Sunday 26 September 2021

Week Commencing 20th September 2021

Monday 20th September 

Jay was on an early shift today so Dembe was knackered after his very early morning walk. As usual Jay took Dembe out twice before he left for work, one up on the common and another around the block.

Dembe is coping really well with not having the walks with professional walkers and has stopped staring out the window for hours on end waiting for them to arrive. I feel really bad that he can't go out with them but he really needs to rest this leg.



I noticed this afternoon that Dembe has a small irritation on the left side of his face. It is possibly an insect bite that he sustained last week. Having gone through the photos I took of him last week I know it was Friday when this happened. I remember that Dembe came back from his walk around the block and kept rubbing his face on my legs. That isn't unusual for him but the reason it sticks in my mind is he was doing it for much longer than normal. The area is a bit red and swollen. I have washed it twice with Hibiscrub and I have gone online and got some cream to treat it. I will be keeping an eye on it to ensure it doesn't develop into a hot spot.

Tuesday 21st September

Jay was day off today but was out all morning so it was like a regular weekday for Dembe and I. Dembe was really settled and happy enough playing some brain games and of course having cuddles.


When Jay got back we took Dembe straight out for a walk at the Model Airfield on Woodbury common. There were lots of model aeroplanes flying today and some of them were really noisy but it didn't bother Dembe at all. He is really good with loud noises and is so totally different to all our previous dogs who freaked out at the wind and heavy rain, let alone thunder storms and fireworks.

Dembe was very happy indeed to have his daddy back home again, he practically sat on his dads lap whilst he got lots of cuddles. He behaves like he is a giant puppy.

His raw food arrived this evening, thankfully we got that all in the freezer and took 2 packs out ready to start introducing it to him slowly.

The area on his face that I think is an insect bite has gone down massively and is no longer bright pink. The cream I ordered arrived so I have been able to apply that twice after first washing the area with Hibiscrub.

Wednesday 22nd September

Jay was out most of the day today taking his mum to a hospital appointment. He walked Dembe several times before he left. Thankfully Dembe was a very tired pup today and spent the majority of the day asleep, so he was very low maintenance. 



Dembe's new bed arrived at around midday. Dembe was of course very suspicious of it. He spent ages sniffing every square inch of it and then he pawed it and dragged it into a huge ball, he then lay beside it. I went and laid it out flat again in the hope given time he would accept it! He eyed it with concern from the small sofa.


As you rarely hear him when he moves around the house, it had all gone quiet when I looked up and realised he had got off the sofa and was now lying on the new bed.



We ran out of Dembe's favourite treat Dentastix yesterday, we are making him go cold turkey and no longer have them. They aren't very good nutritionally speaking and they don't fit in with the B.A.R.F. diet. We are trying to get him switched over to more natural treats. We are giving him puffed pigs snouts instead of Dentastix.

Dembe's face is looking a lot better the area is back to its normal colour and is no longer swollen.

Dembe was very excited when his daddy got home. Jay took him straight out for a walk on the common.

Later in the evening Dembe christened his new bed!😂😂😂😂😂



Thursday 23rd September

Fusspot Dembe refused his breakfast this morning, it is my fault I pushed the raw food too quickly as I am always trying to run before I can walk. This will now impact us for a few days as he will be deeply suspicious of anything that is served to him. Bugger! 

I also managed to convince him that he didn't need a Dentastix this morning replacing it with a puffed pigs snout which went down a treat.


He is loving his new bed and every item that he gets to chew is taken back to his bed. This is the first bed that he has been like this with since he was a tiny pup.

Jay is on a late finish today so this afternoon Dembe and I have been having some short sessions of training teaching him to go on his bed. He is picking it up quite quickly probably because there are some scrummy treats involved.




As we are both knackered we go up to bed very early. Dembe is fast asleep when his dad gets home.

Friday 24th September

It is very warm today, normally the weather would have started cooling down by now. Me and Dembe are struggling with it. Jay is on an early shift today so Dembe has been out twice today before he has gone to work. I decided to have a go on my embroidery machine this morning and Dembe wasn't very happy with me. He went off and sulked in the garden where I could see him and he could keep an eye on me.


Back on his favourite garden chair!

