Monday 17th August
Every since last weeks car accident Dembe has been very clingy. He has always been really good when Jay leaves the house in his uniform and it has never bothered him. Now regardless of what Jay is wearing he cries and is really unsettled for a few hours. It is draining as I just don’t seem to be able to reassure him, despite playing with him and giving him lots of cuddles. I think that he is just picking up on the high amounts of cortisol being pumped out by myself and Jay, due to the level of stress we are under since 11th August.
I can’t even go to the bathroom alone at the moment without him lying at my feet
It was raining really heavily on and off today but it was still reasonably warm, for a little while Dembe and I went out on the patio under the gazebo and listened to the rain. Dembe is happy at the moment as long as he is stuck to me like glue!
Jay is on an early today so finished at 4pm. The traffic is horrendous as they have shut the B3180 over the common, which is one of two main routes out of the town. It is taking up to an hour to get onto the common, so after work we opted to take Dembe down the beach. We forgot to check the tide time table though and the tide was in and only a small area that Dembe could run around on. So I suggested that Jay took Dembe onto the Maeer, which is a sandy / grass area behind the seafront. Dembe loved it, lots of dogs to play with. I have never seen him pant so hard after a run around. Jay said he was a lunatic and just didn’t stop.
Dembe was so excited he didn’t go for a poo so Jay had to put him on his lead and keep saying busy busy to get him to go to the toilet. If Dembe is really enjoying himself playing with other dogs sometimes he will just rather play than go to the toilet.
He was so shattered when he got back from the Maer he had a huge drink and then laid on the cold stones outside on the patio.
Tuesday 18th August
Jay was day off today but was in and out all day long due to having to sort stuff out from the car accident. He had to go to the police station and fill in some paperwork, due to the road closures and road works it took him nearly 3 hours. Dembe was really upset the whole time he was gone. He kept looking out of the window and crying for his dad. It breaks my heart that he has become so unsettled and insecure after the accident.
He has also become a lot more barky, he is on his guard constantly and any strange noise outside and he runs to the window and barks the place down. He is clearly shaken up after the accident.
Jay took him down the Maer again this afternoon for a run around.
He had a wonderful time again, loving playing around and chasing / being chased by other dogs. Again he came home had a drink and then flopped onto the floor.
Wednesday 19th August
Today and tomorrow Jay is on a late night at work so Martin, our dog walker will be coming and getting Dembe for a nice walk on the common.
Jay took Dembe out early, the weather was absolutely dreadful and they both came home drenched. Jay used three towels on Dembe drying him off before he broke free and came upstairs. He jumped onto the bed with his pheasant toy in his mouth and curled up next to me ( to avoid any confusion I am talking about Dembe). As he leaned against the left side of me I got soaked as his fur was still wet from his earlier walk. Jay said he thought it was the wettest they had ever got.
Dembe and I slept curled up together until 8.20am. Dembe is still being really whingey at the moment and incredibly clingy. I find it distressing as I don’t know how to make things better for him so that he knows that he can relax and doesn’t have to be on guard all the time.
Dembe always knows when it is a dog walking day and from about 2.15pm – 2.30pm he will stand by the window watching for Martins arrival. He has learned the sound of the van and will watch as Martin takes it to the top of the cul-de-sac and then brings it back down outside the house. I have finally managed to capture Dembe watching him.
You can see the sheer concentration on his face as he is working out if that is the van. When he starts barking that is Martin pulling up outside.
Today Dembe had company with two other dogs on the walk, the weather was still grim really heavy mist and a bit of drizzle. He loves having the other dogs on the walk and even though they were older dogs they still had a bit of a play with him. When he got home I gave him a little hose off in the back garden and a dry.
With him going out in the afternoon he now settles down in the evening really well for me.
Thursday 20th August
Jay took Dembe out at around 6am and then they both came back to bed. Me and Dembe woke up at around 8am. At 8.20am we had the phone call we had been waiting for from the insurance company to say our car was a write off. Jay managed to get another 200 quid out of them to out towards our new car. We spent the morning drawing up a short list of cars to see tomorrow.
