Monday 8th April
I love our Mondays together as Dembe is so cuddly. I spent ages this morning with Dembe lying on my chest, whilst I was lying on the sofa.
Poor mite is really teething badly at the moment. I keep finding spots of blood on his toys. He is really enjoying having a frozen carrot to chomp on. I just get Jamie to buy a bag of carrots and then they are washed and put in the freezer whole.
I made a massive parenting fail today, the new bag of dog food arrived today and as Jay is really struggling with a bad back at the moment , I thought I would get the bag out of the cardboard box for him. I then managed to drop the bag which then tore and Dembe was at the food like the kids game Hungry Hippos. The faster I tried to pick it up, the faster Dembe gobbled it up. Dembe thought that all his Christmases had come at once with all this food lying around. It really opened my eyes to how greedy our boy can be / is. We have never seen him in that kind of situation before. At least I was laughing at how quickly he gobbled up the food.
In the afternoon a lady I used to work with popped over and met Dembe. He was very well behaved, giving her kisses and being very gentle. It’s always a relief when he behaves as he can be a little full on at times just due to being a puppy.
He slept the rest of the afternoon – what a surprise and had a nice walk with Jay on the common in the evening.
Tuesday 9th April
As Jay was day off today we took Dembe up to Woodbury Common for a good run around early this morning. I waited in the car whilst Jay did a circuit of the old walk he used to take the Weimaraner’s on.
In the afternoon I had a physio appointment so Jay took Dembe out for a walk on the common again so he wouldn’t be cooped up inside the physio centre for too long. He took him to Woodbury Castle so that he would meet other dogs and keep being sociable with them. Dembe met a Vizla and had a play with him. He also met some Labradors and enjoyed having a run around with them.
My physio Jane gave me some more cardboard tubes for Dembe to have a chew on. He loves the tough cardboard tubes. When he was little the tube would last a week, now we are lucky if it makes through a couple of hours. Dembe was very restless at the physio centre and started crying so Jay had to take him outside so he didn’t annoy the patients and staff. It is the first time he has ever had to do that which is a shame. He wasn’t asked to leave he left before it came to that.
Dembe was shattered for the rest of the day .
Wednesday 10th April
Dembe was a really good boy today just behaving himself and not going bonkers. It is obvious his teeth are really bothering as he is mouthing my hand quite a bit and is really chomping on his toys. He is enjoying his frozen carrots and the bone he was given last week.
He is doing really well with the smaller lunches, whilst we start phasing out lunch over the next few weeks. I have found him a few times looking in the kitchen at the dog food storage bin and trying to work out how to open it. His lunch portion will go down again on Friday.
I tried to tempt Dembe with a raw egg when Jay came home for lunch. With the egg whole Dembe lay on the floor in front of it ( it was in a bowl) and just barked at it! He had no clue what to do with it. I then gave it a quick whip with a fork and he still wasn’t interested. All our dogs have loved eggs but he had no interest in it at all.
He had a lovely walk this evening and bumped into a Springer Spaniel puppy called Millie. They were chasing each other all over the place and having a wonderful time. She was just a few weeks older and very fast. Dembe was so shattered after playing with Millie that he was out like a light at 8pm. Tonight we are trying to see if we can stop the 10.30pm night time wee.
Thursday 11th April
Dembe went from 8pm until 4am, he only woke up as Jay went to the bathroom. Its the first time in years that either of us has had a night of uninterrupted sleep. Dembe was still sound asleep until he heard Jay put the bathroom light on. He still barks at Jay if he hears him move around at night. Thankfully its just one quick bark as soon as I tell him it’s ok it is just Daddy he stops and settles back down again.
Jay is off work as his back is very painful and isn’t settling, so Dembe had a walk up the common this morning. He seemed to sense Jay’s back was bad as he jumped into the car himself instead of Jay having to lift him. We have quite a high up car so it is too much for a little pup to jump…. or so we thought! He had a lovely run around on the common.
I have weighed Dembe today and he is 2st 8lbs which is probably around 16kg or so. He is so tall, when he jumps his feet are above my waist ( I am 5ft 8in tall so not a short arse).
Dembe is very excitable today he was barking a lot. I think he found Jay being home another day was really exciting. To try and stop the barking I started on some training to distract him. I am trying to teach him the difference between his bed and his crate. He is very good with the command “in your crate” but if you say “bed” he is getting confused between going in his crate and his bed. It is taking time but he is slowly getting there. I am trying to add some mental stimulation into his day.
Friday 12th April
Dembe is 21 weeks old today! The time is just whizzing by, I still feel like I am getting to know my baby boy. He had me worried during the week as he wouldn’t settle that night and every few minutes was moving to a different place in my bedroom to sleep, including the floor which he never does. I stayed awake for hours watching him to ensure he was ok. I am still quite anxious when it comes to his health and wellbeing.