We had a panicked phone call from Jay at midday. Due to people panic buying fuel Jay wasn't going to be able to get home at lunch time. He would have got out fine but he would never have managed to get back to work as the traffic was queuing all the way down the road outside his work. However one of our friends was up there shopping so he asked Uncle Paul if he would take Dembe out for a walk so that he didn't have to worry about Dembe all afternoon.

Paul turned up at around 1.30pm, it was boiling hot. He said can I take Dembe up the common so I said yes. I went with Paul so I could show him where Dembe normally goes. Dembe was an angel for Paul. He was really good in the back of the car, he just lay down like he does in ours. He also walked like an angel for him on the lead. Paul said he had no idea Dembe could be so well behaved. I did say to him you only see him when he is going mental with excitement as you have arrived. I told him Dembe only goes mental like that when he see's you. no one else. He was so impressed with Dembe he said that if we are in a situation like that again then we must ring him and he will take him out for us as he really enjoyed it. I am so proud of my baby boy.

Dembe was knackered after his walk with Paul and went to sleep,






Saturday 25th September

Today is Dembe's mummy and daddy's 21st Wedding anniversary! Dembe sent them both a lovely card.



Dembe had lots of cuddles today and we did some more training to get him learning the bed command. I shot a very poor quality video but here it is!



We have had a quiet day as I wasn't feeling the best. Dembe always seems to sense that and just gives me lots of cuddles.

Sunday 19 September 2021

Week Commencing 13th September 2021

 I am celebrating today ( Saturday 18th September ) as I have now transferred over all of The Dembe Diaries from WordPress to Blogger. So from now on I will just be posting on this site and then closing down the WordPress on when it comes to it's renewal date in January 2022. Thanks for sticking with us!

Sunday 12th September 

Today I managed to convince Jay to take Dembe to somewhere else on the common where he has never walked before. We managed to find it with the help of Google Maps! I didn't even know this place existed although I had seen some locals talk about it on a Facebook group. Daddy and Dembe had a lovely time exploring.





Jay took some photo's for me so I could see some of the walk. He also took a video for me.



Monday 13th September 

It is another quiet week here whilst we wait for Dembe to have his X-rays on 29th September. Until then he is on very limited exercise, so there was no dog walk this morning. I have to say he is coping well with this sudden change in his routine. I am very proud of him.

I have been really useless at updating his paper diary this week. I have had a really rotten week health wise and have lost count at the number of migraines. So I am having to do this from memory.

Dembe decided to come and help me this afternoon as I tried to take some photos of my new Liberty wall hanging that I had created.



When I bent down to give him a cuddle I got a very wet soppy kiss!

I had to remove a load of paper from behind the wall hanging in the evening and Dembe was utterly convinced that I was hiding treats in the bag I was using for rubbish. He kept putting his nose inside and pulling it off the foot stool.


Tuesday 14th September

Jay was day off today so it was the Dembe and daddy love in that it always is on a Tuesday and Sunday!
I kept being brought find it bunny as a gift.



Wednesday 15th September

Jay was on a late night today, as Dembe is resting he doesn't have a walk booked. Jay ensured he had one walk on the common and then several walks around the block before he set off for work. Dembe was really good and settled on the sofa.




Jay popped back at 5pm and took Dembe around the block again. We were both really tired, Dembe and I, so we had an early night.



Dembe was sound asleep when his dad got in!

Thursday 16th September

Jay is on his second late shift on the bounce today, so it is basically a repeat of yesterday! 

Over the last couple of weeks or so we have been getting ready to switch Dembe over from the food I cook him and the kibble to raw or what is also know as Biologically Appropriate Raw Food. We have tried this before and it didn't go well as I rushed it. Dembe is a very fussy eater and these things need a careful handling and done much more slowly. We have been using raw beef mince, initially I started by adding a few teaspoons full to his meals. Then very slowly increased the amount until Dembe was happy to eat just raw mince on its own as a meal. I can't believe it but we have gone back to a dog that is waking me up to be fed and is polishing off his meals. I think he will always be fussy but at least this is much better for him that ultra processed kibble.


The meal above was part Kibble and part beef mince. He actively discarded the Kibble out of the bowl so that he could just eat the raw beef mince.



He was a bit of a demon this afternoon, barking a lot. The face of an angel and is actually the devil incarnate. He barks when he wants to go out to the toilet, he point blank refuses to use the garden which is silly when the door is constantly wide open. 

