A Bad Start to the Week

03:30 Chris woke dad up real early as I was in the kitchen lying by the back door having a seizure. I made a right mess and was completely out of it when dad got to me.

Dad stayed downstairs with me after that. It was a strange seizure and out of the pattern we were getting kind of used to. After all, I'd been through Sunday without an incident. So to have one like this is kind of strange.

I've still not improved greatly since the last one. Still whiny and not liking to be left alone. After I got to sleep for a hour I was then keeping dad up by making sure he was still alive. I kept on either stiking my nose in his eye or licking his face, right up until mum got up for work.

This meant dad was too tired for work today. It was supposed to be the first day back after a week off. Now he's stayed at home with me asleep... or trying to sleep on the sofa. I still wont let him leave me downstairs as I keep whining and pacing around until he comes back to be with me. Then I just want constant attention or I still whinge and whine.

The Long Bad Friday

Well dad's certainly glad he took the time off work this week. I've been keeping him real busy with this cluster. Things just don't seem to be getting any better yet.

16:45 Friday. Just before mum got home from work I had another seizure that left me all panting and out of breath just as she got home.

At around 20:30 and 22:30 dad noticed some strange small episodes. It was as I I was starting a seizure but then snapped out of it after less than 5 seconds. There was a sticking out of tongue as if someone had put tabasco sauce on it and then my head shook left to right as if trying to get rid of the taste. Then it just stopped there.

23:45 Friday. Mum had not long gone to bed when I had another seizure with dad watching TV. After that dad took me upstairs so I could sleep with them so they could keep an eye on me.

03:30 Saturday. I woke dad up with a big seizure again. So after taking me downstairs for so water and a walk outside he slept on the sofa to let mum sleep. I kept dad up by just pacing around and when he closed his eyes I had to check he was still alive by licking his face!

06:20 Saturday. Another big seizure, followed by lots of disorientation. This might have been because dad used the last two Diazepams up the woowah. I got some food and dad finally had to go get some sleep. Blaine go up not long after and had to clean up some poop and mop up some wee.

Since the 6am seizure I've been on the go all day. I won't lie still and even after a good walk and chasing a ball I'm still hyperactive. What's more annoying is that I now don't want to be alone and follow mum or dad around whilst moaning and whining for attention. I can't be put outside for more than five minutes as I start barking and whimpering at the door until someone gives in.

I also have returned to my previous "stair-o-phobia". I won't go upstairs, no matter how much I am on my own. I stay at the bottom whining until someone comes down to be with me.

More Fun and Games

After getting sick last week I had a little more fun and games left in me.About 2:00am on Monday morning I started barking whilst downstairs in the kitchen. Dad must have thought it was a burglar so he let mum come a sort it out. Well when she came in and opened the door to let me out I just lay down in the kitchen doorway, just like I do when I'm waiting for dinner. I guess I have got her well trained now as mum understood and got me a tin of dog food. Satisfied I went back to bed happy with a full belly.

Dad's taken a week off this week and that means loads of trips to the woods! The weather's been just great too, until today it's been sunny and bright with not a cloud in the sky.

I hared off round the woods like a mad thing on Monday and Tuesday. And spent the rest of the day fast asleep (dad says I was snoring but I think he's got me mixed up with mum).

When Wednesday came around mum took me out with her friend and her dog called Bobby. I like the going out and meeting new friends, but can only do it for so long. After a while I get bored and don't want to play. I just want to go sniffing around doing my own thing.

02:15 Thursday saw the return of the seizures. Early in the morning I woke dad by lying out on the landing. This is unusual as I usually want into the bedroom. Dad got up and called me in anyhow. I'd been asleep for a while when it hit.

I guess he's getting used to expecting the unexpected. It seems as regular as clockwork. Each month that goes by we wish for the last of the seizures but a month goes by and they return.

This time around the disorientation and need to pace has diminished completely. Today I also didn't really get the huge craving for food either. I just wanted to lie down panting heavily until I'd recovered enough to sleep some more.

09:30 With dad being at home and laying in a while I had another seizure just as he was getting up. This time it was also breakfast time so I polished that off in a hurry.

