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My Birthday Parties

Since coming to live with my Mum I have started celebrating something she calls birthdays. What this seems to mean is I have an entire day of fuss, treats, and having to put up with her hugging me a lot and telling me how special I am.

I have recently had my eighth birthday party, so I thought I would put up a few pictures of my parties and write a bit about them.

My fifth birthday

I had only lived with mum for four months when I turned five. Because I could still be a little bit naughty about chasing other dogs I didn't actually have a lot of friends, so for my birthday Mum and I had a special trip out on our own. We drove to Southend where we found a beach to go for a walk on. I was very excited because this was my first trip to the beach and being on sand reminded me of my racing days and made me want to run and run.

After a long walk we went off in search of lunch and I got to eat some wonderful new foods like sausage rolls and chips. After lunch Mum insisted we find somewhere that sold something called ice cream (a difficult task on a weekday in February). We finally found a place and Mum bought me something called a soft serve cone. Although I had never had one before I had liked all the other new food that day so when she held it out to me I took a huge bite. I didn't know it was going to be so strange and cold so I stood for a minute and then spat it out on the street. It was a very odd thing but I soon worked out that licking is the best way to tackle ice cream and enjoyed the rest of my treat.

My sixth birthday

By now I was much better behaved and had quite a lot of friends so three other greyhounds (besides me) came to my party. Mum and her friend Auntie Alyson took all of us dogs to Broxbourne woods for a run. Broxbourne is a very exciting place as there are lots of very interesting smells which means we get very excited and run a lot.

Sadly we don't have any photos of this party as Mum forgot her camera!

On the way home from the woods we stopped at McDonalds and all of us dogs had a happy meal. George liked his so much that he carried the empty box round the house for days and liked to sleep with his nose inside it.

My seventh birthday

This year we decided to have my party at Virgina Water, which is another place I love as it has woods to run in, and lakes to swim in. This was my first non-greyhound party as we invited Auntie Caroline and her two lurchers (Jack and Oscar), Auntie Pam and her two Newfoundlands (Beau and Phoebe) and Auntie Sue and her beagle (Ellie) and Labrador (Teasel).

The weather forecast had been predicting heavy snow all week but the day itself was beautiful and sunny. We had a glorious walk and the humans had bought themselves coffee and snacks. Because it was my party I was even allowed to eat something called a doughnut which was rather tasty. We all went swimming, which was funny, as Oscar was still wearing his coat when he went in!

My eighth birthday

Auntie Alyson, with Auntie Caroline looking like she's sucking a lemon. If you'd like a closer look, click on the image!

We invited Auntie Caroline (with Jack and Oscar), Auntie Alyson (with Brandon and Fluke) and Auntie Lorraine (with Sadie) to Trent Park for an afternoon of squirrel chasing and sausage eating this year. Sadly Sadie the greyhound couldn't make it because she had hurt herself the previous week, but all the others came, so including George and Jerry that made a total of eight dogs. The humans moaned a bit about the weather as it did rain the entire afternoon, but us dogs had a wonderful time. We did a lot of running about, and there was even the opportunity for me to indulge in a bit of pointless barking, which is always fun.

Mum had made everyone party bags with nice treats like pigs ears, and she also made me my first ever dog friendly birthday cake (banana and carob flavour) which I thoroughly enjoyed.

My ninth birthday

Once again my party was held at Trent Park this year. Mum had lots of plans about who to ask and fancy invitations, but due to preparations for our move to Switzerland in a few weeks time, it all ended up being a bit last minute. I didn't mind this at all, as when we got to Trent Park Auntie Alyson was already there, and she had bought all five of her dogs. Tegan and Buttons also came so in total there were eight dogs. Sadly George stayed at home, as he had only just had part of his toe amputated.

We all set off on a long walk, and as it was the middle of the week the place was deserted which was probably just as well with so many of us. Jimmy had to stay on a lead, as he hasn't been retired for very long and can still be a bit naughty, but the rest of us had a good run. Mum and Auntie Alyson talked about the time they first met when they only had three dogs between them, and here they were just four years later with nine dogs.

Eventually after we had been walking for some time Mum got her camera out and Auntie Alyson tried to line all of us up to have our picture taken. This is not a very easy thing to do with so many dogs, but I think we managed it in the end.

At the end of the walk there was a bag of treats for everyone and then Mum drove us home, ran into the house to get George and put him in the back with us. She then drove the four of us to McDonalds and we all had a Happy Meal. Mum had a milkshake and as a special treat she let me lick the cup. All in all it was another very good birthday.

The birthday party (from left to right): Tegan, Buttons, Jack, Brandon, Jimmy (lying), Kes, Spot & Fluke.

My tenth birthday

Today the first thing Mum said to me was what a special boy I am. This in itself is nothing amazing, as she actually says this to me every morning. However I knew it was going to be a wonderful day when the first thing she did was feed me a chocolate biscuit. Then 5 minutes later when Dad came downstairs he did the same. I never normally get 2 chocolate biscuits before breakfast.

When we went outside we got to play in the new snow which had fallen overnight, and somehow that always makes you want to run quite fast. As long as I can avoid Tegan (who likes to bounce at me) it is good fun.

So after playing in the snow and eating breakfast (I got an extra portion of sardines) I was so tired I settled down for a nap. Which was exactly the same moment that Mum decided she wanted to come and take pictures of me sleeping - like she doesn't have 100's of those already.

Anyway, she eventually left me in peace (after taking a lot of photos and kissing me on the head more than was really necessary). When I woke up she said it was time for my next treat, which sadly did not turn out to be another chocolate biscuit.

Instead she put Tegan and I into the van and we set off for the woods. The woods are one of my favourite places to walk as there are lots of interesting smells there and today there was snow as well, just like in our garden. That snow sure does get everywhere. I was so happy to be out at the woods in all that snow that I puffed my cheeks and wagged my tail a lot. We had a lovely walk and met several other dogs whom I got to impress with my strutting and fantastic scratching after I peed (note: scratching is particularly effective in snow as it arcs up behind you in a very splendid fashion).

On the way home I went straight to sleep in the back of the car as I was so tired from all the excitement. After a while the car stopped but I knew it wasn't home so I stayed laying down with Tegan. Mum disappeared for a minute, and when she came back she bought the most fantastic smell with her. I immediately got up and pressed myself against the dog guard and started whining. I just knew she had McDonalds in the front, and couldn't understand why she wasn't giving any to me.

When we got home she let George and Buttons out, and then made us all line up for our cheeseburgers. We took them back to our beds and ate them up. All of us except for Buttons that is. It was his first taste of McDonalds, and being slow to catch on he gently took his cheeseburger apart, licked the ketchup off and then shredded the rest into tiny little pieces. I stood by watching the whole event, and once he was done Mum let me come in and eat all the bits. I was very diligent and even tried to lick the cheese off the fluffy vet bed (although I do believe Mum still had to wash it all anyway).

Dinner that night was all of my favourite things, and Mum spent a lot of the evening laying by my bed and stroking my tummy. All in all it was a very fine birthday indeed.

The birthday party (from left to right): Sharon, Jeremy, Buttons, Jack, Tegan & George (and Larissa & Nina the humans).

PS - And as I am such a special boy, Mum said I get to have 2 birthdays just like the Queen (whoever that is). So the following day Mum's friend Larissa bought her daughter Nina and her 2 dogs to meet us at the fields, where we all had a nice walk, and then they all came back to our house for afternoon tea. They bought me 2 whole chickens and a dull thing called a card, but the chickens were fantastic!

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