Why having a dog changes your life: Loving them even when they poop on the carpet

He's getting old now our Luey and recently he seems to not know when he's going to need to go for a number two. One minute he's lying there the next minute he's rushing towards the doors and its a race between you and his butt muscles. His age is something we're still coming to terms with and he changes day to day, sometimes he's Mr Grumpy and sometimes he's a puppy bounding all over the place. 

The toilet thing started off in the night. We'd let him out like usual before bed, but at some point in the night he'd wake up needing to go and instead of crying to wake my mum up he stares at her for a bit and then gets too desperate. He's never really developed a bark or a cry. He only does these things around other dogs, therefore he's never really used them with us and unfortunately therefore all he does is stare at you if he wants something. Once you're awake he'll talk to you in low noises, but otherwise you'll need to develop spidey senses! Knowing it wasn't his fault we did our best to prevent this from happening, giving him his tea earlier, taking him for short walks round the block before bed. This seemed to solve the problem of pooping in the night (touches wood). 

However the recent problem of having accidents during the day seem to be harder to prevent. He tends to get so distracted by going around the kitchen licking crumbs off the floor that he forgets that he needs to go out and therefore it end up as a race to the back door with a trail nuggets a long the way. We now put him out as soon as he's eaten (we've always done this but now we do it even if he doesn't want to) and this on the whole works as long as we're on it. 
Yesterday was a different thing though. I'd just made lunch of brown pasta with tuna and sat down to eat it with the dog lying next to me. He stood up to sniff at my food, and then lifted his tail. I knew what was about to happen, he knew what was a bout to happen, but neither of us could move fast enough. Now as much as I love and adore Luey, nobody wants to clean up poo when their about to eat. I let him out the back door and I cleaned up the mess whilst he sniffed at the conifers in the garden. I scratched his ears and told him it was ok, and went back to eating my lunch, because loving a dog is loving them even when they poop on the carpet. 

Walking in North Wales: LLyn Idwal

The best thing for a group of people cooped up together inside a house is to get them outside! Being outdoors is brilliant for several reasons:

1. Its very difficult to be stressed when outdoors - whether its the fresh air or the open space, I always find that its a bit like a weight has been lifted my shoulders and I tend not to worry about the things that have been bothering me. 
2. Exercise - we all need to do it so why not do it whilst getting to see trees, lakes, birds and rivers? 
3. Accomplishment - no matter how big or small your walk I always think that you gain a sense of achievement. "I walked all that way, therefore I deserve to spend the evening in front of the T.V." This particularly appeals to us a household as we like to feel that we've done something with our day. 
4. Air things out - When we've been sniping at each other about little things, being outdoors lays all that to rest, you bond over helping each other out, or laughing, or feeling scared. You can also say things and then let them go. Inside they linger, outside they seem to float away.

So we decided to try and find some snow up in the mountains above us and led by our mountain expert, Finn, we went to find Llyn Idwal. With plenty of layers and sturdy boots, we began our climb which was a time steep and slippy but together we did it. There were plenty of breaks to appreciate the views, have snowball fights and even make a small snowman. Finn took the lead showing us the way and Jack brought up the rear, giving us a boost up some of the tricky bits and a sturdy hand to hold when needed. The little one did really well only having a few moments where the height overwhelmed him but with all of us cheering him on he did things he didn't think he was capable of. Huge Mama Sue struggled every now and then as she is slightly vertically challenged but her positive mental attitude really helped when tiredness set in. 

The views from the top of our climb were incredible as we were able to look down over the Ogwyn valley seeing the pockets of snow, the lakes both natural and manmade. The cold was only really bad on our hands and to be honest I could have done without the rain, but overall it just made us appreciate the cup of tea we had when we got home. There's something about the landscape in the Ogwen Valley that can be both beautiful and desolute at the same time. I'm a tree girl myself, nothing makes me happiers than sitting under a tree, whether that sheltering from the rain or the sun, and there are parts of the Ogwen Valley - particulary where we were - that are rather sparse. However, there's something in that sparsness that makes you really focus on what's there. The clouds coming in make you think of a dramatic scene from Lord of the Rings, the stillness of the lake was so unbelievable that your eyes begin to imagine movement. The only brightness comes from the walkers coats and backpacks trecking in the distance standing out against the muted greys and purples. This is the beauty of North Wales for me. The startling change in scenery from beautiful seascapes, dense forests and muted mountain landscapes, they all give us a backdrop for adventures. 

Our adventure ended with a sense of amazing achievement for us all. Finn led us confidently and without incident, Kate got stuck in with the climb helping motivate everyone a long especially the little one when he got scared. The little one made his energy last the whole way never tiring and Sue proved that a dodgy knee and shortish legs are no match for her. Jack proved that he could put our fear above his own fear of heights and I kept going even if that meant going down some bits on my bum! 

