Monday 9th March
Jay was on his usual shift, as it was pissing down with rain – his words not mine he decided to give Dembe a walk around the block. He was out for 30 minutes trying to get the little bugger to have a poo. He flat out refused so they both came back to the house soaked through.
I was a bit concerned that Dembe would be a pain in the bum having not been properly as today was the third meeting of my craft group. However he was really well behaved. We meet up fortnightly at our house the group can be just 4 or up to 7 of us. Dembe initially was getting very over excited as we simply don’t have that many people coming to the house. However with these regular meet ups it has really calmed him down. He spent most of the meeting ( 2.5 hours) lying at my feet asleep. I did try sitting on the pouffe but he jumped up and knocked me flying so I swapped it out for a kitchen chair. It was hilarious. Thank goodness I wasn’t wearing a skirt as my legs were up in the air and I was flat on my back having my face licked. Much to the amusement of my friends.
Tuesday 10th March
We have a busy day today with Jay day off. We have several friends coming over. As one of them is bring her two week old baby Jay is popping into pets at home to get some bulls tails for Dembe. He loves chewing on them more than being fussed by visitors.
As is usual when daddy goes to pets at home he buys Dembe a toy……like he hasn’t got any! So today Daddy bought Dembe a baby T rex. I sometimes wonder if Jay if fulfilling his childhood dream of having lots of dinosaur toys!
I did emergency surgery on a few toys – two crocodiles and a carrot. All damaged in the line of duty whilst playing tug. Thankfully he doesn’t sit and destroy toys.
Sandra popped over for a coffee late in the morning and Dembe was only too happy to have some cuddles with her. He was very calm as he had seen her the day before. It is really going well having lots of people visiting which is why it is so sad that with this Covid business we may not have many visitors for a few months.
As Kat was coming with her baby we decided we would take Dembe out and give him a nice long walk before she arrived so that he would be less energetic. He has met babies before but it was quite a while ago. He seems to be very tuned into people, like with Sam and when Sandra broke her ankle when he was a tiny pup, so is always very gentle. I am more worried about him accidentally hurting the baby. I am sure he will be fine but initially we will keep him in the kitchen to ensure he has calmed down before letting him in.
He had a lovely walk although was a bit muddy when he got back. He gets hosed off in the garden with no issues at all. Normally the Weimaraners would run a mile at the hose going on. Where as Dembe runs towards it, he still wanders into the shower cubicle most mornings whilst I am having a shower.
Kat arrived with baby Logan. It went perfectly. Dembe was curious and gave Logan lots of sniffs . He was very sweet, when I was holding Logan he jumped onto the sofa kissed me and then gave Logan the tiniest of licks. Logan was fine, I would have been mortified if he then screamed the place down but as Kat has dogs herself he was very good. Dembe was very interested in the car seat which is what happened when he was a puppy and we met baby Orla.
He was pretty shattered after his busy day and was having very long naps on the sofa only to discover that it was also dog training. Training this evening went brilliantly, he was easily the top of the class tonight. Very little barking, unlike the week before where he decided he would be a gob shite. He was the only dog when they were doing a sit stay exercise and then putting their toy down in front of them that didn’t break his stay. Also Martin the trainer came up and told Jay out of all the dogs, Dembe was the only one who wouldn’t be distracted when they were having a play session. Our training sessions are broken up with regular plays sessions for a few minutes so that the dogs associate the learning with lots of fun. Dembe and Jay have a whale of a time when they start playing and all he wants is Jay. The other dogs all get easily distracted even when playing with their owners. Jay and I pride ourselves that no matter how tired we are or how shitty we are feeling Dembe has at least one play session a day with us. It could be we find it – which is really a training session dressed up as playtime, it could be chase, cuddles and tug of war. Anything at all that strengthens the bond between us.
I have also over the months slowly disengaged from Dembe when he is in training so that when Jay does any exercise when he is off the lead he doesn’t bolt back to me. I am no longer the distraction I was to him. It is hard especially when he has done really well during an exercise as all I want to do is cuddle him and tell him what a star he has been.
Wednesday 11th March
Jay is late night tonight, so Dembe has had an early walk. He will get another walk at around 11am to ensure he has done as much of his business as possible before Jay goes to work. We have had a lazy morning and Dembe is absolutely shattered after yesterday!
I have managed to crack on with some sewing this afternoon and made Dembe some new treat bags for dog training class.
I made the prototypes of these last summer and the last one finally broke last night. I am amazed it has lasted as long as it did. I have made a few of these recently as presents and it was only after the one broke last night that I realised that Dembe only had the generic Good Boy one I made and had never had one that was personalised for him. I put #Team Dembe due to that’s what we are called at dog training.
As Jay is late night I ended up playing find it bunny with Dembe for ages. He just keeps going and going. I was having to stay up waiting for a delivery ( which never arrived) so Dembe was convinced his dad would be home soon and kept going to the door.
This is when I start to feel useless as I can’t walk him and although he has access to the garden he is refusing more and more to use it eve for going for a wee. Eventually I did get him to go. But he went for loads of wee’s when Jay took him out when he got home.
Thursday 12th March
As Jay was on a 9-6 today Dembe got a nice long walk on the common before he went to work. It has been dry for a few days so for a change he didn’t need washed off. When he got back I gave him his breakfast. Jay couldn’t believe how quickly he ate it and then licked the bowl clean. It is safe to say he is enjoying this new batch of food. Back in January when I started cooking for him I never imagined that he would enjoy it this much. I was worried I would be left with a freezer full of dog food that after 4 weeks he went off. Thankfully that hasn’t been the case.
I did some more sewing today but had regular breaks so I could have Dembe cuddles. He hates it when Jay is on a 9-6 shift, so from 5pm was quite hard work.
As soon as he saw me get the coats out he knew his dad was coming home. So he spent the next 5 minutes at the window waiting for his dad.
It was really light this evening so it was quite busy at the airfield. Today he had a lovely walk with a black Labrador the same age as him called Luna. They were running around like crazy, although he refused to follow Luna into the gorse bushes, he has never been a fan of going off the path. By the time he and Jay got back to the car he was utterly exhausted. I do love it when he has had a chance to have some fun with another dog as he loves to play.
Friday 13th March
Dembe had one of his days where he slept the majority of the day, so I cracked on with some sewing that I wanted to do.
As Jay was on another 9-6 shift he took Dembe out before he went to work up to Woodbury Castle. He said it was deserted and they had a nice long walk. By the time Jay got back is was torrential rain. Dembe was a bit better today waiting for Jay to get home, although he was keen to get out even with the rain. I got his coat on ready for when Jay got in so he could go straight out.
Saturday 14th March
Jay is on an early shift today, as it was dry he took Dembe up the common and gave him a proper run about before heading into work. However when I finally got up at around 7am you would have thought Dembe had never been out as he was like a coiled spring. Bringing me toy after toy attempting to get me to play with hims whilst I was struggling to wake up.
No sewing this morning I need a rest from it. So I have spent the morning updating Dembe’s blog from the hard copy I keep onto his blog ready for Monday when it will be published. My little puddin’ has slept beside me on the sofa for most of the morning.
Dembe has slept most of the day although he went absolutely mental when his dad came home. He had another lovely walk playing with another doggy friend.
Sunday 15th March
We are all having a quiet day. Due to the current Covid-19 issue we are limiting our contact with the outside world as much as possible.
Stay safe everyone
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