Spud has finally managed to climb down the stairs on his own. The little devil has been able to get up them since he first arrived, but was too scared to climb down them. This meant one of us had to carry him whenever he needed to have a piss or crimp one off, and if we didn't he'd leave a spuddle of urine at the top of the stairs to teach us a lesson. :mad:

Anyway now he has no excuse, he's got full access to all the house now so he can get in even more troubles.

Spud's being an absolute joy these past few days. Obviously like any puppy he's had his moments of being a little pest, but we're having no trouble with his basic training.

Top of the list is house training, I really have no patience for dirty messes around the house. Fortunately even though Spud is only very young (9 weeks) he's doing remarkably well potty-wise. We've had to keep our eyes on him, and make sure that if he starts taking a leak or crimping off a turd we usher him to the correct location. Well it's paid off in practically no time at all. He's already going to the back door and tapping on the glass if he wants to have a piss or a shit.

If he's not downstairs it was a little bit more tricky, but he's also going to the top of the stairs and waiting for us to take him back down now. He's a bloomin' smasher!

There's still a little bit of trouble with biting. He's not biting as hard when he plays now, but on some occasions he's clearly stopped giving a shit and just mauls the hell out of me. :mad:

But, he's definitely shown signs of improvement so I think we're getting there.

I only have one more week left at work and then I'm on holiday so I can spend loads more time with the little bugger.

So, week one is over. We survived a full seven days and nights with the little terror!

So far so good, by most accounts. My biggest worry was house training, I'm really not enthusiastic about mopping up piss and cleaning up dog-shit. Fortunately Spud has been really top-banana about the whole potty-training malarkey.

Obviously we have to keep on top of when we think he might really need to go. He can't open doors, or get down the stairs by himself so we need to make sure he gets the opportunities when he needs them. I'm pleased to say he then eliminates pretty much when we direct him to. There's been no real 'accidents' since the teenager was asked to look after him for an afternoon. There's the occasional 'spuddle' of wee, but number twos are right out the door and at the far end of the garden. To help Spud with his training you need to give a command, or at least a signal that you want him to go to the toilet, so I sing a little ditty to alert him that it's time to crap. It goes something like this:

:clef: It's the time of the turding — turtle's head's emerging
Nothing you can do to stop the poo from curling :clef:

Works a treat, he crimps one off as soon as I start singing now. Great stuff.

So, the only real issue with the little monster is he's like a gremlin and a critter rolled into one. He bites very hard, and his teeth are like needles. I've got a pair of kevlar sleeves I used at work once to protect from glass cuts, and he manages to puncture them with his devilish fangs.

I've no intention of trying to train him not to bite — puppies bite — it's perfectly natural and normal. To stop him doing what's natural to him just seems wrong, my thoughts are he will learn not to bite so chuffin' hard! Noddy started out the same way, puppies like to play, and they play by biting you. I just wear thick clothes I'm not concerned about ruining and let him maul away. I'm relying pretty much completely in the faith that Spud will learn how to play more softly, just like Nod did. Apparently this isn't actually a rare or unique concept, it's known as 'bite inhibition' and is actually an important training technique. Not that I knew.

The little bugger is sleeping a lot longer through the night, he gets up once at about three or four in the morning, so that's not so bad. And the house is steadily filling with toys, beds and blankets.

I'm trying to get a photo of him every day sat on the same chair with the same toy, so we can see how he grows.

Been quite busy and tiring since Spud landed on Saturday.

Due to moving house, and change of diet, etc... Spud has had the shits for a couple of days. That meant that he would need potty about every two hours, including straight through the night. So I've been a bit bloomin' tired.

Fortunately his tummy seems to have settled down now and last night he slept through most of the night, and I only had to get up twice.

He visited the vet yesterday for his first round of injections. I'm used to Noddy being completely over enthusiastic about going to the vets, he chuffin' loved it! Didn't matter if he was getting injections, or (as it turned out) if he was on death's door, Noddy still wagged his tail like mental and loved the attention from the vets and nurses. Spud wasn't quite so keen. Hopefully he'll change his tune when he's a bit bigger. There wasn't any real issue, but I just hoped he'd enjoy getting a massive needle jabbed on his neck just as much as Noddy always did.

Anyway, the vet gave Spud a good thumbs up, apparently both his 'batteries' are in tip-top condition, so that's a relief. He'll be having them chopped-off eventually though.

On top off all that the little beggar's been right busy, got hisself a Facebook page and his own website.

:facebook: Spud the Dog

:www: http://spudthedog.co.uk/

There are a bunch of new images in the Spud album — Earl's Albums: Spud the Dog

The wait is finally over, and we picked up the little Spud this morning!

