Three weeks have flown by.

 In a haze of mostly office stuff, see the office blog for that.
The pups are doing very well although we’ve had a few setbacks, mainly a tummy bug.  Dido was being picky with her food and I thought it was just the dish problem but somewhere along the line she’d picked up a bug which eventually resulted in a very messy yard and cage and of course shortly after Hester got it too.  They were really quite poorly, very flat and listless, not interested in anything at all really.  An overnight 18 hour starve (they’re not really big enough to do a full 24hrs) and small portions seemed to so the trick.  They both recovered quickly but a couple of days later Dido had a relapse with explosive results! This time round I thought vet assistance was required, if only to ease my mind, there was some rebounding in her guts which were loudly gurgling and a small area of tenderness.  One tube of puppy ‘calf paste’ and small bland meals every couple of hours for the next few days was the prescription.  Dido was really good about going into the vets on her own, Hebe had come with us in the car but was left on guard.  Small complication - the aga was out (that’s another story) so only a microwave for cooking.  I picked up some cooked turkey and swiftly learnt to cook rice in the microwave. After 48 hours she was much improved and I started adding back in the Euk.  A week later she’s so much better that she eats a load of cut grass which ferments in her tum resulting in all of her tea making a reappearance in spectacular fashion over the course of a few hours until the brown gungy, smelly mess appears and then she’s looking for food again - brown bread and honey for an extra supper and by morning she’s thin but ravenous!  Even more so when I only let her have half her breakfast - well, that’s what happens when you eat things you shouldn’t.
So we lost a week’s worth of training but I don’t think it’s had a major impact, in fact being stuck inside we’ve been working on sit, which is coming on really well.  They will both sit on command both verbal and hand signal with words and hand signal without words; Dido will sit at a distance of 2-3 metres (assuming no distractions) but Hester still comes towards me before her bottom makes contact with the ground.  Hester is a more natural retriever and gift bringer and today we’ve started on wait before sending out. Dido is more inclined to take the retrieve and dash off with it, and on retrieve recall (different command from plain recall) will often drop it mid way back, in expectation of reward I think even though she’s never been given one after a retrieve - that brain of hers is sometimes too smart for her own good, you can see the problem going in, rattling around and off she goes with her chosen solution which usually involves feet or teeth!

The upset tums made me readdress the feeding regime.  The first brainwave was adding a splash of hot water to their dry kibble which is very sticky and requires lots of trips to the water dish.  Since starting to add the water they’re both noses straight in and gone in one sitting.  The second lightbulb moment was feeding times, we’ve always dropped lunch first giving them breakfast, tea and supper; however this wasn’t working this time round, our (or more precisely my) time schedule is different, there wasn’t long enough between tea and supper so supper was ending up at somewhere between 10 and 11 and I was having to wake them up for it and then keep them awake long enough to empty their tanks before bed; all in all not a good arrangement.  So lunch went back into the routine and supper has gone without being missed at all.

Poor Hester still keeps getting bad experiences when she’s out and about but now she gets over them faster so we’re building up some confidence there.  Dido has had a few scary moments and although she doesn’t quake like Hester it takes longer to settle back down and carry on in a normal fashion; Dido is also much more bouncy and wants to bounce on the world which means that sometimes our progress is more a series of kangaroo jumps than a sedate walk.  Hester trots along happily beside me being nudged back into place - until something scary happens!
They’re both coming along really well on their own; however, yesterday we had our inaugural two puppy outing and as an exercise in heel work it was not a success!  I had to do it much earlier than I had planned because we’ve been invited to a puppy party at the vets next weekend and I need to be sure I can manage both of them; apparently the answer is yes, but they’re not exactly at heel!  Oh well, it will come in time.
This week we’re going to start walks with Hebe, weather permitting taking it in turns to go for the morning paper which will reduce my walk schedule by one but also cut the length of Hebe’s morning outing  - we’ll make it up with playtime after dark.  At least that’s the plan but we have the builders starting work on Monday in the sitting room and Maia is at the vets on Tuesday for her second cartophen injection so things will remain fluid.

