Blair's Blog

Now that Porter has moved to his new home, we have taken over his blog to bring you news of our Guide Dog puppy, Blair.

Blair's Progress: First Steps
21st March 2013

It is early days, but guide dog puppy Blair is showing all the signs of progressing towards being a classic guide dog.

Demands placed upon guide dogs can be high, and only the best make it. Guide dogs need strong characters and a calm, confident sensibility.

Trainee guide dogs that do not go all the way often make excellent candidates for other assistance dogs charities.

But where Blair is concerned, it is so far, so good.

"His confident and fun character is already shining through," said Eilieen Rossini, Blair's puppy walker.

Fittingly for Guide Dogs' Blair Horse Trials 2013 mascot, Blair is taking his first steps towards being a fully fledged guide dog nearby in Eileen’s Perth home.

Eileen and the four-month-old have been on routes around home and town. Blair is getting used to his lead and collar and, having now been fully vaccinated, recently enjoyed his first free run.

Blair was also excited to meet other animals, including a Highland cow, a donkey, and older dogs.

“Early socialising is really important,” explained Fiona Duncan, Puppy Training Supervisor. “As an adult guide dog and someone’s mobility aid, Blair will be going into places that pet dogs don’t."

As ever, however, the pace of progress will be suited to Blair’s temperament. Eileen is a very experienced puppy walker and will introduce new environments one step at a time, and if Blair is wary Eileen will pause and step back until Blair is ready.

But already Blair has proved comfortable in cafe visits, and in the next month or so Blair and Eileen will begin taking short bus journeys and following this, train journeys.

You can sponsor Blair and help raise money for Guide Dogs’ life-changing independence-boosting services through Blair's JustGiving page.

Porter's Office Dog Blog

3rd July 2012

Hey guys! How are you all? I hope all this bad weather hasn’t dampened you down lately. It sure hasn’t affected my happy moods! The other night I went out for a run in the woods. I ran and ran and ran and ran, it was so exciting with so many amazing smells to follow! Turns out Mum wasn’t too happy with me, in her words I was, ‘A little Git’. Apparently she had been calling out my name for ages and chasing me to try and find out where I was. Oh the fun times of being a mother. Thank god there’s no chance of me becoming one of them! And on that note, there’s now no chance of me becoming a father either! For all those nosy parkers out there (i.e. women)  who are wondering how life has been treating me since my visit to the vet, well I am happy to report that life still goes on! The first night I was walking around a bit funny, but once the anaesthetic wore off I was back to 100% full Porterness.

Things in the Horse Trials Office are all going well. All the schedules are out, check. Admission tickets printed (yet to be sent out), check. XC course makeover started, check.

Rupert organised to get about 27 Bruadar whisky barrels which Becca, Holly and Kirsty have scrubbed down and are now painting. They’re going to be used as flower tubs in the main arena. Whee hee, how fancy! But if you are feeling bad for those hard working girls, don’t get too carried away because all those whisky barrels have filled the shed with the wonderful, and very strong I might add, whisky scent. I’m not too sure how toxic the shed might become, but if you see any of the girls a little ‘lost’ at the Horse Trials , you now know why. My New Zealand doggie friend, Hunter, says that the NZ, Hawkes Bay wines are mighty fine, so I think I’ll stick to them… well enjoying the smells of them until I become a legal age to drink!

Things are very strange around the house at home. Mum and Dad are busy packing up the house, well mainly Mum because she banished Dad from the job. So we have lots of cardboard boxes and a very empty house, I’m not too sure I like it. So this may well be my last blog from Scotland. But don’t worry, I will secretly put up cameras in the office and keep an eye on what everyone is up too! So stick around because I’ll still be giving you the inside scoop on the Horse Trials!

Well I am going to sign out before I start getting too emotional about leaving Blair. You know for a young, crazy, high on life pup I am a bit of a softy on the inside.

 

Porter xxx

 
 18th June 2012
 
Hi Guys! What have you been up too lately? Not destroying table cloths like one naughty puppy I know … but I won’t mention his name!
 
Well todays blog is full of I.W.S.W (I Won’t Say Who – do you like it, I just made it up, clever huh?) stories.
The first I.W.S.W story’s from home. One naughty K9 house mate stole duck breasts off the worktop, which Mum was planning to cook for dinner. He started to eat them and then decided he didn’t even like them, so he just left them on the kitchen floor! Naughty Poacher I say. Oops, there goes one I.W.S.W, silly me what an accident … not!
 
