W/C 20th July 2020

Monday 20th July

A busy day today for us. Jay was on an early so Dembe had an early trip up the common before he left for work at 6am. Today we had a steady stream of visitors to the house – the first since lock down started in March. The first visitor was my hairdresser, who Dembe was glued to the hwol time sniffing her as now she has her own Labrador called Loki. Due to lock down they haven’t met so he was very curious what this new smell was.

He was incredibly well behaved throughout my hair cut and didn’t try to eat the hair as he has done previously!

Then uncle Paul popped over for a coffee as he was dropping over the Gazebo for us to have. Dembe got a little excited to see him. He seems to go from 0-60 on the excitement scale quicker than you can flip a switch.

Paul had only been gone 10 minutes when his dad came back for lunch and then 15 minutes after the the plumber came to fix our sink which was leaking ( only discovered Sunday evening). The plumber was terrified of Dembe – which sadly I did find hilarious as a softer, dafter dog you couldn’t find and he isnt that big. He would have shit himself meeting Frankie. The silly bloke kept whipping his arms away from Dembe which then just signals a game. So I ended up having to hold Dembe’s collar to keep him away from the plumber.

After the plumber went I started having a migraine so Dembe and I went to bed and we were both asleep when daddy came home.

Resting after seeing Paul!

Tuesday 21st July

Jay is working today , another early so that will throw both me and Dembe out all day! He had another early walk up the common this morning before daddy left for work at 6am.

I noticed that Dembe has snapped the nail on his dew claw quite close to the nail bed. None of us know when he did it. He never cried or yelped on a walk or at home. When Jay came home at lunchtime we trimmed off the ragged part of the nail that he had snapped and also trimmed his other nail on his dew claw.

Before we trimmed it

We had a good session at Obedience training although Dembe was a bit barky. We were expecting it as normally Dembe would have had two longs walks during the day before training and of course he had only had one walk. So was full of energy! Considering that though he did do very well.

Wednesday 22nd July

Jay was on a late night today so Dembe laid across his dad most of the morning. It really makes my heart swell with love when I see my boys together. Dembe is utterly devoted to his dad and whenever he is home you can find Dembe with him.

Dembe with two dinosaurs in his mouth!

having a cuddle on my lap on Wednesday morning

So today was a dog walk with Martin from Happy Dogs. Dembe now knows that if Dad is on a late night he will get a walk with Martin. He waits at the window for him and his tail goes nuts when Martins van pulls up outside. Martin did a video from the common to show us how Dembe was getting on. I have now worries now about Dembe being out without is as he leaves the house without a backwards glance. When he gets home he races down the drive to get back home with me.

Whilst Dembe was out on his walk I gave his paddling pool a quick clean and then refilled it. Doing it with Dembe around can be a nightmare.

Knackered after his walk on the common

Thursday 23rd July

Would you believe it I had another migraine which means it has been 2 this week.

Dembe hates it when his dad is on a 9-6. From 16.30 on-wards he stands at the window barking at everything that passes by. He then lies on the sofa by the front door making huge sighing sounds so I know that he is fed up with waiting.

He was a good boy all day and the migraine didn’t strike until 5pm great timing the hours before Jay got home.

Friday 24th July

Jay was on another late shift today so he took Dembe out first thing and then went back to bed for a few hours. Dembe is very good at going back to bed in the mornings now. When Jay got up Dembe was refusing to leave the bed. He sent me these photos

Dembe went out late with Martin today as he couldn’t fit him in until 5pm which was fine with us as that is the normal time for Dembe’s walk most of the time. Unfortunately yet again I came down with a migraine at around 3pm. I was very grateful for a quiet hour to lie on the sofa as Dembe had been very keen to have his walk and his barks were going straight through me.

I had a chat with Martin when he came back, he said Dembe had done an enormous poo. It must have been big for him to remark about it. He had been a bit soft on Wednesday and I am guessing that was down to the changing over of his food to Wolfworthy which he is really enjoying now. Jay said himself that his poos are elephant like now in their size! ha ha ha the things us dog owners discuss with abandon.

We had an early night and Dembe settled down really well for me.