We have noticed with having a higher meat content in his diet he is producing much less waste and his flatulence is almost gone. He could clear rooms previously with his windy pops!


Friday 17th September

Daddy is on an early shift today so Dembe had an early walk on the common before Jay went to work. When I woke up Dembe was still downstairs asleep on the sofa. He was so excited to see me he brought me Cleo the Caterpillar.

I was feeling ropey so we didnt do much all day. Dembe slept a lot too.




Saturday 18th September

Well I finally managed to complete the move from WordPress to Blogger today. No more worrying about having it done before the blog  renews for another year. It was a mammoth task done over 4 separate sessions.

Jay is on a 9-6 shift today so Dembe had a walk on the common at 5.30am and then another walk before his dad left at 8am, around the block. I slept through all this having had a hideous nights sleep. I got woken up at 8.30am by Dembe standing in the bedroom door way wagging his tail so it thumped the door and him crying. I then got my first of many Dembe facials as we call them here when your face is completely covered in Dembe slobber! Expertly applied by his tongue!


In between sorting out His Majesty's blog I have been ensuring that Dembe is kept topped up with his cuddles and kisses!


At a couple of minutes past midnight I was ordering his lordship a new bed as he has literally shagged the life out of the other one!



We are all looking forward to a nice quiet Sunday.

Sunday 12 September 2021

W/C 6th September 2021

Sunday 5th September

I don't always start on a Sunday but then the last few Sundays I have taken some cracking photo's of Dembe so I have decided to share them. 

Dembe's love affair continued today when I found two long lost socks tucked inside a tea towel which were a casualty of the tumble dryer. The socks were paired ( although they weren't a pair ) and then placed on the stairs ready to be taken upstairs. Dembe though had other ideas and immediately grabbed them and then paraded around the lounge with them.


He was so very proud of himself and he paraded with them several times throughout the day.


He decided today to dig out his tweed puppy from his toy box. He has had this toy since he was a tiny pup. He got it one day when I was at the doctors and daddy took Dembe to the indoor market for some environmentalisation training. Dembe chose this from the pet shop as daddy asked him to choose a toy. This was what he went for. He wasn't very happy when he had to hand it over for it to be rung up.

Monday 6th September

As Dembe's intermittent limp had gone away we decided to allow him to go out for a walk with Luke from Happy Dogs. He had a lovely walk and was fine after his walk. As it was so warm I got his paddling pool out to allow him to cool down as the temperature had soared whilst he was out with Luke.



Later on in the afternoon it became clear that Dembe's limp was back and worse than before, so I rang the vets and got an appointment booked for the following morning at 11am. As we still had some pain relief left I mixed it in with some cottage cheese and gave it to him. He goes crazy for cottage cheese.


You can see some slight evidence of his cottage cheese with the white dot on his nose!

Tuesday 7th September

Dembe has the vets today with his daddy at 11am. I decided to stay at home because it is so hot and due to Covid-19 I wont be allowed in the vets, only one of us can go in. Dembe and daddy are back much quicker than I expected. Today the vet has finally been able to see his limp, she has booked him in for a set of 6 x-rays, 3 on each front leg. In the meantime we have pain relief for him and we have to reduce his exercise with immediate effect. He is now only allowed 25 minutes off lead a day and the rest are just walks around the block for toilet breaks. The vet has said this could be a muscle tear that is just taking a while to heal but it could also be elbow dysplasia. They just wont know until the othopedic specialist has written their report after viewing the X-rays.

Due to the restricted exercise I have had to cancel all of Dembe's walks that he has booked with professional dog walkers. It is a shame as Dembe loves his walks but we need to ensure he isn't doing any further damage. We shall be playing some brain games with him to stimulate him mentally. As it is so hot Dembe isn't having long walks anyway.


Very grateful that he is insured as the X-rays alone will be coming in at over £700! 

As is usual when his daddy is home I barely get a look in! It is the Daddy and Dembe love in today.




Wednesday 8th September

Today will be Dembe's first day without his afternoon walk, that he would usually get on a Wednesday. As Sophie was on holiday he wasn't booked in for one today, so daddy is popping home on his lunch break at 5pm to take him around the block.

When Jay goes to work Dembe is stuck to me like glue. I am writing this week's blog post on my The Myasthenia Kid and he has nestled beside me on the sofa.


