M.T. Sanders's Blog, page 11

Thank you for the pictures

We were given these lovely pictures on Friday. They are from Tia and Daisy from St Pauls CofE in Wigan. We think they are fabulous, thank you girls.

It's blowing a gale.....beware flying slobber

Walking wiv the heffalump is never a pleasant thing. She's usually trying to wee on me head or dive across me to squash passing small doglets into the pavement. During the walk her drool will grow till it touches the floor. This usually means she gets it on her feet or she shakes which generally wraps it round her own face. Last week was diffyrent though.....the storm force winds meant man nor beast was safe from the spraying slobbernosserus. 50 mile an hour winds took great strands of doofygunk and coated passing seagulls, mini hoomans and old ladies waiting at bus stops. Emergency services were called to release Doris 75 who had just popped out for a loaf but spent two days glued to railings outside the co-op.......Wigwamers can breath easy again the winds have dropped and the hairy hippo will go back to coating herself.....

Our visit to St Paul CofE Wigan

This week we had another fabulous school visit. This was to the wonderful St Pauls C of E in Wigan. From start to finish we had such a lovely welcome by both staff and children and both myself and Monty had a really enjoyable day.We were based in the hall and started with an assembly where the children had lots of opportunity to ask questions and we had some very good ones. As is usual most of them were about the star of the show Monty and the children enjoyed hearing about his naughty puppy days and how the Pandacow story came about.We then followed this by reading the story to the children as they came in, in groups. We had lots of chuckles during the story and then the children had the chance to ask more questions and the main part where they had a chance to come up and give Monty cuddles. We had a few nervous children who said they'd rather not but in the end every one decided they had to come and say hello and as usual Monty was a gentle and very loving antidote for their fear of dogs.We were looked after so well which included a Tuna sandwich at lunchtime from the kitchen which Monty and I shared while books were signed for the children who wanted a copy.A very nice day was had by all and we can't wait to return with Cookie and book 2.....Monty and the Slobbernosserus. Thank you for your hospitality St Pauls.

Our visit to St Oswald's Primary School Wigan

We had a fantastic day yesterday at the very welcoming St Oswald's Primary school in Aston in Makerfield. On arrival we were shown into the hall which was to be our base for the day with the children being brought in, in groups. Each group was given 45 minutes which was plenty of time to let the children ask any questions that they wanted to about Monty or being an author, in fact anything they that they wanted to.We had some great questions and it was lovely to see that they were so interested in books and a lot of compassion was very evident as I read the story. All of the children were certainly on Monty's side at being teased as a Pandacow but...SPOILER ALERT.....enjoyed the happy ending and we had a lot of laughs and excitement.Everyone also got a chance to give Monty a fuss and there was plenty of time to sign and dedicated books for those children that wanted one.A huge thank you to all of the staff for looking after us so well all day even to the point of making the field available for Monty to have a run around during the break. We look forward to returning later in the year with Cookie and our second book in the series.

It's a tough life for me

I always let the heffalump and spangles know how tough it is for me. While they're going on their licckle walks and relaxing at home I'm out working hard wiv dad in the learning zoo's. Take yesterday for instance....I was at St Oswald's learning zoo all day. We were in the hall and the mini hoomans all came in to listen to the story. I had to roll over on me back so they could all give me tummy rubs. At lunch time I went out for a run on the field which was open just for me. Then I went back in and got pieces turkey from the cook and then it was back to more tummy rubs. I finished off with some kisses for the lady learning zoo wardens and then I had to go home for a rest.....Yep it's a tough old life....they don't know they're born them four.

I guess this means I have to go for a walk then?

You know those days when it's raining so hard you can't see out the window? Remember the wind blowing so fierce you could lose a spangle or two? When it was dark till 9 0 clock and the hoomans said....'We'll leave walking today and have a nice quiet day in?'.....those were the days. Well sadly today is not one of those days.....Now where's the best place to hide a hooge white and black newfydoof?

