Bobbi returned to kennels

I’m quite sad; Bobbi went back to the kennels on Sunday. She will be living with an animal behaviourist for a few weeks to address her ‘issues’. She’s a lovely little dog but somewhere along the line she has become damaged. She bared her teeth at me a few times and eventually started growling at me if I wanted her to do something she didn’t want to do. After a few days I realised she had to go back, it’s not safe to keep a dog who thinks she’s leader of the pack.  I feel a sense of loss and that’s after a relatively short time. I’m glad I didn’t keep her any longer that would have been even worse, not sure if I’ll carry on looking for a dog now.

Introducing Bobbi

This is Bobbi, ( still in kennels) in the end I decided to take her and not Sammy the lovely big white dog I originally fell in love with. I went back to the kennels on Sunday with my other daughter, her son and of course, Daisy Dog. We met both dogs, they were both fine with my grandchild and Daisy Dog. Although I have to say I think Daisy and Bobbi really seemed to hit it off and have lots of fun together. Sammy wasn’t so interested in Daisy, he was more interested in playing fetch.

 Bobbi was more settled and more interactive on Sunday than she had been on the Saturday. I learned she had only been bought back into the kennels a couple of hours before I arrived on the Saturday, no wonder she didn’t want to interact or play very much. I was still drawn toward Sammy but the deciding factor was when I took Sammy’s lead, he suddenly bounded toward the exercise field and almost pulled me over. At that point I had to admit they were right, Sammy was too big and strong for me and Bobbi would probably be much better in the long term. Bobbi arrived at my home at ten oclock on Tuesday morning. After the man from the kennels left we took our first walk in the park; we met all the other doggie regulars and their humans and we stopped to introduce ourselves, I chatted, she sniffed. Tuesday evening Bobbi was introduced to my friend who lives a couple of doors away and her dog; a very large bouncy cross German Shepherd/ Husky who at almost a year old, is just a huge bouncing machine. Bobbi was polite but gave the bigger dog a couple of warnings when he invaded her space and became just a bit too pushy. Large, young, male dogs need putting in their place occasionally. Wednesday she progressed to the extender lead and had some freedom to run and play in the park with her new doggy friends. Wednesday evening my daughters and grandchildren came for their tea. The kids loved the dog, they bought her new toys, she loved the attention and I even allowed them to walk her on her lead a little way. My daughter left me a harness because Bobbi does pull a bit, especially in the mornings when she is eager to get out. The harness seems to have made a big difference, walking her today was much easier. She passed another milestone this afternoon, I went out to my painting class and left her on her own from 12.45 to 17.15, the only casualty of her first separation was her new toy; she totally destroyed it. I was very relieved to see the new nothing else had been touched, she hadn’t even tipped the bin over and almost all the dogs I’ve ever know have fun with the bin when left alone. So………….that’s it so far. Bobbi and I are getting to know each other, and so far, so good. Tomorrow we are going for another walk with my friend and her German Shepherd cross and Saturday my other friend is coming to meet her. She is well on her way to being a very well socialised little dog.

