W/C 19th August 2019

 

Monday 19th August

Dembe was a very sleepy boy today. We seem to have days where he is manic and days where he sleeps all day long. He either likes to sleep on me / next to me or on the small sofa in the lounge, scooched up on cushions.

For some reason today Dembe wanted to bark at everything, no idea what was bothering him but every little noise he heard that came from outside was being barked at. Noises like kids playing, neighbours talking, cars driving past were being barked at . He was even running upstairs and barking out of Jays bedroom window which is something Mollie used to do. It was very strange. He also spent a lot of time in his favourite place on the window ledge.

We did have lots of cuddles which was gorgeous. I managed to capture this photo and I realised how much it looked like a photo I took 9 months ago when he was 9 weeks old.

When we got back from taking Dembe out for his walk this evening we came across a curled up hedgehog on our front garden. We managed to get Dembe inside without seeing it.

We took him across the road to my neighbours house as their garden although enclosed backs on to a lane where it would be safer and more full of food sources for him / her. I checked him over and there were no parasites or open wounds.

Tuesday 20th August

Dembe didn’t wake up until 5.30am for his breakfast, Jay was so out of it when I woke him he started having a go at me for letting him oversleep by an hour. I didn’t say anything as I knew he was still half asleep. He had woken up thinking it was Monday. He did apologise later and said he had got confused and was convinced he was going to be late for work.

When Dembe woke up for the second time he was determined to have all the pack together, so he went into Jays room to wake him up.

A friends husband popped up today to borrow my wheelchair for his wife Julie. She is recovering from a huge operation on her ankle and can’t weight bare at all at the moment. Get well soon Julie. Dembe was really shy with Nigel to begin with, we think it is because we don’t have many male visitors to the house and not ones he doesn’t know. Dembe kept running over to me and standing over me. We haven’t seen him act like that before ( but with the barking yesterday he seems a bit out of sorts) . By the time Nigel left, Dembe adored him and was playing tug, ball and kissing Nigel. It was very sweet. After Nigel left Dembe was shattered.

We had a lovely walk together in the afternoon, we went out longer than normal which was good fun, although my mobility scooter really didn’t like the gradient. Dembe led the way all the way around our little circuit. He went straight to sleep when we got in and we had to wake him up for dinner.

We needn’t have worried about him being so tired as he got a second wind about two hours later and we were playing out in the garden with him.

Wednesday 21st August

Dembe had breakfast at 5am, Dembe had been stirring for a while. Jay decided to stay up as he was taking Dembe out for a walk before work. Either Dembe settled or I was so knackered that I went back to sleep and I didn’t wake up until they got back from their walk at the model airfield.

As Dembe hates going out for an early walk Jay had to bribe him with two cocktail sausages to get him out of the front door. He really isn’t a morning dog! Just as well Jay went out early, as part way through the walk he got a call to ask him to go in earlier. Good for us as it means he will be home earlier .

Dembe is following around the house, to the point I am tripping up on him. I am really suffering bad headaches at the moment due to my neck coming out of alignment when I sleep and I am sure Dembe is picking up on the fact it makes me feel so rotten.

He was again on the window ledge watching the world go by!

Uncle Paul popped over today to collect a parcel that I had delivered here for him. Dembe was over excited, he just loves Paul so much he gets silly. He embarrassed himself as he knocked Paul’s coffee into his lap ( thank god it didn’t burn him) as he brought his football over for Paul to throw for him but barged into him. I could have died. Paul took it in his stride and said it didn’t matter. I really wish that Dembe didn’t get so excited when he see’s some people as he then ends up behaving like a hooligan until he calms down.

I managed to finish the quilting on my quilt today. It still needs bound but the hardest part is done. Dembe has been so well behaved whilst I have done this and just entertained himself or slept whilst I worked on it.

Thursday 22nd August

Oh my days my head is even worse today. I am having to wear my soft collar a lot of the time to keep the pressure off my neck. Dembe is being very good and looking after me. Jay is on a late night so got Dembe out nice and early for a good walk.

He has been on the window sill every day this week, at least twice a day. He loves it there.

I went up to bed at 7pm but Dembe wouldn’t come up with me. He has started waiting for Jay to come home so refuses to move away from the small sofa by the front door. He won’t come up to bed now until Jay gets home after 10pm. I hate it as Frankie and Mollie always used to come up to bed with me, it feels weird being in bed by myself. Willow would always wait for her dad so would sleep on the landing or half way down the stairs so she could see him get in before everyone else. He only started doing this last week. I had hoped it was a one off. I hope at some point he decides to stay with me until his daddy gets in. But I won’t force him to stay upstairs.