With his treat box coming last week it has made things easier occupying him. I pulled out a humongous furry cows ear (yuck), He enjoyed it and it kept him out of trouble.


When I was doing my pilates exercises Dembe climbed on top of me and dropped his wet partially chewed cows ear on my face, thanks boy! Mummy is always a climbing frame when she is on the floor no matter what she is doing.


He spent quite a bit of the afternoon snoozing and was very ready when his dad came home at 5pm for his walk around the block. When Jay got in at 10pm Dembe got his last walk of the day.

Thursday 9th September

Dembe was fizzing with energy today, it is safe to say he is missing the exercise that a long run brings. He is being a bit barky today so I decided to start playing brain games with him and so some training as well. It has been a long time since I have done this and I really need to get back in the habit.

I managed to capture him in this photo just on the inhale before he barked.

And here he is looking very cute


For our first brain game I got a muffin tin form the kitchen and some treats. I then searched through Dembe's toy box and found all the balls that he had plus a few toys. I then placed treats into the tin and covered the holes where the treats were with the toys. Whilst doing this i made Dembe sit and stay as otherwise he would have eaten them before I had the treats covered. As you can see from the video ( well hear) his nose is really engaged with this game as he works out where all the treats have been hidden.


I upped the difficulty level on each game, I did this by adding flat coasters instead of toys over the top of the treats so he had to work out that he had to slide the coasters.

Another game we played is one I call touch, so a while ago I trained Dembe to touch the palm of my hand with his nose when I say the command touch. I then vary the position my hands are in and change which hand I will use so no hand is in the same position twice. I don't think we had played this for around a year and he remembered it straight off. Of course this time I couldn't do any positions where he would be jumping up like I did before.

Daddy was due home at 6pm ( he had already been home at lunch time and walked him around the block), Dembe wanted to go to the toilet ( despite the fact the back door was open all afternoon) and lay in front of the door to let me know that is what he wanted.



Friday 10th September

Daddy was home poorly from work today, he had come down with a migraine overnight. He doesn't get them very often but when he does they are bad ones. Dembe spent a lot of the day upstairs with his daddy keeping him company. I wasn't feeling brilliant either with intermittent vertigo.



Dembe was knackered after being on duty all day!

Saturday 11th September

Daddy was back to work today and was on a late finish. None of us woke up until gone 9am, Dembe had been out at 5.30am but had come back to bed and had promptly fallen asleep. We were in shock that Dembe had allowed us to sleep for that long as lie in's are not something he does.

We are looking at changing Dembe's food again as he has been really awful of late with his food and turning up his nose. We have had a really good 18 months - 2 years with his eating but it is a royal pain in the arse when he starts refusing to eat. So we have decided to go back and try raw or B.A.R.F - biologically appropriate raw food. Dembe has problems with his ears which 9/10 is caused by an allergy to something in his diet, plus he has got a bit pudgy and needs to lose some weight. I went back to my favourite raw food site which is Dogs First and looked up how they recommended to switch a fussy eater over to raw. So for the last few days I have been adding a small amount of minced beef to his meals as we know that he likes raw mince from when I make his meat loaf.

Well the minced beef has gone down so well he is back to inhaling his meals and I have been able to reduce the amount of his normal food and replace it with beef. We shall still be doing this slowly and will use beef mince when we start moving him over to a better balanced raw food. I haven't seen him eat like that since he was a puppy! 

As Dembe was a sleepy boy today I managed to get some sewing done this afternoon. I did give him a deer leg to chew on but he didn't take any notice of that until later in the evening when he stripped it completely.



He was a very good boy for me today apart from when I was having my dinner and trying to watch an Italian TV show that had English subtitles. Dembe kept managing to position himself between my plate and the Tv so I was having to guess at what was being said whilst the subtitles were obscured.

We don't have any plans for Sunday other than to chill out and get some housework done! See you all next week

Sunday 5 September 2021

W/C 30th August 2021

 Sunday 29th August 2021

Today we are going to Nanny Morris' house to meet up with family and have a catch up before the summer ends. Jay is going to help his brother trim the hedges at the front of the house. Dembe is such a good traveller now, we went through a really awful period with him from probably 10 months where he suddenly decided he didn't like the car and would kick up a fuss vocally. Still it was nowhere as noisy as the Weims got when travelling. Since Dembe has been going out with Dog Walkers he has become such a brilliant traveller. He just lies down in the back of the car and goes to sleep. Occasionally he will sit up and then he will almost immediately lie down again. He is always silent in the car and you could forget that he was there.