Well I don’t know how your offices that you work run, but at the Horse Trials they seem to be getting a little bit stupid. Apparently one of them sent out an e-mail to printing business asking for a quote for the car stickers (we have loads in the office so let us know if you want one). Which was all fine and dandy until one of the companies replied asking for measurements for the tickets since the measurement which went with the quote was for a car sticker would have been the size of our dining room table! Imagine that - everyone would have to stick the car stickers on the car roof, not the window!
Then the same person (how embarrassing) e-mailed John the website guy, asking for help with the website. A couple of hours later there was a reply from a John Rowallan (who is some showing guy) saying, “You will need to contact your website creator but should be very simple, Right click & down to delete normally works.” Woops, don’t we all hate it when we accidentally send an e-mail to the wrong person!
In the next I.W.S.W story, ‘Person X’ answered the phone in the office and it was a call for ‘Person Y’. So ‘X’ said to ‘Y’, “Curries Horse Company want to speak to you.” Well it turns our Curries Horse Company was actually Curry Sauce Company! I don’t even want to think what Curries Horse Company would want to sell at the Horse Trials.
 
Well I want to let you all know something. It’s something big and it’s going to happen to me next week. So big it will be life changing. That means it will really change my life. But it’s very private, so don’t go telling everyone. Eeek, I don’t know if I have the balls to tell you (excuse the pun). Oh dear, it’s probably obvious now. Well anyway, here goes … I am being taken (against my wishes) to the vet. And let’s just say that when I come home I will have lost all my ‘Man-hood’. There, it’s off my chest, I’ve told you. Whew, that was hard. Sadly for you it means I can no longer strut my stuff in the main arena for the Stallion Parade.
 
Yawn, must be bed time. Catch you later.
 
Porter xxx
 

8th June 2012

Howdy everyone! Gosh it’s June already! How the time flies when you’re having fun.
 
Well I have had a lot of fun lately. Poacher and I had an exciting weekend away last weekend (yes we got to enjoy the bank holiday as well – love those things!). While Mum and Dad went down to Coldplay in London (who wants to play in the cold???) Poacher and I stayed at Becca and Kirsty’s flat at Blair Castle. We packed all our toys, beds and food which completely filled up the back of Dads defender – nothing like packing too much stuff eh. Poacher missed Mum and Dad a bit the first night, but I was far too busy having fun with my new friends and sniffing out the cat next door to worry about Mum and Dad. I suppose that’s the troubles of getting old, you start worrying about other people.
 
Mum made sure that Becca and Kirsty were only letting us watch educational telly or else playing games outside. So Friday night we went for a walk up a hill. I raced up to the top while everyone else was walking civilly, oh the fun you can have when you’re allowed to be young and free! When we got to the top it was such a good view. I did a quick survey of the grounds and XC course before they get their make-over. The castle is getting a complete paint over at the moment, so it will look all nice and white as the backdrop for the event.  It’s amazing how much the place will transform when all the marquees go up and the arenas are set up! But I am happy to say the grounds have got my Porter seal of approval!
 
On Saturday the girls took Poacher and me for a walk around the gardens at Blair. There were SO many ducks and birds to play with! But don’t worry, I was very good and only eyed them up, licking my lips. Then we walked along the Red Squirrel track, but didn’t see one squirrel, what a let-down!
 
Sunday was full of all this ‘pageantry’ for the Queen. She’s some special lady who lives in this amazing house, they call it a palace, in London and has castles around the place, lucky her. Well apparently she’s done all this work for the country for 60 years. All I can think is she must be old and wise! So we had a little party for her in the silage paddock with the ghillies. I had a big long lead on, so I ran around and around and through the circle of them tying them all up. It was great fun! But then Poacher got angry when I tried to get him to join in on the fun – old fart. After the party we went inside and sat on the couch ALL afternoon watching TV. I felt so rebellious, breaking Mum’s rules! On the TV all these boats were floating down a river so the Queen could see them all, it was so colourful and everyone was cheering so loudly, one big party I wouldn’t mind joining! That night Mum and Dad came to pick us up. As much as I was sad to finish my holiday I was very pleased to see Mum and Dad back (oh no, am I turning into an old fart like Poacher too?).    
 
We have a new recruit on the team. Her name is Holly Clark, some of you might know her parents Jane and Nigel too. Holly has been coming here to help out at the event for years! She might need a Porter version of an OBE for all her work. Yesterday she was introduced to the delights of painting white posts, one job I don’t mind missing out on!
 
