London Pride – 2015

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Jul 212015
 

Sorry this has been delayed, it’s been a hectic few weeks doing lots!

Saturday 27th June saw the London Pride parade taking place, and this puppy was out walking. Unlike last year, the weather was a little nicer – with glorious sunshine and warm temperatures compared to the rain of last year.

We set off from home, with the intention of getting the train and that I’d travel in as a pup… which meant I had to change in the station car park and then board the train *wags*. I’d decided that, as much as I wanted to do full hood and paws, this was probably not a sensible idea due to the heat.

The puppy assembly point was near the o2 “Be More Dog” bus which meant the opportunity for a photo was just too tempting.

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After the picture wast taken and before the walk, I went off to find a tree – 25 minutes later standing in a queue, I hadn’t had the chance to use one so I had to come back to assemble for the parade, and get fully kitted up. Then we waited… and waited… and waited.

During the waiting period, someone threw me a bag of chocolate buttons, which I tore my way in to, but unfortunately, the heat had got the better of them and they’d just turned in to a big chocolatey puddle 🙁 *whine*

Eventually we got a chance to set off, but progress down Baker Street was quite slow – with lots of stops and starts, so I was alternating from 4 legs to 2 legs, and due to the heat, I curled up lying down on the road, as it was too hot to be on all-4’s

We then turned on to Oxford Street and everything started moving that little bit quicker, and again, I was alternating from 4 to 2 legs – barking all the way.

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Somewhere down Oxford Street, we gained a blow up football which a few of the pups started playing with at various slow points during the route – for some reason, it seemed to keep re-appearing with us even if we ended up throwing it in to the crowd! *wags*. I also found a cardboard tube, which I was using as a big stick, chewing my way through it … but after a while, I gave it to another pup, who put it down 🙁 … A different blow up beachball got thrown at me, which I went to pick up with my mouth, as all good pups should do, but it went flat … *puppy eyes* it wasn’t me … … honest!

The rest of the walk was uneventful, to one extent – with a lot of walking and barking – with the heat making it slightly unbearable at times! This also meant that I had to keep alternating between being on all 4s or walking on 2 legs. A fun but hot parade making myself known to the crowds 🙂

After the parade, we did a few photos then went to join the rest of the pups in a nearby park for a quick lunch. After a quick bite to eat, I got re-pupped up to head for Nandos with my hood and paws, when a small ball arrived at my front paws. It came from a small child who was shouting happily ‘dog’ at their mum. i bopped the ball bck, whereupon it got thrown back to me with a happy ‘dog’ from the child. A photo with mum and the tot followed, before heading off for Nandos. Both Marbles and I rode the tube as pups, sitting in front of the door much to the amusement of other passengers.

After the Nandos, I headed home, on the train, fully dressed up as Spot… we took a stopping service so that there’d be quite a few people getting on and off the train, but it actually turned out to be remarkably quiet 🙁

Yet again, another fantastic day out – and with more pups than previous years as well.

And here’s a pic of all the pups that attended from @lonchastitysub 🙂

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*wags*
Spot

Birmingham Pride – 2015

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May 292015
 

The late May Bank Holiday weekend saw the Annual Birmingham Pride weekend event, and like previous years Spot went along for a day out… although this time, I had some time constraints so wasn’t able to stay for the entire afternoon.

As in previous years, we took the train, and I was intending on travelling up in Spot, but circumstances got in the way and I couldn’t change until I got there. After a quick pause in the Bullring shopping centre to get changed, and cheer up a few people on the way back through, we wandered down to the pride area.

After receiving the wrist band, which was attached to my harness as in previous years, we headed in to the pride area. To start with, we ended up having to go through security, where the bags and both my owner and I were also searched – I suppose for safety and legal reasons mainly.