On the way home we felt like we'd earned chip-shop chips and some tasty homemade burgers (recipe to follow at a later date, they taste so good)! So get outside, go for a walk, a climb, a run or a jog, if for no other reason that to feel you earn't those chippy chips!

(I must note that we did not take the dog on this walk as we felt that it would be too much for him and instead took him on a shorter walk combined with cuddles).

Why having a dog changes your life: The Stress

Recently we've had to change the way we are with Luey our lab. at 11 years old we know how lucky we are, and we just want his life to be as happy and comfy as possible. Although we know he needs to take it easy he doesn't, he still thinks he's a puppy, he wants to chase tennis balls and go swimming, and because of this boundless energy that he displays we forget this from time to time too. Shortly before Christmas we took him on his usual walk, off the lead, lots of swimming and watched him chase after a ball. Seeing how happy he was and how much he enjoyed the walk we did the same thing the following day, not thinking about his age just about his happiness. The day after that he struggled to walk, he had very little enthusiasm for anything and just lay on his bed grumbling to himself. Now Luey can be a grumpy old man from time to time, but he always enthusiastic about the idea of food, and we were therefore really concerned. We all spent the few days watching him, encouraging him, not leaving him alone for a moment and we feared the worst. 

The the day before Christmas Eve he bounded off mum's bed that morning at half six, wagging his tail as he went down the stairs to greet Jack as he made his porridge. It was like nothing had happened. Christmas Eve, he did wake up with conjunctivitus, however, the trust he put in us to clean his eyes and put the drops in, reafirmed the connection he has with us. That trust goes both ways and it runs deep. He knows when we need him and he also knows when he needs us. The days over Christmas were wonderful with him and with the eye infection clearing up quickly over the past few weeks its been like getting our puppy Luey back. He's mischievous, stealing food, begging for treats and really wants to go for walks. We on the other hand have had to be restrained. Walks are frequent but short and on the lead, this way we can build up the muscle in his back legs and control the amount of walking he does. 

Treats well, they are more frequent than perhaps they should be. I mean he's eleven for goodness sake! And he has this way of looking at you and then looking to where the treats are kept then back at you. This wouldn't be a problem if there was only one of us in the house, but when there are six of us and he does the same cute trick to all of us, then he sometimes gets six treats... We've cottoned onto this trick now, but to be honest, we just want him to be happy. We've always been lucky with his weight, he's never been an overweight lab and if anything in the last year we've had the opposite problem where he lost a lot of weight and got picky with his food. Like a human being we've discovered that if he eats and is then sick, he then associates eating that food with being sick, which means we are often changing his food or at least the way he eats it - hiding treats etc. - just to get him to eat. 

The things we do for love. Dog love.

Time for a new calendar?

The stress of New Year resolutions is well underway. What will you do this year? What was last year like? How will you make this year better? All these pressure both internal and external contribute to January Blues. But why? Why must we make all these supposedly life changing decisions now? You get to experience Christmas which for many is the happiest time of the year and from that high we go straight into this downward period of reflection and pressure to change, to be better. As somebody who suffers from anxiety I really struggle with this time of year, just the idea of reflecting on ones self in such an analytical way is something I struggle with as I struggle to find the positives. In others I excel at finding positive achievements, I love building people up, helping them achieve their goals, but when it comes to myself I struggle. This isn't a constant struggle, but when I'm feeling particularly anxious, these negative feelings raise their ugly head. "You didn't achieve much last year." "What are your plans?" "What are you going to do with your life?" 
It is because of these pressures that I have come to the decision that January should take a long hard look at itself, and decide how it wants to be viewed by the masses. Does it want to be this grumpy, depressing fellow? Or would it rather be known as the cheery month that says, "why don't you put those big decisions on hold? Put your feet up, warm yourself by the fire and watch the Harry Potter films back to back!" Let another month take up the mantle of the resolution! How about a springtime month like April, when everything is re-born? Or a summer month like July, when people are too busy sunning themselves to get stressed?
These whinging are small problems in reality, and overall I know January will come and go, yet part of me fears its passing. What if I don't make any changes? I guess we will just have to wait and see. Until then I'm going to keep writing, keep reading, keep pushing forward when I can, and take advice from Luey and take time to chill. 

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Taking down the tree

It basically sucks. There's so much fun and excitement when putting it up, everyone gets together, Christmas songs are on in the background, the only one who doesn't enjoy it is the dog who hates boxes. Taking the tree down is the opposite of this apart from the fact that the dog doesn't enjoy this either. Nobody wants to do it, everybody is back in school and work and it's got to be done by 12 th night. All in all it fell to muggins here to do it. Everything that seemed so bright and colourful before now just looks messy, our artificial tree is on it's last legs so it's moulting, and the only sounds are the dog sighing as his favourite spot on the sofa is taken up by boxes.
I tried to be more organised when putting things away this time round to save future Laura the hassle. Its good to do this sometimes, think about your future self, how angry are they going to be with you if you don't do something now. Sometimes I know she won't mind and will be glad that I chilled when I could but sometimes I know she'll be really pissed off and that's when I try to kick my ass into gear.
The house very quickly feels tidy again with the trees decorations gone, but it also feels empty. Even when everybody gets home that emptiness is still there for a bit as we all realise that Christmas is finally over. January Blues are well and truly here in this house, bring on February!

