Wesha's haircut

Because Wesha doesn't particularly like to hold still while we cuddle her, or search her for ticks etc.... I have never done anything about the hair on and around her ears. But last week, I felt some dreadlocks behind her ears and I decided that enough was enough. So I started to "bother" her while she was resting. First I let her sniff the scissors and then I tried to cut out the worst of the dreadlocks. Wesha allowed me to do so, but only for a short while. So in various "sessions" I tried to get rid of the dreadlocks. And when that was done, I decided to cut the long hairs on top of her ears too. Wesha was keeping still better than expected and I finished the haircut today. It is far from perfect, but I think it looks better than before, so I am pleased anyway.

Ghandi lost a tooth

This morning, I had to take Ghandi back to the vet to get his bad milk tooth taken out. I could stay with him until he was asleep. It was no fun to see them try to put in an IV. Ghandi was squirming and after 2 tries it was in, but only for a few seconds and then Ghandi had pulled it out again. Blood everywhere. The assistant then held Ghandi really tight and the vet injected the narcosis medicine right into a muscle. That is very painful and Ghandi cried accordingly. As the assistant let go of Ghandi, he first ran away from her, then ran to me and jumped into my arms. I held him there until he was sleeping.

When I got home, Reto had gone for a walk with Wesha. Wesha was searching Ghandi when she came back. She could smell him on my clothes and sniffed my clothes extensively.

When I went back to the vet to pick Ghandi up, he was barely awake, and very scared. He was trembling like a leaf. While I was talking to the vet, the trembling got less and after a few minutes in the car he had stopped trembling. (Reto was driving while I held Ghandi on my lap) When we got home, Wesha was overjoyed to see her buddy again. She sniffed him all over and was a bit puzzled that he didn't want to play. Ghandi slept on my lap for an hour and a half. Once he got up and walked outside, but as soon as he was outside, it was like he had forgotten what he wanted to do. He just stood there, looking blank. So I carried him inside again and he slept some more.

Only around 16.00 hrs, he became more alert and active again. We fed him a chicken neck and it stayed in. Later in the afternoon, he started to play with Wesha again. In the evening I took him with us on our evening walk and he was happily running around in the fields with tall grass.

Apart from taking out the milk tooth, the vet also cleaned the rest of his teeth, took out a bit of a tick that got stuck behind his ear and checked his blood and urine (both fine). So Ghandi is as good as new.

Birthday Boy

Ghandi officially turned 1 year old today.

I tried to take some good photos, but it wasn't easy. Ghandi doesn't hold still long enough. At least these "spring" photos turned out okay.


Wesha is ofcourse a much easier "model". She is used to holding still for photos.

Rest of the news today

Walking both dogs at the same time is no problem, as long as their leashes have the same length. This works really well.


Usually, I will let them go off leash as much as possible anyway. This morning, I kept Wesha on the leash. It is maybe a bit early as she is in season for about 1 week now, but I saw that she now turns away her tail when I put on her little nappie. Better safe than sorry, as they say.

We went on a long walk this afternoon and I tried to take a good photo of Ghandi, as he is officially turning 1 year old tomorrow. But it is hard to take a good photo of him, as he is too close to me most of the time. And that results in this.

All About Sleeping

Sleeping at night: Ghandi did really well and only whimpered for about 10 minutes when we went to bed last night. And not a peep from him anymore. That was wonderful. After a full night of sleep I almost feel human again.

Sleeping during the day:
Wesha and Ghandi are become such good friends, that they have started to sleep together. This is so cute, that one photo just wasn't enough.

Wesha & Ghandi & the stick

When Wesha and Ghandi are playing, they are pretty equal. Sometimes Wesha is on top...


... and sometimes Ghandi is on top.



This afternoon Wesha had a stick in the garden. At first she wouldn't give it to Ghandi


They also chewed it together for a while.


And then Ghandi took over anyway...


... he left Wesha looking sad.



Until they each found a little piece of the stick to chew on. Everybody happy.

Better night & vet visit

Last night it went better! Ghandi cried for about 10 minutes when we went to bed and then he was sleeping until 05.30am. He then cried and howled for a couple of minutes and that was it! YAY! I am so glad that he seems to get used to sleeping away from us and in a crate now. When I came downstairs this morning, he was lying peacefully in the crate.

I took Ghandi to the vet this morning. He is perfectly healthy. He weighs 8.8kg, which is exactly right.

Only his teeth are not perfect. I had already seen that he has a rotting tooth. Luckily, it is a milk tooth and the other teeth are all in the correct positions. The other teeth are not as clean as they could be, so next week Tuesday, when the milk tooth is being taken out, the other teeth will be cleaned too. Ghandi will need to be sedated. I can stay with him until he is asleep and I can pick him up before he is fully awake. Which is really good, because he is scared when he can't be with me or with Reto.

When we returned from the vet visit, Wesha was very happy to see Ghandi again. She greeted him very enthusiastically and they immediately played and ran a couple of rounds in the garden. So cute!

Ah... something else: during our morning walk, Wesha had found a nice stick and she wouldn't let Ghandi have it! She ran away from him and when he got hold of the other end of the stick, she warned him with a growl. Ghandi kept chasing her, but she didn't give up the stick. When Ghandi gave up, Wesha laid down and chewed on the stick for a while. I am glad she defended that stick, because until now, she would drop all toys as soon as Ghandi came near her.