Anyway, better go, things to do, people to see - you know what it’s like.
Porter xxx

28th May 2012 

Hullo, it’s me Porter here. Don’t worry I’m still alive! I’m sorry I haven’t written anything for a while, but life is getting quite busy with destroying the house, toilet training, annoying my house mate poacher, you know, all those big dog jobs.

Well from what I heard Mum and Dads wedding was a success, I say that because I wasn’t actually invited. I’d rather not talk about it. It’s a bit of a tender subject with me right now. I still don’t understand why I wasn’t invited, I mean what could I do wrong at a wedding with all those nice clothes, clean table cloths, massive wedding cake, food for Africa oh and the champagne!
 
So to make sure I still have a social life I have been having, well trying, to have my own parties at home. Mum and Dad aren’t too happy about me escaping the yard every 5 minutes to go and have fun. So they put up a rope to block my exit routes. Needless to say I wasn’t very happy, so I jumped up and down to try and scare it away, then I tried barking my head off at it and finally I tried escaping through it to see if it was any good at its job. Sadly I lost the battle, but don’t worry I am thinking about a new plan everyday…has any one got any ideas for me? I would preferably need a plan that would let me escape and get back in to the yard without any tracks left behind, it would also need to be quick, just in case Mum or Dad came home earlier than usual.   
Speaking of meeting people, Mum and Dad invited 3 new faces around for a delicious roast pork dinner earlier this week (well I wasn’t allowed to taste it but from the amazing smell and conversation at the dinner table, I figured it was a goodie). The three new faces have apparently come to work at the Horse Trials this season. There’s Rebecca, Kirsty and Rupert. I showed off all my cute puppy skills for them and then intrigued them by trying to catch a centipede. Rebecca is from Cirencester, she is doing her ‘placement’ (not pavement) for her equine science and business management studies. Kirsty is having a GAP year and comes from New Zealand (she is struggling understanding all the funny place names here, silly her) and Rupert who’s taking over from Mum when we move down south, until he starts his new job in September … but don’t worry Rupert is very bright, so the event will be in safe hands!
 
They say they are starting to get busy in the office, with the Box Office Tickets coming in, organising all the volunteers, judges and trade stands … oh, that all sounds too confusing for me! Soon all the schedules will be coming out. I wonder if I can find a class to enter. Dressage is a bit boring, eventing is a lot of work, show jumping is a little too competitive, games are so fast and furious for me to get my head around and I don’t think I could dress up smart enough for the hunter classes … so that just leaves the native pony classes. Hmmm do I look more like a Shetland or a Clydesdale? Oh hang on, I’m still entire, so I might just slip into the Stallion parade and strut my stuff for the ladies!
 
Well on that note I better be off to get in some practice for the show. I hope you guys are enjoying the nice weather, I think I might go for a splash in the lake later on to cool off.
 
Porter xxx

5th April 2012

Wow, it has been such a busy couple of weeks I just have not had time to turn my paw to writing my blog, sorry everyone! So much cool stuff has happened toSnoring with Bagpuss after a hard day tree planting me, I don’t really know where to start. Let think…

Oh yeah, the first thing that happened was I went to work with Dad for the day! Instead of sitting in the office (yawn!) I got to be a forestry dog for the day. Dad and his colleague had to plant lots of little baby trees, so I helped by digging up earth for them, and carrying the little trees in my mouth. What happened was, dad planted a tree and when he went to get the next one, I grabbed it in my mouth and pulled it out and took it back to dad. I thought this was very clever – I am supposed to retrieve after all – but he explained he had meant to leave it behind and I mustn’t fetch the little trees back. Well I hope they’re alright on their own, they looked pretty tiny to me. By lunchtime I was sooo tired I had to have a little kip in the land rover. Dad thought I was done in for the day, but a quick drink of water and I was up for the afternoon shift too.
 
A few days after that, I had another awesome trip. I reckon it’s the land rover y’know, whenever I get in there we go somewhere fun. Well this time Poppy, the old wizened brown one, and Poacher, the lanky black and white lurcher one, came too. Poacher’s not allowed to go to work (mum says it’s because he had a troubled puppyhood and has some ‘issues’, but I think he’s just a daft get. Can’t be much oxygen that high up, his brain’s probably a bit starved.) but he came on this trip. We went FISHING! It was so much fun. I got to do loads and loads of springing about tin the heather while dad got all sorts of stuff ready – now I know why mum’s always asking how many flies one fisherman needs! Boxes of them came out that land rover I tell you! After the heather springing, I tried swimming and oh boy am I good at that. Dad waded out, and I just jumped in and paddled off. So I got nicknamed Otter for a little bit. It was sooo much fun, but I was really tired afterwards. When I stopped swimming I got a bit chilly, so we went home and I sat in the front by the heater, inside dad’s hoody and had a little snooze on the way back.

