Diamond Dogs

In the UK today it is "National Dog's Day" a day to celebrate all dogs, whatever their pedigree or where they came from.  I just knew that the perfect topic today then, should be all about a "Girl's best friend" which in my eyes will always be a dog (you can keep your diamonds).
I have always loved every variety of animal but, dogs... well they are very special. My Mum was forever having to tell me not to touch strange dogs, in case they bit me. I'm lucky that the only dog bites I have every had are puppy nibbles when they are learning the rules. I have never grown out of it wanting to pet dogs . I am now a lot older and I still say "Hello" to any dog that I see. I really cannot help myself.
My friend Suzanne was chatting to me before yoga a few weeks ago, and she told me that she does'nt understand how on earth I ended up in my current job role. I have to admit neither do I. I always wanted to be a Vet but alas I never had the  brains required for that role. So, having pets is the next best thing I can do really to keep me happy .There  have been so many lovely dogs over my lifetime that have shone brightly that today I want to tell you about them all.
My first memory of dogs was my Great Nan's dog Timmy, a boxer dog who I remember always sniffing under her back kitchen door whenever we first entered the house. Timmy was one of many boxers that my Great Nan owned. My Nan would tell me many stories of their holidays in Wales with whatever Boxer they had at the time, and her eyes would light up.
The next dog I can remember was my Dad's dog, Ceaser, who was a black Labrador and who obviously made a great impact on my choice of dogs as an adult. Ceaser was my Dad's gun dog and he lived with my Nan and Grandad, in Wexford Ireland. He really was a remarkable dog. He would be very protective of my Mum when she was pregnant with my brother Paddy and would walk beside her up the steps to the house in Ireland (there were no railings and it was a step fall) protecting her in case she fell. If my cousin Richard or I went to the gate and decided we would like to venture out on to any of the country lanes - he would bark, and bark until somebody came to see what was happening. He would play for hours with us and I loved him a lot. My Dad's eyes still glisten if we ever talk about him.
Duke 
My Dad is another dog lover and that is how we ended up with Duke. My Dad turned up at our house one Sunday night with a little tiny white dog that would simply not stop barking. My Dad presented me with him, told me his name and said, "this is another pet for you to look after, he needs a nice owner" and then went back to the pub! It turns out that as my Dad was having his pint, he watched this man kick his dog and for a good half an hour, he watched him being mean to him and mistreat him. I don't really know what happened but my Dad apparently told him that if he did'nt stop harming the dog - then he might decide to give him a taste of his own medicine! Duke never went back to that horrible man and lived with us for the next 10 years. He was half a jack russell, half  bull terrier and an ugly little thing, but he had a big heart. He was so loyal to me, any man who came near me whilst we were out walking , would be watched with great suspicion. His favorite past time was swimming in Newsham Park lake. Once he went in there that was it, it took hours to get him out . I don't have many photo's of him but I found this rare one of him a few years ago - you can just see him behind my brother and me having his dinner on top of our self made rabbit hutch (another abandoned pet we took in).  I used to walk for hours with Duke and he used to have a special way of making sure I only crossed the road when he thought it was ok - he used to put his paw over my foot and move it when he thought it was ok to go!

Duke 

Snipe 

My dad got Snipe when I was 22 and had left home. He came from the Wirral and his breeder was apparently John Ebberel's uncle (Ex Everton Player). Snipe was a Springer Spaniel and as mad as a hatter. He used to shake with excitement and was quite possibly one of the sweetest and most sensitive dogs I have ever known. In 1999 our Mum was diagnosed with Cancer and whilst she was in hospital, some scum bags broke into my Mum and Dad's house and when we got home , the thing that broke my heart the most was not that things had been stolen but how scared poor Snipe was. He was the first dog I ever started buying Christmas presents for and wrapping them up for him on Christmas day and he was always the first person I went to see when I got to my Mum's every Saturday. Every time I see a Springer I always smile as I think of him.  He lived a grand life and passed away at a great age at my Dad's feet in the house he loved. I was heart broken when he told me and my Dad said he would never get another dog as he was so upset. I was on the metro one day in Paris and I got a photo picture of my Dad with two border collies sitting on his knee. Two sister's called Dotty and Daisy. He ended up with both of them as they were the last two puppies in the litter and he did'nt have the heart to split them up.

Snipe

Snipe and a very 90's me 

Dotty and Daisy - my Dad's two border collies as puppies 

Duncan

I have written so much about Duncan that there is nothing really more I can say about him other than I named him after my hero, and he really became one of my biggest hero's ever in my life. I will always be eternally grateful to have had him in my life. I was lucky enough to be able to tell Duncan Ferguson all about him a few years ago too 

Duncan as a puppy :) 

Loki

Loki is my special spirited independent sweet puppy. He loves his snuggles but is very similar to me and likes to spend time on his own too. He loves to go off in our back room and chill out to come back to me after a few hours for cuddles.  He loves his walks, and is a bit of a diva. He will tell me that he thinks it's time to go out, and he will remind me when he thinks it is time for his dinner too. He is very clever and unlike Duncan who I gave up trying to train, is up to his gold award for Good Citizen. I really hope to pass the therapy dogs course with him as he really does make everybody smile. Every body deserves a bit of "Loki Love" as he is really so sweet and sociable.

