Firstly thank you for joining us over here on Blogger!
Martin and Luke from Happy Dogs arrived jut after 8.30am to take his lordship out for a walk. I was still watching The Handmaids Tale from the night before, so it wa only because of the way Dembe was barking that I realised the Happy Dogs Van was parked up outside.
We had got up early well at least I had, I surfaced at 7am but Dembe didn't wander downstairs until 7.30 despite the fact he had woken me up crying for his breakfast. I got him his breakfast and he turned his nose up. No amount of coaxing could get him to entertain eating it. So it got wrapped in cling film and put back into the fridge. When he turns his nose up he then doesn't get anything until his next meal time. He is such a fussy dog and he will turn his nose up just because he wants to see what we will add to it. Spoilt bastard.
He was a very good boy on his walk for Martin and Luke, he is coming back when called and not disappearing ahead like he was doing earlier on in the year.
His new water bowl arrived from Pet Planet today, we have a stand that raises the height of his water bowl. The stand and the bowl were bought back in 2006/7 for our Weimaraners. Dembe has always enjoyed having a raised water bowl. Sadly the bowl was starting to develop small rust spots so for safety we needed to change it. It took me two days of searching online to find a bowl that wold be big enough to sit on the stand. I really didn't want to have to find a new stand as well as a bowl.
Sadly the water bowl arrived with a huge dent in the side of it due to inadequate packaging. Pet planet were amazing! They answered my email within ten minutes of me sending it and sent out a new bowl for Dembe, ensuring this one would be wrapped properly. We will use the dented one for when he is visiting Nanny Morris' house as his cousins Darcy and Dusty will also be there and they will all use the one water bowl then. The mat under the water bowl we bought from Amazon a while ago now.
I finally managed to get Dembe to eat at 3pm. I added sardines to his food and he still turned his nose up. From experience I know when he does this if you change the bowl his meal is in he will then eat it. So I swapped out the bowl for an Emma Bridgewater pasta bowl and the little sod ate the lot.
He kept making me laugh this afternoon by sitting at the other side of the coffee table like he was waiting to have a chat!
On Dembe's walk up the common this evening we discovered that he has learned how to pick black berries from the copious amounts of bramble bushes on the common. Our second dog Mollie knew how to do this and taught all our other dogs to do this, first Travis and then Willow and Frankie. With Dembe being an only child we don't know where he has worked this out from whether it is an innate ability or he has been shown by another dog on one of his walks. For a dog who doesn't like any fruit to find that he is helping himself to black berries is hilarious.
Tuesday 24th August
Jay was day off today so Dembe made the most of it and caught up with all the cuddles that he missed on Monday. I got up at 7am and left Jay sleeping, Dembe scoffed his breakfast and then went upstairs and started dropping his carrot toy on Jay's head to wake him up. I woke up with a migraine and the longer I was up the worse my head felt so I ended up going back to bed at 8.30am until around 11am. Dembe came up with me sleeping with his head facing towards the door so he could guard me.
When it was time to take Dembe out for his afternoon walk, I was well enough to come along for a change of scenery, sitting in the car whilst Jay and Dembe went for their walk. Jay decided he would take Dembe to the pond for a swim.
Dembe had a fantastic time splashing around in the pond chasing stones and collecting the sticks that Jay threw for him. He was drenched when he got back to the car. As we approached home we witnesses a road traffic collision ( RTC ) . A large white van hit a van that was parked outside of someones home and damaged it. The van made no attempt to stop and carried on. As we have a dashcam, we pulled over and spoke to the people who owned the van, they had been in the garden and were completely unaware that their van had been hit. They were ever so thankful that we had stopped and were going to provide them with stills and the footage of the incident itself.
Dembe liked the man whose van had been hit, he came over to the car and put his hand up for Dembe to sniff. Dembe barks at most people who approach him when he doesn't know them. This time he stunned both Jay and I by licking the blokes hand!
Wednesday 25th August
Today Dembe has a walk with Sophie from Creature Kind booked. He loves meeting up with his best mate Polo for a walk. Polo is also a Labrador and around the same age as Dembe. Sophie arrived at around 12.30pm and Dembe was more than happy she had come to get him. I no longer need to put his lead on as Sophie opens up the side of the van and Dembe charges in. He always put's his nose up to the crate that holds Polo so they can greet each other.
