Blogging Update!

Hello all,

Sorry for the somewhat radio silence! I have unfortunately run out of room to share pictures on this blog and although I researched couldn’t find a way to explains the storage!

I have however created a new platform to blog on and I would love it if you would come and join us on our brand new site!

Www.tobyandamos.com

Thanks for reading! We’ve missed you! ❤️🐾

Walking is good for the Soul 🥾❤️

Walking is our favourite kind of therapy, it lifts my mood so much and if I’m feeling sad or blue a sure fire way to cheer up is by taking a wander in the fresh air!

My adventure days with the boys are my favourite way to spend a day!

Friday we went for a mini adventure to the Roaches for a climb and sniffari!

We headed off early so were very lucky and didn’t see many other people – which is perfect for us!

Amos is becoming a super climber now and is much more confident on uneven ground, he still uses Toby to help him out on some sections but is generally a super climber!

We did 5 or so miles on Friday, but we always love exploring the Roaches as there is so many different smells and the boys even get a chance to paddle which they always love!

On Saturday we joined forces with our fellow mental health awareness compadre Sophie to get back out there in our Papyrus & Calm attire!

After last years #10mountains10months we have been plotting and planning this years challenge, we did our first training walk today to tie in with Mental Health Awareness Week.

We had planned on a 15 mile walk along the Ribble Way, however neither Sophie or I are particularly good at directions (how we didn’t get lost up a mountain or in the wilderness last year is a mystery 🤷🏼‍♀️)

We got lost for some time and just aimlessly wandered around a marsh land, then we decided to follow some other public footpath signs for the Lancashire Way, I don’t think either of us could actually tell you where we walked, we at one point ended up in Chorley – we tracked the route to make sure we hit the magic 15 mile target!

Today’s walk was just with Toby, we aren’t sure that Amos will be doing this years charity challenge as it may be too much/stressful for him so he got to nap the day away whilst we trekked.

Toby deserves his solo time too, he’s so good and helpful with Amos that sometimes it’s nice for him to have a walk where he can just kick back and run, sniff and pee to his hearts content without having to look out for his brother.

Toby was a complete star, that is the longest distance he has covered in a fair while! He has always loved long distances but last year we didn’t get to do as much long distance stuff as we were limited with walking Amos and the climbs we were doing to raise awareness for Charity were less about distance more about height!

We’ve worked Amos up to 10 miles so far so hopefully long distance adventures with both my boys won’t be too far off!

Today Toby was rocking his Ruffdog badges with Lets Talk Prevention, doing his bit for Mental Health & Suicide Prevention Awareness.

We are having a VERY lazy evening watching films and eating snacks, I hope you have had a good week and have done something to improve your mental health xx

P.S there are less pictures in this blog post as apparently I have used all my WordPress storage – hopefully I will fix this before the next blog! 🤷🏼‍♀️

Adventuring to Yorkshire 🥾🐾

Today we have been adventuring to the Yorkshire Dales National Park!

We parked in the Malham National Park Centre (£4.50 for the full day)

You can go into the centre to get information on walks in the area, but knowing that Amos is noise reactive I had picked which route we would be doing before we got there to save having to be around the car park for too long.

Although Malham Cove looks like it would be an amazing adventure I decided against it, with it being half term and nice weather I thought that it may be too busy in that area which would make it much harder for Amos to cope with.

We had decided instead on walking to Janet’s Foss.

It was a lovely little walk in absolutely beautiful countryside!

There were a few gates to navigate but even with the boys in their backpacks we managed them all fairly well! We much prefer negotiating gates than stiles 😂

We would have stopped and taken many more pictures but there were a fair amount of people dotted about so I instead needed to focus on working Amos through the noises and distractions.

Amos was doing amazingly and was dealing really well with the couple of people and dogs that we had passed or that had passed us.

We followed the path to the waterfall and there were a few families dotted about taking photos, so we waited our turn for the photo opportunity!

I was so proud of the boys, although there were people around, both boys stayed really focused on me and what we were working on, I got lots of lovely pictures out of it!

We headed back down the path towards the car park and unfortunately that is where we hit a spanner in the works, in the form of an off lead dog, although both of mine were on the lead a gentleman let his dog run at the boys, that was too much for Amos to handle and he got quite stressed.

After a while I got him calm again but then sadly we came across another dog walker with four dogs, and despite me calling that one of my dogs was blind and wouldn’t cope with unknown dogs running at him he grabbed one dog and let three run at us 🤷🏼‍♀️🙄

I am all for dogs being allowed off lead and having freedom but at least be considerate of other dogs on lead, you don’t know why they may be on a lead so if you’re gonna have a dog off lead have it under control!

Thankfully Amos calmed down once we got back to the car!

We had one last place to visit before we headed home – so off we drove (possibly the most stressful drive of my life on single track roads with crazy inclines and not many passing places!!)

We then arrived at Winskill Stones – we didn’t stop for too long as the wind had picked up and Amos can be a little unsure with the wind.

I’m a big lover of adventures but the dogs comfort and happiness is more important than any adventure.

