MEET Merlin June 1998 - present
| This is Merlin. He was born on a farm in Wales, The animal rescue where we helped out took him and his litter when the farmer threatened to drowned them at three weeks, because the mother wasn't working well! |
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They took them in and pulled them all through a very difficult time. By this time they knew us quite well, and Merlin earned the name "Colin" (Hubby's name) because they knew I would want him as soon as I saw him! |
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They were right. Although at the rescue Merlin had earned himself another nickname. Apparently he was in charge of the litter and treated his underlings quite roughly., he was the biggest in the litter. |
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He was boss and he let them all know it! His nick name was "little b******" because he would try to steal all the food, and had to be removed so the rest of the litter could have a chance of eating. |
| We got Merlin the the Summer of 1998, we took him with us to the caravan in Scotland. Its a static so we built steps at one end and a ramp at the rear with a walkway joining the two. |
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As you can see in the pictures, Merlin was going to be an escape artist, and escape he did. Just to the left of the picture is a small gap, Merlin got through it. I was washing up in the kitchen sink and saw him walking on the grass. |
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Luckily on this occasion Merlin didn't run, but on other times at the caravan site he did. It got to the point where we had to put up a small fenced area out the back to stop him escaping. |
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When he did escape he would run round the site teasing the dogs that were tied up. The only way we could get him was to take the car and get him to jump in the back. |
| As Merlin was a little excitable I decided to take him training to Bloxwich Dog Training Club. Here he was really excited, he loved teasing the other dogs and playing with them. |
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He passed beginners first time in April 1999. Hence he went into Intermediate. Here he was just as excitable if a little more controlled. Merlin did not like it if other dogs got excited. |
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There was this Rottweiler, twice as big as Merlin playing up on the stand stay, she was jumping all over the place, she was next to a very still Merlin. Anyway she bumped into him and he got a little upset. He turned round and bit her bum, she yelped, and Merlin ran off and hid under the chairs behind the barrier where the handlers would sit. Other than this he was quite well behaved. |
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There must have been something in the water at the caravan. If you have read Bobby's story you may remember he had to have staples in a injury on his back leg? Well Merlin had the same injury and we took him straight to the vets and he too had staples put in with no anesthetic. He wasn't to impressed, but he was a good boy and took his medicine without complaint. |
| Merlin always has been a cheeky little dog, he always thinks he has never had enough food, and one time he helped himself to the bag of food, as you can see he climbed inside the bag. |
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Merlin loves nothing more than having a nice sleep after a long walk, although some of the positions he sleeps in can be quite amusing. |
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When Merlin was about 6 months old Crystal joined our clan. (See Crystal's story) He enjoyed having a young playmate. |
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Another thing with Merlin is if I am peeling vegetables, carrots or potatoes, he is there, waiting for peeling of bits of potato, with his little friend Gizmo. (See Gizmo's story) |
| Merlin is a typical Border Collie, he runs round like a lunatic not paying attention to how tired he is. After walkies one day, when he had had a sleep he got up and was limping on his hind leg. |
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Trip to the vet. The vet examined him, pulled, turned his leg. He diagnosed a luxating patella and said it was not too bad and to see how he gets on in future. Massage helps him too! |
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Another thing he likes to do is play in mud! As you can see from the picture on the left. After this he has to have a hosing off, which is no easy task considering he loves chasing the hose pipe. We have to gang up on him, one holding his collar, whilst the other hoses off the mud without getting the hose attacked. |
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My husband and I sometimes have a takeaway! (Alright more than sometimes!) My husband has Beef curry and egg fried rice, Merlin isn't too interested in the rice bowl, but he loves the curry dish and spends ages licking it clean! Doesn't seem to do him any harm! |
| Merlin has always been a bit of a wimp when it comes to having nails clipped etc. He received an injury to his front right leg, a thorn of some kind scratched his leg, would he leave it alone! No. So we had to resort to putting a collar on him. This he was not very happy about, and at first would not move anywhere with it on, then he got a bit more used to it, but if he hit somthing he would freeze. Luckily his leg healed and we could take the collar off. |
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Merlin has been dog training this year (In the intermediate class for the first time in over 3 years). He was not too happy at the club, and did not like going, so I told him if he passes Intermediate he does not have to do advanced. He passed first time only being pipped at the post for first place by a very nice German Shepherd called Acer. Chicken dinner for Merlin. |
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