James Robert

Long day. A prospective tenant showed interest in the Marine property last week, wanted to move in Wednesday (this week) but didn't call on Friday to confirm. We still worked a schedule that saw us finish tomorrow night although we had more or less lost hope of them following through as there had been no call. But at 3pm - they arrived and yes, they are moving in on Wednesday.

My wife got most of the cleaning done today so she just has a major caulk-athon on her hands tomorrow. I still have a couple of finishing jobs - like making the front door actually fit its frame for a start, and drilling the wretched front door threshold back into place.

But todays Blip is our dog James Robert, commonly known as JimBob.

We took him on primarily as a yard dog. He wasn't going to be an indoor dog. But a really cold Christmas put paid to that and we brought him in. Where's he's been ever since really. He doesn't mind going outside, and although he was never meant to be a couch dog, he does enjoy sleeping on the couch.

He's a bundle of energy, as all our guests instantly discover, but once he's got past that, he's really good fun. He's just such a great companion and he's so hard to dislike. Everyone compliments him on being a "purdy dog", so it's still a surprise that he got thrown out 4 months ago.

He is also now totally mange free. His coat is growing back nicely but still has a way to go, especially the under coat, but I'm beginning to think that this guy won't actually be that hairy, he'll always be a little bit pink.

Unfortunately he's picking up no end of fleas. Washed about 20 off him on Friday. The problem is that he needs to be clear of the mange medication by a month before he can start on a real flea treatment for outside-working dogs.

And he is a working dog too. He likes his routine, a routine that wasn't going to plan much to his annoyance this morning. He wanted to leave for work, we had to do a few other things first. He wanted to leave!

The other strange thing is having Mason now, the little rescued chihuahua. It's not that Mason is a bad dog, but he has bad habits. But his bad habits show how good JimBob really is for the most part. Peeing in the house isn't so much a battle, but Mason had a brainfart last night in the kitchen and got suitably chastised for it. We've never had that problem with JimBob. Mason also has these little quirks, you can't put your face near him otherwise he gets very upsets and starts shrieking, he has no concept of the outdoors, he has no idea what a lead is and gets upset at the thought that he has to follow where the lead holder is going. He eats cat poo.

He's not difficult to live with, but him and JimBob could not be more different.

Having said that, you'd be hard pressed to find common ground between a pitbull and a chihuahua.

The other strange thing is that the two of them really are best of buddies, although JB will always put himself first, so much so that Mason got dragged by his running lead out of the house we were working in this afternoon so JB could line up in front. But they are starting to stick together I've noticed. Even Mason being told off last night showed some solidarity between the two - although not enough for them to share the punishment of course as the sofa was far more comfortable for JB.

And although we thought it was JB sticking to Mason (JB adores the company), but even Mason follows the cues from JimBob, like sitting in the back of the car and not in the front.

They make an unlikely couple it has to be said. My wife described a picture of taking them to work this morning on the lead - JimBob was pulling for all he was worth - knew exactly where to go, whilst Mason had to be dragged along as he hates the lead. She got some funny looks as the two dogs dragged her arms out of their respective sockets.

This photo was taken this evening at the end of work time. I noticed that the temps had dropped quite quickly and our pitbull now seemed to be shivering - so I put him in the car to wait for my wife.