All the photos above reproduced with kind permission from Sophie Start Creature Kind
Dembe was thirsty and hot when he arrived home. He headed straight for his water bowl and had a huge drink. Then he found his favourite spot on the floor and alternated between there and the patio slabs.
After he had cooled down he decided that he had to have some mummy cuddles and climbed onto my lap for a fuss.
He had an early dinner as he is always starving on Wednesday evening due to his walk and afterwards rather than have a mad 30 minutes he flaked right out again.
Jay popped home at 5pm to take him around the block so that he would be ok until he got back at 10pm. Dembe settled down very quickly this evening and stayed up with me on the bed. Jay ran him around the block again when he got home.
Thursday 26th August
Happy International day of the Dog!
As Jay is on a 9-6 shift today Dembe has no dog walks booked today. Usually on a Thursday Dembe sleeps loads as he is worn out still from his fun and frolics from the day before. He decided that he was going to be a sod again with his breakfast, turning his nose up until I relented and added some cottage cheese to it. He has me wrapped around his paw!
I was having a quick tidy up this morning and Dembe decided to climb up the stairs and keep an eye on me from a better vantage point.
Dembe was very happy to see his dad when he got home at 13.20pm, for the first time ever he brought his dad Cleo the Caterpillar.
We took Dembe up to the model airfield on Woodbury common in the evening. Dembe had a lovely run around and stretched his legs. He settled down really quickly after that and went to sleep.
Friday 27th August
Dembe is still being a fuss ass with his food. He keeps turning his nose up at one pot wonder, even if it has other stuff added to it. Grr so once again he doesn't have breakfast.
As Jay is on a late night tonight Dembe's first walk is around the block at 5am. His second walk is on Woodbury Common. He played with lots of dogs and had a fab time. He was playing with a Black Labrador called Tilly, he managed to get a foamy mouth and share it with Tilly all down her back!
He was really knackered when he got back and was more than happy to lie on my bed and drift off as I sorted myself out for the day.
He is still being a pain in the arse with food, as he hadn't had any breakfast he was starving this eveing and needed no encouragement at all to have his dinner.
He was so hungry an hour after he had his dinner I gave him a smaller portion of his favourite, Meatloaf which he ate straight out of the tub. He is such an idiot as he knows the drill and knows that he will be made to eat what he turned his nose up earlier on in the day.
He was knackered this evening and went straight to sleep when I came upstairs.
Saturday 28th August
As we are going to Nanny Morris' tomorrow I am writing up his blog post today. I will include any photos I take in next weeks diary entry.
Jay was on an early shift today so Dembe's first walk was around the block as daddy was so tired he didn't trust himself to drive. Dembe came back up to bed with me and we didn't get up until gone 8.30am. Dembe decided to only eat half his breakfast this morning so when he had left it alone for 20 minutes it was picked up and put in the fridge.
He has been a bit of a sod this morning and instead of barking out the front window he has been howling. So he had to be told off a few times - mainly just tell him to get down, which to be fair to him he does do.
At one point after being told again to "get down" he stropped off out into the garden.
He has forgiven me though and we have had lots of cuddles on the sofa.
Even though he is a big boy now he still loves to lie across my lap as he did when he was a tiny pupster! I love our cuddles and we have them several times a day. He is the most affectionate boy even if he does very occasionally drive me to distraction!
Firstly Thank you for joining us from our old site on Wordpress! Over the coming months I will be transferring all of the old posts on to this site.
Monday 16th August
Well what can I say as usual Dembe’s daddy was on an early shift as he is the majority of Monday’s. I woke up at 7am and Dembe was sleeping beside me. He failed to rise until 8am! He then barked at me demanding his breakfast.
Dembe had a dog walk booked with Happy dogs this morning. As a new dog walker will be taking over from Martin, we were introduced to Luke who we have met before at Obedience training. So it was nice as Dembe knows Luke. Dembe also made the most of the fact that Luke was new-ish and ensure he got a cuddle before jumping into the back of the van.
Martin and Luke were happy to report that Dembe was a very good boy on his walk this morning and no sign of a limp which is fantastic news. We are continuing with Dembe’s medication until the end of the week to ensure that he is fully healed if this is a soft tissue injury.