Christmas is a time for hibernation

Christmas in this household is a time to hibernate. We have a big build to Christmas Day, cooking, cleaning and decorating every inch of the house, then Christmas Day come; up at 5 opening presents, mum cooking dinner with her brother the vegetarian helping her with the turkey, more presents then napping infront of the television. Boxing Day going in a similar way in terms of lots of people over, but as its my mums birthday everything is at a must slower pace. We lay on a buffet, people don't come over till later in the day, we go for a walk wrapped up in our new scarves, we play games and then curl up and nap infront of the television again. It's a lots of busy busy busy then nothing.


The days following Boxing Day are ours. We don't leave the house, nobody comes over, we wear our Christmas pjs all, build Lego sets whilst eating our body weight in cheese. Time doesn't matter anymore, we just enjoy our time together, feeling lucky and loved. There's no other time like it, there's just this sense of weightlessness in the house, everyone's together, nobody's stressed having to go anywhere, do anything. Unfortunately this kind of high comes with a pretty big fall, but least on the way down to January we've got some things to look back on.

Breaded chicken strips, with sweet potato and cajun mayo

More often than not there's between four and six in for tea, therefore planning meals is a tricky task especially when things often change last minute. So planning meals that can be padded out at a moments noticed is the best way forward and a recent family favourite is breaded chicken strips! 

This meal initially came about after having five of us in for tea with only three chicken breasts out of the freezer. Now usually the solution would be to make a curry and pad it out with sweet potatoes and pepper, however, when faced with a cooking challenge I sometimes like to play Ready Steady Cook! (Popular afternoon cookery show I watched with my mum in the 90’s, where chefs were faced with a bag of random ingredients, think it’s still around every now and then.) So with three chicken breasts, some crusts of bread, a cupboard of spices and some sweet potatoes I went to work. This dish does fairly well on our healthy-household scale. The chicken is a good source of lean protein, the breadcrumbs are kept to a minimum and we’ve gone with brown bread, we’ve cut back on fat where we can; low fat mayo, 1 cal spray and a small amount of olive oil. The end result tastes amazing and it disappears pretty quickly off the plate! Its relatively straight forward and because I’ve used olive oil instead of egg or milk to coat the chicken it isn’t as messy! 

Feeds 5

Ingredients

3 chicken breasts

2 crusts of brown bread grated (can be swapped for white)

Cajun

Mixed herbs

5 sweet potatoes

3tbsp Low fat mayonnaise

1 cal spray

Olive oil

Salad

1. Preheat your oven to gas mark 7. Wash and prick your sweets potatoes all over, wrap in some kitchen paper and microwave for 5-10 minuets each – this all depends on the size of the potatoes, I tend to microwave two at a time for five minuets and give them a squeeze, if they’re beginning to soften then they’re ready if not wack them on for a few minutes more.
2.  Put jackets in the oven with a tray underneath, as they tend to leak sticky stuff – trust me I found this out the hard way, messy oven to clean up!
3.  With a pair of kitchen scissors cut you beats into strips, its up to how big or small, I do my about an inch wide and 2cm thick. (This is where you can make your meal look bigger and make it go further!)
4. Put the chicken in a bowl and give a couple of shakes of both the Cajun and mixed herbs, you want an even covering so get in there with your hands. Don’t look covered enough? Put a couple more shakes in, go with your gut instinct!
5.  Drizzle around 1tsp of olive oil into the bowl, you don’t need much just a light coating – this will help the breadcrumbs stick.
6. One by one dip the chicken strips in the breadcrumbs, (it will give them a light coating as opposed to a heavy one if you dipped them in egg or milk first).
7. Place the strips on a baking tray or roasting dish, if you have any left over bread crumbs sprinkle them over, these bits will go nice an crispy adding a good bit of crunch!
8. Spray the chicken with some one-cal spray, this will help add some colour to chicken , and place in the oven for 20 minuets, turning half way through.
9. Meanwhile make your salad this can be as plain or as interesting as you like, sift through your fridge! To make the Cajun mayo put 3tbsp of low fat mayonnaise into a bowl with a couple of shakes of Cajun spice, stir and add more for a stronger flavour – ooops too much? Add a small amount of mayonnaise to balance it out again.
10. After the 20 minuets is up check the chicken to make sure its cooked through and your ready to assemble your dish!

It’s important to remember that this dish is entirely adaptable. You can change the spices or make sweet potato chips instead of jackets. Please let me know how you get on with this dish and if you have any suggestions for feeding a hungry bunch!