Merry Christmas

 

Wishing all my friends far and near a very Happy Christmas.

Ozzy's new friend in the park

Ozzy's new friend is a Spinone. 

 

The breed is believed to have been developed in the Piedmont region of Italy. The Spinone is a very ancient breed.  It is one of the oldest gun dogs in existence. The origins of the breed are unclear.  There are many different theories. Some of these claim that the Spinone could have originated in Italy, France, Spain, Russia, Greece, or even Celtic Ireland.

Some people familiar with the history of the breed claim that the Spinone descended from the now-extinct Spanish Pointer, whilst others claim that it was the ancient Russian Setter that is responsible for the breed we know today. An even more popular theory is that Greek traders brought coarse-haired setters to Italy during the height of the Roman empire, where the dogs were then crossed with various others and the modern Spinone eventually emerged.

The breed was not officially known as "Spinone" until the early 19th century. Before then, some areas knew the breed as the "Spinoso". The breed may have been named after an Italian thorn bush, the spino, which was a favorite hiding place for small game because for larger animals it was practically impenetrable. Only thick-skinned, coarse-haired animals could fight through the branches unharmed to locate the game. The Spinone was the breed most capable of doing so, and, perhaps, therefore the name was formed.

 

Ozzy has fully recovered.  He is full of beans...........

Ozzy is sick.

 

Ozzy has been off his food and not well.  He probably ate something in the forest which did not agree with him.  Maybe Dr Okeke could have helped.  Click on the above picture to enlarge it to get the full benefit of his cures.

Ozzy with his girlfriends

Koko is on the left, Vichy on the right.  The command was "sit" but Ozzy does not care too much about things like that. 

Brotherly love

When Philadelphia-based animal rescue Operation Ava took in a pair of 8-month-old pit bull mixes, shelter workers noticed something strange about the dogs.

When they walked, the dog they’d named Jeffrey always followed behind his brother, Jermaine, with his head resting on Jermaine’s back. That’s when they realized that Jeffrey was blind and his brother had stepped in to be his seeing-eye dog.

The dogs were inseparable and even cuddled together at night.

Veterinarians think Jeffrey was born blind in one eye, but may be able to see shadows with his other eye. He’s only comfortable walking when he has Jermaine to guide him.

Workers decided that the dogs should be kept together, but they hadn’t received any adoption applications for the pair until a photo of the cuddling pair was posted on the Chester County SPCA Facebook page.

The photo went viral and soon applications were pouring in from across the United States, as well as from Canada, Belgium and South Africa.

Workers are now trying to choose the best placement for the dogs.

Ozzy off to the forest.

Ozzy is off to the forest with his girlfriends Vichy and Koko, two brown Australian Shepherds.  They are all good friends.