15:10 I was asleep in my bed when another one struck. Looks like we're in for a full day again.

01:00 Friday. Dad took me up to the bedroom knowing I was gonna follow him up anyhow. After less than ten minutes I went into a seizure again.

07:15 Friday. Mum had gotten up for work when I went off again.

12:45 Friday. Dad had just put his boots on to take me out for a walk in the woods and was just checking his email when I went into another seizure. Let's hope this is coming to the end of this cluster :(

Out and About

Dad took me out for the day yesterday. He needed to do a favour for his mate Frank. So whilst he was working on his computers he figured he may as well take me out for the day... after all what trouble could I cause?

For a Saturday, dad got up real early... well, when I say real early, I mean got up ready to go out. I mean that because I always get him up early to let me into the bedroom with them at 2:00am so I can sleep on the floor in the same room.

So we get in the car and head in the opposite direction to the woods which left me all confused. It was quite a journey, but I like to travel anywhere with dad.

Frank's offices are a big industrial unit with lots of separate buildings. It's all enclosed so dad's not going to worry about where I go. Dad gets busy sorting out the computers and I go off for a bit of a nosey. Having been gone for a few minutes dad decided to come hunt for me, it's unusual if he's not following me around everywhere.

Well when he found me I was looking a bit sheepish. Well it's not really my fault. The whole yard is concrete and all the buildings are concrete and well I had to go somewhere, so I left a big smelly pile right in one of the machine shops. Dad thought it was funny, but I'm not sure Frank did.

Dad definitely wasn't cross because he took me out to the woods on the way home. We came across a couple of friendly but wary Jack Russels. The made a b-line for me to come say hello, and their dad came running up behind them. Dad shouted over that I was friendly too and he needn't worry. He shouted over "It's not mine I'm worried about it's yours!", which made me laugh. However, they were very friendly and just wanted to say hi. At one point one of them gave me a bit of a snap, but being such bitesized dogs I couldn't take it seriously. I know they must be intimidated by my size.

After we got back I had my dinner, I missed breakfast - well had some but we dashed out, so I left it. Then a bit later I got really sick and threw it all up on the floor in the front room. Dad cleaned it up, but then later in the night about 2:30am I got sick again. I had nothing in my stomach so it was just bile and lots of heaving.

When mum gave me breakfast I was really hungry, but then just left it. I couldn't face it. Thankfully by dinner time I was famished and who can say no to mum's Sunday dinner? Hmm, I got a pork chop all to myself, so I'm at least eating again.

It's My BIRTHDAY!!!

Happy Birthday to me. I'm 39.2 years old! Well that's in dog years according to this. But I've decided to celebrate birthdays in humans years. Being a woman all you other women out there will appreciate just how great this is. I'm not nearly 40... I'm only 4 years old :)

I even got a birthday card from mum, dad and the kids... but suspect dad's behind it.

As a treat dad took me out to Doggy Disney then to get some pooh bags (oh, joy!), and a toy squeaky bone whilst he was in there. Then out to lunch to KFC where he got me my own meal of two pieces of chicken... hmm, I love chicken.

Mum's now not talking to him. Something about her never getting a card, a present and a meal on her birthday.

Giving Mum a Good Send Off

3:20 Well mum was off to a hen weekend with the Derby and Joan club this morning to Benidorm. As she was being picked up at 3:30am I thought I'd wake dad up by having another seizure at 3:20am, so he could say goodbye for the weekend.

14:25 Oops, dad took me in to work to keep an eye on me and I've been good as gold all day. Then I go and have a seizure in the office with everyone looking. It's all over now though. Getting back to myself after a bit of a snooze.

This Month's Visit

16:20 I was just lying there deep in sleep when the seizure struck. Same pattern as previously chomping, paddling and then a period of rest. After a short rest I'm up and wanting to pace around so dad had to take me down the stairs - I didn't want to go, but dad coxed and pulled me along until I could get outside.

Craggy Island

Mum and dad went off to Dublin over the weekend. Mum calls it Craggy Island after the island made famous by Father Ted Crilly and his hair brained cleric Dougal. They left me here all on my own... well apart from Chris and Blaine that is.

