Friday 5 August 2011

The horti-canis (garden dog)

I've been asked about the 'horti-canis' in my life - here is the little mischievous garden dog in our little life. Peedie as some of you may be aware is a cairn terrier, a very muddy looking version, if you like, of those white, very clean looking 'westies' or west highland terriers. However, cairns are a very ancient scottish highalnd breed used to chase haggis, um I mean rodents, or maybe both, one of the first ever working dogs. I think if you crossed a terrier with a haggis or a tortioseshell cat, you'd get our dog.
Peedie enjoys drinking out of anything, the more disgusting the better. He enjoys gardening very much, is excellent at removing willow cuttings or shrubs minutes after you've planted them, watering several plants a day, but his favourite pursuit being digging in raised beds, just for fun and sitting in them after he's dug them up. Peedie it would seem has not read manuals on gardening that bestow the delights of raised beds as a way of managing pets and children in a vegetable garden. He's of the opinion that you have made him a mound of earth on which to perch, watch the world go by and spy on birds who may wish to rob the homestead at any opportunity. Pesky garden dog!
This dog, is fair to be said, very fond of the odd adventure down the beach and eats abundantly, often feasting on scarves, hats, gloves and sand, even more often, things we just don't want to talk about in polite company. He's Peedie and he's disgusting, but quite cute!
Looks innocent enough doesn't he? Don't be fooled, every footstep, every move is thoughtfully planned out by this super intelligent pedigree (he's even got papers and everything, and a posh name) canine.
His favourite flowers are daisies, he's very fond of sleeping late, trying to give you his bone when you're *just* about to fall asleep, chasing birds, eating chicken food, warning rats of any danger they may face from humans (he has not read the blurb on how he's an effective ratter by nature, with 'superior ratting instincts', um no, he's not what you'd call very sleathy at all. He's very fond of food, doesn't care about his 'squareness' of body shape, he is fond of eating picnics straight from the basket, sandwiches straight from your bag and won't thank you for sharing! That being said, he's great company whether in the garden, on the beach or even when he's dug himself into the chicken run again or followed the chickens, just to inspect their food!

That's our little 'horti-canis' - who's the pesky non-human companion in your life?
Peedie and Fay, doon the beach at home.


15 comments:

  1. Those last two pictures are priceless. As is your canine portrait. Peedie sounds like someone I'd like to get to know!

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  2. The horti-canis in our life is at the opposite end of the canine spectrum. He is 180lb Irish Wolfhound! He is very good at supervising the watering of the gardens and tasting samples of produce as they are offered to him. Thank God he is not one for digging! My gardens wouldn't stand a chance! If "Peedie" means small, what is the Scottish/Orkney word for "giant"?
    Lisa in Maine

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  3. My Father has always had Cairns and swears they are the best dogs. Your Peedie looks lovely and sounds much like my Dad always says - they are super intelligent and have oodles of character!

    Me - I have a Rottweiler (all 65kgs of dog) and he's a real babe! I love him to bits and his "gardening style" is very much like Peedies!!

    And our Canine companions a blessing?

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  4. We don't have a non-human companion here - pesky or otherwise! Do think often about peedie though, how adorable! :) xx

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  5. Here we have the battle of who gets the chair by the fire this evening? I won the chair, Chocolat is letting me share the footstool ;~)

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  6. Your Peedie is very cute and he does look like he has a bit of a gleam in his eye. We have a black labrador and he has been a wonderful companion although when he was little he was hard work. He is constantly hungry and has been known to be a bit devious in trying to convince us that really no-one has fed him in the last few hours when in actual fact he has just been given his dinner by someone else. Also has been known to give deep sighs for no apparent reason.

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  7. Max the grimy Westie sends your Peedie his best wag! LOVE the photos. Max adores the beach, such great dog places. He has also never met a dog he didn't like so really it's too bad they can't go dig up some stuff together... Great post!

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  8. He is so darn cute. But I'm wondering, can you post some pics of your chicken coop, you do have one right. I'm wanting to build and need easy ideas.

    And I wanna return to the Orkneys. was in Kirkwall, Shapinsay and over to St Margaret's Hope. Went to Maes Howe and the Ring of Brodgar. Have a friend in Dundee who spent her childhood summers in the Kirkwall area so we went together. Love the place. Could live there even with the weather. (I think!)

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  9. Why do anything as conventional as chase the rats you were bred to terrorise when you have plants to dig up?! At least he likes daisies...

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  10. What a cutie! Love that pic of him running through the daisies.

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  11. Moo is my constant companion and soulmate. He is a 10 stone Blue Great Dane whose pedigree name is "Licensed to Thrill" and he certainly does that. His best feature is the stealth mode. This he employs to gain access to the places he is not allowed (usually the bedroom) by doing the perfect impression of a Royal Marine Commando on manouveure in a war zone. You know the drill, lie on stomach and drag yourself along on elbows so that the enemy is unaware of approaching threat.

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  12. What alot of lovely companions for peedie, I forgot to add the bed-head shot of him, we see, every day!!

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  13. Paula I have a fenced off area for the summer hen enclosure, in the winter they are in a byre. The fenced area is about 4m x 6m, recycled fence posts, chicken wire and a pallet for a gate, it's not posh but it works. We've a few peedie chicken houses, a recycled meat store, a small recycled rabbit house and a couple old drawers as nesting boxes.

    I'll try and do some photos. In the winter they roam about, this summer, I've let them roam out and about for about obcev day, but last year they didn't and they didn't mind......

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  14. Lovely dog stories on here, what characters!!

    And lovely non animal comments too.

    Never thought I'd own a dog, never mind talk to him, funny how life turns out.......

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  15. Oh he's lovely! When I was little, one of my best friends had a cairn terrier, called Toby - one night we were camping out in her garden, telling each other ghost stories, peeking out at the stars talking about how they were alien spaceships really... next thing the silhouette of a huge big hairy creature appears on the door of the tent.. there's a bright light outside... eek the aliens have landed.... should we look? Eventually we summoned all our bravery, unzipped the door of the tent just a tiny bit, and peered out.. and there was Toby, beautifully backlit by the security light, looking curiously at this canvas thing that had appeared in his garden :-)

    My non-human companion is a cat who we've recently discovered is a great mouse catcher. But mostly likes being carried around with her head peeking over my shoulder, sitting in the most awkward position on the sofa so we have to fit ourselves round her, and 'supervising' the gardening.

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