Hebe has been a real revelation, she’s a perfect Big Sis, stepping in to break up raucous playtime, playing gently with tug toys, sharing chewy toys but sometimes keeping one for herself, firmly but gently.  Watching at teatime (the one shared mealtime) and darting in to hoover up any spilt bits (she doesn’t know I’ve cut her ration to account for her ‘extras’!).  Although sometime she does take advantage because apparently puppies make perfect pillows during a hard day at work.

The pups are also forming their own Job Descriptions, they taken over shredding duties and will even sometimes read the papers for us.

I think I had read this one before Hester did...

Dido

They are so different.

Chunky Monkey Dido has grown into a long legged, square headed girl; she has a week of growing up until she’s a real skinny-ma-linky-long-legs and then a week of growing out until she’s puppy shaped once again.  Hester seems to grown all ways round although sometimes she’s a real plumpkin, her face is more rounded than Dido’s and she has much bigger eyes.  Dido is curious about everything and wants to help - no matter what you’re doing - she also sleeps less and really quite vocal, grunting to be let out, a different grunt for a cuddle (which are few and far between she doesn’t like being smothered) and whingy series of grunting when she’s desperate to stay awake and play a little longer but is dead on her paws. 

Hester

Hester in contrast loves to be cuddled and will tuck her head into your shoulder folding her legs in and doing a very good impression of a teddy bear, she too fights sleep but not as much as Dido, she needs more reassurance but contrarily is often the instigator at playtime and the one who has to be forcibly stopped for her own good. Hester watches what’s going on but only if you’re on the floor will she come to investigate  - usually with a gift in mouth; she has only two speed flat out top speed ahead and flat out asleep with very little inbetween.

So as Mr Robson says on GQT it’s onward and upward.

(and I will get those photos online....)

A week of firsts

First car ride
On the back seat sitting on and beside me and even attempting to mountaineer over my shoulder and through the dog guard for further exploration.  Dido watched out of the window fascinated by the world whizzing past.  Having been swathed in and lying on a, not dirty but not washed, dog towel and having been hugged for the nine miles over the moors the two little bodies were beginning to smell of 'us'.  All in all a successful journey without any calamities and once home the pups went into the sitting room with Mum whilst I let the big girls out of their dog house.

First meeting with Hebe and Maia
Hebe and Maia sniffed me all over and got big hugs in return before venturing into the sitting room to greet the new arrivals.  Pups sat still and cautiously lifted noses to sniff muzzles whilst larger noses snuffled them all over.  Hebe's never really met a pup smaller than her - Finnegan, even at 16 weeks, was almost as big as she is, her ears went back and her eyes became very large before she sat down in stunned amazement.  Maia, you could see, was going through the “oh, no another puppy” thought processes.

First night
Was simply amazing. Admittedly they were exhausted after a very busy and probably stressful day - not that that put them off their food, well they are Labradors after all. Puddles after supper and by 11 they were settling down so it was bed time.  Big girls went out to empty tanks whilst I put pups into their cage, it's huge (for wolfhound pups), so there's vetbed and towels as bedding at one end and a stack of newspaper at the other along with an un-tip-up-able bowl with water. The towels they'd come home with went in along with an old t-shirt that had been worn a few times but not washed (nice and smelly - lovely!). They went in happily and snuggled down whilst I sorted out the mattress and beds for the girls.  Maia and Hebe came in and hopped up waiting for their biscuits, two bonios handed out and small handful of kibble to distract littles. Lights out and off to bed we all went.  I think they slept better than I did with - one ear open for cries, starting at every noise.  Not a whimper, all night. I went down at six and I don't think they'd even moved, the girls heard me and were standing up so the pups were stretching out. The cage was dry with one little hotspot in the middle of the bedding heap.  Everyone went out and puddled immediately. And it's stayed that way, although we did need new newspaper on Tuesday after Dido in her excitement to see me sat in the water dish!  We're now going to bed at 10.30 and getting up at 7. Although last night they put themselves to bed in the cage after supper, so it was early bed for everyone at just after 10.

