CARPET AND RUG INSTITUTE GREEN LABEL PLUS

Well, I'd never thought I'd get Dilly to pose like this when I started her project. Dilly is a funny mix of a dog, in some ways very calm, very collected.... balanced, I suppose you might say and in other circumstances quite shy and submissive. Not much going on in life around her phases Dilly. I once got caught out in the middle of a raging thunder storm. Soon it was almost overhead, while my BC flinched and trembled and I glanced skeptically at the dark sky, Dilly calmly trotted along, wagging her tail and not batting an eyelid. Aggressive dogs don't provoke a reaction with her, you can take her anywhere and she doesn't cause a fuss or show fear. However, in some ways she does lack self confidence. She is unsure about having a lot of attention focused on her - whether it's strangers bending over her to say hi, or me pointing the camera at her.

That lack of self confidence and dislike of having a camera pointed at her for prolonged periods is why I never posted many photos of her up until this project - it's not that I didn't want to photograph her, I just didn't want to unnerve her by sticking a lens in her face. It's surprised me how far she's come, even in a couple of months. A few weeks ago, getting Dilly to pose like this would have been a nightmare. The moment I backed off and crouched to take the photo, Dilly would have been skittering over with her tail tucked and trying to hide between my legs! A lot of gentle encouragement, praise, toys and treats later and Dilly is turning into quite a cooperative and happy (even if she doesn't show it!) little model. Glad I took on this project... it's forcing me to to think differently about how to go about getting the shots I want with this little dog and I think Dilly is learning new things too. Also means I am finally, finally building a nice collection of photos of the little dog and it only took me nearly 9 years!

This was taken in the woods during a sunny walk earlier this week, so nice to be outside in the warmth and the sun for a change. I love walking through the woods in early spring - watching the first flowers show themselves and the buds appearing on the trees. Delilah enjoyed it too but she was more interested in attacking pieces of fallen bark and twigs than looking for the first signs of the bluebells that carpet these woods later in spring.
Hope everyone has a lovely week!

For the last 3 weekends I've been sorting out one of our attic rooms, Its not been touched since we moved in here nearly 6 years ago.

Due to the fact it's used for storage I've had to do one half of the room at a time and manouvre the stuff around as I go! So its been cleared, had two coats of paint and today I laid the first half of the carpet (its a remnant piece from when we had the hall stairs and landing fitted and the two pieces will fit the room perfectly)

So to celebrate my efforts of today here is a little mosaic of the 'new tidy' side of the room and the 'ruff as a badgers bum' side of the room!