Tagebuch des Hunds Kerry

Hi folks and other dogs reading this blog – Kerry Dog here. I haven’t written for a while because life has been quite exciting. We are now in the hot times (summer time) – and when you are wearing a fur coat like me then you sure can feel it.  More about that later. 

We are living on the floating box and some time ago the moving white box (that I really liked) disappeared and Barbara and Martin kept saying it was sold. No really sure what sold means but I have not ridden in it for quite a while. Pity I liked the moving box and looked for it in all kinds of car parking places.  But I had my bed, my bowl, and my humans – so that was OK. The floating box took us to a raging river and we had to navigate down the river to get where we were going (I was not always sure where that was). At one place (Karlsruhe) Barbara’s pup Tim joined us for a while. He really seemed to like the floating box as we went down the raging river and turned off into another canal or river. Then it began to rain – I complained about the rain then, as it was a wet problem to go out – not anymore. Tim stayed for a while and we moved down the quiet river – he left and more people came including Martin’s grandpup Ayja and another friend Judi (who liked to take me for walks).

We had to stay on the quiet river as everything was flooded. Martin would not let me go near the river as it was flowing so fast I could not swim against it.  I was allowed to walk through the muddy fields – lovely. There were plenty of other dogs to bark at in the little harbour where we were living so I was not bored. We did not moved for a long time then one day we set off again –visiting some small towns along the way. By the time our visitors left we were back on the raging river (Rhine) and moving into a wide waterway with some flat countryside. We were stopped by the police and told there was lots of flooding. We were all wearing our life jackets (mine is the orange coat) and the policeman seemed very interested in my jacket – Barbara told me he thought it was very practical. Eventually we pulled into a place Barbara and Martin called Rudesheim, then Barbara went away for a while leaving me and Martin to cope with some really really hot weather. Martin and I spent a lot of time on the boat in the – he was working and I was sleeping.

 

A few days after Barbara returned to our floating box (she had been to visit my old lady – her mum) we went back onto the raging river. I had to wear my orange jacket (life jacket) all the time as we navigated the raging river and all the big boats travelling up and down. I must say the raging river made me a little nervous especially when I was standing up the front of the floating box watching for monsters. Barbara and Martin thought it was a good idea if I spent the voyage on the raging river in their bedroom, sleeping on their bed. I agreed and was quite happy to comply with their request to stay put in their room.

We stopped at a number of places on the raging river; Martin would take me for a walk somewhere I could go down and paddle in the river. One day we turned off the raging river onto a quiet canal. There were still other boats but we moved much more slowly and Barbara and Martin seemed more relaxed. We stopped in a number of different little places with nice walks, except once when we went to a big city (Hannover). I don’t mind big cities here as I can go anywhere really – department stores, restaurants, buses and trains. Germany is a very dog friendly country J although there are times and places I actually don’t want to go – especially anywhere with a lot of noise (I hate loud noise) and machines like drills and lawnmowers (I want to bite those devils).

 

 

 

We continued along the quiet canal – I am an experienced sailor dog and know when a wave (aka boat wake) is coming towards us. I know enough to run to the back of the boat where it is more stable and I won’t get wet.  Another day a new small floating boat suddenly arrived – this was so Martin could take me ashore – but we did not use it immediately and waited until we got to some lakes.  We had more visitors along the canal  (Anne and Jim) and the weather was getting hotter. My fur coat was also getting hot.  I am not too keen on going for long walks in hot weather. 

Dogs regulate our body temperatures and cool our bodies down in different ways to humans. Firstly and most importantly we pant which makes us very thirsty and stops us from overheating. Dogs will always find shade when it is hot – so if you are looking for shade– follow a dog. We can cool down by making sure our paws are cool so I like to paddle in cool pools or mud. When it got really hot around here Martin threw me into the water – I don’t like swimming but it was nice to feel the cool water on my skin.  You know, some dogs like Labradors and Retreivers even Spaniels really love swimming – but Terriers, well we just don’t like to swim that much – even though, like all dogs, we can do it. But like all dogs I need lots of fresh water when it is hot – panting is hard work.

 

 

Another way to cool me down was to get a haircut because unlike most dogs I do not shed (which makes me very attractive to humans). Unfortunately we could not find a ‘Hondentrimsalon’ that was open – so Barbara and Martin decided to cut my hair themselves. Well – what a business that was. I don’t mind getting a hair cut and am very patient with my humans but they took ages. It was nice to have so much attention but honestly they were not very good at it as there are still some bits that are not cut evenly. Ah well I appreciated the effort as I did feel cooler (MB note: we took about a kilo of hair from Kerry).

 

 

When it got really hot, my humans wrapped me in a cold wet towel, or gave me a cold shower, which did make me feel cooler but not for long. I am also a ‘shade’ hunter – the best places to lie down are under trees, feeling cool grass under my tummy. 

 

Panting is the best way for dogs to cool down (we are built for it).  

Always remember – Don’t leave a dog in a car when it hot and sunny – the dog will be very distressed and could die. This is just a quick training reminder for humans: dogs need lots of shade, fresh air and water when it is hot so leave them outside (on a leash if you must) in the shade with a bowl of water.

Check out the new ‘shaggy dog’ look – LOL

 

 

We are now in lake country where there are lots of boats like our floating box and some like a floating box at home (wherever that was) with big sails and no engines. We will be here for a while so I will let you know how we get on. Pant Pant

Love Kerry.