Watching the Panamalien video!On the subject of nicknames, I now seem to have several. Porter Animal got shortened to Panimal, which then got lengthened again (I know, right, what’s that about?) to Panimalien! Charming. Turns out, you can also sing Panimalien, to the David Guetta song Titanium, so that’s kind of my anthem now. Actually, turns out you can sing it really out of tune in my house. Wonder if I could put some moss in my ears to lessen the noise?!

So that’s my exciting times reported. I’ll be disappearing for a couple of weeks now, mum and dad are having a big party called a wedding. Apparently I’m allowed to go on the trip, but not to the actual wedding, which is a bit rubbish, but as my latest talent I’ve discovered is coming to call and leaping at people from miles away, ready to be caught, I suppose I might not be very useful amongst all the posh frocks and smart suits. They’d just better bring me home a doggy bag!

Oooo, one more thing - I made my YouTube debut! Check out the video of me playing the mucking out/chasey shavings game: http://youtu.be/cb2bNmpSp1U

'Til next time... Porter xx

PS - if you've any questions for Porter or requests for what you'd like to read about in future blogs, head to our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/blairhorsetrials and tell us!

17th March 2012

Blimey, this is one little doglet who’s gonna be developing a complex pretty soon, I can tell you. So mum was away last week, came back and the first thing she said was “oh my goodness, look how huge he is”! Apparently my weed-like growth spurt is continuing apace, and I am at least twice the size I was when she left. Which is daft, of course, there is no way I’m that big.

Bathtime - 7 weeks old Bath time - 14 weeks old
Having a bath at 7 weeks old... Haven't I grown? 14 weeks now!

I am a lot faster now though, and have been doing my best to keep up with my giant lurcher housemate, Poacher. Safe to say he can still outrun me, but he’s built to run and I’m built to spring, and as that giant doofus can’t jump fences I reckon I’ll soon be able to out-do him! Don’t think he liked it when I sproinged in to him at warp speed this morning, I got a sharp nip for my trouble from the grumpy bum. Springing and sproinging about is my favourite, especially in the reeds in a wet field by the house. They are taller than me, so I have to spring really high and fast to get though them, it's ace fun. Talking of grumpy, our oldest housemate, Poppy (who is apparently a Lady dog, but looks more like the Tramp to me, she’s all scruffy and grizzly) is quite grumpy. She’s getting on a bit (hope she doesn’t read this!) and hasn’t got a huge amount of patience for all my energy, so if I’m annoying her she has now decided to just stand and bark in my face until I go away!

I spent the whole week that mum was away helping dad out at home. Honestly, I really earned my keep that week. Dad must have been pleased because he bought me a giant new sack of feed, and I got promoted because this time it’s Junior not Puppy. Hurrah, go me! I spent the whole week helping muck out (which is totally still my favourite, I love the fluffy shavings), pulling hay off a big round bale, and herding the hens. Not sure the last bit is actually in my job description 'cause Dad told me not to, but it was good fun.

As for my actual job at Blair, well this week I’ve joined in a training session with some friends from other departments. Frankly there seemed to be too much tea drunk and too many biscuits eaten, and too much giggling, but apparently it was "constructive" and "team building". Then I’ve met a couple of potential contractors, and had a good earwig on mum’s conversation with the manager of Blair Castle, who had loads of cool ideas for promoting the event. This morning I was left behind whilst mum went to visit Bruadar, and she came back all smiley because they are going to sponsor the Bruadar Country Fair again this year – extra biscuits for me tonight I think! Oh and guess what? They have a black Labrador puppy called Bruadar, and I might get to meet him, yeay! I’ll make sure mum takes a picture if I do, so you can see us both together.

Right, must dash, got some more springing to do then a bit of a snooze by the fire.

'Til next time... Porter xx

PS - if you've any questions for Porter or requests for what you'd like to read about in future blogs, head to our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/blairhorsetrials and tell us!