Friday 23rd August

Dembe woke me up at 6.30am by dropping a tennis ball on my face! Not even remotely funny, I haven’t had a great nights sleep and he has been crying trying to wake me up since he came back upstairs after his breakfast.

As Jay is on a 10-7 shift he got Dembe up the common quite early. He went to the model airfield again where they met another Labrador aged 17 months called Sid. They had a crazy time playing together, they played chase which is Dembe’s favourite. By the time he got home he was hot and knackered.

We have been messing around today having cuddles on the bed. My head yest again is crap so I have been lying down on and off trying to ease the feeling of pressure at the base of my skull. During one of these play periods Dembe has managed to scratch my arm with his dew claw. My skin is very fragile due to Ehlers Danlos Syndrome so what would be a normal scratch on others is this on me

As the weather is really nice I got Dembe’s paddling pool out. He went crazy! I haven’t seen him like that since the garden was revamped and he got to play on it for the first time! He was running to the back of the garden and then leaping into the paddling pool. For his own safety in the end I had to turn the hosepipe off as I was terrified he was going to slip and then really injure himself. We still had fun out in the garden though. Just calmer fun. I also got his solar fountain out and had that running.

Saturday 24th August

This photo really made me laugh today

Especially when captioned with “Truth be told Dembe was never going to win the World Championship of Hide & Seek” or “has anyone seen Dembe? I can’t find him”. He is such a silly sausage sometimes all Jay and i can do is laugh at him.

My arm is looking a bit of a mess today as more of the bruising has come out. Thankfully it isn’t hurting anymore.

My head was muzzy again today so I have taken it quite easy, well as easy as I could manage. In the evening we went over to my parents van after Dembe had his walk. He had a good game of chase with Maggie going crazy and stealing her raw hide again.

Sunday 25th August

Dembe having a snooze after his walk up the common with daddy this morning. Today they went to Woodbury castle but as it was early and very misty they didn’t see another soul the whole time they were out.

As I am writing up this week’s diary entries into his Blog, Dembe has got on the window sill and is watching me work. He likes lying so that his nose is almost touching my shoulder. He looks like he is reading what I am writing!

Jay is on holiday now for a week so we shall be spending lots of time together, which Dembe will love. He loves his pack being all together,

Week commencing 12th August 2019

 

Monday 12th August

I can’t remember if I wrote about this last week or not but we are in the process of changing Dembe’s food over to Arden Grange, from the Breeders own Kibble. There is nothing wrong with the breeder Kibble it is just clear that Dembe just doesn’t get on with it. Since he was a tiny pup his poop has stunk and I don’t mean a little bit. If he had a poop in the garden you could smell it in the lounge. Obviously Jay and I aren’t new to dog owning, we know dog poo smells but even three Weimaraners had nothing on this. If he had a poop on a walk it would take 3 poo bags to subdue the smell but it still stank and he was also going 4 plus times a day.

Since we started to change over to the new food the smell of his poop has decreased 100 fold and the amount of wind he has been suffering from has also reduced. He would be able to clear a room before, as his wind stank even more than his poop. He really seems to enjoy the taste of Arden Grange. Currently we are keeping his food at half and half whilst we use up the last of his old kibble.

Dembe is being very sweet when Jay leaves for work at the start of the day or after he has had lunch. Once Jay shuts the front door Dembe scrambles onto the window ledge and watches him leave. Sometimes he will stay on the window sill for up to an hour just to see if Jay is coming back. Also about 30 minutes to an hour before Jay gets home from work he will get on the window ledge and keep watch.

Tuesday 13th August

As usual Jay was day off today so he got Dembe out nice and early up at the model airfield. He has started to delicately put his feet in puddles, he has always avoided them before. He doesn’t seek them out but will now get his feet wet.

Dembe has been full of beans all day. He spent a lot of the morning / early afternoon on the window sill watching the world go by. It seems to be his thing at the moment. God knows what the neighbours think when they see an almost fully grown Labrador squeezing himself onto the ledge.

In the afternoon we all went back to the airfield and took a different walk. We came across a dog walker with 6 dogs, all who played with Dembe. jay had to take his hat off and I had to take my sunglasses off as one of the dogs a lovely brown Springer Spaniel didn’t like people wearing hats and sunglasses. The walkers black Lab stole Dembe’s American football. This is always very popular with all the dogs we come across and every walk time is spent copaxing whomever has stolen it to give it back.

We also came across a fox red / blonde Labrador that was a year old and if you looked quickly you couldn’t tell the difference between Dembe and him. We asked if he was a Broadleaf dog but he came from Cullumpton and was a year old. They did look incredibly similar.

Dembe is still not cocking his leg as yet when he wee’s. He is definitely scenting on his walk doing lots of tiny wee’s, he tentatively lifts his back leg off the floor but it doesn’t go to a full cocking of the leg.