When we left home the weather was really overcast and looked like we might be in for a spot of drizzle. The skies then cleared when we got to Nanny's house and the sun was blazing. It was really ridiculous how quickly it heated up.








Dembe's cousin Darcey was also at Nannys house. My goodness how she has grown, she is still shorter than Dembe but still full of puppy energy. Poor Dembe was trying to get away from her as she was continually chasing him and trying to tug on his ears. He was telling her off like an adult dog would but she was refusing to listen. A few times we had to separate them to give Dembe a break as he was getting annoyed with her. They did manage to get into trouble together. It went very quiet and we went to look for them, they had managed to get in behind Nanny's bins and were covered in very smelly black water ( bin juice) both of them had to be hosed down which did very little for the smell, the little scamps.

Dembe was so exhausted on the way home that he just slept, we had to wake him up when we got home.


He loves the garden at Nanny Morris' house and it really is a lovely big garden with plenty of space for him to have a proper run around in.



Monday 30th August ( Bank holiday for us)


Dembe was exhausted after his fun and games yesterday. We had only been up for around 10 minutes when this photo was taken and he had got up with me and then went back to sleep.

He is very happy that his dad is home today and is ensuring between naps that he is getting cuddles and play times with his dad.


His favourite thing to do today has been to take his carrot outside all the time!



We had quite a lazy day as we were all knackered after going to see Nanny Morris.

Tuesday 31st August

Well Dembe is making the most of having his dad at home, he is ensuring he gets lots of cuddles with Jay and playing silly daddy and Dembe games. Jay had to pop out this morning for his routine blood tests that he has bi monthly and Dembe was unhappy that he was being left behind. He stood by the front window and made a nuisance of himself. At one point he was barking so much when I was upstairs I stopped what I was doing and by the time I could see him Dembe was on the sofa pretending he was asleep! He is such a crafty bugger at times. Like I wouldn't know it was him that was barking!😂😂😂😂😂



He wanted lots of attention today, he is normally quite demanding for cuddles but today it was a little extra. I caught this poor quality photo of him demanding my attention this afternoon whilst I was on my computer.



His daddy took him on a long walk this afternoon to burn off some energy. It was very humid out and they were both hot and bothered when they got back to the car. As soon as we got home Dembe went out on the patio to lie on the slabs to cool down.

Wednesday 1st September

How is it September already? What is going on with this year? Today is Jay's first shift back at work after a few days off. Unusually for a Wednesday he isn't on a late shift but a 9-6. We have kept the walk with Creature Kind this afternoon as when we booked Dembe's walk we thought he was on a late. Dembe will be going out with Beth this afternoon as Sophie is on holiday. He knows Beth and likes her so I am sure he will be a good boy.


There will be no Polo with Dembe today but there will be another Fox red Labrador called Reggie out on the walk with him. When I have seen photos of Reggie I have had to do a double take as he is so very similar to Dembe. The only way I can tell them apart is Reggie has a black nose where Dembe's has stayed pink this year. Also Reggie wears a harness which Dembe doesn't.


Photo Credit Beth from Creature Kind

The boys got on brilliantly and had a fab time out on their walk together. Dembe is such a sociable happy dog. He loves having the company of other dogs on his walks.


Photo Credit Beth from Creature Kind

Beth was very pleased with Dembe on the walk, she said he was a very good boy who played with all the dogs on the walk. He was shattered when he came in, he went straight into the kitchen had a huge drink then plonked himself on the sofa and went to sleep. He slept for 40 minutes and then woke up demanding his dinner!

Jay finished at 6pm and as soon as he got home he took Dembe out for a quick walk on the common. Dembe settled down and went to sleep as soon as we got home. Too much fun!

Thursday 2nd September

Jay is on a late shift today, so Dembe's very first walk of the day was around the block. Then Jay took him out again after his breakfast at around 9am. They went up to the common and Dembe had a fab time playing with lots of other dogs.  Just before Jay left he took Dembe around the block again to ensure he would be ok for the afternoon until he came home on his break at 5pm.