This is where the fun begun – wearing figure hugging Lycra, there wasn’t really much place for me to hide anything. The comment from the security guard was along the lines of “I need to be sure that you haven’t anything to hide”, as I’d made the comment that I had no pockets to hide anything … I let him pat me down to be sure … he then announced to his colleagues, that I had nothing on me I shouldn’t and then proceeded to point at my middle area and went on to say “… well, apart from maybe that!” … he was referring to my manhood …. while another security guard exclaimed on the fact that there was a dog in the bag as well – referring to my pup hood and paws! We all chuckled and then were allowed in to the Pride village

We headed out in to CloneZone to have a quick look at some of the stuff in there, and we spotted a couple of things we liked and decided we may head back in later.

On to the wandering around the village… or after a quick stop for some food! Then it was on with the hood and paws, and the exploring began. We started with a few stalls, where the stall holders were wanting to chat to me and take selfies. We also collected a load of flyers and stickers while we wandered down the stalls.

Our next port of call was one of the fun fair rides, where I went on the ride as Spot – fully hooded and paws. Although, I did feel a little queasy when we came off as my peripheral vision is restricted when wearing my pup contacts and wearing the hood… but it was good fun anyway!

After the ride, we visited the police stall, where I managed to get my photo taken with some of the cute puppies that were there, and also let them meet a different sort of dog! One of the slightly older pups decided to lick my pup hood and nose … which brought a smile to all.

Meeting a Police Puppy

While we were wandering around, I kept getting stopped with people wanting pictures with me – or selfies. There was also a great reaction from the crowds in the bars, with people pointing and staring.

We were approaching our curfew for getting back home, so we headed back to the fairground section so I could go on the other ride I wanted to… again, the lack of peripheral vision made me feel not so good – but it was still fantastic fun.

Shortly before we left Pride, we bumped into Pup Echo.

meeting Pup Echo

Leaving the pride area, we headed back to towards the train station, with me still in full pup gear. An irresistible opportunity arose outside the O2 store in the Bullring though – a picture of a human pup next to the “Be More Dog” poster!

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We continued to head back to the station, and had to do the obligatory picture outside the Selfridges Building

Outside the Selfridges Building

While we waited on the train, I was sitting on the floor like a good pup…

Birmingham Platform Waiting

and it’s just as well trains only run the way the tracks go – as there was at least one train driver who was looking at me rather than the way he was going!

I then proceeded to stay as a puppy on the train where upon I slept for most of the journey home.

On the train home

It’s the first time I’ve actually slept with my pup hood and paws on. Our tickets were checked by the guard on the train, and he chuckled at me as I couldn’t hand him my ticket due to my paws. On leaving the train when we got to our stop, quite a bit of the passengers hadn’t realised I’d been there, and so as we came into the station, there were quite a number of people turning round from their seats to have a look and causing some amusement to some of the passengers. Shame the day came to an end so quick, but all in all it was fantastic fun!

*wags*

London Pride 2014

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Jun 282014
 

Today saw the Annual London Pride Parade and this pup was part of it, courtesy of Puppy Pride organising the walking group. So this morning, I sorted out the outfit, and as an added twist I included my E-Stim Systems Remote Box. There was a reason for the Remote Box though … Caz from E-Stim Systems was going to be my handler for the day so that my owner could take pictures.

Due to a slight delay at home, we got off a bit later than planned, but still with enough time to get there before the Parade started. En-Route, we met with Caz and Wayne and carried onto Baker Street. … A quick loo stop and snack and then down to meet the rest of the group. Once with the rest of the group [too many names to remember to list here!], I finished off putting the hood, paws and knee pads on, and became my pup self. … Then the rain started!!! Luckily we bought a rainbow brolly and it was big enough to keep this pup and Caz dry. Whilst waiting for the Parade to start I bumped into a few people I knew which was fun 🙂 *wags* and we all hoped the rain would pass – which by luck, it did just before we started.