2nd March 2012

Using Dad as a pillow/climbing frame!Hullo! It’s time for more puppy tales apparently, so here I am to tell you all about what’s been going on in the office for the past couple of weeks. Firstly, my new dog blog has been a huge success. Mum has had emails and Facebook messages from loads of people saying just how sweet I am, how ace is that? Someone even got in touch from Canada, but mum said not to get too big an ego because that was from someone called ‘Grandad’ and it is his duty to be proud of his family apparently. Personally, I quite like the idea of being an international superstar. I could have lots of people to play with me and brush me, and get sponsored by a puppy food company, that’d be amazing… mmmm….I do eat a lot, but I’m growing every day (like a weed, mum says) so I need my grub!

Most of the talk in the office seems to have been of sponsors this last week. A company called Joules make lovely shirts for the event, and they put the logos of the biggest sponsors on them. This week, thanks in no small part to my help squeaking in the background when mum’s been on the phone, the lovely people at Baileys Horse Feeds have agreed to be an Associate Sponsor again, for the third year. Bedmax are also coming back again, which I’m really pleased about, ‘cause I love playing with the fluffy shavings. I discovered a fab new game this week, it’s called Mucking Out. Mum doesn’t seem too bothered about it, but what happens is that she picks up all the poos, and I try and beat her to it by taking them out into the yard one lump at a time, all by myself. Sometimes I stop mucking out and just run round and round the barn as fast as I can, and that’s when the Bedmax goes flying everywhere, it’s my favourite!

Me and my giant house mateAnother lovely sponsor is coming back too, Bruadar. They make something called liqueur, which mum and dad seem to think is lovely but I haven’t been allowed to try any yet, because I’m “too small”. I can’t win, one minute I’m growing too much, and the next I’m too small. My housemate Poacher thinks I’m tiny, but I’m definitely catching up with him. When I first arrived, I couldn’t reach his face and had to put my paws on his legs to balance… he did not like that much at all, but it’s not my fault he’s a giant!

There have been loads of tradestand bookings coming in, including some yummy sounding companies for the Food Hall. I think the food hall is going to be my favourite place at the event actually. Ooo, I found another new favourite in the field yesterday… another whip for the lost property box! Amazing how things still turn up so long after the event. I was very pleased with my find, and carried it all the way back to the office. Except when I got distracted by the chasy leaves…

No office for me next week, mum is away for a week, part of which is for something called a hen night. We have hens at home (I like chasing them!) so I don’t know why she has to go away. Dad went on a stag night last week, and I think he got food poisoning or something as he looked terrible for days afterwards. Mum just laughed, so I did my best to cheer him up by springing around and bouncing all over him, yippee!

Sleep time now, catch you soon though for more tales from under the desk.

'Til next time... Porter xx

PS - if you've any questions for Porter or requests for what you'd like to read about in future blogs, head to our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/blairhorsetrials and tell us!

 

21st February 2012

Are you sitting comfortably? Then I shall begin...Hullo, and welcome to my new blog! I’m Porter, the newest and smallest member of the Blair Castle team. I was ten weeks old on Saturday, and mum says now I have to start earning my keep. I’m an English Springer Spaniel. Not sure how, because I was born in Ayrshire and my parents are Irish. Dad says I’m just hedging my bets for the rugby, but that I’m missing a Welsh bit which might put a spanner in the works for me.

I’m told that when I’m bigger my job is going to be beating and picking up – I’m not sure what this means really (what do I have to beat up? I’m quite a laid back kind of person!) but I do like picking up cuddly toys and carrying them around the house, so it might be fun. Right now, my job is keeping my mum company in the office. She’s the Assistant Director of the event, but because the boss lives in London (something to do with an big Games in the summer, which sounds like fun) there’s nobody else here just now. While I’m here, I’m going to tell you all about what goes on in my new Office Dog Blog. Though maybe it should be Puppy Prose until I’m a bit bigger?
 
As it’s my first day I’m not too sure what ‘normal’ is here, but Mum says not to worry because there’s no such thing in this place anyway… There have been lots of visitors today, I can tell you that for nothing. The event office is in a bigger building called the estate office, and everyone seems to want to meet me, which is a nice welcome. I’ve met four accountants (three loved me, but one doesn’t like dogs! Imagine that!), the receptionist, a PA, the buildings manager, the farm manager (who mum says we’ve to be extra nice to), and even someone called the General Manager, who is in charge of all the others.
 
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Blair Castle International Horse Trials & Country Fair
Atholl Estates Office
Blair Atholl
Perthshire
PH18 5TH
Tel: 01796 481543