Kev's birthday 2006

One of the sweetest things about having a dog of your own is celebrating his birthday and yours together. We always bought each other small presents on Kevin’s behalf, sometimes funny and silly, but often useful. John still treasures the electric screwdriver set that he received as Kev’s 50th birthday gifts for dad – memories like this are precious and happy. And what did we buy for Kev’s birthday cake?  A pork pie, of course

Today we took a tentative step towards letting another dog into our hearts.  We visited the kennels where our local rescue dogs are kept, to get to know the adoption dogs.  One of these was Keira, a four year old Springer Spaniel.  The kennel maid said she is very food-led, and needs plenty of treats to make her obey commands.  When she arrived there she was quite overweight.  For the first two months she was given extra fat burning exercises, and she is now back to her correct weight. Sadly I did not really bond with her and she was a bit too strong on the lead for me.

I wrote a few months ago about Alfie’s problems with Alopecia, causing large bare patches on his skin. The poor little chap looked very sorry for himself. I suggested that they try applying Ascabiol, a little-known product that can be bought over the counter from your local chemist. We used it as Kevin’s treatment for eczema a couple of years ago with good results. It only costs around £3, much cheaper than a visit to the vet.

Why did I do it? I foolishly bought Kev’s Dad a Sonos home sound system for Christmas, enabling him to play almost any track of his choosing plus radio stations, and control them remotely. It is operated via a Smartphone through your own home speaker system, and it has its own speakers as well. Unfortunately it has led to a few arguments about noise levels. he wants to turn it up and I want it quieter.I can control the system from my laptop as well, so this leads to lots of childish games.

The time has come to let another dog into our lives, and I am really looking forward to adopting a dog again.

Spice

Tye

I have been following the story of a lovely-looking Jack Russell called Spice, he’s an active young boy so he’d give me plenty of exercise. He reminds me very much of  Tye, brother of Sadie, who we care for from time to time.

Spice is a lot browner across his body but they both have the same lovely face.  I’m smitten.  If you are interested in adopting Spice, you can find his story over at Rescue Remedies

Be Prepared For The First Class At Puppy Training School

You are doing your puppy a great favor by taking it to Puppy Training School and here are some guidelines on what to except. It is advisable to wear shoes with low heels and soft soles and that you dress in casual comfortable clothes as you will be totally involved in the training of your puppy. It is not unusual to have to sit on the floor with your puppy

You probably will also need a pocket or waist bag for tit-bits and it is a good idea to wear trousers if possible as skirts tend to flap in a dog’s face.

These tips will help you prepare your puppy too. Place a collar on your puppy long before the first day at school so that it is totally used to wearing one at its first class.

You don’t want an over excited puppy arriving at school on its first day, so if you need to take the puppy by car to the venue ensure that the puppy is used to travelling in the car.

It is not a good idea to feed your puppy just before leaving for class. If their meal time is due rather feed it an hour or so before you leave and then let it spend time in the garden so that it can do its business. The last thing you want is to have to clean up accidents in the middle of class!

By arriving at the Puppy School in good time will help your puppy as it will then have time to get acquainted with the area, have another run around outside and greet the other puppies attending the class.

You will I am sure find that there are a variety of dogs attending the same puppy class, but this will not be a problem if your puppy is already used to socializing with other dogs.

Be prepared to give the puppy a lot of reassurance and love as it may be a little nervous if your puppy is not used to other dogs. I recommend choosing a spot next to another puppy of similar size to your own.

It really is important if you have enrolled your puppy at Puppy School for a full course that you attend all the classes with your puppy. However, if your puppy is not well, it is still worth your while to attend the class without your puppy and then once it is feeling better you can catch up with the training at home.

Be sure to give your puppy lots of praise during and at the end of each class and remember to do your homework before the next lesson and practice what you both have learnt in the training when you get home.

As consistency in training a puppy is very important share the commands and training techniques that you learnt at the puppy school with the other members of your family so that you all use the same commands and avoid confusing the puppy.

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