We played Nudge for hours this afternoon, when we weren’t having lots of cuddles. Dembe was starving and started demanding his dinner at 3pm. I had to hold off as Jay was getting home just after 4pm and I didn’t want Dembe running around on a full tummy as that is a risk for him getting bloat.
Tuesday 17th August
I had a mishap overnight at 3am and Dembe came running into the bathroom all concerned bringing his bunny with him bless him. He was all wide awake for a while after but I managed to convince him that he needed to go back to sleep.
Dembe has decided that he likes eating his breakfast alfresco!
He now will go out and have his breakfast whilst his dad is out there having a smoke. He will also happily eat out there alone if I am in the kitchen.
This afternoon we took Dembe up to the model airfield, we bumped into Sophie from Creature Kind and I got to see her new puppy Demi. She is absolutely gorgeous as is her older sister Cali. Jay found out that Sophie was going to be walking towards Beth who also works at Creature kind, so they walked together. Sophie then asked Beth if she would show Jay where the pond is that the dogs go in on their Wednesday walks.
Dembe had a wonderful time playing with the Tuesday doggies that were out.
Photo Credit Beth from Creature KindPhoto Credit Beth from Creature KindPhoto Credit Beth from Creature Kind
Dembe and his daddy were knackered by the time they got back to the car as they had been out for around an hour having met up with Beth and the dogs. Dembe was really happy and shattered. He went straight to sleep in the back of the car.
Dembe slept much of the rest of the day!
Wednesday 18th August
Today Dembe will be back with the Creature Kind crew for the first time in 3 weeks due to Jay’s holiday and then Dembe needing to rest with his poorly leg. Jay is on two late’s one after the other so it is going to be odd for Dembe and me.
Photo credit Sophie Start Creature KindPhoto Credit Sophie Start Creature KIndPhoto Credit Sophie Start Creature KindPhoto Credit Sophie Start Creature KIndPhoto Credit Sophie Start Creature KindPhoto Credit Sophie Start Creature KindPhoto Credit Sophie Start Creature Kind
Dembe had an absolute ball. Apparently Polo and him were running down the path mouthing each other, to make up for lost time in not seeing each other. They really do adore each other! When Dembe jumped in the van the first thing he did was put his head right up to the bars on Polo’s crate to say hello. He is such a sociable pup he makes friends everywhere but Polo is his best doggy friend.
He was absolutely shattered when he got home and slept for a good 40 minutes to an hour before he started demanding his dinner. When I say he starts demanding his dinner he either sits in from of the fridge and cries or he follows you around crying. I say to him, do you want your dinner and he bolts into the kitchen.
He really wasn't happy with the size of his dinner and wanted more the cheeky monkey. Look at that face!
Thursday 19th August
So today is the second of Jay’s late shifts which is odd as normally we get a normal shift between late nights. As Jay has to sort out the car getting a new tyre and being retested for its annual MOT, we decided to book Dembe in with Happy Dogs today a we have no guarantee that Jay will have enough time to take Dembe out for a proper walk plus the car will be at the garage for a bit.
Martin and Luke from Happy Dogs picked Dembe up at around 9.50am. Dembe decided to give Luke some more cuddles today before getting into the van !
For only the second time since we have had Dembe, Jay got to experience the house without him. He absolutely hated it. Even though Dembe sleeps a lot of the time it was too quiet and the lack of his physical presence could really be felt. Jay went to work before Dembe arrived home at around 12.30pm. Good news that he still has no limp present and that he was a really good boy.
We had a lovely cuddly afternoon together Dembe and I. Jay popped back at 5pm and took him out for a walk.
We went to bed really early and Dembe was fast asleep by 8pm snoring his head off.
Friday 20th August
Dembe’s daddy is on a 9-6 shift today, I have stopped booking Dembe in for walks on a 9-6 shift as he usually is taken out twice before Jay leaves for work and then again at lunchtime. Usually a 9-6 follows a Wednesday late so he is happy to sleep a lot of the day after being run ragged by the Creature Kind crew.
This afternoon he decided to be a bit of a Labratwat and kept climbing up on my lap and grinding his bony elbow into my thighs. I ended up giving him a deer leg to keep him occupied and to give my lap a bit of break!
