

Things looked promising twice when Daddy came out with Jo & Su. They put their shoes on and gave me lots of hugs, but then drove off without me. The first time they said something about buying paint for a nursery?? Then they went to meet Mummy at something called a chocolate factory?? Apparently it's bad for dogs, but they all seem to eat lots of it.

When they got back I got all excited again, but after a brief cuddle Jo & Su disappeared to paint. Then a strange man turned up to speak to Daddy, and that was that - I decided nobody loved me so went off to amuse myself. I crawled under the decking to one of my favourite spots to have a roll and get really dirty. Then I heard Daddy talking to this man over the other side so I thought I'd go over and listen to them, to find out what was so important that I was being ignored, and I crawled right under the decking to the other side. Cool! I could see Daddy watching me but he was so busy talking to the strange man, he couldn't shout at me! Ha! That'll teach him to ignore me!

I soon got bored of their little chat and went to move, but realised that I couldn't. Daddy was still ignoring me so I started crying and whimpering and shaking, and he glared at me. When the other man left, Daddy called me, but I thought he was mad and went really still and quiet. He disappeared but soon came back with Jo & Su who laid on the floor taking pictures and laughing! It wasn't funny! Daddy said he was going to have to dig me out, but Jo and Su went away and Jo started calling me. I looked at her and the penny dropped! I'd forgotten that I'd crawled from over there! I managed to turn around and pulled myself along with my front legs, my back legs dragging behind, wagging my tail with excitement as Jo kept telling me what a good boy I was, and that I was just like a commando, whatever that is? It was really quite exciting, all this fuss and attention just for me; even Coxwell came to watch. Finally, freedom! I was so excited when I got out and got lots of hugs and cuddles and sat on Jo for quite a while whimpering with delight, and a little bit of shock.

When they all went away again I felt really shocked and shaky so Coxwell came and sat with me in my kennel for support and we curled up together until Mummy came home. Jo and Su came back a while later to take me for a walk around the vineyard. Daddy was still teasing me and telling me how stupid I was and he held me back while they ran off, then he released me and I ran after them so fast in case they got to the rabbits or birds before me. Jo was really impressed and said I would give somebody called Martha a run for her money! (She keeps saying I would make a good boyfriend for this Martha chick, but since daddy had my dangly bits removed I don't think I can play that game...) I had a fun walk, although saw a rabbit next door and they wouldn't let me climb through the fence after it - spoilsports!

Then I went for a good long sleep, as all that excitement was exhausting. You know, people call me stupid all the time, but most of the time they're the stupid ones - they don't realise that I do it for the attention. But yesterday I think perhaps I was a little stupid. But have I learnt my lesson? Who knows?

Lots of love, Hooky xxxxx

PS - Jo and Su would like all of their friends to know that they haven't suddenly gone mad and are walking around New Zealand in those clothes. They were wearing old clothes of my Mummy's and Daddy's while they were painting.