W/C 11th November 2019

 

Monday 11th November

This week has been quite nostalgic as incredibly our little pup turns one on Saturday. We can’t quite believe that it is happening. He is still our tiny baby, who needs protecting.

Jay was back on an early shift today. Dembe and I have our morning routine down pat, so he gets restless after 9am if he hasn’t been given his frozen Kong to entertain him whilst I get myself sorted for the day. He always runs upstairs and goes into my room, hiding between my wall and the bed. Its his favourite spot for eating the contents of his kong. Sometimes I forget he is there and it is only when I hear the slurping I remember.

I can quite honestly say I don’t know what I would do without Dembe He gives me the reason to get up in the morning, a lot of the time because he has woken me up by bouncing one of his toys off my head. He is my company during the day. Jay was right when he said around 12 months ago when I said I didn’t know if I wanted to be tied by another dog once we had lost the Weimaraners, we needed a dog and I needed it more than him. I am so glad we have Dembe, the empty house would have killed me.

He was so good at understanding that Jay was back at work today, there was no crying when he left the house, which he has done all week when Jay popped out to the shops.

We have had a day filled with cuddles.

I sent Dembe’s photo to happy dogs last Sunday- the one where he was falling asleep sitting up after his agility training class. They loved it and used it on their facebook page.

Tuesday 12th November

We are a bit thrown this week as Jay is working today and not his usual day off. I have a hospital appointment tomorrow so Jay has swapped his shifts so he can take me. Dembe seems to be fine with the change but it is me that is convinced it is Wednesday today.

Dembe decided this morning that I shouldn’t start sewing until much later so he sprawled over my legs and had a cuddle. He refused to move and I was struggling to get my mojo going.

We have had lots of cuddles today, he is so affectionate. Every time there was a long stitch out on the embroidery machine, we played or had cuddles.

Again I have got really emotional at the thought of him turning one. There are so many things upsetting me about it, the fact he is no longer a baby ( he will always be our baby ), that that marks one less year with him ( I think that I have become very hung up about worrying about him passing away after we lost Frankie and Mollie at the start of the year within 7 days of each other. This has caused me major anxiety all year if I am honest). I try really hard not to think about it but it is very hard after the events at the start of the year. Jay is struggling to understand why the thought of Dembe turning one has me in floods of tears. I wish I knew why it is effecting me so badly.

We had dog training this evening, Jay felt he was letting Dembe down but he wasn’t. Considering he normally hasn’t worked a full day before attending he did very well. Once Dembe settled he also did really well. Jay is far too hard on himself.

Wednesday 13th November

Jay was (finally) day off today, so he took Dembe down the beach for his morning walk. Dembe had a wonderful time playing with other dogs and swimming in the sea.

Jay said that there were a couple of barrel jelly fish that had washed up. Thankfully Dembe steered clear. Dembe needed a quick hose down when he got home to remove the salt from his coat. He was absolutely ravenous and wanted his breakfast immediately.

We had a quiet morning, Dembe took himself up to my bed for a bit and had a sleep.

Jay took Dembe out again at 2pm as I had a hospital appointment at 4pm. Due to road closures we were going to have to leave at 3pm. Unbelievably we managed to get a parking space straight away, so Jay and Dembe walked with me to the main entrance. Jay gave Dembe a walk around the hospital grounds and used it as a training session for him. It is a good environment to do it in as it is noisy and lots of people. It replaces the tranquility of the training room.

We got home at 16.45 and Dembe was starving as his dinner was late. He then after dinner went crazy for a bit throwing his sprout and crocodile around the lounge.

Thursday 14th November

Dembe went and woke Jay up just after 6am this morning when he worked out that he just wasn’t getting anywhere with me! Jay had him up the common before 7am . It was chilly at minus 1 but Dembe was still keen to get a swim in

I have been working on my embroidery machine this morning and instead of sloping off upstairs Dembe has been sleeping on the sofa with his head pointed towards the kitchen table so he can keep an eye on me.

It has been a day of cuddles and play with Dembe

As Jay was on a 10-7 today we spent the late afternoon on the sofa. Dembe slept and allowed me to carry on with my crochet.

Friday 14th November

Jay has two late nights on the bounce this week, so we decided that we would go and get Dembe’s birthday present today. First though we went to The Range and did some Assistance dog Training with him. He did really well and was very well behaved. We stopped and chatted with a member of staff and he patiently waited. He walked on his lead like an angel. I am not easily pleased and those of you who have read the blog from the beginning know that I will be very honest about how he behaves. I do have high standards. I am so impressed with him and everyone who see’s him when he is wearing his vest are always amazed at how young he is and how calm he is. Obviously he has his moments but not when he has his yellow jacket on.

After The Range we took his jacket off and we went to Pets At Home, where he got to choose his birthday present. He went mental for a huge Monkey and the staff were laughing at how excited he was.

We gave it back to him when we got home and then he kept carrying it around wagging his whole body. He wouldn’t let Jay or I near it as it was all his.

Monkey ( we are so original ) has been dragged all over the house and shown to us.