Hopefully from next week I will no longer have the white background behind posts as I will be writing them directly into blogger rather than using the Dembe Diaries over on Wordpress. Thanks for sticking with us. I can't believe we have used up all the storage!
Jay went back to work today after 2 weeks annual leave. Dembe and i have slipped back into our normal pre holiday routine. In fact we slipped into it a little too well and slept on a bit.
Dembe has a walk booked with Martin from Happy Dogs this morning which I am sure he will enjoy as he will be able to catch up with his Happy Dog mates. When Martin brought him back he told me he was limping intermittently whilst on the walk. I contacted Jay to discuss it and then Jay rang the vets and managed to get him booked in for an appointment for later on in the afternoon. Dembe is very cuddly and no limping seen in the house.
Dembe was taken to the vets at 16.15, he was weighed and is a whopping 36kg the heaviest he has ever weighed. During the last two weeks it seems his Labrador brain has finally been switched on and he is trying lots of new foods that he has previously ignored! So we no longer have such a fussy eater.
He was very well behaved in the vets but sadly they couldn’t replicate the limp. The vet has said that she can’t feel any swelling / heat or crepitus in any of the joints. So at the moment she is unconcerned and thinks that it is possibly a muscle strain. He is to be rested for a couple of days and started on some anti-inflammatory medication. We are to start that tomorrow.
Dembe is absolutely fine in himself, eating, drinking, jumping around and being the usual bouncy Labrador he is. So we aren’t too concerned. If his limp doesn’t resolve then he will need to have an x-ray and we will go from there. To ensure he rests I have cancelled his walk with Sophie from Creature Kind on Wednesday.
Tuesday 10th August
Today is the first day of Dembe’s medication. I mixed it in with his breakfast and he took it with no issues. That was a huge relief. We will be watching him closely for side effects such as sickness and diarrhoea, blood in his urine or stools. It is always terrifying for us when we start him on any kind of medication having one dog in the past have his kidneys destroyed due to medication and another who started passing blood in his urine just a few hours after a dose of medication. For the most part I like to try and treat the dogs as naturally as possible but sometimes that isn’t always necessary.
Dembe is quite content to just sleep a lot of today, he is always happiest when we are all home together. He is ensuring he is topped up with Daddy cuddles and he is following me around everywhere to the point where I have almost fallen over him on several occasions.
There is no noticeable difference in his behaviour now he has taken the first dose of medication which weirdly is a relief as had there have been I would have felt terribly guilty as it would have meant he had been in pain and unable to tell us.
Jay took Dembe out on the common for a short walk this afternoon and I stayed at home as we were waiting for a delivery. When Jay and Dembe got back to the carpark there was a Creature Kind van parked beside us. Dembe refused to get back into our car and kept running to the back of the creature kind van waiting to be let in. Jay had to practically carry him back to our car and load him in.
This evening Dembe decided to raid his toy box and pull out his smallest toy, Sam’s baby. This was given to Dembe when he was a tiny pup, by his biggest fan Sam. Dembe loves the tiny beany baby and will carry it around in his mouth very carefully.
Wednesday 11th August
Dembe had a short lead walk first thing this morning. Jay is on a late finish today so Dembe will get several lead walks and a short common walk before Jay leaves. Jay took Dembe to the common around 9.30am and as they got themselves ready for the walk Martin from Happy Dogs pulled alongside, they said a quick hello and then, Dembe and Jay went for their walk.
Day 2 of Dembe’s medication and again I have to say no difference at all in Dembe’s behaviour. So I am now left wondering was he in pain or is he in so much pain that the meds aren’t touching it. The mummy guilt with this pup is strong. Dembe is fine obviously! I just don’t think he was actually in pain. We shall see it is probably too early to tell.
In the afternoon I decided that I would paint the skirting board upstairs it is something I can do sat down. Of course for the first time ever Dembe managed to get the Frenchic Trim Paint in Parchment down his side as he lay on the landing whilst I was painting! Thankfully the paint came off with some soap and water even though it was dry by the time I found it. Mind you the colour was so close to his lightest fur colour it was quite well matched.
Whilst I was painting I gave Dembe a venison leg to chew on, he stripped it right down to the bones! He really enjoys a good chew. I got 10 venison legs for less than 20 quid and as they keep him quiet for an hour or more I see that as a bargain.
