Life through a lens - Surprise Sunday, Dash

Dash

Back in 2007 my parents went on their yearly summer holiday to the farm house that's been in our family for generations in Southern Ireland. Little did they know that on their return they'd have a new family member with them. That little family member was Poppy a cute adorable cross breed Border Collie/Springer Spaniel. She'd been one of a litter of three and the farmer who owned her Mum didn't need anymore mouths to feed. My parents were badgered by my sisters Els and Frankie, my brother Joe and even Els' boyfriend Stu... and that's how Poppy became a new family member.

Now flash forward a year (2008) and my parents are getting ready to embark on the Summer family holiday. I was talking to my Mum on the phone and we were joking about stuff. It was coming up to my birthday so I said to her "Bring me a puppy back as a present Mum.". Yeah I totally learned that year not to have a joke with my Mum. lol

Dash the first day I got him. How cute?!?

Even though we've had many a sleepless night with Dash keeping us up barking, we've had to completely re-do our garden, have spent a fortune on flea treatment and worming tablets, gotten bruises on my hands from walking him, had the paint and wood chewed away on our kitchen and back door to name a few things (Yeah Marley the worst dog in the world is a saint compared to Dash!!) that little bundle that fitted into a flower pot when given to me as a birthday present has grown not just in size but in the place he has in our hearts. Daz spoils him rotten (he even sings to the dog!!!), Callum has adventures with Dash his Trusty Steed and I... well I have company during the day. Now we have a new family member due in just a few months and I'm intrigued to see how Dash handles having a baby in the house, I'm thinking the crying will drive him mad and the dirty nappies will be his favourite thing.

Callum and Dash playing with toy cars, I can't believe how small Dash was once.

Awwww, having a little snooze together. Of course now the two of them run around like crazy and don't snooze together.

Dash and I Summer 2008

One of my all time favourite photos of Callum and Dash, the dog loves the snow and snowball fights!

Yes the dog was daft enough to jump up on our windowsill and not be able to get himself down.

I was met one morning with Callum yelling for me to come help Dash. "Mummy Dash has got stuck and can't get down. He needs your help." I didn't expect this scene to greet me. Every day we have to check that our garden chairs are folded up or leaning against a wall. Why? Dash loves nothing more to sit on the chairs or if he can get to it the patio table and survey the land around him, typical sheep dog! lol. Oh he also doesn't realise that when Callum watches 101 Dalmatians the dogs are on the T.V. ... Dash is convinced that the garden has been invaded by a million and one dogs and he needs to go and play with them, which when Callum watches 101 Dalmatians two to three times in a row does become a little tiring.

Why did we give Dash the name we did? Well Daz and I can't agree on this. I know that my reasoning was because he had this dash of white on top of his head (which you can see in some of the photos), sadly that white has slowly disappeared and now everyone thinks we called him Dash because he ... well... he dashes everyone. Anyway Dash seems a suitable name for him and in a way he is a joy in our lives... just not at 3am when barking at something invisible.

Anyway I'll leave you with (hopefully) a litle slideshow of some of my flickr photos of Dash.