Dembe is back to channelling Satan. He is now tall enough to remove items from our bedside cabinets. I had to rescue my nasal spray as he had swiped it and was chewing on the cardboard box. He also likes helping himself to Jays clean socks if he doesn’t put his washing away. He isn’t that keen on the dirty ones!
I was out in the kitchen when I noticed it had gone very quiet in the lounge, I came in to find Dembe stood on the coffee table picking up and dropping the remotes onto the floor! A little later in the day I found him in his crate chewing Jays Owl toy that I made him last year for fathers day from Mollie and Frankie. That got swiftly removed from him. He wasn’t impressed and barked at the toy he could see on the Irish dresser.
Its such fun having a pup on the verge of adolescence! Dembe flatly refused to have his morning nap unless I was sat beside him. I did wonder if this was a ploy and that he had realised I wasn’t well and was pushing myself. By making me sit down he was forcing me to rest rather than continue to push against it and make myself feel worse.
Dembe met Millie the Springer Spaniel again on his evening walk. Tonight was also the first time that he didn’t come back when Jay called him. He had run back into the car park with Millie. Her owners were also trying to get her back on the lead as she was having none of it either. Given her age and the fact that Dembe is an entire male I did wonder if Millie is coming into her first season and that is why the two love birds weren’t behaving. I would imagine Millie’s owners might not be aware of it however all my male dogs have expressed an interest in bitches well before their seasons had started. Sometimes even a few weeks. So maybe they will have a bit of a surprise in the next week or so?
Dembe is doing very well with no longer going out at 10.30pm, he is getting up at 4am but that has been because Jay has been on an early or I have needed the toilet. Without either of those he would probably sleep a bit longer. He has his breakfast, goes to the toilet and then goes back to bed. Jay and I even with the 4am wake up ( which last max 10 minutes) are still having more unbroken sleep than we have ever had in years.
Saturday 13th April
As Jay was on a 10-7 shift today Dembe got a lovely run around on the common this morning. It was very early so no one else was around. Jay took some video and some photos for me.
Dembe has been in another chewy mood today. He gave me a fright this afternoon as his ball was covered in blood. He has a back tooth coming out ( baby tooth ) it is bleeding a bit more than his other teeth have purely because it is bigger. This one is bothering him every now and again, so I am keeping an eye on it. He has had two frozen carrots today and lots of games of tug and ball.
I can’t seem to go anywhere without being followed, we have nicknamed Dembe FOMO – fear of missing out. I can’t even have pee in peace.
He has also been a bit cheeky again by going upstairs and stealing Daddy’s socks again. Unfortunately I couldn’t get great photos as he wouldn’t stop shaking his head, so these are a bit blurry.
He is the worst thief ever as he has to come and show me what he has the majority of the time.
He has finally settled down for a sleep at 17.30pm ( as I am writing up this week’s diary entries) . Jay will be taking him out again after 7pm when he gets in. So he is going to have a bit of a surprise tonight.
Sunday 14th April
We went to bed quite late last night so were hoping that Dembe would go longer during the night however he woke me up at 3am wanting the toilet. I took him downstairs as for a change I was ok on my feet ( I suffer with vertigo at night for some reason so Jay does night time toilet trips and breakfast) . He stood in the kitchen and looked at me thinking he was possibly going to con an early breakfast out of me. No such luck I called him outside and success straight off with a wee and a poo!
He would have settled straight back down had it not been for my noisy neighbours. I have no idea what they were doing but it sounded like someone with lead boots was playing a game of tag. They have laminate flooring throughout their home, during the day there is enough ambient noise to cover the sound but at night it is incredibly loud. Dembe barks if there are strange noises at night, he takes his role of protector very seriously so around 4 times after the 3am wake up call I was woken up by his warning bark due to the noise from next door. Thankfully the neighbours the other side of me were away as no doubt he would have woken them up. It is so inconsiderate, I know it’s the weekend but 3.30am on a Sunday morning is taking the proverbial.
He did manage to get to sleep in the end and woke up at 5am for his breakfast, he then came back to bed and slept for another hour or so waking at 6.45am. Which of late has been a lie in! He was full of beans from the off so by 8.30am he was having a walk up on Woodbury common.
He met many of the same dogs he met last week so thoroughly enjoyed himself bumping into the 4 Labrador’s and the two lady owners in the woods. Jay managed not to get bitten by an over enthusiastic Lab this week.
His tooth that has been causing his gum to bleed from late yesterday afternoon has finally come out. Poor little sausage was finding that one very uncomfortable. We think he finally got it out chewing a frozen carrot, which has helped him no end. As he is so into chewing at the moment I have bought him a load of frozen beef marrow bones. I hate the smell it makes me want to be sick but he really enjoys it. So they will be delivered by Wednesday next week. He won’t have more than 2 a week and they will be stored in the fridge between chomps!
I still see Dembe as a tiny little dinky dot but when I take a photo like this and can see how very tall he is, it really freaks me out and I have to admit that he really isn’t that small anymore!
He has been a very sleepy boy today after being a bit mental yesterday afternoon!
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