Our visit to St James CofE Primary school

On Thursday we travelled to Wardle near Rochdale for our latest school visit and Monty was certainly excited as he was waiting at the front door from 6.30am. We started with an assembly and this was totally taken up by a question and answer session, with the children coming up with some really great questions.One I've never had before was if I was a dog what type would I be? I had to say Newfoundland really didn't I? I did say I think I'd be like Monty because we're both quite lazy. After the assembly we visited the classes, I read the book and we had more questions. After that it was the most important part for the children, actually coming up and stroking Monty.As always he was amazing and loved all of the attention and I think he gets more relaxed with every school he visits.He is such a character though and will regularly get up mid story and go and 'kiss' all of the children on the front row. You can imagine their reaction and the story is regularly interrupted by squealing and laughing. It was very evident after a short while at the school that a lot of work went into making the learning environment very relaxed and enjoyable and certainly showed in the children.Enjoying books and reading is obviously a big part of the school ethos and after we had signed and dedicated the books we found out that a quarter of the children had bought a book which is pretty amazing.Hopefully meeting Monty will bring the story to life and encourage them to continue their reading outside of school which is certainly the aim of these free sessions for schools.

Poppy and the Furminator

The pleasure that dog owners get from their pets is indisputable and as a nation we spend a huge amount of time and money on our four-legged family members. One of the biggest area that seems a constant battle is grooming and as a five dog household this task is certainly up there as a very important one with us. We do use groomers fairly regularly but cost and time mean that we also have a pretty extensive grooming bag ourselves to keep on top of daily/weekly maintenance.We have been doing some research on the Furminator and after reading quite a few reviews we decided to give it a go with our Cocker Spaniels. We decided to go with the medium short haired tool after reading the usage guidelines on Animed Direct. As always it was very competitively priced and we knew we could rely on the delivery speed after having goods from them many times before.Poppy was the first ‘volunteer’ and we were keen firstly to see if she was bothered at all by using it on her as it obviously contains a blade. We needn’t have worried as she just reacted as if she was being brushed….wriggly and impatient, well she is a spaniel after all.The Furminator claims to reduce shedding by gently removing loose hairs from the undercoat and whilst the reduction of shedding will need longer to verify it certainly did the job of removing hair from underneath the top coat whilst not affecting the look of her.Overall, we were very pleased with the results and we will certainly be adding it to the grooming bag as a regular tool in the maintenance of the spaniels.For more information on the product reviewed here simply visit www.animeddirect.co.uk. Animed Direct are one of the UK’s leading online pet retailers, offering savings of up to 50% on vet priced medication, food, treats and accessories.

Valentine anybody?

Yesterday we had a fantastic time when we took Monty down to the very talented Helen Overmire Dog Photographer. I have been desperate to get Monty booked in with Helen as her photo's are really lovely and we certainly weren't disappointed in the results. What a day it was and love was certainly in the air, there was no way we could ignore the date and so a Valentine theme was a big part of the shoot and I'm sure you'll agree that the results below are pretty special. If you'd like to find out more about Helen and her see examples of her work just click on the link below.https://www.facebook.com/search/top/?q=helen%20overmire-%20dog%20photographer

Cookie goes to Cumbria

On Wednesday we were up in Cumbria at Blackford school. It was a very cold day and we had a 100 mile drive to get there but Cookie was very excited as it was only her second school and we were reading Monty and the Slobbernosserus to the children. Having been to the school previously with Monty last year we knew what a lovely welcome we would get and it was no different this time.It was no surprise to me that Cookie behaved perfectly for the whole visit as she has so much affection for children and is always very calm and gentle around them. The book went down very well with the children with lots of laughter throughout. After the story came their favourite bit when they had the chance to come up and have slobbernosserus cuddles and it was a very enthusiastic end to our visit.A lovely morning at the school was made even more worthwhile when we got some lovely feedback from Melanie the teacher who had organised the visit. Some boys totally independently had decided that evening to write their own stories so inspired were they by meeting Cookie, the star of a real book.I know from talking to many teachers that trying to encourage children to read and write outside school is a real challenge and so it's lovely when you see what a positive impact we have when we visit with Monty and cookie.Our sessions will always be free for schools because it's so important that schools and teachers are supported.....plus it's a lot of fun.