Spud is most definitely the pick of the pups, but the entire litter is smashing. We very nearly ended up coming away with two of the devils. :D

I tell you now, nine seven-week-old boxer pups running riot around your house looks like bloomin' great fun. Totally exhausting, but still great fun for as long as you can manage it.

Spud slept pretty much the entire journey home, he can chuffin' sleep through anything at the moment. He woke up just as we approached home, and started spuddying about. First thing we did was let him out into the garden for a whizz, which he did, but he wasn't for crimping-off a stool just yet. He seemed to be a bit chilly outside too so we all came back indoors and gave him a bowl of foods. He's currently on Pedigree Puppy Pouches, so we gave him half of one of those, and mixed in a scoop of the posh Taste of the Wild super-duper special puppy grub we've decided to feed him. Flippin' 'eck, you'd think he'd never eaten. What a bloody greedy-guts, he likes his snap I'll tell you that.

Following dinner we watched him like a hawk, and he was a good lad. As soon as the turtle's head was emerging he ran to the back door, he nearly curled it down in the conservatory but I managed to get him outside into the garden in time, so so far so good.

Then it was playtime, I do all the rough-housing in our house so I went a couple of rounds with the little monster. Spud favours the classic ear-biting, and also attacking the back of the head and neck. I let him get the best of me for a while, before showing him who's boss.

We had bacon butties for our dinner, so I saved the little chap a few scraps. I think he knew the moment the bacon hit the frying pan, and he got a nose-full of the best smell he'd ever experienced in his short life, that he had hit pay dirt with his new mum and dad.

He soon settled off to sleep, he likes playing with all his new toys in his crate/cage/den/bed whichever you want to call it, but he wasn't keen on sleeping in it alone just yet. So he's up here with us, curled up on @Ck's knee.

I've updated the album, just go here for a load more images: Earl's Album: Spud the Dog

Last month the bottom fell out of our world when my 11-year-old boxer, Noddy left us for the eternal Land of Nod. :(

I'd never really dwelled on what to do if Noddy ever died, I just carried on regardless in the hope veterinary science would get a chuffin' move on and conquer eternal life. Slackers didn't manage it. But what I had idly considered was not ever getting a boxer again.

Noddy is irreplaceable, so why bother trying? I figured I'd still get another dog if I ever found myself Nod-less, but decided I'd try a different breed. After losing Noddy the house was dreadfully empty, we decided to get another puppy sooner rather than later, but which breed? After a relatively short while researching, it seemed blindingly obvious that no other breed was going to come anywhere close as a substitute to a boxer. I think the main thing I learnt from the research was that I'm not really a dog person, and never was. I'm a 'nod' person. I like noddy-dogs, boxers. And furthermore, I like noddy-dogs with little nodules, not proper waggy-tails. A noddy needs to have a nodule, it's his power-centre, the little stubby tail is a critical feature on a boxer. Its constant oscillation at an incredibly high rate actually vibrates atoms to pieces and is the nuclear power which energises noddy-dogs and their constant noddying about.

So, the search began, the hunt for Spud. We decided on the name Spud very early on, as our search revealed that legally docked noddy-dogs were still available, if imported from the Emerald Isle. Armed with that knowledge we racked our brains for a good, strong Irish name.

But this was beginning to look tricky, any imported noddy from Ireland was likely to already be a good few months old. And we wouldn't get to see the puppy's parents, which is kind of like buying a secondhand car without even kicking the blimmin' tyres. The last thing I want is a dodgy noddy, one that grows to the size of a Great Dane or something daft like that. Turns out to be crossed with a Staffie, or worse.

Well it seems my devilish good luck held up, there are bobtail boxers which are born with little stumpy nodules, and there was a litter of nine born in Stockport on 11th January that just came up for sale! We have been refreshing the classifieds almost constantly and saw these pups come up for sale the very minute the advert was uploaded. We were there the next day (today) and had the pick of the litter.

We saw both parents, and they were both very handsome animals. The dam actually looked very similar to Noddy, the sire was quite a sturdy fella, looked like a right brute, but brilliant boxer temperament. And all nine pups were fantastic.

Some were born with tails, some have little stumpy bobtails and others just have half-tails or short tails. The boy we picked has a diddy little nodule, he's all red with a black mask and just a bit of white on his chinnygan.

So that was it, quest over. He's just five weeks old, so we have to wait another fortnight until we can bring him home. I'm certain he's going to be a little star. Check out the photos here: Earl's Album: Spud the Dog

Noddy is all finished with his hydrotherapy, for now. He's had the recommended seven sessions over the past three weeks and we'll have to make a decision as to whether he has any more.