He came from Whiston and was one of ten puppies. The lady Julia who we got him from, was really kind to me, as I had told her the story about Duncan and she agreed to keep him for me until I was ready to pick him up, a week later he came me to live with us. I have kept in touch with Julia and I will always send her pictures of Loki every Christmas eve and on his birthday every year, as Loki's Mum is her pet Holly. Julia's children called Loki "Ralph" originally after the film "Wreck it Ralph" and he occasionally get's called that. If you saw my back kitchen "door" you would understand why!

Loki has also seen my through some bad times. He means the world to me - his favorite trick is trying to lift my head up off the floor when I am doing Yoga moves. I guess that's his way of telling me to keep my chin up :) 

Loki and Me at our favorite Island Anglesey

How could you not love that sweet little face?

Loki and his Cousin Cooper 

I also sponsor a Dog's Trust Dog and also a Guide Dog. I think I am on to about my sixth guide dog. I am also hoping to sponsor a Dog's for Good  later on this month. As these dog's are invaluable to the people who are gifted them - helping them remain independent and in control of their own lives, which is amazing. 

I have to finish off today's post by sharing some pictures of my favorite cartoon puppy... Pluto. I missed Loki so much when we went to California this year, that I spent a lot of time petting other people's dogs. However when we went to Disney, I could'nt resist having a cuddle :) 

Please all give your puppies a special hug from me this evening :) 

The Black Dog Club

Earlier this year I was on the way to the match and browsing my phone in my brother's car as normal when I saw some news on Facebook that made me burst out crying. My Friend Nicola put a facebook status on to say her lovely cat Teddy had passed away at a young age.

I was so shocked and upset for Nicola as I knew that she had got Ted during a time when she needed a special friend to bring some light to her. I was immediately taken back to when we lost Duncan. His story is here for all to see and how he was the brightest light ever in a very dark time for me. I still miss him so very much and am thankful forever for his unconditional love and kindness - something that a lot of people in my life at that time failed to show me  and he really was a lifeline. I am probably still here today thanks to him (and my husband)

The best thing to do when you are grieving I have found is to try and turn that grief into something positive. For me I have always ran, I have ran to raise money when we lost Duncan for Canine Partners and I ran the Great North Run in 2014 to raise money for the Miscarriage Association following the loss of our three babies. Nicola decided to design a pin and launched a Kickstarter campaign to be able to raise the funds to make a badge in tribute to Ted. The campaign was a success and Nicola made not only one but two badges featuring Ted. The one below is the one I have been wearing everyday as I love the sentiment of it and it gives me a little boost looking at it each day!

I also had become a little obsessed with Pins over the past few year or so. I blame the Lucky Dip Club for this as I had been getting some gorgeous pins each month with my subscription and due to the various pin related hashtags on Instagram had been adding to my collection and sporting them on my back pack,  on my jacket's, even on my work lanyard to cheer me up.  I was always seeking out pins featuring dogs but could never find one that I really liked.  I had spoken to Nicola about it and she said we could collaborative to do something together. Given that I have zero drawing skills this was brilliant as she really is the talent behind the campaigh! I came up with an idea to ask Nicola to design a badge with Duncan on but the concept of the pin should focus self care, mental health awareness and the help that Pet's can bring to people in sad times.  On my way home from California  I was feeling a bit low after an amazing holiday and just before the plane took off from Georgia,  Nicola sent me the first design of Duncan and our Black Dog Club Pin. I was totally blown away and couldn't wait then to start planning our campaign

If you are not familiar with Kickstarter, it is similar to crowd funding, and it basically is a way to raise the money to produce your creative idea, by people "pledging" to buy your product in advance. Our Kickstarter has featured a number of stretch goals, so we hope to create a number of pins, and give people some choice as to what pin they might like. However it doesn't matter what pin you choose everybody will get a postcard with some self care guidance on which you can keep or pass on to a friend who might need it.

Our Black Dog Club Self Care Postcard 

Our campaign ends on Wednesday and we have been lucky enough to have enough pledges to be able to make our original pin, our two stretch goal pins - we are just short 42.00 of our latest stretch goal to get this pin made which is a very special pin featuring both Duncan and Ted- it would be amazing if we could get this one made as a little tribute to two very special pets

Exceptionally Ordinary

"Life is what happens, when you're busy making other plans" is one of my favorite quotes by John Lennon. It is certainly true and especially true in in this blog's case! So, Hello, long time no see! It's Sam here, the girl who has not put fingers to keyboard for this blog since December 2013. (Yikes)

It is quite weird really as I find writing really helps me and it is something I have always done, and so it is probably not a surprise that during a time where my anxiety is back to an all time high, and I am not really feeling so great, that I have decided to fall back into it. You will see that I have renamed the blog and had an amazing logo  designed by the lovely "Cutie and the Feast" who I've collaborated on with an exciting Kickstarter campaign. (More on that later)

So why "Exceptionally Ordinary"? Well, my favorite Harry Potter character is Luna Lovegood , both in the books and in the films. She reminds me a little bit of myself and I always think people see me in a certain way, when in fact I'm not that person at all - this pretty much sums up Luna and me.

If you have a look at my new logo you will actually spot that little shout out to Luna I am sure!

Luna fixes Harry's broken nose with magic and when he ask's her how he looks she tells him "Exceptionally Ordinary" which makes me smile. Harry Potter after all does indeed look very ordinary.. but there he was worried about looking a little bit different following his broken nose, when in fact, he is nothing but ordinary but rather exceptional. He is in fact the boy who lived ...

Underneath it all we all have something that makes us special, or unique - we are all Exceptionally Ordinary whether we know or not.

So there you have it... I am back with a new logo, new name and lots of new ideas.

Sam x