Tomboy again

Yet again, I came home from a day out last Weds and found Nina had a 3 inch tear in her side. Actually, rather embarrassingly, I didn't find it on Weds at all - I didn't notice till Thursday morning. So, no breakfast for Nina as it was clearly a general anaesthetic jobbie. Off to the vet for first appointment of the morning (I think they keep it free for us). Collected her about 4.30 and had usual 'I need to sleep but I don't want to so I'm going to stand here and waver about all evening'. Getting better now. Nurse Satch did his usual job of licking it clean all the time. Although clean is perhaps overstating it. You never know where that tongue has been. No - worse - you DO know where that tongue has been!

The Nina Simone Guide to Parenting

The Nina Simone guide to parenting – a guide for first-time mothers

1. If in doubt, lick its bottom
2. When leaping from the bed to shout at a passing horse, try not to tread on more than two of the puppies
3. If the horse is imaginary, try not to tread on more than one
4. When all else fails, lick its bottom
5. If it won’t stop suckling to have its bottom licked, stand it on its head and do it anyway
6. Try not to look at the puppies with too much disdain as you pass the nest, or your mum might not let you out in the garden as much
7. Remember, this is the one time you’ll be allowed to eat as much as you want – cultivate a constant hungry look and head for the kitchen every time your mum goes in there
8. If the puppies cry, ignore them; they’ll fall asleep eventually
9. If they’re suckling and you want to get out of the bed, get out anyway; they’ll drop off at some point
10. If in doubt, lick its bottom

Happy New Year

Happy New Year. What will 2011 hold for Grafmax dobermanns?

My main wish for Max is that he stays happy and healthy. My resolution is to make sure he gets 2 walks every day to keep him fit.

My wish for Nina is that she stays well and continues to do well at shows. I've just started taking her again and she's had a Best of Breed, a 1st and two 2nds in her first four shows. My resolutions for her are to continue working on her nervousness of unknown small dogs if they come bounding up to her (she's much better, but more to do) and to join an agility club with her.

My wish for Satchmo is that he stops chewing everything! Are you listening, young man? My resolutions for him are to get him through KC Gold and SWDTBC Intermediate. And to improve my handling, especially to handle him well at Crufts.

On the fourth day of Christmas ... I strangled Satchmo

On the fourth day of Christmas my Satchmo chewed for me...

Four doggie collars
Four leather shoes
Three organisers
Two of Nina's moo-moos
And a really nice honeysuckle tree

The dog collars were all on Max's neck at the time.
The leather shoes were all real favourites except one.
The latest organiser had been bought only two months ago
And the honeysuckle had been cultivated for years to the point where it climbed right over the wall. It's now a two-inch stump.
Sigh.

Satchmo passes another exam!

Satchmo and 8 others took their Foundation test at the Southwest Dog Training and Behaviour Centre yesterday. The exercises include things like a stay amongst chickens, walk and wait, formal recall etc. The tricky bit is that you can't use any extra commands. Satch lost 1 point for raising his head off the floor during the lie flat; and 2 x 1/4 points in the formal recall, for sitting slightly at an angle and finishing a bit wide. Nonetheless, he did really well. All the dogs passed, even the ones that were having real problems only a few days ago. V v proud as always.

Serious stuff

Serious post this time. A few weeks ago, I thought I was going to lose Max. He's 13 yrs and 3 months and that's old for a dobe, but he's been so fit I've always kidded myself he'll go on for ever. Anyway, he'd been quite a couch potato since I've not been going out to work, especially when there was a cold, wet spell. I'd noticed he'd lost muscle tone on his back end. I had a couple of days when I couldn't walk them much and I then came down one morning to find a lake of pee and Max losing his back end every few secs. Poor lad couldn't make it to the door, but peed across the doormat and then couldn't cock his leg. Big panic and off to vet. Transpired he'd presumably both got lazy and stiff and also been leaving it too long to go for a pee, so he had a urinary infection. Anti-inflammatory eased the stiffness; antibiotics cured the infection; and 3 walks a day, rain or shine, built the muscle tone back. I shall learn that lesson and not let it happen again. Coddling him is obviously riskier than sending him out in bad weather.

Slapstick flatcoat

Molly the flatcoat retriever is very brave and aggressive ... as long as there's a gate between her and the three dobes. When she walks past with her owner, she races up to our gate, barking like a thing possessed, and then clearly enjoys the degree to which Nina, especially, gets wound up by this. Was at the gate yesterday with big softie, Max, and Molly saw us and started at her fastest gallop, barking manically ... just as Max and I opened the gate and came out to start our walk. Well, if she could have gone into reverse, she would have done. She put the anchors on so hard that she slipped on her side and slid about two yards on the ground, still on her side. She then got up and stood a couple of yards away, feigning nonchalance, looking in the opposite direction, studiously ignoring us, while her owner and I stood there, hands on knees, crying with laughter. Been feeling very stressed so, thanks, Molly sweetie, you really cheered me up.