Since we took him to the vets just over three weeks ago Noddy's been getting daily supplements which contain cod liver oil and other compounds beneficial to arthritic joints, plus anti-inflammatory tablets and daily walks on top of his hydrotherapy visits. Thankfully we've soon some great improvements in his walking and all round health.

The limp is completely gone and he's back to walking as well as he was before the limp began, which still looks a little stiff but it's hard to say if that's due to any arthritis as he always walked a bit funny. He's also improved in his agility and energy levels, more spritely now than he was a month ago.

It's impossible to say which treatment is working best though, or if it's a combination of all of them. We think we're going to take a break from the puppy pool for now, the sessions aren't so expensive but the place is about an hour away, so that's about three hours a night we use taking him and Ck reckons it must be costing hundreds of pounds in diesel. :laughing:

What we think we might do is just take him once a week if he seems to be getting stiff again, and get him a massage too whilst he's there.

Really proud of Noddy tonight, after a shaky start he did very well in the pool.

When we arrived he seemed really apprehensive about getting in the water again, he was being very nervous and was dead reluctant to get wet. But again, once he was in he swam as if he was half Rebecca Adlington, and he didn't require as much encouragement.

Noddy goes down a couple of steps and then stands on the third step when he gets in the pool, with the therapist holding on to him. Then he'll swim a lap of the pool whilst the therapist guides him round and I run alongside the pool shouting encouragement. After a lap he finishes on the steps again and has a rest for a minute or two, usually he tries getting back out during this rest and we have to encourage him to stay put. Then after he's rested we have to give him a bit of a push to get him going again.

Well tonight not only did he not try climbing out after each lap, but he was ready to go again before we were and was launching himself off the steps to have another Noddy-paddle!

Another plus tonight, I don't know why they waited until our fifth visit but the ladies that run the centre have finally let us in on the best supplement to give Noddy to help his joints. It's called Yumove and it's supposed to be the best thing you can give your dog to help his joints. Apparently it's that good there's a version for humans. The kind lady gave us about ten days worth as a trial for free, it's supposed to get to work practically within hours and the results are said to be amazing. Noddy should be running around like a puppy again in no time.

Been back to the puppy pool tonight, which is why I'm running so late.

It was an odd one, for the first time since going Noddy really dug his heels in and wouldn't get in the bloomin' pool. I mean, he went in but we had to practically carry him. The thing is, once he was in and swimming he seemed to enjoy it more than ever.

No attempts to try and climb out, and his little nodule was nodulating at a tremendous speed powering him through the water. He did an extra lap this time too, he'll soon be fit and strong again.

Of course he was happiest when he finally got out and had a good rub with a towel.

Well Noddy had a really good swim today, he's getting right into it.

This time we left that big daft blue collar off, apparently they're really about trying to keep water out of their ears which we're not too worried about. Well without the collar on he seemed to enjoy it a lot more, and he could swim better too.

He did six laps of the pool as usual, but he went faster and had shorter rests. He's quite pooped-out now, when he first got out of the pool his legs were like jelly and we had to hold him up for a few moments whilst he found his feet again.

Noddy had another session at the canine therapy centre tonight, he's not particularly thrilled with the actual swimming but he has a jolly good time overall. He got his nails trimmed as well tonight, loads of fussing, a few treats and a ride in the back of the car.

We'll be taking him again on Thursday.

Just recently Noddy's back legs have been giving him gyp. For an 11-year-old boxer he's incredibly spritely, but he had a bit of a tumble about a fortnight ago and he's been limping ever since. Not that it slowed him down much, even with the limp he was dragging me to the field and careering around like a lunatic for 20 minutes. But the limp wasn't getting any better.

He was at the vets last week for his annual vaccinations and the vet didn't really sound all that positive. Got the impression his attitude was that Noddy was already about three years older than his predicted lifetime, and most boxers actually get difficulties like this when they're five or six. Sounded like he was saying Noddy's had a good innings and this was just old age and this was the beginning of the end for the little pest-chops.

Well, bollocks to that. We got some anti-inflammatory medicine, and we increased the amount of cod liver oil he was having. We've also started giving him treats with Glucosamine in them, which is very good for dog's joints. Saw an immediate improvement in his walking, it's definitely taking effect.

