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Here’s me and Harley looking at the sky.

Harley is staying with us and he is like a big animated teddy bear.

He also sometimes winds Rocco up which saves me a job.

Today I’ve been trying to explain to him the difference between Sky Chasing and Sky Groaning,

but I don’t think he fully grasped the intricate nuances of the subjects.

I’ve got them down to a fine art.

Most dogs never look at the sky, and only occasionally remember that is there

when they are trying to see in which direction a stick or ball went.

I watch it a lot.

I often go out with my head up as far as I can reach and study what the sky is doing.

Sometimes there are clouds, and sometimes they race overhead so fast I feel that I have to try and control them.

The best way of doing this I’ve found is for me to run up and down the path as quickly as I can so that the clouds slow down.

This is Sky Chasing.

Harley grasped the running part but just kept running after me, and not watching the clouds.

When I told him to watch the clouds, he kept running into me instead of looking where he was going.

He’s a bit bigger and heavier than I am, so after being trampled on a few times I swiftly moved the conversation on to the subject of Sky Groaning.

Sky Groaning is something I’m still trying to understand myself, and I’d hoped Harley might have been able to share some insights, but unfortunately it was all beyond him.

The way I see it is this:

Sometimes it rains.

Rain is A Very Strange Thing.

I bark at the rain because it can ruin a pleasant snooze in the sun.

Sometimes the rain comes from the clouds.

Sometimes the rain comes from the washing that Helen hangs up.

I run up and down under the washing line and notice that our blankets seem to rain a lot.

Which is odd, because they are always dry when they come back into our beds afterwards.

The swaying blankets drive me mad, just like the clouds, so I used to bark at them.

But now I Groan at them instead.

Helen calls it my Sky Groaning, but she doesn’t realise I learnt it from her in the first place.

One afternoon when I’d spent a long while trying to control the weather,

Helen returned from Being Out and came and joined me in looking at the sky.

She saw the rain coming from the clouds and the rain coming from the washing and she gave a very big groan.

The next day it was really sunny all day.

I was very inspired by this and now often practice Sky Groaning several times a week.

Harley said I think too much about the sky and should play more instead.

I said he plays too much and should think more about the sky instead.

Rocco was smirking at both of us again, I don’t know why.

I have been promoted today, I now sit in the footwell in the front of the car on my own.

Even Mutley doesn’t sit in the front.

To prove how good I can be I sat very still and only moaned a bit even
though I could see plenty of cars that needed herding.

Helen wagged her finger at me and gave me the Collie Eye when I forgot
myself and nearly barked.

I was very good and stayed in my place even when Helen got out of the
car to open the gate.

I think I am beginning not to associate the car with barking or at
least that is what Helen says is starting to happen.

I was allowed back in the river today and swam for ages,
I like to chase the ripples.

Helen said it was a stress free walk.

Mutley and I are never stressed,
it’s only Helen that gets like this.

Oh and I don’t like to be a tell tale but Mark will not be pleased to
hear that Helen had a cigarette on the way back.

She is supposed to be giving up and has no will power unlike me.

We’re all in trouble over this Business Over Helen’s Wellies

( see Anonymous Dastardly Dog )

I’m not saying I know who did it
I’m not saying it was me

But I’m Being On My Best Behaviour just in case Helen suspects it was me

I think that she does suspect it was me, but the great thing about living in a rescue is that there are always enough other dogs about that Helen is never certain , unless she actually catches the culprit in action.

Being caught in action is definitely Something To Be Avoided At All Costs.

Some great other news though, my constant barking in the car has had an unexpected consequence – I now get to ride in the front!

This is great as the passenger footwell feels like A Safe Place, and I get lots of fuss, which takes my mind off most of the Things To Bark At.

Being in the front does give me a better view of more Things To Bark At, but Helen’s admonishing finger soon reminds me I’ll get Barked At if I’m not On My Best Behaviour

Yesterday I was so tired from Doing Exciting Things, that I fell asleep on Jan’s legs

I dreamed that there were Lots of Things To Bark At

Today Helen and Emma told me that because of my errant swimming habits I wasn’t to be allowed near the river.

I don’t mind because at least I can still bark in the car.

I barked a lot today and Mutley could see I was having so much fun that he joined in.

Mutley is my hero.

I was barking because Spike was sitting on top of my cage and also there were soooo many cars to herd into a tight circle.

I heard Helen tell Emma (who had her fingers in her ears) that the only way to not hear me and Mutley was to put a tape in and turn the volume up.

Helen put on a tape which she said was Bauhaus and it should be loud enough to not hear me.

It was so loud that the car was throbbing which made me bark more as it was very confusing.

I thought we were under attack from that loud clappy thing that the sky does sometimes.

Helen started to laugh and said that she was sure that the man was singing “I am a dog and I have to pee, I pee everywhere on grass and trees”

Personally it was so loud I don’t know how she could hear a word and his singing was awful.

We at last arrived at the field and boy were we dogs glad, her taste in music is just awful!!

They decided that it would be easier to drive up the track and let us straight onto the field.

HA HA, the car started to slide from side to side and then it nearly got stuck.

We could have been there for ages and not had any bonios.

Helen’s language was not ladylike and I think Emma was starting to wish she hadn’t come on the walk.

They told us that as Spike and I had been so troublesome yesterday that they were going to sit by the tree and that we were to run about and do doggy things.

I don’t know what she means, I was doing doggy things when I was barking!

On the way back I sat in the front with Emma and was very good and very quiet as you can see from my photo.

I let Emma stroke me and Helen said that I am getting better all the time but still needed work.

I don’t know what she means by this as I work all the time at barking, cleaning her windows and washing Mutley’s ears.

I am a very hard worker!

I know that she loves me because, even though I wasn’t eavesdropping, I heard her say that I am her little fruitcake and she is not letting me go to anyone that doesn’t understand Collies.

She said Mark or Griff weren’t to hear this as Mark would think I was going to get a collar with stars on it like Mutley and Spike’s and that Griff said he lived with enough crazy fruitcakes.

I thought fruitcakes were those squashy sweet things that sometimes drop on the floor to be eaten !!