My mate Ben from Worcester is staying with us for 2 weeks. Ben is a year older than me  and we get along just fine. Even Lotty likes him so he must have good karma cos she can be a bit waspy with some dogs invading her space. She has even shared a bed with him (watch it, dude, she is my girlfriend, after all).

Today we went for a hike up Sale Fell, it was really hot and we were all cooked. Sue wanted to get a photo of us all overlooking Bassenthwaite Lake so she lined us up, pointed the camera then…. started doing a weird sort of dance, jumping about and hitting herself on the head, legs and arms. Ben looked at me quizzically, ‘Does she usually do this?’ says Ben. ‘No’ say I. Sue then starts shouting something like ‘Arrrggghhhgerroffbloomingflying ants’. Anyway, between hitting herself and leaping about she takes a quick photo then we head back down off the fells and head for home. Click on picture to enlarge. Me, Lotty and Ben on youtube HERE

We have just returned home from doing a stall at the Leeds Dogs Trust show – what a day! There must have been thousands of people there. In my role as trailie ambassadog I was staked out like a sacrificial lamb and was descended upon by the hordes who proceeded to stroke me, fuss over me, take numerous photographs of me, feed me tasty morsels and even asked if they could adopt me! Do you remember Barbie in Toy Story 2 who said her face ached from having to smile all day long? Well, my tail ached from having to wag all day! One man who came to the show especially to meet us trailies as he had seen us on this website said I was a ‘legend’. This has amused Sue greatly and she now calls me Woody the legend!

We also took Annie, one of our foster kids along for the day. She had a great time too and I was very proud of her. I hear the Dogs Trust raised over £20,000 at the show and I am proud to say we raised £165 for them on the day too. They are a fab organisation – at least I hope they are cos Sue is always saying ‘ Woody, stop eating poo or I’m sending you to the Dogs Trust!!’

When I was asked to start a blog I was very excited – mainly because at the precise time of being asked I had discovered a mouldy biscuit down the side of the sofa! Yes, dear friends, as with all hounds, my priority in life is to find things to eat, and the more disgusting the better.

Let me tell you about myself. I am an ambassadog for Trailhound Welfare. This means I get to go to lots of shows and events where I am patted, prodded, pampered and generally admired by hundreds of people. I have to be on my very best behaviour which means stealing sweets from the mouths of babes is a definate no-no (okay, okay, so I sneak in the odd lick from a passing ice cream but I wont tell if you dont).

I was born in 2008 and raced for a season in the Borders (my racing name was Langdale) before taking early retirement. I went into Trailhound Welfare for rehoming and the resident there, Lotty, took a shine to me so I stayed. It took me a few days to charm myself onto her bed as you can see from the photo (click to enlarge). We are the best of friends now so long as I observe her maxim ‘ What is mine is mine and what is yours is mine too’.

Another important job I have is to be ‘foster dad” to lots of hounds that come in for rehoming. I make them feel welcome, show them the ropes – y’know the sort of thing – where to pee or not to pee.  Between myself and Lotty, we have fostered many hounds and it is great to meet them again when they come to shows with their new owners. At one fun dog show in the summer there were 15 trailies that had been rehomed, and I knew all of them.

Thats all from me for now – look forward to sharing more of my life with you.