His poo is most certainly less smelly with the Arden Grange, only needed to be wrapped in one poo bag and I didn’t spent the rest of the walk gagging!

Wednesday 14th August

Jay took Dembe up to Woodbury Castle this morning where they bumped into the lady who has 5 Labradors all different colours. They have been bumping into each other since Dembe was tiny and all her boys love having a game of chase with him. About 20 minutes after they had left the house I got a message from Jay to say they were both soaking wet and could I get some towels ready for their return. The weather is really crappy today.

I gave Dembe a new Yak chew today. He now knows that “get cheese” means he needs to find his Yak cheese chew. He has known the “where’s your kong” means to go and find his kong toy. You can also ask him to “find Crocodile” and he will retrieve it from the toy box.

Another day another arse end of a dog hanging off the window sill.

I went up to bed at 18.30 as I was tired and in pain. Jay wouldn’t be home until gone 10pm. For the first time ever Dembe flatly refused to stay upstairs with me. He kept going downstairs and sleeping on the small sofa by the front door or in his bed. Normally he comes up to bed with me and stays there only getting up when Jay gets home. I kept getting up and checking that he was ok.

Dembe really struggles with understanding that Jay will be late home. He understands early shifts and 9-6. He has a bit of bother with 10-7 as he will quite often start to wait for Daddy to get home from 5pm. A late shift really does unsettle him.

He knows the sound of Jays car now and will only bark when Jays keys are in the door. He is a lot quieter than Frankie, Willow or Mollie were.

Thursday 15th August

Dembe woke up at 5.30am and had his breakfast but he wouldn’t settle back to sleep. He kept wandering between Jay who was downstairs and me up in bed. His campaign to get the pack together eventually worked as I got up at 6.45am giving up on the hope of having some uninterrupted sleep. Which is why I refer to him quite often as the blonde bastard. I really need my sleep as it is always so broken, so I get very grumpy when I get less than I need,

As my eyesight was so poor today a mixture of dry eyes and an unknown neuromuscular disorder I was really limited to what I could do. So much of the day was spent playing with Dembe or giving him lots of cuddles. In the afternoon we played tug of war, oh my days he nearly pulled me off the bench on quite a few occasions!

Of course after lunch when Daddy went back to work and before he got home Dembe was on the window sill.

As Jay didn’t get back until 7pm there was a bit of waiting around. He got taken out for a nice walk to tire him out.

Dembe has a thing for spicy food, if Jay and I have curry he sits and drools. All the dogs we have owned have been crazy about spices.

Friday 16th August

Oh my goodness Dembe is 9 months old today!

Taken the day he turned 9 weeks old

Taken the day before he turned 9 months old

We had another very cuddly day together. Mostly spent with me in disbelief that our tiny little pup has turned 9 months old. It seems to have whizzed by. In all those 9 months he has only spent 8 weeks away from us. I couldn’t imagine life without him now, he is just so bonded to both of us. I have never known such a happy dog, Jay only has to walk into the room and Dembe’s tail goes mental. He loves us both so much and we love him so much more.

I attempted to take a selfie of us having a cuddle to celebrate his 9 month birthday, this was the best shot I got!

I love these two shots of him on the window ledge again. Every day he is up on the ledge watching the world go by or waiting for his daddy.

Saturday 17th August

Today Uncle Paul came over, Dembe adores Paul so was going absolutely crazy. It was the worst behaved he has been. I know why, it was because Jay is on an early shift as he was yesterday, which means Dembe doesn’t get walked until the evening. He was like a coiled spring, trying to dive on top of Paul, whipping him with his tail. In the end I got a brand new Yak chew out and let him have it. After a carrot and a dentastix it was the only thing that calmed him down! Thankfully Paul adores him and when I explained why he was being a nutcase he was fine!

After all that excitement Dembe spent the afternoon asleep!

Can’t believe how grown up he looks in this photo

Sunday 18th August

New day, new window ledge shots. He is utterly addicted to sleeping / being on the window ledge. He either spends ages looking out or he sleeps facing into the room. We think it is because the window is south facing so he has the heat of the sun on him.

He has been on the window ledge about 4 times since we all got up at 7.30am.

We have had a bit of a play in the garden. He loves playing in the garden with the tugger that our friend Angie bought him.

This afternoon we went for a walk on Woodbury common. We went to a different area for a change, which was nice as there wasn’t a soul there. Dembe was in ball carrying mode rather than wanting it thrown and he was happy to trot along beside us. He has got so good with the mobility scooter.

We are now going to have a relaxing rest of the day and he will be having sardines with his dinner as he hasn’t had them yet this week.