Alfie’s blog

  • “All equal, each working according to his capacity, the strong protecting the weak”

    “All equal, each working according to his capacity, the strong protecting the weak”

    Sitting here in the office, looking out at blue sky and bright sunshine, it’s hard to imagine the weather conditions of this morning In common with much of the UK, Worcestershire was being buffeted by strong winds, gale force gusts and heavy rain when we went out to walk the dogs. By a fair process… Read more…

  • Welcome return to form for Alfie

    Welcome return to form for Alfie

    Regular readers of this column (as they say in The Guardian) will recall that a convincing sign of Alfie’s chest infection – read the full story here – was his complete disinterest in an open bag of pigs’ ears that I left in the car with him. Today, his behaviour has finally returned to something… Read more…

  • Finding grass in unexpected places…

    Finding grass in unexpected places…

    I promise never to mention the weather again (probably) but we’ve had some damp cloudy days, and a few good heavy showers, this week and it’s amazing how much more green everywhere’s looking. Typical! In a week when we could have used a few dry days to do some filming… Considering it’s been a summer… Read more…

  • Barking mad – a lesson in dog training

    Barking mad – a lesson in dog training

    Alfie’s Blog – A lesson in dog training I was thinking about dog training – on Saturday night, actually. Gill has long believed that the best thing to do about bad behaviour is to make it unrewarding, usually by simply ignoring it. This works well in the case of a first offence, especially with puppies… Read more…

  • Training sheepdogs . . .

    Training sheepdogs . . .

    Alfie’s Blog – Training Sheepdogs – a chihuahua’s opinion (WHAT?) I may have suggested before that I don’t always agree with Gill and Andy’s training methods. Well, to be fair, if you want a chihuahua’s opinion. (And why wouldn’t you?). It’s the whole idea of training that I disagree with. But given my privileged position… Read more…

  • Those puppies!

    Gill took me to see Jill’s puppies last night. They were 16 days old, and to celebrate they had their third consecutive day of worming. Poor little grubs, but their eyes are open now and what am I saying, “little”?  They’re HUGE! The bigger of the girls is almost as big and heavy as me,… Read more…

  • A dog friendly pub in Caunsall?

    A couple of weeks ago I was taken out for lunch by Gill and my doting aunties. They live in Stourbridge, and as we drove over I thought I could guess how this would turn out. You see their idea of a good lunch usually involves mussels and white wine, and the sort of restaurant… Read more…

  • The injustice of it all . . .

    You know I’m not a great fan of border collies, and even less, of sheepdogs, but the puppy disaster that happened to Jill and Eli’s litter shocked us all. I wanted to write something on the blog but just didn’t know what to put. Now, things have settled down, the puppies’ eyes are open and… Read more…