The boys had an absolute blast and we will definitely be going back to explore it more!

Thanks for reading and we hope you have a lovely weekend and some adventures of your own! 🐾🥾❤️

Adventuring Always 🥾🐾

We’ve had a busy weekend!

The boys and I went to a boundary games workshop on Friday evening, which was really good, both boys had a fabulous time and got to engage their brains at some different training and games.

On Saturday we went exploring in Wales, it was the biggest adventure Amos has ever been on!

The walk we did was 9.5 miles but we ended up doing 12 miles as we kept sneaking off the path for photos or to hide from other walkers.

To confirm I don’t mean actually hide in a creepy manner, I just mean give them a wide berth to make life easier for Amos 🙄😂

Amos is 16 months now and we consulted our vets regarding longer walks before we considered taking him on bigger adventures, after getting the OK from the vets we have gradually increased the distance he covers, but today was his longest walk – Toby and I were very proud Adventure companions – he did great!

We decided to ditch the backpacks for today’s walk as I knew the increase in distance, new place and new smells would be tiring for Amos, even though his back pack doesn’t have much in at present it is still extra weight which he didn’t need today whilst we focused on increasing his distance.

We arrived nice and early, which meant that we had a good hour or so of walking without seeing another soul!

We went the opposite way round the walk than I usually do as I know the stretch back to the car park can be busy so switched it to try and make it easier for Amos!

The boys got to have an early morning paddle and I got to take lots of pretty pictures 😍

It was a beautiful day and the scenery around the lake is gorgeous so it made a change from the usual cold and dreary walks we’ve been on!

We came across a couple of flocks of sheep on route but thankfully when they spotted us the scarpered – I’m not sure what Amos would have made of a sheep, up close and personal/ within good sniffing distance!

The paths for this walk are fairly easy to navigate (another bonus for Amos’ first longer distance walk) there are a few cattle grids but there are gates so you can pass.

It was a little busier than I had anticipated, but I suppose it was the first day of really nice weather and a Saturday 🤷🏼‍♀️

Amos coped really well though, he has a couple of situations where he was reactive, but who can blame him and they are getting much less difficult to manage – which is really rewarding to see.

Toby of course was a dream – he had a whale of a time, being the giant sweetheart he is, when Amos had a little reaction to something he plodded over to him gave him a lick and then carried on his merry way, he’s such a good little big brother ❤️

There is nothing better than exploring with your besties 🥾🐾❤️

We hope you’ve all had a lovely weekend 💚

Love truly is Blind 😍

Bringing home a Rescue Pup with the added hurdle of him being blind.

I have been adding to this post on and off for a year, the photos are a selection of my favourites – hopefully it’s not too disjointed, 💚

We fostered Amos because we fell in love with him and his kind (slightly hooligan like) nature, I was worried about the kind of life he would have due to him being blind and how he would cope in the outside world, ultimately I didn’t want him to have a boring life of being wrapped in cotton wool and not getting to experience adventure, or only being taken on boring walks, because of a bug at the dogs home he was unable to be walked before we fostered him, so he spent 4 months not experiencing any kind of adventures and I didn’t want that to be the rest of his life.

Billy is a sucker for any puppy – so for him and Amos it was love at first sight 😍

Since being with us he is getting much braver in the outside world, walks are still scary but manageable with the support of Toby and the occasional woof at noises he doesn’t like.

He’s mapped the downstairs of our house and can navigate with minimal bumping from room to room. He has also worked out how to get on and off the sofa – but does it with extreme flair and a dramatic twist.

The things we (Human folk) have learnt in the last year:

– If you leave shoes out, they get fallen over, or half eaten chews placed inside them

– Walking in a straight line is for losers

– Bins are scary

– Water bowls spill all by themselves sometimes ….. It’s spooky.

– There is a moat around the sofa that can only be sensed by puppies that can’t see

– Teething puppies are hard work

– Kong / Chew toys are life

– Puppies have hard heads

– Toilet training is a barrel of laughs

– Sometimes beds explode

– Sometimes toys explode

– Sometimes socks make a magical escape attempt from the washing and into the garden

– Being head butted by a big ginger puppy is a painful but regular occurrence

– The garden is a secret treasure trove and although we can see where Amos has hidden his treasure – he cannot so we honour the secret code and pretend we too cannot see the items.

The things Toby has learnt:

– Personal space is a thing of the past

– Puppies are annoying

– Sharing the sofa isn’t as bad as initially assumed

– Puppy teeth are sharp – and not enjoyable when nibbling your leg.

– Amos likes to body bump when walking which is all fun except that he is heavier than me and occasionally sends me flying!

– Puppies are SLOW and walks take FOREVER

– I’m a GOOD BOY & Amos is a GOOD BOY (but not as good as me …..)

– Apparently weeing and pooping outside is a big deal! Humans have a party with pup every time he poops / pees outside

– If I walk really slowly, my tags don’t make noise and the puppy cannot find me or follow me!

– I have to be very LOUD if I want Amos to play with me or he doesn’t get the game

– I like to put my feet/legs in his big staffy mouth (I like to live dangerously what can I say?!)

