The Adventures of Duncan

"Dear first family, I have been very busy! I went on a long trip in a car yesterday and I came to live at a farm. The other border terrier just ignores me at the moment but I met another dog called Penny who looks a little like a big border terrier and she really likes to play with me and when I am bigger I will give her a run for her money! She licks me and I think she thinks I am her boy!!!

I made sure I christened the carpet here but I am being very good and have eventually decided I will have a big sleep in my new basket.

Lots of licks to everyone

Hi, all, Just another note to let you know how Duncan is going. Right now he is sprawled out on the settee ( no dog basket for him!! ) After a bit of a slow start he is eating us out of house and home. He loves Penny so much and it is a returned sentiment. She will let him bite and pull her around and they are going to be great mates when Duncan gets a bit bigger.

Brodie has set Duncan in his place and Duncan in return has learned that it is OK to sit near Brodie but strictly NO jumping or playing so they have that settled.

The cats are shell shocked !! Duncan thinks they are fair game and he chases them mercilessly and often comes back to us with a big mouthful of ginger cat fur. They are very tolerant of this treatment. Everyone loves him and does he know it! He races around all morning and collapses for a sleep after lunch, races around a bit more has tea and goes off to bed in the laundry and never cries at night.

He has some soft toys which he likes to sleep with and murder when he is awake. He is very active and has a wonderful nature. He works out how to get around difficult situations in a flash. We put a barrier at the bottom of the steps as our back verandah is high, but it didn't stop him. He went under the stairs then climbed through the stair slats and arrived at the back door!!  We turned around one night for a minute and lost him. Searched for a good 10 minutes _ he wanted to play with Penny who has a kennel in the back yard. We had said "no" so he went under the house for the full length of the building then out the back and was playing with Penny!

Duncan is growing up fast now. He is losing first teeth and chewing everything! He still loves playing with Penny and the pair of them will rough and tumble for hours. Duncan is now an expert at chasing cats and has recently turned his hand at chasing cows who wander across to give him a quiet lick which they do to the cats and get a fright when he barks and chases them. He tried chasing the ram but got a bit of a head butt so has since avoided doing that. Duncan also likes to eat anything other than his food. He has had a go at Penny's food, Brodie's porridge and the cat food. He has even had a go at chook pellets so we have to feed everyone with Duncan firmly under control.

You did tell me you thought Duncan was an adventurer and so he is! Last weekend he inhaled a barley grass seed. David saw it go up his nostril and could not get it out in time so a dash was made to Leongatha to the vet with a distressed puppy contorted with sneezing! The local vet was absent from Mirboo North so it was a 40 min drive. They had to put him under anaesthetic and probe his nasal passages. No seed could be found so he stayed overnight. Two days later he passed the seed!!!!!

He still adores Penny. He has learned his place and now sits patiently behind Brodie and Penny at mealtimes in the hope they don't eat it all then he can. He is very quick to pinch Penny's bones. He wrestles the cats unmercifully and is keen to chase the cows who look at him with disdain.

Well Duncan continues to be a character. His latest trick is to pull the cat along the back verandah like a dead rabbit by the neck! We told him off the first time we saw this happening but lo and behold the cat comes back to him for more and so it continues and he must not be harming Dancer as he continues to allow Duncan to do it.

Hi All,

Well the adventures of Duncan continue!!! This weeks trick was to eat David's hearing aid!!!! I was so worried he had swallowed the battery but we found it. David felt pretty silly going in to the audiology place and confessing. No worries we were insured even for Duncan destruction!!

Duncan has lost his adoptive mother Penny. Penny nicked off a few evenings ago as she has done on occasions and we called her all night but found her lying at the bottom of the stairs in the morning still alive but had a broken pelvis, so has been hit and the break went right through the hip joint and she had a constricted pupil in one eye so we had to put her to sleep. Duncan is looking for her but hopefully he will stop soon.

I have to share a story from the other night. We had a very sick newborn lamb and David brought it in from outside and put it in front of the wood fire on some blankets. We were a bit concerned about the dogs, however Brodie gave it an uninterested  sniff. Duncan however started to gently lick the lamb and if it moved he would give it a few more licks. After that he worked systematically around the lamb tucking the blankets in around it with his nose he would then sit down and watch the lamb then after a couple of minutes he would hop up on my knee and whimper! He repeated this sequence all night till we put the dogs to bed. David was amazed and reckoned that he would have never expected such behaviour from a terrier dog especially a male. My comment was that he isn't just any terrier he is a Border Terrier!!

Just a note to tell you the further adventures of one crazy pup. This week he got into the chook shed and decided the chooks would like to play with him. They did not see it quite the same way and so 16 chooks were found perched up the cypress tree and it took 24 hrs to get them all back down!!!!

Yesterday we went for a walk through the forest tracks and of course the dogs were off the leads, When we came to Luxford's pond Duncan decided to walk out along a dead tree trunk right out to the very end of the tree trunk and of course he fell in!!!!!!! He discovered he could swim quite quickly and got back up on the tree trunk but immediately shook himself and slipped off into the water again. He did this at least 3 times before realising it would be better to walk off the tree and onto firm ground before shaking himself dry and having done that he made sure we were all in close range before he started shaking himself so we were all a funny sight.  We are awaiting his next adventure with bated breathe

Today we had another adventure of Duncan. David had started up the truck and hopped out to do something. Duncan hopped in and the door shut on him and then he jumped up at the window of the door and locked the door! The engine is running and David hasn't got a spare key! He had to call the RACV who didn't really appreciate coming 23 klms because a dog locked himself in a car. Two hours later Duncan was released! Lucky it wasn't a hot day. I got home from work and David said " Guess what YOUR dog did today!    I keep wondering what next! I do get a good laugh and somehow it is always David on the receiving end not me!!!"