Birthdays and the ants dance

I'm not going to lie, having a birthday party for a dog must be more stressful than holding a childs party hands down. Who in their rightful mind would organise such an event? Saturday 12th August had more shades of grey than a certain book, not a great start to a doggie party planners day.  Its always a worry that no one will turn up to any party on the day, luckily for us quite a few did. Infact around 100 people did turn up to wish the beautiful Maxi boy a 'Happy tenth Birthday'. I'm so pleased that no one sang 'Happy Birthday to Max' or I'd have burst into tears. I cannot express how proud I am of this boy and all he's achieved and to the lovely people who made the journey to join us on the day a massive thank you to you all. Paddy ate six sausage rolls we know this due to the body exits. (Say no more). 

Together we raised an incredible £918 for Eden Animal Rescue. A very worthy cause. A very special thank you must be directed to a certain springer spaniel (not Paddy and further names will not be mentioned - what happens on our walks stays on the walks) who selflessly gave up their time and giving much effort to  increasing and exceeding the local ducks yearly quota of low impact hydrotherapy swimming in the lake. I believe 30 minutes of 'spaniel duck circling' before human intervention through rescue must be a new record? 

This week Paddy learned the greatest gift of  all - sharing. Oh how cute I hear you sigh, was it his toys, food or just love and affection?

Paddy jumped in the van after a dip in the river, middle seat front row, Max by the window looking cool, he really needs shades as he's so cool, all good off we go. After few minutes and a few hundred metres down the road, I could tell Paddy was looking slighly uncomfortable, gentle scratching and the odd shake led to frantic shaking, chewing of body parts, ear flapping he just wouldn't settle, more vigorous shaking spread what I thought were grass seeds, covering every internal crevice of the freshly cleaned van and myself. Max started to join in the afray giving first some some very hard stares in Paddy's direction, followed by all out scratching, bulging eyes and biting himself. Now afraid I was letting the side down I too joined in the party, if some upbeat music had been playing in the background we'd have looked pretty cool, busting some pretty good shapes in the van I can tell you. When I say moves it was more dad dancing on my part obviously. The extreme pain of hundreds of needles sticking in ones arm, neck face and hair does cause quite a distraction whilst driving let me add. If ever you've been bitten by some two to three hundred extremly agitated, home wrecked red ants its very unpleasant, very painful and they just don't seem to want to stop. Certain flashbacks to junior dog's digging and rolling on the river bank and the penny finally drops. Paddy in his wisdom of youth had decided to destroy the ants home but rather than walk away, he decided to be the good samaritan and say 'Hop boys on I'll take you in the van to see the sights of Keswick'. He then shares the natural phenomenon of 'red ant swarm' with other unsuspecting innocent passengers in the cab. It's really not nice, apologies to the people who saw the emergency evacuation take place, the two distressed wild dogs and a very harrassed, red faced human on the main street shaking, undressing and a bit angry is I believe, quite a spectacle to see. If your journey was delayed or your small children upset we're really very sorry!