First words
They're learning quickly. So far they respond to their names although I don't think they know who is who yet as they react to both names. ‘No’, ‘a-a’ and ‘ha-hum’ in a growly voice all bring heads (and teeth) away from whatever they were investigating. ‘Good girl’ gets little bodies full of wags and wriggles. ‘Busy-busy’ (the puddling command) is used much but I’m not sure they’ve connected the two yet.  They’re hearing ‘give’ a lot too and are quite happy to let me rummage around their teeth to find the latest piece of fluff, tiny pebble, leaf, twig – whatever, not that they’re given a choice really!
‘Come here’ with happy voice and down on knees with open arms gets them hurtling towards you to throw themselves on whichever lap, leg, arm is nearest - I think that's more body language than words but it's a good reaction especially when they’re not looking at you.

First ask
On Monday Dido wandered to the door and squeaked, a quick trip down the yard and yes she really did need to puddle. Tuesday evening she wandered around squeaking but it wasn’t until she started circling on the tiles, nose down and tail up that I realised she needed out – as soon as she was put down at the foot of the steps she dashed down to the bottom of the yard, found the best place and dumped.  Clever little girl.  We’ve had a quite a few more asks from Dido but not really any from Hester, maybe I’m not picking them up as quickly or perhaps she’s not needed to as when one goes out so does the other. However, apparently you can scratch at your collar and puddle on the mat at the same time!

First jabs and first meeting with our favourite vet (and second car trip)
I hadn’t had time to introduce them to travelling in the car ‘on the dog shelf’ and nine miles across the moors to the Pickering seemed a rather extreme introduction so they were once again chauffeured and travelled on the back seat. They sat and behaved themselves in the waiting room with everyone wanting to say hello.  Their turn came and Katie bounced out of the consulting room to gather everyone up in a big hug, the other clients were a little surprised but it was Mum’s first return visit since Finn so it was quite a momentous occasion.  Anyway, they were checked over (lovely little pups was the conclusion), weighed (5.1kg for Dido and 4.9kg for Hester) before finally the pin in the neck and the first jabs were completed. They slept pretty much all the way home.

First lead
It’s been too hot for much of anything, even going down the yard they sensibly stick to the shaded areas so only a couple  of trips each, just five minutes or so walking round the garden, or more often standing still until they stop cavorting and look at me again.  So far Dido wanders along beside me mostly “following the feet” the lead loose until a sniff catches her nose and then a little dart to investigate.  Hester is more of a prancing pony, cavorting along beside me; we have lots more stops and sometimes our walk around the garden is little more than the length of the back lawn  - already, I can see she’s more determined than Dido and is going to need a little ‘persuasion’. We use the same ‘come on then’ and similar to get them to ‘follow feet’ either with or without the lead (we’ll worry about heel commands in a week or so, for now they need to get used to the weight of a lead and the little bit of constriction).

First trip in my car on the ‘dog shelf’
I had intended to get them ‘car ready’ before their first jabs, but we decided that jabs were more important so on Thursday evening they went out for the first time in the tailgate with Hebe.  We only went up to the roundabout at church and back but they were very good, hardly any squeaks but a few scrabbles as they try to find the best vantage point to look out and one growl from Hebe as someone tried to sit on her shoulders!  We’ve been out again today, this time up to the Pickering junction lane end and back, and they were just as good, so I think by the time their second jabs are due (a week on Tuesday) they’ll be fine to go in a proper fashion.

First puppy inflicted injury
A long scratch from a claw down the inside of one leg caused by an over enthusiastic greeting. Note to self: if  you’re sitting on the floor / ground and calling in a hyperactive pup probably best not to wear shorts!  They are very soft mouthed and although my right forearm is just the right size to be grabbed as they’re being carted around so far there’s I’ve only picked up one tooth mark which is smaller than my recent horsefly bite (and far less annoying).  In fact I have more bruises from the big girls (Maia particularly) being determined not to be left out of the morning puppy pile.

Things remembered
When cleaning up puppy puddles to put the bowl of clean water between your knees that way they can’t knock it over / jump in it.
The remarkably small space a puppy can manage to get into – but not necessarily out again.
No matter how many I’ve already removed they are pebble seeking missiles and are still able to find yet another one.
And who needs a fitness programme when carrying 10kg of puppy up and down stairs (my office and sitting room are on the first floor) and lifting them up and down the back steps onto the yard.
How to behave like an idiot when clowning around while persuading a puppy that I really am the best (most daft) thing in its life.