Dembe slept most of the afternoon , when he got up and came into the kitchen I noticed he was limping and seemed very stiff. I was really upset as we thought we had finally cracked it with his leg. It looks like we will have to get him to the vets and have an x-ray to find out what is going on with his leg. As I had pain relief here from last month I put that in his dinner ( which I fed him early so that he could have the meds immediately) . It usually takes a few hours before you can notice any difference in him but within an hour he was walking a lot better. I have a week's worth of medication so I will give that to him to get his leg to settle down again. He is moving a lot better.

Jay came home at 5pm and walked Dembe around the block, Jay said he was moving well and no issues. So that's good. Dembe was very cuddly this evening and we had lots of cuddles on my bed when we went up to bed. As I was cuddling him I noticed that he was slowly crawly towards the clothes airer I had up drying off some washing. He had seen one of his dad's socks and very carefully he removed it from the airer and then played with it before coming back to me for another cuddle.

When Jay got back at 10pm he walked Dembe around the block again to ensure he would be comfortable for the night.

Friday 3rd September

Dembe is doing so much better today, moving around easily and no longer stiff. He is very tired as his daddy is on an early shift today and Dembe is not an early morning boy! When I got up he just glared at me and went back to sleep. He followed me downstairs around 30 minutes later but it was another 40 minutes before he demanded his breakfast.


As he point blank refuses to eat alone we let him eat his dinner in whatever room we are in. This morning he scoffed his breakfast in the lounge. After breakfast he jumped up onto my lap. This is our usual morning routine, he always has a 10-15 minute cuddle on my lap after his breakfast. He then usually gets off and goes onto the small sofa to have his post breakfast snooze. If Jay is home he stands in front of him crying until he gets Jay to walk him around the block! He has us wrapped around his paws.

He was very pleased to see his daddy at lunchtime, Jay took him around the block and Dembe checked on his manor 😂😂😂😂 Jay and I had an experiment to see what would happen with Dembe should we sit next to each other on the sofa and have a cuddle. We were on the small sofa so there wasn't much room. Dembe launched himself up onto the sofa, managing to some how squeezed between us and then gave us both equal amounts of licks on our face! Silly sausage.


Carrot is still a firm favourite here as you can see from the photo. He loves having cuddles and bringing his toys with him! 

Dembe's natural treat box arrived this afternoon. Dembe always gets so excited when it comes and demands a treat as soon as I have closed the front door. I gave him Beef Trachea which is one of his favourites. This month there is a huge black cows ear which I know he will love. Later on I gave him a rabbits ear. He demolished that within minutes! His dad made the mistake of leaving the full treat box on top of the storage box that holds Dembe's food. So Dembe kept going out to the kitchen and sitting in front of it, occasionally barking to let us know where it was. I had to empty Dembe's treats into the Emma Bridgewater tin we keep them in and get rid of the box or he will sit out in the kitchen for the rest of time.

Jay took him out for a long walk after work at the Model Airfield on the Common.

Saturday 4th September

Daddy is on another early shift today, so Dembe had to get up early for his walk on the common before his dad got home. As soon as they got back Dembe came up to bed with me bringing his very first toy Baby blanket with him. I woke up at 7am which is unusual for me, Dembe stayed in bed until 7.40am not impressed by the early start at all. Again he didn't want his breakfast until around 8.10am, he scoffed the lot.

After I had got my usual morning jobs done I let Dembe have one of his natural chews from his subscription box.



That one he will keep on the go for hours, I am sure at some point it will be brought for me to hold whilst he lies across my lap chewing it. Now however he is very keen for his dad to get home and walk him around the block.


He is barking at everything again today and unfortunately it is quite noisy out in the street as people are getting all the DIY jobs done whilst the weather is nice after a bit of a grotty week. Today he did the same as he did earlier on in the week. I was upstairs and he started barking, I told him to stop a few times but he was ignoring me. I stopped what I was doing and he must have heard me as when I peered downstairs he was sat like a little angel on the mall sofa trying to con me into believing that he hadn't been a barky bob. He is bloody hilarious.

That's all for this week. See you next week.

Week Commencing 25th October 2021

  As we suffered a bereavement this week there won't be much of a Dembe's Diary this week. I will after this post be having a break ...