Join Us On Facebook

We're finally on Facebook! Please like our page and engage with us; we can't wait to discover all of our blogging pals' pages, too! Does your blog have a Facebook page? If so, we'd love to 'like' you!

Join us on FB HERE!

We're joining our hosts, BlogPaws, in the Wordless Wednesday Blog Hop. We send many thanks their way, and you can join in below.

Faithfully Yours By Peggy Frezon - Blog Book Tour

Hi all! Now, many of you will know Peggy Frezon from The Writer's Dog blog - yes? Well, her brand new book, Faithfully Yours, is almost here! Her new book is a book of delightful true stories about cats, dogs, horses, birds, cows, bunnies... all the ways animals love us, and about the amazing people who work so hard to rescue and protect them.

This book sounds absolutely delightful, showing the amazing bond we humans can form with our animals, from our loyal dogs to birds and cows! Labelled as 'blissfully engaging and full of love', I couldn't agree more!

We recommend you have a read of this beautiful book by a fellow blogger here in BlogVille! And if you've read it/do read it, I'm sure Peggy would be more than grateful for some heartfelt feedback!

We're delighted to have been asked to join the Faithfully Yours Blog Book Tour!

Here is the full list of other participants in this blog tour in UK dates:

Tues 29/9 - Earl's World!

Wed 30/9 - Cindy Lu's Muse

Thurs 1/10 - Melissa's Mochas, Mysteries and Meows

Fri 2/10 - Pet Product Review

Sat 3/10 - Talent Hounds

Sun 4/10 - The Writer's Dog

Mon 5/10 - Pooch Smooches

Tues 6/10 - Heart Like A Dog

Wed 7/10 - Champion Of My Heart

Thurs 8/10 - Joyful Paws and Talking Dogs

Fri 9/10 - Fire Safety Rocks and Five Sibes

P.S. If you comment on one of these blogs, you'll be entered into a contest to win one free copy of this book! If you comment on all 14 blogs, you'll be given 14 entires into the giveaway!

Pulling Through The Tough Times

You all know how generally successful Earl and I are in competition. Well, yes, we do have amazing days, with wins, and placings, and some brilliant runs... but we also go through some really tough times, too. As much as we don't like these times, it's all part of choosing to compete. If we weren't prepared to go through these times, we wouldn't have been so sure about competing.

And Saturday's agility competition was one of those days for us. A tough day with frustrations, thoughts of failure and crushed dreams, and a general lack of confidence on my part. Earl wasn't running at his best, and it was probably because I haven't been feeling on top of my game either, recently. We were struggling to pick up speed, and were gaining time faults on some runs. One run was 0.09 seconds out (really?) and another 0.3 seconds. It was angering. And it didn't feel quite like it normally does. And although we did come 4th in our first run of the day, I knew it wasn't our best. It wasn't a bad run, but it wasn't our best. Then we dropped speed again in our middle two runs. It was really down heartening.

Luckily, on our last run of the day, where I'd had some time to calm down and rethink a little (and had some fun camera lessons with a skilled friend of mine), we did a nice agility run. He really sped up, and although we still incurred a measly and pointless 0.3 seconds time faults, we gained a placed 3rd. I could breathe a general sigh of relief. There was still hope!

And, looking back on the entire day, there ARE good points to take away from our experience. Earl had some lovely, speedy and accurate contacts, even if it did take him a while to gain jumping speed. And although we had some annoying runs, we pulled it out of the bag and got placed on our last run. He had some bouncy weaves, which were a pleasure to see. We're always learning, and growing as a competitive duo.

Earl and I always pull through.

And we won't give up, we'll keep going. We'll keep striving, dreaming, and loving what we do. Because we do. It's out thing, and we're good. We have what it takes; we've already proved ourselves. Because something always comes out of what we do, even on a day like this. I'll keep learning, and running, and going for the win. We have ups and downs; we're only human and dog. And we make a brilliant team.

We also had Ethel officially measured for competition; she's 'SMALL small', according to the measurer! Exciting times lay ahead! She's almost ready to GO GO GO!

Only one more competition of only watching for Ethel!

We're joining our hosts Snoopy's Dogblog, Alfie's Blog and My Brown Newfies in the Monday Mischief Blog Hop. We send many thanks their way, and you can join in below.

Be Yourself

Earl

We're joining our hosts, The Cat On My Head, in the Sunday Selfies Blog Hop. We send many thanks their way, and you can join in below.

SS - Uh Oh...

Ethel says: "She has the Gencon, doesn't she? It goes round my nose!"

We're delighted to be cohosting the Sepia Saturday Blog Hop alongside Ruckus The Eskie! We send many thanks to our fellow host, and you can join in below.

Have Fun Keep Fit Series #3

Happy Friday, and welcome to number 3 in our Have Fun Keep Fit Series here at Earl's World! Today, we'll be showing you another awesome duo exercise performed by my amazing pair themselves. This one is sure to be a favourite!

3. Come on and Join The Conga! - This isn't a hard exercise to teach, however does require a lot of patience on both the dogs' parts. Both dogs will need to know how to put their paws up onto something, and hold this position. Both dogs, of course, must be confident doing this. This is all you will need to teach your dogs. Now, ask one of your dogs to put his/her paws onto a tall object, and then ask your other dog to put his/her paws onto your first dog. This will give your dogs not only a serious patience workout, but will also able them to stretch their entire bodies and balance on their hind legs, whilst putting enough pressure onto the surface with their front paws to ensure that they don't fall down.

*Ensure you never overdo your dogs, and if either/any of them begin showing signs of discomfort and/or pain and unhappiness, stop immediately.

We're joining our hosts SlimDoggy, To Dog With Love and My GBGV Life in the FitDog Friday Blog Hop. We send many thanks their way, and you can join in below.

