W/C 8th March 2021

 Monday 8th March

Dembe was a very sleepy boy today. It was quite amusing as the night before I had been convinced that Dembe didn’t have a walk booked for today. I had to check my emails and see that Jay was indeed right that I had booked a walk for today! When Martin arrived Dembe was fast asleep on my bed and I had to wake him up to get him to go downstairs.

If you have facebook you can see Dembe’s walk here https://www.facebook.com/415343231815686/videos/2502822750025297

We had a cosy day on the sofa as I haven’t been feeling great the last few days.

Dembe was pretty shattered after his walk and curled up beside me on the sofa.

Tuesday 9th March

Jay was day off so Dembe was ensuring he was getting in as much Daddy and Dembe time as possible.

Daddy and I spent the day cooking up all of Dembe’s meals for the next month. We made meatloaf, Scooby’s stew and Wonderful one pot. By the time we were finished 50 meals had been made.

Wednesday 10th March

Dembe has a walk with Martin from Happy Dogs today. When she picks him up he is so excited as he gets to see his mate Polo the Labrador and they can have Labrador crazy time together. I am glad that he is going out today and getting a break from me as he has been stuck to my side ensuring I am ok.

As I was doing some paper work Dembe climbed up on the sofa and got as close to me as he could and slept beside me.

Photo credit Sophie Start Creature Kind

Photo credit Sophie Start Creature Kind

Photo credit Sophie Start Creature Kind

Photo credit Sophie Start Creature Kind

Photo credit Sophie Start Creature Kind

Photo credit Sophie Start Creature Kind

Photo credit Sophie Start Creature Kind

Photo credit Sophie Start Creature Kind

Dembe had a really lovely time on his walk with Polo and Cali.

As soon as he got home he was going into the kitchen and sitting in front of the fridge begging for his dinner. We have gone from a dog who couldn’t be bothered to eat to a dog that is now trying on for an hour before his dinner is due!

We had an early night, Dembe was so knackered when Jay got home he was too tired to go downstairs and see him.

Thursday 11th March

Today Dembe had a walk with Martin from Happy Dogs and Alan the German Sheppard. If you have Facebook you can see his walk here https://www.facebook.com/415343231815686/videos/490541478623616

The weather was atrocious, rain, high winds, hail and freezing cold. I was fully expecting Dembe to arrive home looking like a chocolate Labrador! He really wasn’t too bad at all. Martin said he had been a really good boy and had stood still for him whilst he washed him off with the Mud daddy. Dembe has always been a bit of a bugger for not standing still when Martin tries to clean him off.

As you can see I was ready for the mess with towels everywhere.

Jay is on a 9-6 today so when Dembe went into the kitchen at 4pm he could have his dinner as there was enough time between having it and going out for a walk.The new food Highland Essentials is going down really well.

At around 5.15pm Dembe started fussing to go out for a walk. He kept going to the window looking for his daddy out of the window.

Friday 12th March

Baby and I didn’t wake up until 8am. Dembe had been out with Jay before he went to work.

Poor little sausage has another ear infection. I noticed the last few days he has been shaking his head more than he normally would. Only talking about twice a day. I checked his ear, it is always his left ear, it was inflamed and had some brown wax in there so I gave it a quick clean. Dembe loathes having his ears cleaned so as soon as I stopped he ran up the stairs with his toy Mr Fox.

I rang up the vets and got him an appointment for 3.45pm. He has been fine in himself just very cuddly. This afternoon between the showers he went outside and sat in his favourite chair.

Dembe was a very good boy at the vets, he had to go in by himself due to the Covid regulations. As soon as he came out of the vets he made a break for it down the car park. Poor pud has a bad ear infection again.

Saturday 13th March

Dembe and I woke up and when we came downstairs and found daddy had been messing around with Dembe’s toys.

Dembe was a very snory boy this morning.

He was a very good boy when I put his ear drops in and didn’t run away from me!

He was very keen for his dad to get home in the evening.

Mothers Day 14th March

Well clearly Dembe didn’t get the memo about mothers day as he woke me up just after 7am as he was hungry. However he redeemed himself with the card and box of chocolates he bought me.

Dembe wasn’t impressed that I was writing up his blog this morning. I normally do it on a Saturday afternoon.

I kept being brought Aubergine, one of his many toys that he was given by a friend.

 

W/C 1st March 2021

Monday 1st March

This week is the second week of Dembe having Monday walks, whilst we figure out which are the best days for him. He had a lovely walk on the common with Suzanne and Martin from Happy Dogs. If you have Facebook you can view the video https://www.facebook.com/415343231815686/videos/2746004462318984

At around 12.30pm there was a knock on the door, two of my friends arrived to drop some stuff off for Jay. It was a gorgeous day so we had a socially distanced chat, Corinne had brought Zach with her. Dembe was very curious so I put him on the retractable lead, he went out and then gave Zach a huge kiss. He was incredibly well behaved even when Zach made a grab for his ears and his tail. Whilst we were chatting Jay arrived home for lunch, Dembe was beside himself with excitement. Jay took him for a walk around the block.

Whilst Rachael, Corinne and Zach were here, Zach had a wafer biscuit thing. He kept deliberately dropping it on the floor so he could share it with Dembe it was very sweet.

Dembe was pretty knackered after such an exciting morning, with having a walk with friends and then meeting a baby. He slept most of the afternoon.