Due to the ground being wet, I didn’t go straight off on all-4’s and walked normally 🙁 … technically though we hadn’t entered the public part of the parade yet, so it wasn’t the end of the world … We got near to the official start line and the sun had just tried to come out, meaning the ground had dried somewhat, so I dropped to all-4’s and was off! I had great fun, thought due to damp ground, and the parade moving a bit quicker than previous years, I had to drop in and out of being on all-4’s, but when stood up I did make myself known well by barking (loudly) at the crowds … who needs whistles 😉

At one point I went and said ‘hello’ to a real bio-puppy, too much amusement from people around. … The parade moved at a steady pace for the main part, so I was stood up, barking – though whenever we stopped I dropped to all-4’s and had fun with the crowds. One person even gave me their real dog so they could have a photo with me and the real dog *wags*

The main parade for me is a bit sketchy, as when in full pup mode, I don’t seem to really recall much, mainly because I’m enjoying just being a pup.

The rain stayed off for the most of the event, but when we did have a light drizzle my surrogate handler (Caz) did an excellent job of keeping me dry with the brolly.

The end seemed to come all to quick, and the group got directed into a side street to be able to have a mass group shot (or 2 or 3 or 4 ……. ) and then de-pup and head off our separate ways.

The decision for us was to head off back to Baker Street to the Nandos Chicken restaurant there to have some dinner …. though after dinner, I re-pupped up (as I hadn’t taken off the Zentai or knee-pads yet) and travel back home as a puppy on the train which caused much amusement to the carriage we were in – and it also confused the Beagle Bio-Dog that got on with us!

Overall a fantastic day out, the rain didn’t dampen spirits, and all had good fun …. some pics of me are here on my blog, and then as I find others I’ll do a couple of follow up posts

*wags* small paw tip up

Birmingham Pride – 2014

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May 262014
 

Saturday 24th May marked the main day of this year’s Birmingham Pride, and like last year, a group of pups decided that we’d go for a walkabout after the parade around the Pride Village… well, we had decided this but the weather gods didn’t quite agree!

My owner and I did decide to do the sensible thing this year, though, and arrived by train rather than trying to drive in to Birmingham and park… It was a little wet on our drive to the train station we stated at (Warwick, but more of that in a later post!) so we weren’t holding out much hope, and FugaPup was also trying to coordinate everyones thoughts on what to do…

I was already travelling in my Zentai outfit, just with my trousers and a fleece over the top as it was a little chilly, and I’d go see-through in the rain! On arriving at Birmingham we met up with everyone in on one of the pubs in the village for a drink while people were deciding what to do. After a bit of time in the pub, it was decided that those that were going to be in Rubber would go off and change which left the rest of us to wander around while they were away…

Really, this meant sheltering in a doorway while it rained and rained… but eventually, the sun did come out, the rubber pups returned and the fun began. We headed back to the pub we were in earlier first so that people could fully pup up and change in to their gear first of all.. At this point, there were four pups: Me, @PupGizmo, @PupTyler and @MLatexM

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We set off from the bar, and before we’d even got 50 yards from the bar, we were being approached for photos and pictures and being petted etc. We made a quick walk down to the Cabaret tent, where we then made a slower walk up from there so that people could see us etc. This was definitely a slow walk, as people kept stopping us and asking for pictures which was great fun 🙂

We ended up walking for just over 1hr on a stretch of road you could normally do in 10 minutes with so many people around, and so many people wanting pictures – young to old, male and female and even security guards and people representing the Emergency Services on site 🙂

We were later joined by a couple of other puppies who had just their pup hoods on and hadn’t changed, so by the end of the walk there was about 7 of us – all being stopped for photographs etc. As it was starting to get chillier, and @KinkyKKOB had an app on his phone predicting rain in 10 minutes, we headed down a side street to take a couple of group photos and head off. Even then we were still getting requests for photos though 🙂

We then went off and had a social meal with everyone and then it was time for us all to head home… but it was another fantastic day (despite the weather) and this pup had a great time *wags*

Spot

Jul 012013
 

I was sent this last night via twitter from: @sianbambina :
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*Wags* Thank you 🙂 – If there are any other pictures out there I’d still love to see them.

I have also been searching and found some more pics of the pups in the parade:
Pictures from Flickr (The first few links I can’t grab the image – but the links are here to the images)

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These are clickable pictures to the Flickr stream of the person who took them:

And here are some Facebook picture links:
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