Thursday 12th August
We are up early today as we have a friend visiting. Dembe hasn’t seen V for ages so it will be interesting to see how he gets on with her. I am sure it will be fine as she loves dogs and she has know him since he was a tiny pup.
He was very excited when V arrived and leaping around all over the place. I got him a deer leg as I knew that he would be more interested in the deer leg than V. He stripped it clean within an hour but the action of chewing calmed him right down. As soon as the deer leg was stripped he was all over V sitting on her lap, licking her ears and generally demanding attention.
After V left Dembe was absolutely shattered as he hadn’t had his usual morning nap! It was only 30 minutes later and his dad came home for lunch and took Dembe around the block. It was a very quiet afternoon.
Dembe was starving hungry today as he was all out of sync with our early walk. He had his dinner at 4pm.
This was day three of his new medication, again no change in his behaviour. He has all the way through used his left leg to push off when getting up off the floor, I think he is left handed. There is no difference with how he is getting up to how he was getting up last week which was normal and no hesitancy. No limping at all around the house and his movement is fine.
Friday 13th August ( unlucky for some )
Day 4 of Dembe’s medication, again no massive changes in his behaviour nor any minor ones. He is still as cuddly as ever jumping around and acting like a loon.
This morning he had a walk with Martin from Happy Dogs. He said he would try and capture it on video if he saw Dembe limping but as he had 5 others dogs with him it might not be possible. When he brought Dembe back he said the limp was much less pronounced today and he thinks like we all do that it was possibly a muscle strain. He said he is only showing signs of a limp on uneven ground. Looking back Dembe had an episode of high energy and rough play on Sunday and came away from that with a graze on his leg. So perhaps that is what has caused his limp to flare up again?
Dembe came into the house when Martin dropped him off and then sat at the front door whilst it was wide open and I was chatting to Martin and never once tried to escape and charge out of the house. I would have never have got away with that with the Weimaraners. Mollie would have taken herself off on an adventure and would have rocked up 30 minutes later wondering what all the fuss was about. He amazes me constantly with what a well behaved boy he is.
He got in from his walk grabbed his carrot and gave it to em then he climbed on his favourite place on the sofa and fell asleep! The sign of a good walk.
Dembe and I went upstairs in the afternoon for a lie down. I managed to get some photos of him lying on my face which he what he always does when I have a migraine.
Dembe was ever so pleased to see his dad at 4pm when he finished. He was starving hungry again! He has a belly like a bottomless pit at the moment.
Sitting nicely in the kitchen as there was cheese!
Saturday 14th August
Today will be Jay’s second late finish of the week, can’t complain as he rarely is late on a Saturday. Today Dembe has a walk booked with Max from It’s A Dogs Life. He really does love his walk with Max and her dogs.
He was a bit huffy when Jay went to work as I think he thought he wasn’t going to get a nice long afternoon walk. So he went mental when Max’s van pulled up outside. He was really good with Max considering he can go months without seeing her. He was loving having a cuddle before they left and trotted off down the drive with her and jumped into the back of her van.
Photo Credit Maxine Pannell It’s A Dog’s LifePhoto Credit Maxine Pannell It’s A Dog’s LifePhoto Credit Maxine Pannell It’s A Dogs LifePhoto Credit Maxine Pannell It’s A Dog’s LifePhoto Credit Maxine Pannell It’s A Dog’s Life
Dembe had a fantastic time on his walk, no sign of a limp reported by Max. I asked her if he had been a good boy and she said “isn’t he always”. It always makes me burst with pride as he is such a very good boy and mixes so well with other dogs and humans.
When he came home Dembe was very hot, when they left it had been overcast and stuffy. Whilst out the skies had cleared and there was brilliant sunshine sending the temperature soaring. They had to find some shaded area’s to walk. Dembe was panting heavily so I took him outside and hosed him down with some tepid water and got his cool mat out. He was more than happy to lie on that and I also put the fan on.
Sunday 15th August
We have had a quiet day. Dembe woke up at 6am and Jay took him up the common whilst it was nice and cool. They came back up to bed and no one woke up until I stirred at 09.45am. Our longest ever lie on with Dembe! He was still fast asleep when I woke.
Today is just going to be Dembe cuddles and catching up on the usual household chores.