As Jay was late night he took Dembe out around the block again at 11.30am so he could have a sniff and go to the toilet which he did. Jay said he did an elephant size poo! He said he nearly needed a fork lift truck to carry it to the poo bin LOL
Today Martin and Dembe were on their own for their walk. Martin took Dembe to the Reservoir on the common which I have to admit is somewhere Jay and I have never managed to explore properly, although I really would love to. He couldn’t wait to go off with Martin and practically dragged him off down the drive and jumped into the van with out so much as a backwards glance. I have to say all my concerns and fears are gone now with him going out with Martin. There is now way he would take himself off down the drive like that if he didn’t enjoy getting out or being with Martin.
Before Martin came and got Dembe he had been a bit crazy for a couple of hours so he was having a nap just before Martin arrived. He was still full of beans for a while when he got home and was standing out in the garden barking at me!
Friday 21st August
Jay had to take today off work as we needed to go and look at cars now that the insurance have said it is a write off. We will only have 7 days with the hire car now before the insurance company give it back to the hire company. We are having to have a bit of a road trip as we haven’t found any cars locally that are any good for us. We need a big car even though there is only the two of us as I need to have a mobility scooter in the boot / trunk and have Dembe on the back seats in a car harness. So there is a minimum width requirement for the boot / trunk so that my scooter is able to fit. This is limiting us a great deal. If we could do without my mobility scooter we would have bags of room! We would also be able to get something smaller and newer. However we do have a short list and they are all 90 minute drive away in Somerset the next county over. I am just a bit concerned with how Dembe will cope with the car journey as we have done so few long journeys and with the car crash just over a week ago he is still a little stressed about going into the car.
We needn’t have worried as within 20 minutes he settled and was quite happy just watching the world go by out of his window. He reminds me so much of Frankie when he does that, Frankie loved sitting looking directly out of the window. Although Frankie would bark at everything that came near the car Dembe doesn’t do that and I will be honest sometimes we forget he is there because he never makes a sound! Unless he is particularly excited to be going to dog training or up the common.
I made sure to pack some chews for him, a nylabone and an antler chew. Previously on car journeys longer than 10 minutes he would like to lie down and have a chew of his antler or nylabone. This time he wasn’t interested. He just wanted to see what the world outside was doing. Whilst his dad was paying for the car in the garage office we went back and sat in the hire car, the photo above is him sat waiting. He has got incredibly clingy towards Jay since the accident.
On the way home Dembe was an absolute angle no crying or fussing he actually lay down and went to sleep sprawled across the seats.
We did have a chuckle as every so often we would hear hims snoring or changing position. He would have been exhausted as normally he would sleep for a few hours in the morning, he had been on the go since 6am this morning so he just was out like a light all the way home. The only time he woke up was as we hit Woodbury Common, he obviously recognised the smell and knew we were nearly home.
In the afternoon he flaked out on the sofa next to his dad
As we were chatting yesterday afternoon we realised that this hire car was now the third car that Dembe had been in with us and our car which we are getting Tuesday will be the third car we have owned since he came to live with us in January 2019. He is a very upwardly mobile doggy.
Saturday 22nd August
Dembe didn’t wake up until around 6am this morning so Jay took him out for a good run. Jay is on a 9-6 today. Dembe and I went back up to bed for an hour or so at 6.50am and Dembe slept cuddled up under my left arm with his head on my shoulder. Since the accident he is sleeping like this a lot. Previously he would only do it few times a week. Now it is every day. We are thinking about booking in a one to one session with Martin and seeing what we can do to help ease his insecurities that he has developed before we get any long term behaviour issues with him. I want him to be happy and confident and not permanently exhausted because he has been looking after me or Jay.
As I was writing up this week’s diary entries he was squidged right up beside me.
Jay was on a 9-6 today so by 4pm this afternoon ( despite being walked at lunch time)he was bouncing off the walls. Barking, climbing onto my lap and demanding that I hold the dried cows ear whilst he chewed it! I was covered in blonde fur!
Dembe was playing with me lying on the floor, I love the cheeky look of his face in this one.
Sunday 23rd August
Jay came down at 7am this morning to find a pile of puke by the front door. Dembe was ok in himself but weirdly had slept in until 6.45 which is unheard of. I heard Dembe downstairs at 5am as I went to the toilet but ever since he was a puppy he has taken himself downstairs during the night if he is too hot upstairs. So I wasn’t concerned.
Dembe is fine in himself, so as a precaution we gave him a much smaller breakfast later in the morning to ensure it stayed down. Thankfully it has and he seems fine.
Hopefully that is the end of it if not I have some medicine in the kitchen I can give him that is good for settling upset doggy tummies.
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