Christmas/ New Year over.............and life goes on

It’s officially over, my grandchildren are returned to their mother, the decorations are back in boxes on the top shelf of the cupboard, the house is clean and tidy and not one morsel of junk food remains in this house. Its back to porridge for breakfast home made veggie broth for lunch and fish or eggs for tea.
My next major task is stripping and redecorating the stairway. It’s not a job I’m looking forward too but; once the stairway is done, the whole house is done. Yep this is the final stage in the complete redecoration of the whole house. It’s taken me a couple of years to strip every room back to the plaster and start from scratch, but I’m almost there. The only thing that stands between me and the complete redecoration of the entire house is the stairway.  And when I’ve actually done the whole house, I’ll sit back and think, wow what an achievement.
But; before the redecorating begins there is something else I have to do. I made the decision a while ago to get myself a dog. I’ve had a canine companion for most of my life but when my last little one died about 5 years ago I decided not to get another until I retire. Well here I am retired and looking for a faithful friend. I went to the rescue kennels today to see the handsome chap at the top of the page. He is a border collie, about 3 years old and called Sammy. I saw his picture on the local dog rescue site and immediately felt drawn to him. He is a fantastic dog, he’s friendly, gets on well with kids and other dogs and like a game of fetch. He doesn’t seem to know the difference between sit and down, when you say sit………..he lies down but the learning potential is defiantly there. Apparently he was picked up by the police in a nearby town and taken to the local pound to wait for the owner to reclaim him. No owner showed up so he was passed on to dog rescue to be rehomed. I absolutely loved him but the people at dog rescue tried to steer me toward a smaller, more placid, black and white female collie called Bobby. They think Sammy could be a bit much for me to handle, they are right, he is a big strong dog and he does pull on the lead, but I really liked him as soon as I saw him and I’m sure he would learn not to be so boisterous.  Bobby is ok, a very sweet little dog but I think she is too submissive and she doesn’t seem to interact with people very well, she wasn’t interested in playing, she just wanted off the lead so she could run off on her own.  Also as soon as she was shut back in the kennel she started dancing round and round in circles, chasing her tail and barking. I think she could have some separation issues and would maybe bark and whine when alone in the house, especially as she has already been rehomed once and returned after 6 weeks because she didn’t settle. The People at the kennels seemed to blame the new home. They said the new owners hadn’t been exercising her enough and left her on her own too much. This may have been true, she was obviously over weight which makes me think she needed exercised but I’m still not sure about her. I hope to go back to the kennels tomorrow and get a better look at both of them. Apparently another couple are going to look at Sammy tomorrow and I have a feeling the rescue people want Sammy to go to this couple and not me. I feel as if Sammy is meant for me but if it doesn’t happen, maybe he’s just not the one. Maybe little Bobby is the one meant for me. Guess I’ll just have to wait and see. Today I went with the grandchildren who have been staying with me plus their mother and that turned out well because both dogs got on very well with the grandchildren.  Tomorrow I’m going with my other daughter and her Daisy Dog. What ever dog I end up with has to get on well with Daisy Dog because when I go away my dog will stay with her and when my daughter goes away Daisy dog stays with us. It’s all quite exciting. Will keep you posted.

Walking Daisy Dog in the sunshine.

Walking Daisy dog in the sunshine.

Daisy dog went home this morning and I miss her already. It’s not just her company that I miss; I also miss the morning walk. Hopefully the habit of walking every morning will stay with me, I’ve really enjoyed it and I know it’s good for me.  

After the first few walks the rout became established, we took the same path every day and she knew where we were going.

 

 

We walked across the park, through the new millennium forest, past the old trees that were planted many years ago when the park was first opened and then through the manicured ornamental rose gardens. 

The rose garden is an old walled garden with ornamental archway entrances. The walls are very old red sand stone. There is fountain in the rose garden which sadly, hasn’t worked for as long as I can remember. 

It’s a simple design made from polished red stone which matches the red walls. I wish the local council would maintain this fountain,  I’m sure it would look lovely if it were full of water. 

I can imagine the sun shining through the fountain of water and sending rainbow patterns across the roses. Maybe I should mention it to them. After the rose garden and the disused fountain we always walked back by the sea. 

We walked through the park, down the bank, past the old cottages and along the beach, then home. Daisy dog enjoyed it and so did I, like I said, I miss her already. We were so lucky; the last couple of days of our walk together has been  wonderfully sunny with blue skies and blue seas. Every thing looks completely different in the sunshine to the way it looked a few days ago in the mist. Its the same place, but it looks like another world.

Walking Daisy Dog in the mist.

Meet Daisy, she is my daughters bearded collie.
My daughter is in Italy and Daisy is with me for ten days. We walk together every morning and this was todays walk. In the year 2000 our local council planted several small areas of native woodland in every town, they are known collectively as the Millennium Forests. 

That was 13 years ago, now look how they’ve grown. They started life a variety of indigenous trees and shrubs all about 18 inches tall. 

At the time people complained about the waste of money etc, etc………..some people are never happy, I thought it was a wonderful way to celebrate the millennium and now that they’ve grown, I’m even more appreciative of them. This ‘millennium forest’ was planted in a public park overlooking the sea; I love it here, even without the dog for company I love walking here. Today we have the sea mist rolling in. We woke up to it yesterday morning and it’s not lifted since,  it gets quite eerie sometimes, especially when the fog horns from the boats start sounding, they can be heard all over town. 

I couldn’t see the sea today, the mist was too thick. But I could hear it, and beneath that mist I think the sea was quite rough, I could hear the waves crashing and the sea birds squawking. 

With all that thick sea mist and the sounds of crashing waves, sea birds and eerie fog horns it was a bit like being on the set of some costume mystery movie. A bit like Tess of the d’Urbervilles revisited. 
This blog is a bit of a milestone, its the first one that is only posted here, no more reposting from here to to blogster and no more reposting from there to here, it feels quite liberating really. At last, here I am with only one blog home  :-)
And this is a painting of Daisy that I did for my daughter a while ago.