Saturday 25th July

Dembe is a happy boy as his dad is day off today. It also marks the first day of his holiday, Jay is off for the next 10 days together.

I was exhausted all day due to three migraines in a week and then waking up at 2.30am this morning and not being able to get back to sleep. We had a very quiet day.

Sunday 26th July

Dembe is eating so well now when he has his food. After all the stress of trying to get him to eat for the last few months it is good that he eats without issue.

Dembe is now back to sulking when his dad leaves the house without him. Jay had to go to the shop before Paul came over to help us put up a gazebo. Dembe immediately started sulking.

Dembe is being a good boy and keeping out of the way whilst Jay and Paul put the Gazebo together.

Can’t wait to spend the next week together as a family.

W/C 13th July 2020

 Monday 13th July

We had a quiet day as Jay was on an early shift and Dembe is not an early morning dog. The fact he isn’t a morning dog is quite strange for us having had the three Weimaraners who would be bugging us to get up anywhere from 1.30am so they could be taken out. Dembe likes going out for a walk at 5.30am but then he goes back to bed and sleeps. Sometimes he even refuses to get up at 4am when Jays alarm sounds for his early shift.

It was dark for their walk this morning for the first time in months, so Jay had to use a torch. Thankfully walks in the dark no longer bother Dembe like they did when he was a puppy.

Jay popped home for his lunch and as ever Dembe was very excited to see him. He loves his walk around the block at lunch time. Sometimes he even does a deposit for the bank of poo!

He was really fed up waiting for his dad to finish at 4pm

Monday evening he was all over his dad, as he always is whenever his dad is home! We walked back into the lounge after being in the kitchen to find him sprawled out on the sofa, lying on his dads dressing gown.

Tuesday 14th July

Today Dembe’s new grumpy cat toy arrived, within ten minutes he had killed the squeak which now seems to be his favourite thing to do with squeaky toys. He keeps chomping on them until they stop squeaking!

He carried grumpy cat around the house all day looking incredibly sweet.

We had dog training this evening and even if I do say it myself Dembe was the best behaved dog there tonight even if I do say so myself. There are only 4 dogs in the class, many haven’t returned due to Covid.

Tonight we worked on heel work, stay and recall. Dembe aced all of them, the only barking we had was when he felt he was being ignored by Jay. Part of one of the exercises was for Jay to put Dembe into a stay and then pull out his phone and look at that, keeping Dembe in his peripheral vision. Dembe didn’t like that at all and barked! It was hilarious watching him have a little hissy fit!

One of the trainers on the course said you could turn Dembe on a sixpence, she was very impressed with how he was doing. We have had two really excellent lessons now where he hasn’t barked the place down.

He was absolutely shattered again after the class

Wednesday 15th July

Jay was on a late finish today so Dembe had two walks this morning before he left for work. One at around 5.30am and another at 11.30am, so that he didn’t have to wait too long to go to the toilet, as he now refuses to go in the back garden.

He is still carrying his new grumpy cat toy everywhere he goes.

Dembe was a bit of a barky boy today. He is now looking out the window from about 2.30pm waiting for Martin to arrive to take him out for a walk. Unfortunately that means everyone who drives or walks past gets a gobful from him. Martin arrived at 3pm, Dembe let me know LOL! I now have to hold his collar when Martin arrives and I open the door to prevent him from making a break for the van he is so keen to get out. I feel an awful lot happier now that Dembe is so keen to go. I felt like the worst mum in the world the first few times he left with Martin, when I had to almost physically remove him from the house.

He trotted off happily down the drive and jumped into Martins van and off they went for an hour. Martin did us another video which I immediately share with jay so he can see that his baby boy is ok. Dembe is so precious to us after losing so many dogs he really is treated like a prince.

He was very tired and hot after his walk so I waited a while before I gave him his dinner. We are trying him on some new kibble as he seems to not enjoy the raw food. I am chucking away more than he is eaing. So we are now back to cooking dinners for him and adding in some Kibble. We are now trying Wolfworthy. He is becoming a real brat now with his eating.

This is a mixture of raw, Scoobies stew and Wolfworthy.