What a first week.

He's only done it again

Further adventures in the life of Finnegan the Foolish Hooligan.
He's caught the top of his tail on something. It's oozy, gooey and gunky, nice. And now has been clipped to expose the damage for cleaning and treatment.

One raw, gooey patch - not for the faint hearted!

Now for the rest of his medical bulletin (oh, yes there's more); he's got an appointment with Eastgate's new toy next Tuesday - they're getting a digital x-ray machine.  Katie has booked his private room out because he'll need a spot of tranquillizer to lie still for long enough, we're looking at his heart and lungs and being such a huge beast one shot doesn't cover the whole picture - it could be three and possibly a scan too. Like Maia he's huffing and puffing, but unlike her he's only two and is also a little lethargic, plus his bloodline isn't too great on cardiac matters.  Fortunately Laura has just finished a cardiac course so he'll be in the best of hands, with his very own Mandy to soothe his furry brow and stop him destroying the door!
Oh, you stupid boy - who'd have a hound?

Another birthday

Juno's turn this time, on 23 June (I know we're a bit behind) she reached the grand age of 15 and in this olympic year was awarded a gold medal for such an achievement.

On one of the few dry sunny days!

Since then she's not been so well and has had to endure trips to the vet but with some new pills she's happy and waggy again and is currently snoring loud enough to rattle the windows. Yesterday she got an email from her favourite vet Katie (who was on holiday last week) to enquire how she's doing.  You don't get that from many vets!

The further adventures of Finnegan the Foolish Hooligan

Shortly after his trip to see his favourite Vet the top from a milk bottle went missing, we had a suspicion that Finnegan had stolen it, as he's the only canine big enough to reach where it had been left; but the window of opportunity was small and it didn't really follow his usual modus operandi,  of taking his booty to munch into little bits on his dragon's den.  We watched him like a hawk for a few days - over a week really - and he was absolutely fine and no sign of the top.  So we began to think it must have been thrown away and we didn't realise, or it's down the back of cupboard or similar equally inconspicuous.
Then last week Hebe picked up a stomach bug from somewhere, the pungent aromas in the office on Friday afternoon necessitated having all the windows open even though it was raining heavens hard. Poor small black was quite out of sorts with herself, not helped by her Beans shouting at the men on the box chasing after the oval ball.  Being a labrador it didn't put her off her food or heading out for walks. But on Saturday night she threw up pretty much everything she'd eaten that day and the dog house was awash in the morning from her at one end and Finnegan at the other. No breakfast on Sunday for either and they were both feeling sorry for themselves with hot noses and warm ears and then by tea time with still no sign of food on the horizon they started grumbling about empty tummies. Hebe was fine on Monday if a little flat because of the shortage of food, brown bread and honey for breakfast cheered her up no end but Finnegan exploded all over the yard - nice! So he was on bread and honey and half rations, all was fine by Tuesday, slightly dodgy tum from hound but getting better - the pro-biotics and slippery elm left over from last year's adventures were working a treat.

And then...
Thursday night he threw up again and kindly left this:

 It's pretty much all there.  Such cheers and smiles over a small piece of blue plastic have probably not been seen before! And hope will not be again. 

Foolish Hound. 
Note to self, he can reach much further and is more sneaky than you think.

Footnote, Maia's got the bug now and is making the pungent smells, lovely...

Pink bandage AND a trip to see the vet!

