Like a married couple.

This picture was taken on Tue 13 Mar 2007 07:31 during our morning walk.

I think on the whole Tippy had a good relationship with Tommy which is surprising as Tommy was no gentleman on the first meeting which occurred while driving down the road on the quad bike on the way to check out the stock on the morning of the 6^th June 2005. As we passed the forest entrance we noticed this big black collie lying under the rail across the entrance. At first I though it was just a dog walking with someone as we got lots of dog walkers in that area being surrounded by forest as it was. Even so I though it was worth checking out so I did an emergency stop and reversed up and could see no one with the dog who remained lying down. So I switched off he engine and got off the bike. I always tried to catch stray dogs as they can be a problem with the stock if they become hungry. Of course I always approached with caution but on this occasion it wasn't me that needed to worry but Tippy because in a flash the dog jumped up and flew at Tippy who had remained on the bike. Tommy is still prone to this behaviour although it's now a rare occurrence rather than the rule as it was back then. It looks scarier than it actually is as he never makes contact, just a big scary fuss and then backs off and on this occasion went to lay back down under the rail. That was the only time there was any kind of unpleasantness between them and came to live together in a similar manner to that of a married couple. 

 

When I look at this picture I get the impression that Tippy is not amused by Tommy's antics with the stick, It's like, 'put that down you darn fool before you go and hit someone with it'.

Tippy walks the Cleveland way.

Over the past few weeks I’ve been showing you some of the things that Tippy got up to on her holidays/vacations. Of course during ever holiday there was lots of time spent walking but sometimes the whole holiday was one big walkies which we enjoyed so must have been absolutely the best kind of holiday ever for Tippy – as long as there were no cows!

These pictures were taken at the beginning and end of a week spent walking the Cleveland Way in North Yorkshire which is 112 miles long, just imagine how many sniffs there were!

The start of the Cleveland Way.

Just incase you are wondering Vicki was only trying to make Tippy look at the camera and smile and not trying to strangler a it appears in the picture.

At the end...

...and some bits in between.

Tippy the hustler.

This week I'm going to continue with more pictures of Tippy on holiday where she is in Wales. We had a cottage for a week in a small village and as it was pretty late in the year and the nights came in early we went to the village pub a few times on an evening, the owner of which allowed Tippy to come also. Usually she lay under the table and no one even knew she was there most of the time. However one night Fallon (our daughter) and Debbie (a friend) decided they wanted to play pool so they went off to the other end of the pub where the pool table was and as it sounded like they were having a lot of fun we too eventually went over to watch. Well it didn't take Tippy long to figure out that they were playing with her favourite toy – a ball, a whole table full of balls!! This game was doggy heaven to Tippy and she was round and round the table checking out every shot they made. In the end I think she got so frustrated with them missing that she decided to show  how it was done and like a flash she grabbed one of the balls and ran off with it much to the immense amusement of everyone in the pub. Someone said on leaving that it was the best nights entertainment they'd had in those parts for a long time.

Some Of Tippy's Holiday Snaps.

As I've said in the past Tippy was very keen on taking holidays with the family, in the picture below you will see she is enjoying an ice cream that my mum bought for her while on holiday in Whitby. Some of us were on a multi-day walk and this was a day off from the walking. 

Below is one of only two Video's I took of Tippy, I will show the other one towards the end of this blog. This was taken about five years ago when on holiday on the west coast of Scotland. Tippy is the smaller of the two and as you will see she is more interested in rounding up Tommy than trying to catch the ball.

A Strange Thing To Do.

By the time you read this I will have revisited the places in these pictures, unfortunately there was no one to lay out my waterproof trousers on the bench for this time.

After seeing the first picture I am now trying to figure my mind set. I remember it as a very horrible day of constant rain which stopped as we approached the bench so Tippy was already very wet just as I was so there was hardly any point to getting her to lay on the bench instead of the wet ground but not only did I put her on the bench I also lay out my trousers for her to lay on. I know I do tend to share with my dogs when out walking so I guess I was just treating her as an equal. She sure does look like she was ready for a rest though!

The second picture was taken just a bit further long the trail and she was back in to her stride and wondering why I was so slow.

Never refuse a pleasure.

These past few weeks I've been posting pictures of Tippy the hiking dog. She didn't always get to go on walks with us because sometimes it wasn't wise, especially if there was a chance of having to pass through cows as she didn't like cows one bit. Anyway there was this one time when I decided to go by myself and leave Tippy at home with Vicki. They gave me a ride as far as the woods above Chatsworth House and then dropped me off. This was all fine up to the point where they drove off because as I waved them goodbye I spotted Tippy's little face through the back window of the car and it was a terrible heart wrenching picture, one which rendered a nice days hiking impossible.

So I quickly started waving my arms frantically in the hope that Vicki was looking through her rear view mirror. Thankfully she recognised the waves as ones of distress rather than ones of goodbye and duly brought the car to a halt. There was a kind of smug look on Tippy's face as I opened the car door to let her out.

My advice to you is never refuse your dog a pleasure in their lives because one day they will be gone and then it's to later. I'm sure glad I listened to my heart.

Tippy on Win Hill in Derbyshire.

This week I am going to show you another picture of Tippy as a hiking dog. Here you can see her with Vicki on Win Hill in Derbyshire. 

As you can probably tell she was a young dog at the time.

Kinder Scout Walk.

Last week I spoke of how in later life Tippy had a limit as to how far she wanted to walk, in her younger days there were no such restrictions and she was quite happy to walk as far as you wanted to take her in any weather that was going at the time. 

This looks a nice place for a lie down.

 Rough and tumble in the snow.

Come on Fallon lets go.

This weeks pictures are from a family walk on Kinder Scout in Derbyshire. As you can see it was a fun day out for all concerned whether you be man or beast.

You can go to far y'know.

This weeks picture of Tippy was taken a couple of years ago on the track to the farm. 

I'm going home with dad.

I'd been to get some hay for the sheep and met Vicki and the dogs on the way back. In her later years Tippy used to find the walk to the farm was far enough and if you wanted her to go further you had to put her on the lead because she would just root herself to the ground and either refuse to go further or turn tail and head for home. 

Who said I was to old to run, I'll beat that lot home.

You could shout her all you wanted but she would refuse to hear you. It was times like that when it was hard to remember that up until retiring she was a highly trained sheep dog. 

Come on, get the door open its freezing out here.

 She was always a dog that knew her own mind right from a puppy.

Dogs Are Good For Your Well-being.

'Studies have shown that patients who are in contact with dogs after hospital treatment or illness have a faster recovery time'.

Waiting by the car.

The above was taken from 'The Dog Lover's Bible' written by Malini Roy and my reason for including it in a memorial blog to Tippy is that at this time seven years ago I discovered that I was suffering from a serious life threatening illness. Whilst I'm not going to claim that it was Tippy alone who made me better, I don't even know if she had any effect at all in curing me but at the time Vicki was working nights at the nursing home and as any of you who have suffered from similar or had worrying things on your mind the dark hours are the worst. So it was a great comfort to me to be able to reach out and find Tippy there by my side. She never said a word nor asked for any but somehow you knew that she understood. During the process of getting better I needed to make lots of trips to the hospital, many on a daily basis and Tippy kept just about every appointment enduring many hours of patiently waiting quietly in the car for our return.