5 Ways To Show Your Dog You Love Them

We share our lives with our dogs, and they have adapted to living domestically to suit us. They are loyal, loving, and always by our sides, learning amazing commands and showing incredible intelligence. We owe them our own lives, they are such brilliant companions. So here, we have 5 ways to show your dog you love them. Simples!

1. Spend regular time cuddling your dog. It sounds simple, and yes, it may be, but this quality time is good for your bond. Give him/her a belly rub and scratch him in all of his favourite places; you'll both feel more relaxed and in sync with each other.

2. Listen to your dog. Is he trying to tell you something? Show you something? Does he want a cuddle or his meal? Learn to read your dog by listening to him. It'll strengthen the bond between you, whilst making you both a lot happier.

3. Learn alongside your dog. Link hand in paw through the tough and good times. Teach him new commands and exercises, and never scold him for making a mistake; it isn't like you've never made one yourself before. You're only dog and human.

4. Observe your dog, and learn what he loves doing. Do more of this, and make him enjoy a seriously blissful time, all the time. Put time aside to sit and watch your dog running, curling up and sleeping, and chasing birds. Spoil him to new things that make him happy.

5. Talk to your dog and tell him you love him. This may sound silly, but many people talk to their dogs. Speak to him as if he was a fellow human being who could respond; but the nice thing is, he can't judge you, never would, and never, ever will. Dog are amazing listeners.

Enjoy your dog, and love your bond. Always.

We're joining our hosts 2 Brown Dawgs and Heart Like A Dog in the Thursday Barks And Bytes Blog Hop. We send many thanks their way, and you can join in below.

My Dynamic Duo

These dogs! I just adore them!

We're joining our hosts, BlogPaws, in the Wordless Wednesday Blog Hop! We send many thanks their way, and you can join in below.

A Wasp Granted Her Gravy Bones

Odd title, eh? Well, not when you hear about poor Ethel!

For a while now, Ethel has been incredibly interested in the comings and goings of our painful friends, the wasps; especially when they make their way into our house (argh). For months, she's been googling at them, buzzing around, head butting our living room window, unable to make an escape. Oh, and... hoping to get a bite. Ouch.

Well, as hard as we tried to halt her dangerous behaviour, it came to no avail. Because only a couple of evenings ago, following a long day at work and school, Ethel was stung. On her bottom lip. By a wasp. And it lived through loosing its sting. Once I'd located the wasp sting lodged into her bottom lip, making her feel wobbly and uneasy with an incredibly rapid heartbeat, we found the culprit wasp. For evidence, we scooped the wasp into a jar, and rushed Ethel up to the vets.

And yes, the vets did manage to pull the sting out of Ethel's bottom lip, and prescribed her with some antihistamines just in case. However, when we first arrived at the vets, I was a little worried as to how any vet could calm my crazy girl down. She was going BONKERS to be there. But no, they managed to calm her down, miraculously... She recovered well, and, luckily, didn't have any funny reactions.

Oh, and guess what else?!

THE VET GAVE HER GRAVY BONES!

We're joining our hosts Snoopy's Dogblog, Alfie's Blog and My Brown Newfies in the Monday Mischief Blog Hop. We send many thanks their way, and you can join in below.

Sibling Selfie

I, for one, think Earl did a great job of bustling his bouncy little sister into this sibling selfie!

Who agrees? Paws up!

We're joining The Cat On My Head in the Sunday Selfies Blog Hop! We send many thanks their way, and you can join in below.

SS - Think Fast

No time to stand around!

Earl

Sometimes, you've just to to go for it and make that catch!

We're delighted to be cohosting the Sepia Saturday Blog Hop alongside Ruckus The Eskie! We send many thanks to our fellow host, and you can join in below.

Have Fun Keep Fit Series #2

Hello, and welcome to number 2 in our Keep Fit Have Fun series here at Earl's World! Today, we'll be showing you another impressive doubles trick by my dynamic duo themselves!

2. Double Decker Dog! - For this easy-to-teach exercise, one dog must know know to stand and stay, while the other must know how to go down. You will need to teach your smaller dog to crawl underneath your larger dog, and remain in this position. By crawling underneath your larger dog, this will ignite muscles in your dog's core that he/she may not normally use.* This exercise will also help brush up on your larger dog's ability to stand and stay, plus the feeling of your smaller dog pushing through.* An adorable, impressive exercise for your pooches!

*Ensure you never overdo your dogs, and if either/any of them begin showing signs of discomfort and/or pain and unhappiness, stop immediately.

We're joining our hosts SlimDoggy, To Dog With Love and My GBGV Life in the FitDog Friday Blog Hop! We send many thanks their way, and you can join in below.

Durafoam Dog Disc Won

Earl recently won a photo competition, run by Tuffdogs Stuff, to win an awesome Durafoam Dog Disc! The disc provides both fun and exercise, while being lovely on the dogs jaws as he carries it in his mouth. It is a pleasure to throw, as well, and glides fantastically through the air.

He loves it so much...

Earl going for the catch!

Both him and Ethel love chasing their new disc!

Earl was incredibly generous, sharing it with Ethel!

We love this fun disc!

Earl says peepo!

We send many thanks to Tuffdogs Stuff and their judge for the September photo competition, who chose this hilarious snapshot I took of Earl to win the funny faces competition! He is now incredibly proud to have his gorgeous little face pinned onto the Photo Competition Winners page on the TDS official website!

Earl's winning funny face photo!

You can find Tuffdogs Stuff on Facebook, too.

We're joining our hosts Ruckus The Eskie, Love Is Being Owned By A Husky! and Barking From The Bayou in the Thoughtless Thursday Blog Hop. We send many thanks their way, and you can join in below.