Dad ate some nice fresh Galway oysters at Gallagher's Boxty House in Temple Bar. Mum and dad really like it there and would recommend it to anyone. The food's been great every time they've been. For those who don't know what a boxty is, it's a potato based pancake that is wrapped around numerous fillings such as traditional Irish stew, or bacon and cabbage.

One day they even took to the water in a World War II amphibious vehicle called a DUKW. It's used for a Viking Splash Tour of Dublin's historic places. The tour takes you to a large canal basin and the DUKW sails around for 10 minutes or so as the cities highlights are pointed out. The majority of the tour is land based and takes in the historic city whilst abusing the pedestrian Celts at every opportunity. Great fun.

In fact every tour bus mum and dad have been on in Dublin have been not just educational but highly amusing. The tour guides all have their own unique sense of humour and a capacity for song. So if you ever find yourself in Dublin take a tour bus and enjoy.

Someone Muzzle that Idiot!

It seems that some people just can't help themselves when it comes to talking garbage. Especially to a child, erm adolescent. Thinking an adult should know best certainly isn't the always the case.

Blaine took me out the other night and whilst walking off the lead a man with a Staffy decided to point out that as a dangerous dog I should be on the lead and stated that is what it says on the dangerous dogs act.

Well, dad's a bit more responsible than that. Even as he first brought me home he did his research to find out what the score was with the dangerous dog act. I just wish others would do a bit of homework too, before trying to claim knowledge of things they have no clue about.

There are currently only four types of dog listed as prohibited in the UK. These are as follows:

• Pit Bull Terrier
• Japanese Tosa
• Dogo Argentino
• Fila Braziliero

A Rottweiler does not appear on that list, nor is considered a "pit bull type".

However, the act also prevents owners from having a dog which is dangerously out of control in a public place. Which is defined as:

Any dog is dangerously out of control if:

• it injures a person, or
• it behaves in a way that makes a person worried that it might injure them.

Which could be hugely misinterpreted by the lay-person, that if the person is afraid of dogs that any dog could be considered dangerously out of control. This is not the intention of the act.

Now, if you're the type of person that owns a dog and walks over to another dog owner, with their dog, and believes the dog to be dangerously out of control, wanting to make your point about it. Do you really think the sensible course of action is to bring your dog with you and launch into a tirade about how dangerous someone else's dog is, just because of their breed?

So please if you're in any doubt feel free to visit the UK Government website DEFRA and you'll find all the information you need.

DEFRA - Animal welfare: The Control of Dogs

Dangerous Dogs Act 1991

I'm sure most visitors here won't be affected or require such literature and I guess my little rant is preaching to the converted, but for the sake of completeness the link is here anyway.

Boycott Japanese Electronics

Sorry for the hijack of the site, but as this is a cause I feel strongly about and it needs all the publicity it can get, I feel justified in a little side tracking on this.

For the past 18 years the Japanese have been whaling illegally by abusing the International Whaling Commissions moratorium on commercial whaling. The Japanese year on year have been returning to the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary in Antarctica, and continuing to slaughter whales claiming the right to carry out scientific research.

To date the Japanese research has consisted of 195 papers, of which only 4 have stood up under peer review and of those 4 none of them sufficiently demonstrate the need for scientific research though lethal means.

There is no humane method of killing a whale. They are shot with a harpoon with an explosive charge on the end. In 60% of the Japanese kills the whales suffer agonisingly for as long as an hour.

Despite making huge losses, recording in the tens of millions of Dollars per year, the Japanese government continues to support the slaughter with it's tax payers money. Even with no market for the meat they continue to ruthlessly harvest, they continue to hunt whales.

Less than 1% of Japanese have or ever will eat whale. In an attempt to make it popular they even tried to give it away as school meals. It was unpalatable by the nations children and remains stored in huge frozen warehouses - uneaten and unwanted.

So please lend me your support in ceasing the barbaric, murderous, cruel and wasteful actions of the Japanese by saying no to their products

Please sign this petition now!