MURPHY.AND FRIENDS.

Murphy is here for his holidays while his Mom and Dad are on holiday in Egypt. He likes coming to visit as his friends Polly and Barney live here and Lily pops round to see him quite frequently.  Polly is his oldest friend, they were puppies together, Polly being a year old when Murphy came along and they have always got along wonderfully well, never a cross word between them, and considering Polly is now 12 years old and Murphy 11 that is not bad going. Barney gets slightly jealous, especially when Murphy wants to play a pull game with his Dad, not that there is any unpleasantness or anything, Barney just goes off in a huff and lies in the corner! His face is a picture sometimes! They are good friends and again, never a cross word between them. They all stand side by side in the kitchen eating dinner and none of them try to pinch the others meal, or growl or anything like that. They just get on with the serious business of eating and try to make sure there is none left in the bowl! If there are a few biscuits left in the bowl by Barney or Polly you can be sure that Murphy will kindly finish them off for them, not that they mind, they have usually left the kitchen by that point and Murphy hoovers up the remainder! I`m sure he thinks it is a doggie buffet! At the moment they are all fast asleep, Barney on one sofa, Polly on the other sofa, head on cushion (she likes her comfort) and Murphy on the floor by my feet just so he can make sure I cannot get up! He likes to position himself across your feet so that you are quite unable to move, on a cold day its quite nice as he keeps your feet warm with all that fur but when you need to answer the phone or rush to the toilet it can be a bit restricting and you have to be careful not to trip over him! Its really funny how he can be fast asleep but if you start eating a bag of crisps or a biscuit he is instantly awake and alert, watching you with those beautiful big brown eyes which say "I`m really really hungry" even though you know full well that he has only just had a doggie treat! You have to be careful what clothes you wear when Murphy is around, today my trousers are made of the kind of material his hairs don`t stick to which is fine, but to wear black trousers when Murphy is in the vicinity can be a mistake! You look down and you will be covered in blonde dog hairs hence the expression "oh, I`ve been Murphied"!! We keep a sticky clothes roller thing to deal with such an eventuality but I have been known to resort to selotape wrapped around my hand when we ran out of refills for our clothes roller and even, in the past, have tried to hoover my own clothing! All the dogs like a treat and they are very good, when I get a few biscuits or treat sticks out they will line up and sit in an eager line waiting their turn for their treat. Polly first ofcourse, as top dog and oldest, then Murphy (watch your fingers, he gets rather eager and won`t mean to but can grab your fingers along with the biscuit. I know, its happened to me and can be quite painful! Not that he means to do it, he just wants to eat!) Barney comes next and last but not least tiny Lily. They look so comical, sitting in a row, waiting their turn. Barney and Lily will give you a high 5 before being handed their biscuit but Polly could well fall over if she tried to lift her leg off the floor and Murphy has enough trouble sometimes just getting his bulk up, without having to lift his leg off the floor and high 5 you to get a biscuit! They are very sweet though, sitting side by side, waiting eagerly for their treat. They all like a walk, and get very excited when the leads are shook meaning that a walk is imminent, Murphy sometimes struggles to get himself up as he is such a big lad and he has arthritis but when a walk is on the cards its surprising how fast he can move! Its quite a treat to watch Gray being dragged up the street by three and sometimes 4 dogs! When all four are here he has started taking them in relay, the older two go together for a walk at a more leisurely pace then they come back for a long drink of water and a rest while the other two go off barking, excited to be going on an adventure! If the weather is dry they will all go to the woods at the back of our house to run around and play, Barney goes out of the front door with his ball in his mouth, ready for a game. He carries the ball all the way round bless him. Murphy is quite at home with us, he has been here enough times to be settled and happy and he certainly seems relaxed at the moment, lying across my feet! Excuse me Murphy, I want to get up now! x