Monday 7th October
Well today was a write off I had a hemiplegic migraine something I haven’t had in a few years and ended up being in bed pretty much all day. Dembe was an absolute hero and stayed with me. He wouldn’t even let me go to the bathroom without being stuck to my side.
Due to having the migraine there are no photos and nothing in his diary. He was just my darling boy, sleeping with his face pressed against the left side of my face.
To make up for it here is his video that I shot on Sunday night of him doing his sock trick.
Tuesday 8th October
We decided that today we would take Dembe to the vets and get him weighed and then go on into town and have a walk around ( well for me a scoot around).
The vets was upsetting as he had put on 600g which meant he has to lose weight. He was 32kg last month and although his weight gain has massively decreased – at one point he was putting on 2kg a month, now his weight should be settling. I was a little annoyed as last month at 32kg there was no mention that he needed to lose weight but a different veterinary nurse and now all of a sudden it is a different story. He still has a waist but it isn’t nipped in enough. He is already on a much smaller amount of food than he should be but I know in my heart he gets too many treats so those will all be cut down too. At least it was only 600g and not 2kg, I would have died of embarrassment.
After the vets we went for a mooch around the town centre, we went all around the indoor market, he was a bit naughty as he jumped up at the counter in the market to see what everyone was doing. I managed to pick him up an American Football Kong as both of his current ones had broken so had been thrown away. As we were going around the market a tiny wee toddler walked up to him and gave hims a stroke. She was so cute, she said to him “hello little doggie” Dembe gave her a sniff whilst his tail went bonkers. His head was the same height as hers so it made me laugh when she called him a little doggy. He was so curious about her.
After the indoor market we walked all the way through the town to give Dembe some exposure to traffic noise, crowds, wheelchairs, pushchairs and any other item he may not have come into contact with before. He coped really well and did himself proud. He was pretty exhausted by the time we came home, as we had been out for an hour. All he did was sleep pretty much for the rest of the day.
We had dog training this evening, Dembe was having a bad day at the office. He was knackered I think from earlier and was just finding it too difficult to concentrate on Jay. He kept getting distracted by Suki the giant Schnauzer. Suki was struggling too which is a real a shame as there were only the two of them in class this evening and they could have got so much more out of it. I have to remember though that out of 11 weeks training he has had two bad nights and tonight was still nothing compared to the nightmare of his very first training class where Jay and I wanted the ground to open up and swallow us.
We had a really long chat with Martin the trainer before class as we have been having awful problems with Dembe refusing to eat his food. He doesn’t have any medical issues as he chews his bones and chew toys, he eats everything else but his food. Martin said it was weird as another one of his clients had contacted him this week to say they were having the same problem with their dog and he is on exactly the same food as Dembe.
So we came away with a plan, firstly to change his food bowl from stainless steel to pottery. Then to add in some adult food of a different flavour to see if it is the food that is the issue, as possibly it is one batch that just doesn’t taste the same as it did previously. To aid his weight loss we need to reduce his food by 30g a day and split his meals so he has a smaller evening meal than breakfast. Still give him treats for training but to make them smaller and to work for longer before he gets one. Martin had a good look at him and said to us not to panic, Dembe only needed to lose a few pounds, needed more of a nipped in waist and feel his ribs a bit more. He wants us to weigh him next Tuesday and let him know if he has lost weight / stayed the same or gained. I felt much happier after speaking to Martin. He also said Dembe shouldn’t be put on adult food as a way to get him to lose weight as he still needs the puppy food mix of protein and crabs, just cut the meal size down. So fingers crossed next week he has lost some weight.
He loves dog training so much he cries all the way there with excitement. We really need to do some more lead training with him it is just a bit of a nightmare getting Jay to do lead walks as he prefers going up the common.
Wednesday 9th October
Dembe was cream crackered today, he spent a lot of the day fast asleep.
At one point during the day I went upstairs and found him asleep on my bed like this. It took me ages to get him to wake up so we had lots of cuddles.
