W/C 26th October 2020

 I am completing the blog post early this week as it is my birthday on Sunday!

Monday 26th October

It is Monday so Jays shift must be an early one because that is the LAW! I got up just after 7am and Dembe was fast asleep on the small sofa with his head facing the front door as if waiting for his dad to get home.

Dembe spent much of the morning sleeping whilst I did some embroidery in the kitchen.

He was very excited when his dad came home at lunch time. He has been bringing his dad his carrot over the last few days when he gets home. Dembe loves his walk around the block at lunch time as he gets to meet some of his doggy friends and adoring humans.

If I thought Dembe was excited at lunch time he was mental at 4pm when Jay got home. Jumping from sofa to sofa and doing spins in mid air.

After his walk he was much more sedate. playing with his Ducky.

Tuesday 27th October

Jay is day off today all day rather than just half a day like he was last week. We don’t have Obedience training this evening which is weird. We are back on 3rd November.

I had a doctors appointment this morning, so we took Dembe down the town with us so that he could have some environmentalisation training, with loud noises, more people etc. He coped really well. He got lots of attention as he always does, a few pats and cuddles from people and lots of lovely compliments on how well behaved he was etc.

When I got out of the doctors you would have thought I had been gone for years as he was so pleased to see me.

In the evening Dembe and Jay had a massive play time. Dembe loves it when Jay lies on the floor, he is very gentle and never stomps all over him. He will groom Jay and nibble his ears and nose. They play tug with whichever toy that Dembe wants to play with. This evening it was the grey dinosaur.

Wednesday 28th October

Jay was on the late shift today at work so Dembe was very happy to have us both home for the morning. I wasn’t very well first thing so I ended up going back to bed. Dembe came back up to bed with me and lay his head on my chest to comfort me. He is so very gentle. We stayed like that for about an hour whilst I dozed.

When I was downstairs Dembe was very keen to keep an eye on me. He does like to sleep either next to me on the sofa or on the opposite sofa in a position where he can see if I move or on the floor by my feet.

Dembe was picked up by Martin for his walk up on the common. Today he had the company of a little dog called Leo. They know each other from Obedience training so it was nice for Dembe. They managed to avoid the rain but he got very muddy so he needed a wash off. I am so pleased we got him the Ruff and Tumble drying coat as it makes drying him so much easier. He is such a good boy for me and makes it easy for me to get the coat on him.

Dembe had me in stitches this evening as he was so desperate to sleep near my feet he ended up sleeping with his head on the coffee table shelf. That was a first.

Thankfully Dembe did a poo on his walk so Jay didn’t have to come home to take him around the block. Dembe was starving when he got home from his walk. To lessen the risk of bloat I left his dinner for around 90 minutes before feeding him. He polished it all off.

We then had our usual PDP as Jay and I call it, his post dinner play! He was going mental chucking his toys around. We have this every evening for around an hour and then Dembe settles down for the night.

Thursday 29th October

Dembe woke up at around 5.30am. Jay took him out for a walk at around 5.45 and as soon as they came back Dembe ran straight upstairs to check on me. He settled straight back down and went to sleep. He is so good in that respect he knows that is the routine.

Dembe is being a right barky bob this week as across the road there are builders working. They are in and out of the house opposite and walking up and down the drive. So obviously Dembe has to bark at them to let them know that he lives here and it is his street. I don’t know if because I haven’t been having a great week health wise that it has made him hyper vigilant but I am getting a bit cross with the constant barking. Why do I have to own the noisiest Labrador?

He isn’t very happy with me this morning as I have run out of his favourite Denta stix. Now I know these are utter sticks of crap but he has had them since he was a puppy and he loves them. The rest of the time his diet is top notch, so I am cutting myself some slack. Anyway I have a very put out pup, who keeps sitting in front of the Denta stix cupboard casually dropping the hint that yet again I am a shit parent. Cheers for that Dems.

Dembe has been watching me like a hawk all week as I haven’t been feeling all that well. I have worked out it is one of my medications, the dosage is too high for me and is leaving me feeling drunk and disorientated. Poor Dembe has been working overtime watching out for me and keeping me safe.

Just a silly boomerang video of Dembe from Thursday evening

Friday 30th October

Jay was on a late shift again this week so Dembe thoroughly enjoyed having his pack all with him again.

Martin picked him up and took him out for another walk on the common with his mate Leo. If you are on Facebook you can find the videos here https://www.facebook.com/pg/happydogs.uk/videos/?ref=page_internal They are fantastic video’s and you can see that Dembe is having a wonderful time on his walks. We have been brave and said that Dembe can be off the lead, so he spends a lot of the walk off the lead now. He has had quite a bit of training on the walks as he has had to walk past Cows, Ponies, other dogs and groups of Royal Marines doing training up there. He has handled it all brilliantly.

He got home absolutely pickled in mud, so he had to have a quick clean off outside and then into his drying coat. Martin had given him a quick hose off before popping him in the van but Dems always manages to produce more mud from god knows where. He was a very good boy for me again helping me getting his drying coat on him.

We had a relaxing evening after a bit of a stressful afternoon.

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

Saturday 31st October

Today Dembe and I have been getting little jobs done around the house ready for the start of the birthdays, first mine and then Jays. Dembe is very excited as he knows that there will be naughty treats to be had.

As soon as his dad left for work this morning, despite the fact I was up, Dembe went back up to bed ….his dad’s bed

I only say him when he came downstairs demanding his frozen kong. He didn’t want his breakfast until gone 10.30am today. He is a fickle little sod sometimes.

I was taking a photo of hims when my friend Leanne pulled up outside

Leanne delivered our present of a Chocolate buttons Cheesecake! It is huge. Dembe thought the concept of a cake made of cheese was an excellent idea but he wasn’t very happy when he realised due to the chocolate he couldn’t have it.

His dad came home for lunch and whilst he was here some birthday cards were posted through the door. I opened the door to say thank you and it was my friend Gill with her black Labrador Dexter. So we let the boys greet each other, Dexter wandered straight into the house and promptly helped himself to one of Dembe’s ( many) cow’s ears! It was hilarious. Dembe and Dexter are both so good that there is no need to panic. Dembe was far to busy getting fuss from Gill to care about the fact one of his cows ears had been stolen. So that was really nice as I hadn’t seen Gill for a little while due to the Covid situation.

This afternoon we have been chilling out.