Lap poodle

I wonder how many people in the world have managed to fix up a bit of blog software with a poodle on their lap? I’m thinking I might be one of the very few. Terriers and Westies don’t count. It has to be a poodle.

Today I set upon the mammoth task of fixing up the blog. Of course, it wasn’t as simple as that may sound. This was pretty much what I looked like for most of the time.

Grrrrr!

The problem wasn’t just the blog software, of course. First I had to upgrade to the latest version of WordPress. In order to do that, I had to find a piece of ftp software that worked (FileZilla, my preferred ftp, stops working every time I upgrade it and, the last time, refused to do anything meaningful). Having achieved that, I then had to work out why it couldn’t login to the server. That took a while and involved an online chat with my hosts technical whiz, Marvin as well as a bit of hair pulling.

Having found and installed the ftp software and managing to get it to work, I then upgraded the blog software. This always takes an age and is rather involved. There is always the fear that I will suddenly lose everything – every word, every image. It’s never happened to me but it doesn’t stop me expecting it to.

Then, of course, I tried to upload an image. No joy. I tried lots of things and none of them worked. Then I found a very handy little tip online. It was so simple, it was perfect. And it worked. So now, finally, I can upload photos the proper (and easy) way.

While that took me most of the day, there was time to take the puppies up to the park – the day was glorious.

We had a very funny meeting with a chihuahua who was very taken with Day-z. He was so small that she didn’t see him at first. His cold nose on her butt alerted her. She span around, looking for whatever had poked her. She still couldn’t see him. It’s like that old sight gag where the very short person knocks at the door and the tall person opens it, looks out and closes it again.

Then, of course, Emma noticed the minute canine and decided to have a play. Luckily I grabbed Day-z before she could eat the chihuahua.

I don’t think I’ve seen another dog run away from Emma before. She usually turns tail and runs away before any other dog has a chance to decide what to do. Not so with this little dog (when I say ‘little’ I mean this dog could have fitted in my pocket…along with my phone). He took one look at Emma and fled back to his owners. They thought it was very funny, saying he’s usually quite brave for such a small fellow.

“Small?” I replied, “At first I thought he was field mouse.”

I didn’t actually say that but I certainly thought it quite loudly.

Anyway, it was very funny and gave Emma an unnecessary air of superiority all the way home.

Speaking of dogs, yesterday when we were at the vets (for Day-z and her pesky eyes and ear) I spoke to a woman who had a chocolate miniature poodle. He looked exactly like Day-z after a proper haircut (rather than a Gaz Hack) and was very dignified.

Spotting Day-z, the woman decided to compare notes with me. We both agreed that poodles are amazingly intelligent. She also has a Rhodesian Ridgeback who, while she loves him to bits, is really very stupid. Apparently, he is so stupid he can’t figure out how to open an ajar door with his nose. When faced with this difficult situation, he will always go over to the poodle and ask for his help.

The poodle raises his eyes to the heavens and goes and opens the door for him.

When I told Mirinda that story she said it actually showed how intelligent the Ridgeback is because he knew where to go for the answer to his problem. She could be right.