The dog ate his foot the other day. No, you know, in the way that dogs nibble on their feet. I got some pictures and made a nice image. I’ll share it here.

Since then, he has cut one of his paws slightly. It only bled a little but the wound is reasonably wide so I’m trying to keep him quiet for it to heal. The trouble is that he is not yet two years old and he doesn’t really want to do quiet. So it is the usual battle between what’s speediest to recovery and what is nicest to the dog. If I can stop him hooning round on hard surfaces I may be able to get him out on some grass but the forecast cold snap arriving tonight will mean potentially hard ground, even on grass.

Because we haven’t been out for a walk this morning I told myself I had to get some stuff done and, mirabile dictu, I have ! I cleaned a bit of the bathroom, showered, popped out to the supermarket and the pharmacy, and then vacuumed around the middle floor. My goodness there’s a lot of dust, fluff, and hair these days. As anyone who knows my physical appearance will tell you, the hair isn’t from my head, so I’m looking at the young dog for this one. Although again, I realised on Sunday that I have been neglectful in brushing the dogs. So I brushed them then, and again today, and really must try to do that every other day at least, just to keep the loose hair in check.

So the floors are much better, and I am progressing in washing and drying a variety of dog blankets and pillows so there will be a fresher scent to the place too. I don’t kid myself that someone coming over to my house for snuggling purposes is probably going to have to be a dog fan because my house is never going to be like a show home. But I also allow things to get out of hand because I live alone so I only have to justify conditions to myself. The toilet gets an extra clean (on top of normal cleaning I promise) if I have company coming over, and towels are laundered surprisingly regularly, but I’d happily sleep on the dog beds if that was needed to keep the old dog happy – I’m not fussy.

Right now I am at my PC and the old dog is guarding the floor on his pillows (not using any of the many MANY dog beds round the house) and the young dog is on my spare bed sulking because of the lack of exercise. There should be a cover on that bed so the dogs can se it but my old man likes to wait until I have made it up freshly, then he will nest in it by scratching the covers away. Thus I have to strip the bed and remake it even though nobody ever sleeps there. That mattress has seen very little use over the years and still provides a good quality of sleep to anyone who can kick the dogs off long enough to use it.

Right…can I motivate myself to do any of the less clear-cut cleaning or tidying jobs ? The vacuuming is good because when it is done, it is done. Tidying, or washing surfaces, is a bit more open-ended and thus easier for me to not fancy tackling. Plus there’s the vital Football Team A v Football Team B game this afternoon and I can’t possibly miss that !