The vet also told us that Noddy has been putting all his weight on his front legs because of the problem with his back joints, and the muscle has wasted away in his back legs. So we decided the best thing for him would be to give canine hydrotherapy a crack. Noddy's never been a swimmer, he likes a paddle but used to always stop when the water touched his tummy, he never liked going any further in than that. At the puppy pool he was fitted with a life jacket and an inflatable collar so his head wouldn't dip under the water.

He didn't seem to like it all that much, but he was very brave. The therapist was in the pool with him holding on to his life jacket and kind of pushing him up and down the pool whilst he kicks his little legs about swimming along. I had to run alongside the pool shouting encouragement so he would swim towards me and not just try and climb out. I ended up drenched too. :D

Every lap of the pool was the equivalent of a mile's trot and he did six or seven laps in his first session. He wasn't all that keen on the swimming, but he was enjoying all the attention anyway so I think he had a good time overall. He's booked in for a couple of sessions a week now for the next six weeks, I'll try to get some photos next time he looks a right star in his life preserver.

Well this weekend I busied myself with a bit of new BB Code, three new smilies to indicate social networking sites, a couple of requested ones, and a special Morningstarr* one too. :themorningstarr:

I also added the :youtube: smiley as a post icon.

I also created a custom BB Code for embedding Imgur photo albums, full details of that here: http://www.morningstarr.co.uk/forum/...ur-albums-130/

Seem to be working nicely, so that's good.

I'm continuing filling the forum manual, makes it easy to decide what to write about when I can see which parts of using the forum some members struggle with.

Hopefully @Major Starbold will give me a few leads. I can always go back through his old posts to see his previous ones too.

I'll also go through the plug-ins and explain how they all work. That'll keep me busy for a while.

I've made a start this evening on the 'forum manual'. I've written an introduction explaining what the idea is, the idea is to create a few articles to explain different forum functions such as the 'no swearing' style and how to install it. Or the user tagging system, and what that's all about.

If anyone has any other suggestions for 'how tos' on anything else concerning the forum just let me know.

I've continued work on the content management system this weekend and added two widgets which a vBulletin.com forum member kindly coded for me.

'Most Viewed' and 'Most Popular (reply count)' widgets on the homepage are working well. I've selected to exclude the Pornstarr* section and Natter so it doesn't look like all we talk is filth and nonsense. ;)

Have a look on the homepage to see them in action, 2 Girls 1 Cup is still out most viewed thread, and Random Facts is our most replied thread, but excluding the porn and chatter Top 10 Beauty Treatments you'll find in your kitchen cupboards is our most viewed thread and the most replies are in the good old forum jukebox.

I'm struggling at the moment to style them correctly, so they look like the other widgets.

I've written another article for the site's homepage now, there's a link to it at the bottom of this post.

Still having issues with it, the CMS, or content management system. I tried for ages yesterday to get the article to publish, and with no success. I tried again today and found that the problem was from trying to edit the 'SEO URL Alias', which basically means the search engine friendly addresses that it generates automatically.

Well, at least I've got to the bottom of that, so I'll continue onward and upwards.

Over the next few months I intend knocking out dozens and dozens of articles explaining all about the forum and how it all works.

Here's that link: http://www.morningstarr.co.uk/forum/...ty-forums-122/

Well, following the recent updates made to the forum software I'm faced with the task of adjusting, editing and customising it all so it looks the nod's bollocks.

I've decided that the homepage content portal will be used primarily to promote the forums and also explain and instruct new or potential members how everything works.

Anyone who would like to help out can write a simple and short but concise article explaining how a forum function, such as posting an image, works. Include plenty of screenshots and images to help explain things as clearly as possible. That's what I'll be doing from now on. I'm going to create a section of the publishing suite entitled the 'manual' and will post articles giving clear instructions on everything from making replying to a post to uploading an avatar.

Another section will be all about the Morningstarr* community, and forums in general. I know how people on forums love talking about life on forums, so that is what we shall do. I want articles about how brill it is on here, but also articles on forums and forum life in general. You know the kind of thing, like those daft stereotyping articles which label people as stalkers, trolls, brown-nosers, etc...

We could do with letting people who think that Facebook and Twitter are practically the internet know how much better forums are, and why they should join one. This one.

And, thanks to Timey's smashing article on Google's privacy policy there will also be a section on the 'internerd' as a whole, with social networking a main feature I hope.

The recent upset over some blinkety-blimey mySQL injection is thankfully over. Security measures have been improved and that situation will also be monitored more closely.

I hope the new blogging platform will become a welcome feature of the forum, it all adds to the fun of being a member here.

So, that's today's blog on the running of the forum. Be sure to check out the homepage to see the marvellous welcome message I have spent all chuffin' morning making.