Humans love to surprise each other at Christmas, but it’s hard to surprise us dogs because we can smell your thoughts. For instance, we know Annabelle is feeling very smug because she thinks she’s finished her Christmas shopping early for once – but we also happen to know she still hasn’t bought anything for us.
It’s the same every year – at the last minute, Annabelle will buy a selection of dog treats, hastily wrap them in Crimbo paper and bring them to her mother’s flat in Cardiff along with the rest of the presents. When her mother sees them, she’ll laugh and make some remark about dogs not knowing it’s Christmas. Worse still, on Christmas Day the two of them will leave us alone in the flat while they go to Annabelle’s brother for a delicious turkey dinner. We get the leftovers brought back for us, but it’s not the same as joining in the fun with the rest of the family.
Our cousin Max
The point is, we dogs do know it’s Christmas. We may already have a lot of nice things…
…but we like to be remembered at this time of year, and edible treats are always welcome.
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The Literate Lurcher 
Poor pooches. Don’t want to be left out of the excitement. As for me, just being able to go to Cardiff would be gift enough! We spent such a wonderful day there last March. I’d love to go back.
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I didn’t realise you’d visited Wales! So glad you enjoyed Cardiff – I’m afraid I take it for granted a bit, having grown up there. I must try and look at it with fresh eyes. Mum lives in Llandaff Village, which is very pretty.
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We spent most of our time in London, but we detoured to Cardiff for a day to see the Doctor Who Exhibit. On my son’s urging. 🙂
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My dogs know when it’s Christmas. Thanks for the insight, Millie. I’ll make sure to get plenty of edible treats for them. No ham though! It’s bad for your kind.
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Yes, the no-ham thing is a bitter blow – it used to be our favourite!
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Jack Henry is very sympathetic to your situation Millie- he works on his Christmas list all year and his mamma still waits until the last minute- and he is still grumpy at Santa for bringing Hubble and not a pony!😉
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Aww! Jack Henry would look cute on a pony!
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Cute post. Sorry pooches. I have to confess, I usually buy gifts for pets last. We don’t have any pets presently, but my two sisters do. I’ll find something. At least they are remembered. 😉
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As I keep telling Millie and Pearl, it’s the thought that counts. And better late than never.
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My gorgeous Golden Retriever gets a chicken neck and the opportunity to wear a Santa hat/reindeer antlers/angel halo etc, this year it’s a Christmas tree hat and collar wth bells! The chicken neck she loves, the other she tolerates for about 5 seconds just long enough for a photo – I call it paying the piper!
Merry Christmas dogs!!!
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Millie and Pearl get a turkey neck, but they refuse to tolerate hats – if I attempt to put headgear on them they act like I’ve abused them and threaten to call the RSPCA.
Merry Christmas to you and your gorgeous Goldie! 🙂
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Aw, Poor Pearl, and Millie!! Sorry to hear y’all are so mistreated! What is Crimbo please?
Annabelle should be ashamed of herself for not taking you to see your cousin. I’ll just have a word with her about that!!
Happy New Year!
Melinda
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Happy New Year, Melinda!
To be fair, it’s not really Annabelle’s fault we don’t get to visit Max. She would like to take us, but Annabelle’s brother’s house has very small rooms and the family feel that three big dogs in there with a Christmas tree, presents and various items of food would just be too chaotic. And we did get our presents in the end – pig’s ears, sausages and lots of yummy chews and snacks!
Crimbo is a UK slang word for Christmas.
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Hi Annabelle,
Our terrier pooch didn’t get a present exactly, but for Christmas we went to my sister Danielle’s beautiful acreage in the green hills of Rous Mill in NSW Northern Rivers area. Daisy and Dan’s dog Millie played happily for days on end. It was a real gift, as it helped Daisy socialise better (she’s an anxious rescue dog who isn’t great with other dogs) and it was company for Millie who has the most gorgeous nature. And we owners loved watching them tumble and play.
Also thanks for following my blog! PJ
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You’re welcome! Your Christmas sounds like dog heaven. We live in a dog-friendly area with lots of open land, woods and beaches for them to enjoy, so we don’t mind Christmas in the city – we know it’s only for a few days.
Dogs really can help each other overcome their issues. I think Millie and Pearl would be lost without each other now (though they’d never admit it!) 😉
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“…it’s hard to surprise us dogs because we can smell your thoughts” I love this thought. Great writing and our dogs seem to enjoy the holidays more than we do sometimes. Wish you a great 2016.
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Thank you – and thanks for visiting and following me and the storyhounds! We love your blog – strong writing and stunning photos. Looking forward to reading more. 🙂
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Thanks so much Annabelle for comments on my writing. Isn’t the internet amazing, how people ( and in turn canines!!) can connect! I’ve tried to upload a photo of Daisy and us but see if this opens?
Cheers
PJ
PS I’ve entered the Wishing Shelf Awards run in UK, have you heard of them?
IMG_4692.jpg
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I’m not sure if you can upload photos in comments. I think you can link to photos by first uploading them into your own WordPress media library (as you do when you want to include an image in a post) and then copying and pasting the URL of that photo into your comment. You can find the URL by clicking on the photo in your media library – the URL appears in the box on the upper right of the page. (You may have to create a draft ‘post’ to upload the image to your media library – no need to write anything, just click ‘add media’ to upload the photo to the library, and once it’s in there you can consign the post to trash.)
There’s probably a quicker way to do this, but I’m not that tech savvy. I’ll be interested to see if it works!
I haven’t heard of the Wishing Shelf Awards, I will have to check them out.
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I was a bit slack and didn’t give the dogs anything specific this year. It was a bit mad. Happy belated Christmas to you and Happy New Year xx Rowena
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Happy New Year, Rowena! We got pigs’ ears. Pearl didn’t finish hers. I stole it. Millie xx
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