He had a nap and then we had a game of nudge

As we were both shattered we were in bed by 18.30. We spent the eving having cuddles and watching the Canadian Drama series Heartland.

Thursday 16th July

Dembe woke me up just before 5am, I tried to keep him occupied but he heard Jay stirring and raced in to see him. Ensuring he got up by bringing Jay a toy as he always does. He likes to bring you a gift when he wakes you up!

They had a lovely walk on the common, Jay said it was already ridiculously warm.

Dembe has been barky again today and watching me like a hawk. Im not feeling that great at the moment. Can’t put my finger on what it is. This afternoon we had a nap on the bed for an hour

Tonight he finally laid on his bed in the front room for the first time since it has been here, which is around 6 weeks!

Friday 17th July

Uncle Paul came over this morning and Dembe got very excited. We stayed out in the garden to comply with social distancing. Dembe had Paul throwing the ball and he was jumping all over the garden and playing nudge with his ball.

It has been a weird day and Dembe has picked up on this. My dad was in hospital for keyhole gallbladder surgery. It was supposed to be a day case but things didn’t go as planned. Dad came around to be told they couldn’t get his gallbladder out and had only removed half of it. He still has a stone wedged and it was full of infection. He should have been heading home at 2pm but the news we got was he was going to be in hospital for at least three days.

Dembe has been following me everywhere to the point I am tripping over him! Lots of cuddles.

It is so bloody hot today we are both hating it.

Saturday 18th July

Another quite day today. Jay is on his second early on the bounce. Dembe did not want to get up this morning and I had to persuade him to go downstairs and see his dad rather than continue to lie on top of me!

We had lots of cuddles today

We had some good news this afternoon, dad is coming home from hospital. I managed to speak to him when he had got home.

Dembe had lots of cuddles with his dad.

Sunday 19th July

We are having a restful day today as the last few days have been so bloody stressful.

As Dembe is going back to how he was eating before the failed raw experiment, we needed to cook him some meals. Today we have made meatloaf for him. I bet Jay he wouldn’t eat raw beef mince – seeing though he wont eat any of his raw meals or when he does it is just a few times a week. Dembe then decided he would eat the beef mince just to prove us wrong! He then looked for more.

Meat loaf is one of his favourite meals and he always hangs around in the kitchen when it is being prepared. He ate his breakfast with no issues again this morning he had Scoobys stew with Wolf worthy Kibble. That’s the first time his whole meal has just been wolfworthy and not mixed with his old Arden Grange.

It will be a quiet day today.

Next week he will have two walks with Martin due to Jays hours.

I forgot to mention one night last week I kept waking up as something kept tickling my nose whilst I slept…that something was Dembe’s tail lol!

W/C 6th July 2020

 Monday 6th July

I spent much of yesterday in bed and Dembe was by my side for the majority of it. Whilst I was watching a show on Netflix Heartlands , Dembe was fascinated by the horses

Ignore the state of my room I had been too unwell to tidy it up

He goes crazy every time there are horses on the television. Which as Heatland is all about a horse ranch in Canada – is quite a bit.

We had a very lazy day on Monday , I lay on the sofa a lot and Dembe shared it with me

Dembe also likes lying my chest, he weighs about the same as our Weimaraner Willow who passed away in December 2017. But I would never have managed her lying on my chest. His weight is distributed differently and he seems longer in the body than she was. He is ok until he moves and digs me with his bony elbows.

I’ve taken this photo from later in the week.

As I spent a lot of Monday lying down Dembe kept bringing me toys to see if they would make me feel better. He even brought me his favourite ball.

Tuesday 7th July

Dembe was the life and soul of the party all day

We were a bit concerned that due to the fact he had slept most of the day he was going to be a live wire at dog training this evening. Jay and I were really looking forward to getting back to training and some kind of normality.

I had to spend most of the day flat due to my CSF leak cropping up again, which meant a lot of the time sharing a sofa with Dembe.

Tonight’s dog training session would be the first time since before the lock-down we had been to class. Our last class had been 17th March. I was wondering how much of his training Dembe would remember. I needn’t have worried as Dembe and Jay had a cracking session.

Jay was singled out towards the end of the session to say how well he and Dembe were doing and that now they both needed to be working to a much more advanced level.