Apparently several miles of tape and bandage with dressings thrown in for good measure, not to mention half a tube of fusciderm are not sufficient when it comes to clobbered tails. We changed the dressings this morning and it wasn't looking -or smelling- too good. An hour of open air and more disinfectant scrub and anti-everything gel before a lighter, to let the air in, dressing which seemed ok. BUT twenty mins left unattended one Friday afternoon and Finnegan had not only ripped the dressing off but chewed an enormous hole in his tail gushing blood all over. I know a little blood goes a long way but this was more than a little and required a pressure bandage to make it stop. Mum was recalled from an afternoon "tea party" and off to Eastgate we went. Favourite vet Katie greeted him with a "what have you done now, Finn?" before clipping all the hair off the bottom half of his tail. Cleaned again, lathered in chamomile cream and more dressings, which unfortunately didn't last the journey home. With a bag full of 'shopping' and a few pounds lighter in the wallet we came home. Stupid hound is feeling sorry for himself, partly the trip to the vets, partly a bit on infection, partly the antibiotics and antinflamatory but also that he's still careering about like a crackpot and belting the great long appendage on doors, walls, chairs, people, tables - pretty much anything that happens to be vaguely within range.
A weekend of feeling sorry for himself and having his tail grabbed everytime it went anywhere near any hard (or even soft) surface / upright and it's looking loads better, a few hours of no dressing to let it dry out helped enormously too.  A check up on Tuesday and he gets signed off, we have another bag of 'shopping' to keep him wrapped up until it's healed.
Nearly two weeks later and he's bandage free.

How come it's mid-July? Where's the year going??

So what's happened since 9 June. Well not a lot and then again loads!
Juno is now officially a teenager having turned thirteen, which is 91 in dog years not that you'd know it; most of the time she behaves just like a youngster but then at other times I catch her in repose and she's got a saggy, baggy face (too many puppies hanging off it) going grey around the muzzle. She's slowing down too but that doesn't stop her from joining in Hebe's mad half hour every now and then.
She's also being dosed with a herbal potion created for her by Katie the herbalist vet, every day she gets milk and honey with extract of compost heap with her breakfast and then two lots of yoghurt also with compost extract. It's done brilliantly well until this last week when she started chewing her feet and then over the weekend progressed to trying to remove her skin. Katie's working on a new improved brew for her.
The garden is looking wonderful, although I can see a few gaps to be filled with plants. This year was designated clear up and tidy year. It's been progressing slowly but I have at last weedkillered the yard and it's beginning to have some effect, the yard fence was washed down and last weekend was painted green – very smart it looks. The new table and chairs have been teak oiled and the recent rain is standing off the wood. Andy has dug out the bed at the foot of the hedge although I've not yet managed to get the new compost and manure dug in but there are very few weeds popping up so that's good. Once it's fully prepped it's going to be a green and white bed (this does kinda come under tidying up because it was just a weedy mess and now it's a patch of clean soil which means it qualifies – at least that's my excuse!) However there is still a lot of weedy gravel and a heap of stone down one side of the house. I have to move the stone before I can tackle the gravel and the stone is going to edge the gravel garden in the back still to be cleared – another job for Andy but we've not had the right sort of conditions so there's another wonderful excuse… And there's no point clearing the drive until I know when I can order more gravel and I might as well order for the paths and the drive. I did order a big table bed planter to be my new herb bed, again this comes under the tidy up campaign because I can get rid of the multitude of untidy pots scattered around. The catalogue said requires some self-assembly, just like the new table and chairs which required approx. four nuts each and came complete with their own spanner. However, the planter arrived as a heap of wood and bags of screws with an instruction novel (yep, that's a novel not sheet). I looked at all the bits, looked at the book and put it away, left it a week then got out the bits, looked at the book and put it away again and then I had a brainwave – my wonderful Uncle John, retired CDT teacher would read the instructions and put it together in 10 minutes. John looked at the bits, scowled at the book, drank some coffee, threw away the book and then put the wood together in the right order taking closer to an hour than the envisaged 10 minutes – note to self don't go buying big planters over the internet. Mum says it looks like a coffin on stilts, it does a bit too but once it's painted soft green and filled with aromatic, tasty herbs it will be glorious.
The new IT system in the office is still causing problems, granted not as many as before allowing my broken hand to mend and fortunately it's not been bad enough for me to smash it into the wall again so I dropped a table on my foot instead!
On the hound front we thought we were going to get a puppy in October but we found out over the weekend that the bitch wasn't in pup so we'll have to carry on waiting but we'll keep on searching and one day soon there'll be a long-legged stripy scragamuffin to join the pack.

I've found her

She's back with a pink (and you know that's my favourite colour) bandage around her leg. She smells funny and now I've been banished back to the office.