Tuesday 2nd March

Today Dembe has another walk booked with Happy Dogs, which is unusual for a Tuesday as normally Jay would be here. However Jays dad is very poorly so he is going to visit him. So that Jay doesn’t have to worry about Dembe wanting out whilst he isn’t here I have booked him in for a walk.

If you have Facebook you can see Dembe and his friends on their walk here https://www.facebook.com/415343231815686/videos/333138921461124

Dembe woke me up at 7.15am this morning demanding his breakfast. How he wakes me up is to stand at the end of the bed nearest the bedroom door and he just cries. His cries gradually get louder until they have the desired effect of waking me up! It seems very strange now having a dog that wakes me up to get his breakfast having spent a lot of last year in a constant battle with him trying to get him to eat! I never thought we would go back to having the dog that wanted to eat. The change is probably because we got tougher with him and if he doesn’t eat after 10 minutes the bowl gets picked up and he doesn’t get anything at all until the next meal time. Dembe will happily miss one meal but not two.

Some days he eats a lot and others days he may not finish a meal but he will eat the majority of it. He seems to self regulate his food quantities. We had both been expecting a dustbin on legs but our fussy boy isn’t like that at all.

Wednesday 3rd March

Well isn’t Dembe a lucky boy, he has another walk booked, Today’s walk is with Sophie from Creature Kind. As well as this walk he will go out 3 times before Jay goes to work, one for a long walk on the common and the other two will be toilet trips around the block. We have been having some quiet days as I have been really under the weather since my Covid vaccine last Friday.

Dembe had a lovely time on his walk today with his friend Polo a much lighter Labrador. They love playing Labrador games such as crazy zoomies and chase. Dembe found a tennis ball, so he enjoyed carrying that around. If Dembe dropped it Polo was only too happy to pick it up. Sophie said he behaved brilliantly today. We know now that if Sophie carries a tennis ball Dembe is 100% on his recall.

Photo credit Sophie Start Creature Kind

Photo Credit Sophie Start Creature Kind

Photo Credit Sophie Start Creature Kind

Photo Credit Sophie Start Creature Kind

Photo Credit Sophie Start Creature Kind

Photo credit Sophie Start Creature Kind

We have been laughing about Dembe’s tail being so high up when he is playing. It reminds us of our Weimaraner Willow who passed away in 2017. Whenever she was playing, if she had something that she thought either Mollie or Frankie would like her tail would go straight up.

When Jay came home after 10pm Dembe was too knackered to go downstairs and greet him. Dembe grabbed a toy and stood in the bedroom doorway his tail thumping against the door. It doesn’t happen very often that he is too tired to say hello to his dad but it is funny!

Thursday 4th March

Dembe is very spoilt this week as he has 4 walks booked with dog walkers. Today he will be going out with Martin from Happy Dogs.

Embarrassingly I managed not to hear Martin when he arrived for Dembe. I was upstairs with music on. My hearing is pretty poor at the best of times, for some reason I just didn’t hear the door bell or the knocking. As the bin men were outside I assumed Dembe was barking due to them. It took Martin ringing me for me to know he was waiting……mortified!

If you have Facebook you can see the video from the walk https://www.facebook.com/415343231815686/videos/443196876883828

Dembe had a lovely walk, playing lots of Labrador games with Monty the chocolate Labrador. Dembe got a foamy mouth which is typical him when he has been playing lots and managed to get it all over Monty, who needed a wash before he went home.

The new dog food that I have ordered for Dembe has arrived today. I have started off with 3kg rather than a full bag just in case his majesty doesn’t like it. This one has a higher fresh meat content than what he is currently on and is cheaper per kg. Dembe’s appetite has really increased due to the amount of walking he is doing and the the dog food is is currently on is supplied in 7kg bags. With the new food I can get 12kg for only £15 more. That makes sense as that will last me longer. It is still a premium food so I know he is eating well, he doesn’t like raw food and he will still be having the food I make him.

I added a small amount of his new food in with his meal tonight, along with his old food and he ate the lot. So I am happy, if he doesn’t like stuff he will pick around it and leave it in the bowl.

Friday 5th March

Dembe didnt wake up until 5.50am, when he got up with me, I presumed that he must have already been out and I had slept through it as it was so late for him to rise. Especially when you consider he woke Jay up at 4.30am yesterday.

Jay is on a late shift today so he will take Dembe out 3 times before he goes into work. He will pop home at 17.00 to walk Dembe on the common before shooting back to work to finish the remainder of his shift.

I had a migraine today so I went back to bed at 9am, Dembe was more than happy to come back with me.

I had a Labrador shaped hot water bottle for much of the day. As I had frequent lie downs during the day.

Saturday 6th March

When I woke up this morning Dembe wasn’t with me, so when I got up I checked in Jays room for him. He was snuggled up on his dads pyjama’s and wasn’t too keen on getting up.

Dembe kept closing his eyes pretending he was asleep, as he was very comfy and warm on Jays bed. We had a long cuddle, I promised him breakfast as soon as we got downstairs.

We were having a lazy day as I was still feeling quite poorly after having a migraine the day before. Dembe was happy with that.

On and off during the day we had a lie down up stairs on my bed.

In the afternoon Dembe was full of beans and decided to empty his toy box.

He was very excited to see his dad when he got home, he was desperate to go out for a walk and burn off some energy. Once walked he settled down very quickly.

Sunday 7th March

Dembe went out around 5am for his first walk, Jay said it was minus 2 and frosty. They both came back to bed then and slept until gone 8.30am which was a lovely lie on as the humans definitely needed it.

Today has been spent catching up with jobs around the house and lots of Dembe games and cuddles as usual.