Dogs Today.......

A big thank you to Dogs Today magazine for including my jolly birthday card https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/785668441/english-bull-terrier-birthday-cake-card?ref=shop_home_active_10&frs=1in their September edition "Dog Crush" which focused on the English Bull Terrier. 

Nice to be in such good company. 

 

Ta-Da!

 Look what showed up while I was watching the telly. I don't know what we are celebrating!

That sinking feeling........

when it's still only August but you suddenly realize that Christmas is just around the corner!

Parlour games....

Lockdown has been quite trying but at least we have entertainment at the flick of a switch.
Spare a thought for the Victorian dog pictured above. On those long winter evenings when everyone tiring of charades and chase the feather, turned their attention towards the family pet (above) transformed into a demon dog with careful use of bandoline, paint and a few wafers...........
A bull terrier shouldn't stand for it!
Card is from my other shop on Etsy, the Hanky Heiress which is sometimes but not always dog free.
https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/271449659/demon-dog-blank-greeting-card-lockdown?ref=shop_home_active_26&frs=1

a quick pick me up.......

A terrier with balloons never fails to cheer........

Inspired by a true story...........

A sketch in progress on a cheese theme (popular with the canine classes). I had a dog who knew when we were merely considering eating some cheese and nowhere near the kitchen..........

Harmless entertainment......

I have posted this link to the Nobel Prize Pavlov's Dog game  before  - https://educationalgames.nobelprize.org/educational/medicine/pavlov/pavlov.htmlhttps://educationalgames.nobelprize.org/educational/medicine/pavlov/pavlov.html
but it is still very amusing and a useful entertainment which never fails to keep me amused. Ideal for these troubled times. It may not even be a bull terrier, (but I think it is........)

From a terrier's perspective......

Looking for entertainment, I have chanced upon more Bull terriers in the public eye. The British Film Institute ( https://player.bfi.org.uk/) has an impressive collection of archive film as you might expect. Log in for free, go to collections and under the heading Cats V Dogs is a charming 1943 government film encouraging people to stub out their cigarettes properly featuring a bull terrier............

More capers in the park from the Terriers' Club......... shop has now reopened for business in the UK only thanks to the wonders of online postage!

Meanwhile in the park.........

Lockdown has meant that I have had to temporarily close my Etsy shop. Apologies to all customers past and present. I will reopen when I can get supplies with greater certainty and it is safe to resume. 
The plus side is that I have more time to draw. I will publish my scribblings on this blog, with a view to turning them into cards for the shop when I reopen.

Meanwhile, the dogs here in Cowes, Isle of Wight are oblivious to lockdown. I've never lived anywhere with so many happy dogs, having fun in the park or on the seafront.
Here's a couple of bull terriers in convivial mode.......

the literary dog.......

Now that we have time to concentrate on the things that normally go by the wayside, it is a pleasure to catch up on reading and even better to chance upon a literary bull terrier when you least expect it. 
I was reading Angela Carter's (feminist author and writer of Magic Realism) "The Magic Toyshop" when my favourite dog unexpectedly marched into the plot as the family guard dog, loyal friend and a dog of independent spirit.
She evidently knew the breed well......


“It was a portrait of the white bull terrier, executed with incredible precision, Every white hair seemed visible on the pink painted skin, as if brushed in separately, and you would see the grainy texture of the nose. The bull terrier sat squatly full-face on a spiky tuft of grass. It had a wicker, flower-girl basket of pinks and daisies in its mouth. Drops of dew trembled on the flowers. The dog’s eyes glittered unnaturally because they were made of pieces of coloured glass stuck onto the canvas.
Behind him was a rocky shore and a sea with many white-capped rollers in parallel lines, under an ominous, bruise-coloured, storm-laden sky with a streaky, orange sunset.
The dog commanded the entire room. There was something official about it, as if it were a guard-dog or sentinel on the constant qui vive behind its glass eyes taking turn and turn about with the real house -dog, and the basket of flowers was stuck in its mouth with an intent to disarm, an accessory borrowed to lend it a harmless look. There was no sign of the real dog but for a baking dish full of fresh water on the floor by the sink. He was evidently off-duty.”
Angela Carter “The Magic Toyshop”.