A little big brother for Wesha

I have been waiting to tell you about this important news, until I was certain that it would happen. Today, I signed the contract and now I am the official owner of Ghandi:
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Ghandi is a small, mixed breed dog, that is currently in an animal shelter in Granada (Spain). He will come to Southern Germany - where we will pick him up - within the next 2 weeks.(I'll get an exact date tomorrow.) Ghandi has been in the shelter since he was about 5 months old. He was born in April 2008 and is only 1 month older than Wesha.

We are very happy and excited that we can soon welcome him in our home and our family!

10 Months old

Wesha turned 10 months old yesterday. She hasn't come into season yet, but I guess it won't be long now.

Trampoline, swimming & taping

Tina took the trampoline up yesterday. While she was jumping, Wesha joined her (unfortunately those pictures didn't work out). And afterwards, Wesha decided that it was a good bed.


Wesha still doesn't swim, unless she falls into the water. You can see that happening here:



As you might have seen in the video, we have taped Wesha's ear again. We have massaged it a lot, but the last couple of days, the ear would hardly fall into the correct position anymore. As the ears are getting firmer now, we are giving it one more try with the tape. I still think it would be a shame if she would end up with a folded ear.

A week in pictures

Friday: We walked with Gaby and Erco. Wesha loves playing & running with Erco. They posed for us on this bench. It was a bit slippery, as you can see from Wesha's front paws.


Sunday, after a family lunch. It was hard to line the dogs up. First Wesha with Mia & Nele (and their resp. owners):


And another try with Viva (all the dogs present). They all needed their humans.


Tuesday: Wesha loves sleeping on this spot. It means she is in the way for everyone who wants/needs to go up- or downstairs.


Wednesday: Playing with Lorenzo in the kitchen.


Thursday: Now that spring is here (although the last few days have been wintery again), Wesha would prefer to be out in the garden all day long. Relaxing, looking at the world passing by.

Two red heads training

Training starts with walking. Wesha should (and does) focus on Tina.


In between, "sit" and "down" are rehearsed time after time.


Then "sit and wait". Wesha waits while Tina walks around her a couple of times. Great focus, as you can see.

Running together is fun!

Waiting is also part of training. Here they were watching another girl & dog, who were showing something.

Wesha had to stay in "sit" while someone else walked up to her and even stood next to her for a short while. It was hard for Wesha, but the second attempt was successful!

Posing for mummy during a small break.

Nordic Walking

Wesha is doing much better. No more throwing up or diarrhea since Thursday night. She is lively and happy as usual.

This morning, I took my nordic walking sticks with me when I went for a walk with Wesha. The first part of the walk, while I had Wesha on the leash, I kept both sticks in one hand. Wesha didn't seem to even notice them.

When I let Wesha off the leash, we met a woman with her dog that we know from training. So we chatted a bit while the dogs were playing on a small field. After a while we each went our own way. I walked off with the nordic walking sticks and called Wesha and in no time she was trotting next to me, looking up at me happily. She still didn't seem to notice the sticks, eventhough they made a loud ticking sound and swished back and forth in front of her nose. (No barking, no trying to bite the sticks, nothing!)

The rest of the off leash walk was totally normal. When I called Wesha, she came to me. She listened to commands and seemed happy and at ease.

Once again, I am very proud of Wesha. Proud that she is so confident and took this in her stride. I am very happy that this went well, I will definitely go nordic walking with her a couple of times each week.

Wesha, the patient

Wesha caught a stomach bug a few days ago. She had diarrhea for days and she threw up a couple of times. After a couple of days, we went to the vet (yesterday) and she got medication to help her get better.

She did have a first normal bowel movement this afternoon, so hopefully the virus has been conquered.

Wesha has been a good patient. She was happy throughout, but after a few days she was getting tired quicker. We only took her for short walks and after the walks she was pretty tired.

Along the Rhine

Some pictures from this morning's walk along the Rhine.

It is getting a bit dangerous to walk past this tree. Wesha smelling the beavers:

Wesha really wanted the stick that was under water. Trying with her paw first...

and when the paw didn't work, diving in. She didn't get it though.

Her wet face after the dive:

What's down there?

"Queen of the Rhine"... Wesha thinks she owns this part of the Rhine!

"Oh, what is that behind you?!" I wasn't fooled though and kept the camera focused on Wesha :D

Back home

We came back home yesterday. And there is a huge difference between our walks here and our walks in Davos. In Davos, Wesha was pulling the leash all the time. We tried everything (standing still until Wesha would come back to us, giving rewards whenever she would walk nicely next to us, etc.etc.) and she still pulled the leash. And here at home... no leash pulling whatsoever! What a relief! Very pleasant!