Oh, my whiskers

paws and pink too.
I've searched and searched and can't find my bestest mate. The beans tell me that Cara is not very well at all and has had to stay at the vets who are trying to make her better.

Vet

Cara saw the vet this morning, it's good news (we think), it seems that she has very bad gingivitis which is why she doesn't want to eat. So we'll sort this first with antibiotics and some steroids and then look at her nose / hayfever for this year. Poor hound is very down in the ear and looking rather thin.

Busy, busy

I'm soooo tired.

We spent all weekend outside, except when Cara was out and then I had to come in. Beans did their digging in the ground thing, pulling out some plants and putting other in - I don't think I'll ever understand them.

My best mate Cara is not well, snotty nose and poorly tum, She's off to see the Vet lady tomorrow.

Vet's sign off (we hope).

Juno had her stitches out yesterday and has healed well. However, she's got an infection in the skin on her neck, probably where the collar caught on the exposed patch where the blood was taken for pre-anaesthesia checks. So now she's back on the anti0biotics (different ones this time, pink ones which of course means Hebe wants them!) and fuciderm on the oozing patch. It's looking a little better this morning.
Cara is much improved still huffing a little but nowhere near as much and is back to her usual houndish self, didn't realise how off colour (a bit difficult with a grey dog) and quiet she was.

Definite nip of autumn in the air this morning, though it was a bit yesterday but today needed my fleece to go down the yard and out to do jobs this morning. The robins are whistling their territories, a sure sign of the days on the turn.

A weekend of outings.

On Saturday I went in the car four times! First time was to the vet for another needle. It was very interesting. There were lots of other animals and I got weighed again. I'm 9.7kg – even the vet (a nice lady vet this time) said I was big for my age and she commented on the glossiness of my coat. Then back in the car for trip number two and this time we came back to the house. I was just settling down when I was put in the car again; this was a quick one with a very short stop but only The Mother got out of the car and then got back in and we ended up back at the house. I had a good sleep after that and then – we got in the car again! This time all my people got out and I was left in the car with only Maia. But it wasn't for too long and my Girl came back and we set off again only to end up back at the house again. After tea the other black girls went out (in the car I think) leaving me to play with Cara. When they came back they brought nice smells of food. We got some of it, it's called rice and it's sticky but tastes very nice which makes it worth while chasing the silly little bits all over the floor.

I'm getting very good at stairs now and can even manage to dismantle and climb over the barrier at the bottom of the stairs to go exploring.

I've had some more time walking round and round the garden on my lead. I think I'm getting better.

What a busy weekend.

On Friday afternoon I woke up from my post lunchtime snooze and I was wearing my frock (that's a collar to the uninitiated) I'm not sure I like it that much although everyone says how fetching it looks. It's a bit annoying but I forget about it quite quickly.

Saturday we went in the big black car, I sat on The Mother's lap. It was a long way and I got a bit restless so they pressed a button and suddenly a strange man started singing out of the door – most peculiar but it didn't last long. We stopped and The Girl carried me to a new building, I had to sit still for a bit and then another strange man called us into a room. He looked at me and poked and prodded a bit and THEN he stuck a needle in my scruff – it's a good job I've got lots of spare skin there otherwise it would have really, really hurt but I'm a big bold girl so I didn't grumble about it. I got weighed too, I've put on 1.25kilos in a week, I'm now 7.75kg! After that we came back home and I slept a lot. Maia and Juno say the man with the needle is call 'Vet'.

Saturday evening we watched the talking box - this is really interesting with moving pictures and sound. It was obviously very good because the humans kept jumping up and down and shouting. Maia says it's something called rugby and they normally do this in the winter not usually in the summer.

More discoveries on Sunday. We did lots of things and did lots of sleeping because it was sooo hot! I know about rain we've had lots of that since I was born but this hot ball of fire in the sky is something new. And then I met the guinea pigs. These are small brown and white beings, they go 'weeeaak' and scuttle about a bit in a cage on the grass. They seem quite friendly and came to greet me but they went back to munching the grass and when the cage is moved they behind lovely long bits of very chewy paper. Cara likes these too.