Posts tagged ‘parental neurosis’
Puppysitting for Dummies.
Tim went to collect Fred, leaving Adam alone with Phoenix all day. Adam went into a panic, unsure what he was supposed to do if the dog vomitted, howled or freaked out. He knew that unlike with babies you can’t slip the pup some brandy (damn those animal welfare laws) or chocolate (because this would lead to death). So in the great British tradition, a leaflet was prepared and all was well in the land of mutt:
Instructions for Adam 1.
Instructions for Adam 2.
What Could Have Been…
Y’know we could easily have made this blog a document consisting of every meal, trip to the toilet and snooze that Phoenix has had since day 1. That’s because it’s all been documented on daily report sheets. Then in years to come if anyone was wondering what time Phoenix went for her morning walk on say, today, they could simply access our database and get all the info they ever wanted. Luckily for everyone we are not that sad. Nearly, but not quite:
There's more where this came from!
Much more.
A.D.D. hits Show Ring Horror.
Ringcraft pre-stack positioning.
First proper ringcraft session for Phoenix under Judge Glenys Sykes of Daraquist English Setters. Phoenix was typically excited and indeed excitable in the midst of twenty-odd other dogs. She was highly praised for her spirit (!), although a little more control would certainly have made the evening less like a wrestling match and more like a dream walk in the ring…
…still, everyone was extremely complimentary (at least to our faces) and hopefully Tim’s handling skills will slowly improve alongside Phoenix’s concentration.
Ringcraft examination.
There were lots of really nice people at the session and we met some of the heavy hitters in the gundog show world .
Phoenix’s status as an only dog at home seem to mark her out as being notably more “animated” than any other puppies present, all of whom came from multi-dog households. Once again, all we can do is persist with her canine socialisation programme, and hope that we can get her as focused in the ring as she is at home.
Uh-Oh Snow…
Bouncy in the First Snow.
We didn’t make it to Puppy Gurus because of the extreme weather – snow fluttered down and cars crashed everywhere, stopping us from getting out of the little valley we live in. Tim was particularly peeved because he’d been working on the whole sit-stand-down thing all week, and had primed Phoenix for a perfect performance* in front of the doggy posse. Oh well.
* OK passable performance if truth be told, but this is the internet and everybody lies on the internet, so we’re sticking with perfect!
Howl, Howl and Howl Again.
Sling Shot.
Bit of a nightmare night last night – we have got into the habit of letting Phoenix sleep on the sofa with us, and then when she’s put to bed, she’s too rested to sleep and starts howling. Which she did for quite some time. Our books all say different things about what to do. Some say to ignore it, some say to comfort her. We tried ignoring and that didn’t go down too well. Tim got up and comforted her which settled her, but poor old Phoenix had a bad night overall.
The overall problem is Phoneix’s waking/sleeping schedule is out of sync with ours. Whatever we try to do to keep her awake later in the evening, she still crashes out at 8.00pm and then wakes up at 5.00am (with a toilet break in between).
This week the ringcraft and training courses start so hopefully that will allow us to alter her routine and get everyone synchronised…
Phoenix also has an itchy paw, we had a look and couldn’t find anything but it’s annoying her.
Good training session in the kitchen today: we’ve found that limiting the space helps to focus her more and stops her wandering off to chew random objects. Like us.
It’s OK the Washing Machine’s Safe.
Puppy Gurus Logo.
The first Puppy Gurus training session. This was for human companions only. We left Phoenix on her own for two hours which is the longest she’s ever been left so far. We’d been building up periods of isolation from a couple of minutes up to about half an hour. We’d heard tales of dogs left alone destroying sofas and gnawing washing machines in half so were unsure what to expect.
In the event, she slept through the whole period and was just waking up when we got back and starting to tuck into a chicken wing.
Tracey gave out a lot of info, which has to be read and will be tested next week. Nobody mentioned homework…
No Madam, She is NOT Brown…
First Rays of Sunshine.
Nobody has guessed correctly what breed Phoenix is. At the vets they volunteered Rhodesian Ridgeback or Italian Spinone AND they asked if they could put her colour down as “BROWN”!!!!! Tim became quite agitated, so affronted was he… 🙂 Needless to say, we corrected them: it’s Russet (as featured in the breed description).
Weight Watchers and Knobbly Knees.
Looking at the River for the First Time.
Between the 6th and 13th Phoenix went from six kilos to eight: a 25% increase in body weight in a week! We suddenly thought she was looking skinny – she had the same body on very long and enormously thick legs. Her rear legs looked slightly awkward and we went into a panic spiral thinking she was becoming cow-hocked. Cue much worrying and wailing about what we’d done wrong, what terrible parents we were and how the doggy social workers were gonna come and take her into care.
Luckily, a reassuring email from Diane Parry (Mallard’s human companion and font of all knowledge HWV related) told us to pull ourselves together; she’s just growing and going through a gangly phase!
We now know that Phoenix is going to be a big lady as her legs and paws are huge and we have to wait for the rest of her body to catch up.
Belatarr Hungarian Wirehaired Vizsla. 