Due to Covid-19 each person and dog had a set area in the barn to work in, marked out with tape on the floor. On attending we had to wait outside – socially distanced and then wait to be called in. We then had to sanitise our hands and confirm that we were not suffering any covid-19 symptoms. We also had to confirm all our details were correct and up to date.

Dembe’s mate Rufus was there so they spent ages looking at each other. At one point Dembe was losing focus so Jay brought out his training toy the purple Rhino that Kate from the vets had bought him when we first got him. I will never forget that day. We were both really stressed as it had just been over a week since Mollie had passed away there and two weeks since Frankie. So the place was filled with very unhappy memories for us both. Plus we were worried people were judging us for getting another dog so soon. Kate came out from behind the desk and gave us a hug ( back in the days when you could do that) she had a card welcoming Dembe to his new home and had bought him a toy his purple rhino. We use it as his training toy so it only comes out at the barn. All the other dogs were so jealous of Dembe’s toy that they started barking at him so everyone else had to get a toy out for their dogs.

Dembe did so well at training, he was shattered when he got home and went straight out into the garden and lay down

Wednesday 8th July

Dembe didn’t wake up until gone 5.30am . We were both expecting it to be earlier as he drank so much during dog training last night. He spent the night snuggled up to me as I came down with a migraine at 11pm last night.

He has been very barky today so I have implemented a new noise to put him off. So far so good.

Jay came home for lunch so I managed to get some fab photos

He is being a real fussy bugger with his food. It is looking like we won’t bother with raw food again, most of the time I have to sit there with him whilst he is eating it. The only flavour he really liked was duck and it looks like he is allergic to duck as his ears all became inflamed. Even if he is looking really interested as you prepare the raw food the minute it is put in his bowl he doesn’t want it.

Thursday 9th July

Jay has been doing a lot of 9-6 shifts lately and both Dembe and I hate them. The morning goes quickly and then he is home for lunch and then the afternoon really drags.

Dembe waits for Jay from 4pm some days, either standing at the window barking at everyone who dares pass by or by lying on the sofa by the front door looking thoroughly pissed off.

Friday 10th July

Dembe has a walk with Martin from Happy Dogs later on today as Jay is on a late night today.

Jay has him out nice and early this morning for a long walk. They say Pluto the Great Dane in The distance but didnt manage to catch up with him. Dembe was on the go all morning.

As Jay was on a late night he took Dembe for a spin around the block before going to work. Dembe likes his lead walks at midday / lunch time. He has them when Jay comes home at lunch time and looks forward to them. The walk now will tide him over until he goes out with Martin later on this afternoon.

Dembe is being a right barky little sod at the moment. I have no idea why he has suddenly decided this week that every noise needs a response. He is also barking at me when I refuse to play a game with him because I am busy doing other things. It is ridiculous.

He worked out that it was a Martin / Happy dogs walk today so was waiting by the window for him to arrive.

He had a wonderful time on his walk. If you are on Facebook you can use this link to see him out on his walk and lots of other videos from Happy dogs https://www.facebook.com/happydogs.uk/.

It has made such a difference Dembe having a long walk on the days when Jay is working a late night. He settles so much quicker and is happier for having been out properly rather than a quick walk around the block when Jay gets in late.

Saturday 11th July

I managed to have a nasty fall in the garden today. I have hurt all my left side. As soon as I fell Dembe came rushing out to check how I am and kissed me. He wouldn’t let me get up until he felt it was safe for me to do so. This isn’t something we have trained him to do but something he just does.

As I had fallen and was sore I spent a lot of the day on the sofa

He decided the best place to keep an eye on me was under my elevated leg!

His new toy arrived this afternoon – Grumpy Cat

He seems very taken with it as he took it outside and tore the labels off!

Sunday 12th July

He seems to be loving his new toy Grumpy cat.

Today is going to be a lazy Sunday as I am aching head to toe after my fall yesterday.

Another battle getting him to eat his breakfast today. However as soon as I changed it over to one of our pasta bowls he ate no problem. So now I am left wondering is it the bowl and not the food that is the issue. I will now feed from the pasta bowl to see if that helps at meal times.