Aragh!  *Sighs and rolls eyes!*

On Thursday Solei and I went to agility, they’d set up a sequence of jumps, close together in a straight line. Fine – except they wanted to hold the dogs to have them pulling towards the owner. I know Solei can be a bit funny about that, but I do feel like I’m sometimes overprotective/oversensitive, so I let them go ahead. There were two sequences set up, with a different person on each. The first was ok (more or less, anyway!) but the person on the second….I left Solei, and as I started walking away there was an almightly scream and I turned around to see him flat to the floor! I was concerned and not happy at the time, but carried on and he was fine for the rest of the evening.

Over the weekend I wasn’t particularly happy – there was a slight look in his eyes, and he wasn’t so keen on food – however, having just brought Ria home it could have been due to that.

I could have cried on Monday morning when he was like I haven’t seen him since before he started seeing his chiro (excluding the reaction he had 48hrs after his first session!). I left him for 24hrs or so to see how he went, now he’s on rest and painkillers 🙁 So we’ll see how he goes, fingers crossed the rest and painkillers help. On the bright side aside from the holding the actually agility went very well 😛 He was doing the obstacles well, and his contacts had come back!

Then there’s Elton! He hasn’t been the same since we swapped Darwin/Fern. From a dog that was very much into food and had never been a fussy eater in his life, Elton started being so disinterested in food. It had been a gradual (subtle) decline, until he refused his first meal completely a few days after Fern started her season.

Sometimes he eats (eventually), sometimes doesn’t, no enthusiasm for food….which also has a knock on effect that I’m not spending as much time doing things with him cos I can’t work with him (I’d cube the NatureDiet and then train him before each meal and use the ND to reward) if I can’t reward him!! (Can use toys but not all the time) and he’s just lost a little bit of something that was Elton, if that makes sense. I don’t know what to do with him, I’ve tried doing things, not doing things..etc.

He’s getting time spent with me on his own, and I haven’t tried to do any form of training for weeks. I really hope he’s just unsettled and now there won’t be anymore dog changes for months he’ll get over it – whatever “it” is! I can’t tell you how much I want the “old” Elton back 🙁

In other news, I’m exhausted 😆 However, I love this puppy <3 I’m not doubting myself anymore, I think I’ve done the right thing 🙂 She’s gorgeous <3

She’s 8 weeks old today, and I’ve had her 5 days now. She’s much quieter at night, though we’re still not sleeping brilliantly! None the less it’s much improved. I’ve reached the point of such exhaustion I’m not as jumpy which helps 😆 – to start with I was jumping awake with every little noise, determined to get her outside before she peed. Which was quite amusing on Saturday night – I woke up and of course me getting up woke her up. So I went to grab her to put her out, she squatted so I picked her up anyway and put her down outside expecting her to squat as she was that desperate….no, she ran back inside. So grabbed her again, by which time she’d started peeing again (I didn’t realise) which ended up going all over my hand and lap before she stopped! This time shut the door before I put her down and she did do the rest outside….but not quite what I wanted in the middle of the night! No such incidents since, thankfully!

I left her for the first time on Sunday, she seemed to have settled quite well so I decided to take Elton to the show I’d entered him in, as we were first in the ring and it was only about 15 minutes drive. Dad was at home, so she wasn’t completely on her own. On the whole she was really good 🙂 (and it was worth going as Elton won his class!)

On Monday some friends came over for lunch, and to meet madam! She was somewhat overawed when they first came in, but warmed up and by the time they left she was all over them 🙂 I was a bit worried to see her initial reaction, but pleased with how it ended!

Yesterday I put a collar on her for the first time (not amused!) and we went on our first big adventure, down the road to the post office 🙂 She hasn’t even had her first vaccination yet, so she was restricted to my lap – much to her displeasure! As we walked down the road she wasn’t sure of traffic, but I’d taken a toy and stopped to talk and play when I saw bigger vehicles approaching. She seemed to improve as she was out for longer, so hopefully she’ll soon get over that! There was a white German Shepherd walking in the opposite direction on the other side of the road which she thought was rather interesting! She was very interested in the couple of people that walked by, but a bit wary. However, as we got down to where the post office is we met a man who stopped to talk to her and she was happily saying hello. Closely followed by an older couple who she also greeted enthusiastically, and then was actually pulling to get *to* people! So that was good.

Ria, 8 weeks old 🙂