Princess Talulah - Star Turn at Discover Dogs YKC Freestyle Dancing Event

Hi Scout

My name is Princess Talulah but my family call me Talulah.  I have many nick names such as scruff, lou, lula, talu, talulah bulah.  I will answer to anything that sounds like them oh and of course I always answer to Treat!!!  My owner is Scarlett who is 13 who has trained me through the Young Kennel Club.  My other owner is her mum Angela who is the one that feeds me!!! And takes me out for walks, I will do anything for her. I am now one year old and I celebrated my birthday at a Young Kennel Club weekend camp with all my friends that I had met a few months earlier at the national camp.  I got a new toy and a dog cake; you can get anything for dog now days!  I even came 2nd in the handling competition so just missed out on Crufts 2009 but I was just happy to be with all my friends.

The best time of my life (apart from when I first met my family) was at national camp I was 8 months old, wow I spent the whole week outside, heaven.  It was very tiring as we trained 4 times a day and on competition day I didn’t have much left to give but Scarlett had worked so hard I gave it another blast of energy  and came 5th in obedience, 6th in agility and 6th in fancy dress where I dressed up as a pirate along with Scarlett.  It was fun.  I met so many friends there were over 80 kids there and so many dogs, the best thing is that I keep bumping into my friends at the YKC weekends and at Discover dogs.  I can’t wait till next year.

Scarlett trains me and I had passed my Good Citizens Bronze by the time I was 5 months, my silver at the National camp when I was 8 months and my gold when I was 9 months old at my training school Wagging Tails.  Scarlett has taught me loads of tricks and I am doing so well at my handling, agility, obedience and free style dancing,  she has been quite a doddle to train, she listens and is consistent in fact I have qualified for Crufts 2009 at Discover Dogs in freestyle dancing, I dance to All That Jazz.  Only trouble was I do my tricks for a big chunk of chicken and when we got to the competition the chicken was no where in sight.  Not sure why Scarlett thought I would do tricks for her without chicken, it later came to light that she didn’t know that treats couldn’t go in the ring, it was fun though a couple in the corner kept calling me over as they thought I was cute and I just couldn’t help going to them because I just love everyone! Then the judge picked me up and tried to put me in her bag as she too thought I was cute, gosh being cute can be really hard sometimes everyone wants to fuss you, when we finished and walked round Discover Dogs everyone was stopping Scarlett and myself I felt like a real princess and Scarlett was so proud of me.  I also qualified for Crufts 2009 in grooming when we were at Wales, I was only 8 months old and I was so relaxed whilst I was being groomed that I fell asleep it was heaven and I got a big fuss and a rosette for the privilege of just falling asleep.  I have 21 rosettes now that Scarlett and myself have won, we have them all pinned to the kitchen door.  Discover dogs was great there were so many other friends there and two of my bestest friend came all the way from Leicester just to see me.  We stayed in a hotel which was so big and the first thing I did was have a mad half hour jumping on the bed, my owners did laugh so I did it some more!  We also went on the train which was great everyone was looking at me and saying Arrrr, I felt like a princess again!!  I would recommend anyone interested in dogs to go to discover dogs as there are so many different dogs there and so many fantastic things to buy; they even sold birthday cakes that I could eat wow!

I love to be cuddled and I also like my own space to relax as I can get tired easily.  I love going out for walks and can run around for hours but equally am happy with a half an hour walk to the local park, no matter how long I’ve been out for I still have a mad half hour before I settle down for a good nap.  I love both the country side and going shopping into town, where ever I go I always fuss everybody and have a chase around with the other dogs there.  I’ve been on the bus once and I insisted on sitting in the isle as I need to be able to see everything that’s going on.   I don’t eat very much and at times I have been very fussy and not eaten at all, my owners were worried and kept buying me different food making me even more fussy so the vet told them to persevere with what I already had and now I am a happy eater and I do love my treats especially carrot, I learnt to eat this from my cousin Tilly who is a little overweight so has carrots as treats to help her slim into a healthy weight, she is a sheltie. My favourite treat is something my owners call a ‘healthy heart’ they are brown and red and really tasty.  I’m not a greedy dog and don’t beg for food as I have never had human food given to me.  I can actually walk past a sausage without pinching it!! I must say it’s hard though. J  My favourite toy is a tigger with a shoe lace attattched to its neck so my owners bounce it around, I must say it is very tasty so it has no stuffing left in it and its body is full of holes but I have had it since the first day I joined my family.

I love the outdoors and spend hours in the garden, we live on a hill so I can sit on the patio and see for miles and miles, sometimes I jump on a chair and I can see even more!  I love it when it is windy cold and raining, my family worry about me being cold but I love it more cus I’m really quite hairy so I don’t much like the hot weather.  The only thing is when it is dark I just can’t help barking, you see there are so many smells out there and it’s so dark I need to let my friends know I’m here.  My owners don’t like this too much and try every trick to get me back in, the only thing that works now is a ‘healthy heart’ yum yum and that’s only when I am ready, they use to tell me Nana was here but I soon got wise to that one, then they tried ‘walkies’ huh how dare they say that word and then not take me out!!  My second favourite place is in my dog carrier in the car, I just love going for long drives, I snuggle down and I feel really safe it reminds me of my first few months when I used the dog carrier because I was too small for a car harness now I wouldn’t travel any other way, I kick up a fuss and always end up in my ‘box’.

I go to our local vets and I am insured and micro chipped.  I was ill when I was three and a half months old and the vet kept me in and put me to sleep, I missed my family so much, it turned out I had cystitis which is what my owner told the vet when we got there, I had anti-biotic for a while.  We moved vets as my owner was not too happy with the way I was treated when I was so young.  I now go to a vets which says I’m a ‘drama queen’ as when I was spayed I was not too good, the stitches were so itchy so I nibbled them out, what a mistake I had to wear this lamp shade thing on my head for weeks boy did I look silly then to top it all on one Saturday night 10 days after my operation my wound swelled and I got rushed to the emergency vet they gave me two injections and I had to carry on wearing that silly lampshade apparently I was allergic to the internal stitches, I must say I am a little mardy and like lots of cuddles when I feel sad.

Just off to play with that tigger toy.

I've got loads more to tell you so I'll write you again soon

Talulah