– Every time Amos gets a treat I get a treat – its very exciting

– I still get to have my one on one time with Momma – Which I LOVE

– Adventures with Amos aren’t as long as I would like but he is a puppy who is still growing so I make allowances

– Adventures without Amos are FUN!

– Amos doesn’t like it when I go off my lead, he can’t find me so I have to stay close to him to make him feel better

– Amos although initially annoying has grown on me and now he’s my best friend (secretly I’m rather fond of him)

What Amos has learnt:

– Food is LIFE

– Walking is a good time to test how nimble your new carers are by rapidly cutting in front of them so they almost fall down!

– Bins smell good but are ultimately scary

– Sitting means FOOD

– Toby is patient with me but gets annoyed when I am being a ‘giddy kipper’

– I am a GOOD BOY

– Food is LIFE

– Bird noises are weird

– Toby does NOT like it when I sit on him – he’s a grumpy old man apparently

– Toby sometimes magically disappears and I try to play with thin air ….

– Motorbikes sounds aren’t nice and scare me

– Food is LIFE

– Sausages are delicious

– Carrots are not

– Food is LIFE

– Training is fun – it means lots of food and fuss

– The garden is a GOOD hiding place, sometimes I hide half a turkey leg or beef pipe out there and no one can ever find it, I also store the socks I have rescued and some of Toby’s toys out there

– Pate is delicious, especially when smothered on my Licki Mat

– Bicycles are the root of all EVIL – they make an unnatural noise that I just cannot get on board with

– Humans aren’t a fan of being head-butted too often

– Toby is my best friend

– Food is LIFE

Life post Amos – 5 months later

We are still learning – every day literally is a school day!

Amos has grown (A LOT) in the time we have had him not only in height and weight but in confidence and bravery.

He has GREAT days and he has bad days, we just accept the bad days, its hard being a puppy, its even harder being a blind puppy.

Amos has grown in confidence but that sometimes means that his reactions to things he isn’t sure of can be loud and dramatic – he’s still learning and is slowly but surely getting there.

He is such a happy dog, he is always really eager to please and has made the connection between humans and an endless supply of food and cuddles.

He completely rocked puppy class and was an actual star! He has now also completed his Bronze Kennel Club Citizen classes and passed the assessment and moved through to the next class.

He has experienced so much in the time he has been with us:

– He’s learnt all about walking in the hills and climbing up rocky paths using Toby’s tail as a navigational tool

– He has learnt that a car journey usually means he is going some where fun

– He has (sort of) learnt to play Frisbee with Toby – he never wins and Toby always beats him to the Frisbee

– Been on a boat (was also Toby’s first experience in a boat – they acted as moral support for one another)

– Had his first off-lead experience in a big field – it was a blast! He rolled in bird poop and ran in circles and wrestled to his hearts content with Toby.

– First ever bath (he STANK)

– First Test (Bronze Kennel Club Good Citizen)

– First Holiday (http://norfolkbythesea.com/index.html)

– Tried lots of weird and wacky food – his favourite of which is Chicken Hearts, Lamb Ribs, Beef Pipes and Turkey Legs

– Had a bi-lateral enucleation

– Looked like a horror movie extra for a few weeks

– Eaten a few beds / magically exploded a few beds

– Likes to bite big circular holes into each corner of his blankets

– First trip to Snowdonia National Park

– Visited the lovely folk at PAPYRUS office so he could become an unofficial mascot with Toby (https://papyrus-uk.org/)

– Accompanied Toby to the Theatre, met the cast of Beauty and the Beast at the Brindley Theatre and experienced a little segment of stage life!

– Developed a deep love for Hairy Cows Ears

– Developed a deep hatred for actual Cows

Toby has dealt with the giant ginger disruption to his life so much better than we anticipated – he has taken Amos under his wing and when we go somewhere new always helps Amos locate the water bowl (as he did when Amos first came home with us)

Toby is enjoying his role as little big brother, he also enjoys the occasions of peace and quiet when Amos is sleeping or he is having time alone with me or Billy.

Life post Amos – 11 Months Later:

Life in the Wonder Dog household is now in our new reality.

We are STILL learning, seriously – EVERYDAY is a school day.

The boys have the ultimate bro-mance on the go, Toby seems to have worked out that Amos is a fantastic snuggle buddy/ hot water bottle, so is more than happy to spend his evenings curled up with his big ginger spoon on the Sofa.

Toby has been amazing at adapting and getting used to Amos living with us, for a dog who was never snuggly with other dogs and always liked his own space to how he and Amos interact is just heart-warming.

They have their own way of communicating with each other, obviously Amos cannot read Body Language so he and Toby make lots of noises etc. to interact and play with one another.

Amos is currently working towards his Gold Kennel Club Good Citizen, he has done his Silver Classes and will eventually be taking the test.

Today is our Ginger Hurricane anniversary, its mad to think that we have had Amos in our lives for a year!

It has been a challenging year for all of us, make no mistake but I can honestly say that we wouldn’t change it ❤️