We had quite a quiet day with Jay being on a late night.

Saturday 16th November

OMG baby boy is 1!

Happy birthday Dembe

Jamie contacted the presenter John Scott and asked him to do a shout out for Dembe’s birthday which he did bless him. This is the 3rd time Dembe has been on or mentioned on the show since January this year.

Dembe had so many birthday wishes sent to him on social media it was really wonderful. People said some really gorgeous things about him. They have loved seeing him grow up over the year and how he has mended our broken hearts, He really has.

Here are some photos of when he was really tiny which in someways seems like a lifetime ago and in others like it was yesterday.

This is him now, the handsome devil

He had a lovely birthday and had lots and lots of treats.

Sunday 17th November

Dembe just wouldn’t settle last night and didn’t go to sleep until well past 11pm. As a consequence he didn’t wake up until gone 6.50am. I had to check the clock twice as I just couldn’t believe it. I was sure the little bugger would have me up at 5am!

Jay took him out for a nice long walk this morning up on the common. We avoided the beach due to the fact he was sick at Agility training last week possibly because he had sea water. He was starving when they got home. At around 10am a friend and her husband popped over for an hour and Dembe was giddy as a goat. I was dreading training as he was so excitable. He did however have a long nap once they left.

We then took him up to Woodbury common again for a run around and the toilet before attending agility training at 12.30pm. Dembe was confused and it wasn’t until we arrived that he twigged where we were and got excited.

Today Dembe built on what he learned last week and he has now jumped over two little jumps. He started learning how to do the seesaw. He was very nervous at first and would only put his front paws on and then would jump off again. Jay and Martin worked with him and the third time Jay took him to the SeeSaw he actually started going on it. I was discussing with Martin that it took Dembe a while to be brave enough to climb down the stairs. We did it over many training sessions to build his confidence up. Martin said Dembe is a thinker which makes him ideal for assistance work because he thinks about what he does. When he is acting like a loon it can be hard to see but when he gets that yellow jacket on he is a different dog.

He also started learning the weave poles as well. He loves the agility training and his bond with Jay is incredible.

Dembe was absolutely shattered after his agility training session again. He has been conked out for most of the afternoon and is snoring his head off on the sofa beside me now.

W/C 28th October 2019

 

Monday 28th October

For the 1st time in ages Jay was on an early today. Dembe was quite tired this morning after his jaunt to Haldon Forest yesterday. He slept away the morning on my bed. Only waking up around 10 minutes before Jay got back home for lunch.

He was equally as tired in the afternoon, sleeping on my lap but sprung back to life when Sam and Sarah popped in for a visit. Dembe was very gentle with Sam but he was incredibly over excited . I had to practice calm giving to take his energy levels down a notch . With Jay being early he hadn’t had a walk and was now more than ready for one. He is still limited to an hour a day of walking.

Dembe had destroyed the squeak in his bear toy, so I took it out of the toy and showed him. This freaked him out as you can see from the video above.

He kept bringing his tennis ball over to Sam to be thrown for him. He also got his carrot out and his crocodile. Both were being thrown around the lounge which made me and Sarah laugh.

He was shattered after seeing Sarah and Sam and fell asleep at my feet!

Dembe has started a bad habit this week of just randomly barking. It is really annoying. He is also barking at fireworks. He seems a little unsettled so we will be trying to work out what is going on.

Tuesday 29th October

Jay is day off today so Dembe has had a nice long walk this morning. It still seems really strange that we won’t be going to dog training this evening as our course has finished.

At midday we popped over to see our friend Lo at her work place. She is a really lovely lady and I have written about her before, she stopped traffic one time when she stopped her car on the main road so she could have a look at Dembe when he was a tiny pup. She hadn’t seen him since then other than on my facebook and instagram feed so it was lovely to see her. She is always so funny and easy to chat to. Dembe was good apart from a couple of barks.

After we saw Lo, Jay decided to take Dembe out for a walk. The weather has been rough today high winds and quite cold, there was rain forecast for later, so to avoid being drowned rats he took him out. Dembe wasn’t enjoying the high wind at all and was only too happy to get back to the car.

We had a very quiet rest of the day, my health hasn’t been great. I seem to be stuck in a cycle of migraines and vertigo currently.

Wednesday 30th October

Dembe is very cuddly today and on several occasions has tried to crawl onto my lap whilst I was sat at the embroidery machine. I took advantage of long stitch outs and used them to go and play / cuddle Dembe. He wanted lots of attention and I was more than happy to give it.

I gave him the cardboard tube from one of my embroidery stabilisers to destroy whilst I finished up. He enjoyed that.

Dembe hates it when Jay doesn’t finish at 5pm it really throws him out. Between 5pm & 6pm he cried continually. I put his new coat on him so he was ready for his walk when Jay got in. I also got one of the Weims old collar lights out as now the clocks have changed it is pitch black most of the time when Jay finishes work and takes Dembe up. The weather is absolutely awful this evening, windy and exceptionally heavy rain.