This morning when I gave him his breakfast I switched his bowl to one of our pasta bowls. Martin had suggested that perhaps his bowl was giving his food a metallic taste. I gave him 65% of his food for the day for breakfast. He did eat better out of the pasta bowl. He needed a bit of encouragement but he did eat it a lot better than he normally would. I wormed him after breakfast as he was due, today he decided instead of like all the other times he has been wormed that he wouldn’t eat the tablet out of my hand. I wrapped it in ham and gave it to him. He ran off upstairs and hid beside my bed. I made my way upstairs to see what he was doing. He had taken the ham off the worming tablet and was now eating the tablet by itself. Bloody satan that dog!
He had 35% of his total daily food in the evening and I have moved his evening meal to 4pm so he has longer between eating and bed time so he burns more calories off rather than it bulking him out. This was another of Martins suggestions. He ate his dinner much better again and I didn’t have to hand feed him at all to get him to eat. Tomorrow his adult arden grange is arriving. I got Salmon flavour as Dembe loves fish. The Weims all loved this flavour too so I am hoping he likes it as much.
Thursday 10th October
We woke up at 6.30 and came downstairs. I had to stand in the back garden to get Dembe to come outside and go for a wee. He will hold on for stupid amounts of time if you don’t go outside with him and say the magic words Busy Busy!
He is full of beans today after barely being conscious for most of yesterday. As Jay is on a late night he took Dembe out for an hour’s walk for the first time.
It was a walk Jay used to do with the Weimaraners many years ago and hadn’t done it for quite some time. Dembe loved it although he was getting very tired by the end of the walk. He came home had some breakfast and went to sleep for a bit. Just as well because before the walk he was throwing his carrot around the lounge to demand his daily exercise.
Dembes new food arrived this morning too late for his breakfast but in more than enough time for his dinner. I knew his interest was piqued as he was sniffing the bag like mad. I took a video to show Jay how his new food had gone down . He is only having a 3rd of his food as the Adult food as he is still a puppy and this is to see if the taste of the puppy food was the issue.
As you can see it went down very well. He even went back and licked the bowl.
Jay’s shift time got changed before he went into work so he went in earlier and was finishing at 7pm. After Dembe’s dinner and before Jay got home he went absolutely crazy. You would have thought he hadn’t been out for a walk all day.
He did get taken out for a very quick walk in the evening as he has got to a stage where he would rather poo on a walk than in the garden, which none of our boy dogs have done before.
Friday 11th October
Jay was late night tonight so Dembe got taken out for a long walk but not as long as yesterday as it would have been too much for him two days on the bounce.
Since my migraine on Monday I have had awful after headaches and today was one of those days. So although I did a couple of hours sewing, I spent the rest of the day cuddling my baby on the sofa.
I just love his expressive eyebrow in this photo.
I went outside with him to get some photos as I suddenly realised in the afternoon I hadn’t taken his photo. He wasn’t going to play ball, I asked him to sit so he laid down.
Tonight with his dinner he had his first taste of tinned Mackerel and went crazy for it. He hoovered his food down with zero cheerleading from me. Each meal time is getting better and better.
Saturday 12th October
Today is flu jab day for me so Dembe is all confused as to why I am up and dressed so early. He was very excited when Jay came back from work to take me to the doctors surgery to get my jab. They waited in the car whilst I was in and out in 5 minutes. Poor Dembe when Jay dropped me home he thought his dad would be back again soon and refused to leave the sofa by the front door. He lay so he could see through the frosted glass panels when Jay would reverse up the drive. After an hour he gave up and went to sleep on the sofa.
I forgot to say when we came in from the car Dembe was acting like I had left him for hours. It was a struggle getting my coat and boots off as all he wanted to do was sit on my lap and give me lots of kisses the silly devil. He is funny you never know how he will be.
We have had a lazy day after the rush to get out for the flu jab. He has been ridiculously cuddly.
He had his dinner this evening without me being in the room and he didn’t walk away from it. This hasn’t happened for months. I really hope that we have got on top of the meal eating issues. Who would have thought a change in bowls and some food of a different flavour would be enough to get him eating properly.
He knows that Jay will be coming home soon so he is pulling every toy out of his toy box and chucking it around the lounge.
Sunday 13th October
We had a lazy day today after seeing family in the morning. Dembe wore himself out following people around the house and desperately trying to get Maggie’s attention. As soon as everyone left he settled down and went to sleep.
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