The weather was so bad that Dembe had a poo and wee, then turned tail and ran back to the car. Jay had to run along behind him with the torch bouncing all over the place.

The coat worked brilliantly and reduced how muddy he was.

Dembe sat on my lap earlier.

Thursday 31st October

I had to let Dembe out for a wee at 4.30am. He refused to go outside before bedtime due to the weather. He woke me up by nibbling my fingers. He had obviously tried everything else but it hadn’t worked. He did stay asleep until gone 6.25am which was a bloody miracle and the longest he has slept to since the clocks changed.

I keep forgetting to say that he has developed a taste for manuka honey. I use manuka honey on my face last thing at night to get rid of the scarring and spots that have appeared since hitting the menopause. Up until a few days ago he hadn’t taken any notice of this gunk on my face at bed time. Now he pins me down and licks my face clean! It makes me laugh so much as he really goes mental ensuring he has got every little bit off.

As Jay was on a late night he took him for a long walk so he was adequately worn out for the day.

They managed to avoid the worst of the weather thankfully and Dembe kept nice and dry. Someone asked me how we kept his coat so clean as their Labrador rolls in the mud and dives in puddles. I think our Labrador is either broken or is just biding his time as he just doesn’t do this. We have been waiting for it and expecting it.

He has started crying when Jay leaves the house, even when he knows he is going to work. Silly bugger. I have to spend a while giving him a cuddle so that he stops. Not that he is spoilt.

As my parents were popping in to see me today I got dads card out and put it on the coffee table. I left the room for 30 seconds and came back in to find Dembe sat chewing the card and ripping the envelope open. He has a bit of an obsession with paper and cardboard. He never steals whole magazines it is always just a single piece of paper like a post it note or a card. To be fair this is the only thing he has destroyed so I know we have got off lightly.

Dembe always struggles when my parents arrive as he wants to play with Maggie, my parents dog and she never wants to play when in the house. So he gets very frustrated. I ended up putting him on his lead so he left her alone and I could attempt to control the barking. He was shattered when they left.

He loves lying on my lap and when it is just me and him or me, him and Jay he will spend ages either having a cuddle on my lap or asleep on it. He also does some really weird sleeping positions.

His back end is on the sofa and my lap, his front is draped over the footstool. He stayed like this for ages… nutter.

I managed to keep him relatively quiet all evening with the Trick or Treaters. We put a poster on the door asking them not to call as I don’t have the energy to be getting up and down to the door all night. I have lost count of how many times Jay has been late night on Halloween.

Friday 1st November

It’s my birthday!

Jay is on an early shift today so he took Dembe out for an early walk. When he got back from his walk Dembe was really surprised to see me downstairs. Jay is working the next few days and out Saturday night so I am barely going to see him. So I dragged myself from my pit. Dembe’s tail was going so fast I thought it would fall off.

We went back to bed at 5.30am as Jay was getting ready to go to work. We managed to get back to sleep and stay there until 7.30am which was lovely!

Dembe and I had some nice cuddles whilst I came around. It can take me several hours first thing in the morning to get to a place where I can move around safely. Dembe seems to know this he will sleep on my lap until 9-9.30am. He is a very special boy.

Jay popped back for lunch and Dembe was thrilled to see him. I swear if Jay left the house for 5 minutes he would get the same greeting from Dembe as if he hadn’t seen him in 24 hours!

In the afternoon my friend Heather popped over to see me. Dembe always enjoys seeing Heather and was climbing all over her and demanding toys get thrown for him.

Earlier in the day all 3 of us got a shout out from our favourite TV channel Sewing Quarter

My boys bought me a wool pressing mat and a book on crochet as I would like to teach myself how to crochet over the next 12 months.

Saturday 2nd November

Jamie’s birthday today….yes our birthdays are on consecutive days. He is younger thn me by a matter of hours.

I dragged myself out of bed as due to Jays boss leaving the company today they were having a meal this evening to celebrate his retirement. He was also working today so we were barely going to see each other. Dembe was very pleased to have us all together.

Like we did yesterday Dembe and I went back to bed. There was a storm raging outside, the wind was crazy and this unsettled Dembe a little. So he barked a few times. I reassured him all was ok and we managed to get back to sleep. We slept until around 7am which was good. I was fully expecting the garden fences to be trashed but they were still standing…for now

This afternoon I decided to try my hand at Crochet for the first time. Dembe decided he was part cat and had to be dissuaded from stealing the ball of wool and running away with it.

Jay took Dembe out for a walk and then when we got home he went and got ready. Leaving the house in less than an hour after being home. So it was just me and my baby. We had a cuddle and then went up to bed early. Dembe was brilliant and settled immediately.

Sunday 3rd November

It’s a quiet day today here as Jay has a hangover, I had an awful nights sleep so look like I have a hangover despite only having 2 drinks last night. Dembe is just very happy that we are all together. It’s the first day since Tuesday that we have spent more than just a few hours together.

Jay is on holiday this coming week so we are hoping to get out and about a little. Plus Dembe’s training starts back on Tuesday evening and then his agility training starts on Sunday next week.