Brother and sister

Unfortunately, last night was not much better than the ones before. At 3am, I was ready to give up and get Ghandi, so that he could sleep on our bed. I just wanted an undisturbed night of sleep! Good thing Reto used his fabulous brain and told me not to do it. It also helped, that Ghandi was quiet real soon and I fell asleep again. Until about 05.30am... Oh well. Reto was sweet and got up at 06.30am to let the dogs out of their crates, so I could stay in bed and sleep. Or at least try to sleep.

Wesha and Ghandi are more and more reminding me of young kids. When one of them has a toy, the other one wants it too. If one of them goes to drink water, the other one is right on his/her heels. When one of them barks, the other one barks too. Ghandi is really the dominant one. When Wesha has a toy, he walks up to her and Wesha immediately drops the toy. When they go to drink water, he drinks first.



This morning, Wesha was chewing on a little branch from our hedge and although there were many similar ones around... Ghandi wanted the one that Wesha was chewing:


And still they are growing closer too. This afternoon they slept like this (photos by Tina):



They also have a funny ritual after they have eaten. We give them their food in the crates, so that they can each eat in peace (and so that Ghandi might start to like his crate too). When they have finished eating and we open the crates, they immediately run to the other crate to see if there is anything left. They cross each other and it is such a funny sight! Silly dogs.

Bed swapping

Wesha and Ghandi were catching up on sleep this afternoon. Ghandi luckily likes this bed, that I bought for Wesha a while back.

Wesha didn't like it at all and never slept in it. Until she saw Ghandi sleeping in it.


They were swapping beds all the time. For a while I was reading a book on our small couch and Wesha was lying behind the couch and Ghandi in front of it. So cute. They even were together in 1 bed for a short while. Wesha was already in that bed, when Ghandi just climbed in. Wesha was very surprised and looked at Ghandi, who just closed his eyes and pretended to sleep. Then Wesha started to squeek very softly and after another short while, she left the bed to Ghandi.

Ghandi started barking a lot. A lot of sounds are unfamiliar to him and he didn't sleep deep enough not to hear them. I think this will get better soon.

Having Ghandi in our lives reminds me a lot of the first few weeks we had Wesha. So many things that she did then, he does now. Barking at strange sounds, jumping on the couch, crying at night, etc.
One big difference is, that Ghandi loves cuddling, whereas Wesha very seldomly likes cuddling.

Short night, long walk(s)

Unfortunately last night was even worse. Ghandi cried and howled a lot. The longest he was quiet was about 2 hours and then he started again, 2 hours rest and howling again. At 06.30am I got up and let him out of the transport box. Again, he was so happy, that he almost went crazy. Jumping, snapping, whimpering. Wesha didn't like it one bit. So the first few minutes were really chaotic this morning. Once Ghandi had calmed down a bit (I had to hold him and stroke him for a while), it got better.

I did notice that Wesha seemed a bit tired, so I decided to take Ghandi for a long walk, so that Wesha could get some sleep. The walk with Ghandi went really well. When we just left home, he was obviously insecure and he kept jumping up on me. I kept walking at a pretty fast pace and after a while he gave up on that behaviour. I guess it was because we went without Wesha. Wesha is so calm and certain on walks, that must influence him. And without her, he wanted me to carry him and put him at ease.

After he stopped jumping up on me, we had a lovely walk. Soon I let him walk off leash again and he walked right next to me for most of the time. We met a friend who has three Greyhounds (all 3 from Spain too) and Ghandi ran with 2 of them. He is really pretty fast, although the Greyhounds could easily shake him off, of course! At that same time, a woman with 3 dogs walked up and Ghandi played a bit with 2 of them too. But when I called him, he immediately came to me. Really perfect. And as soon as I started walking again, he was right next to me.
We met 4 other dogs on our way home and all meeting and greeting went well. Ghandi played quickly with one of them too.
After almost 1.5 hours we were back home.

I changed dogs (Wesha had eaten and had been sleeping while Ghandi and I were walking) and went for a walk with Wesha. I don't notice any change in her behaviour while walking. Being in season doesn't seem to bother her. She cleans herself well when she isn't wearing her little nappy and she is happy as usual. We had a quiet walk, didn't meet any other dogs. Wesha did go into the Rhine a few times, but never far enough to really swim.

Reto told me that Ghandi had been crying when I had just left with Wesha. Ghandi had also been searching us. He didn't really sleep, and barked at every sound. Now Ghandi is sleeping on the floor next to my feet. He still sleeps lightly and barks every now and then when he hears a sound that disturbs him. Wesha is sleeping again too. I think the nights are too short for her too.

I do feel a bit sorry for both Wesha and Ghandi. Wesha doesn't get enough sleep because Ghandi is crying and howling. And Ghandi is obviously not used to sleeping in a transport box and away from people. If we would only have Ghandi, I would let him sleep in our bedroom, because I think that would work best with him. But since we never allow Wesha upstairs (the rule is: no dogs upstairs), that is not possible. The idea is, that soon we can let them sleep "free" in the living room. But that is impossible right now, because they don't know each other well enough yet and because Wesha is in season now. Besides that, as soon as we go upstairs, Ghandi is crying downstairs, so it might not even help him much.
So I guess Ghandi will just have to get used to it. It is very much the way it was when Wesha came to us. She didn't like sleeping in the bench either. I did feel sorry for her too when she was crying in the first few nights. But she got used to it soon and I hope Ghandi will get used to it soon too.

I am taking Ghandi to the vet on Thursday morning and I will start training with him next week Wednesday. I did start "home schooling" with him yesterday and he does "sit" pretty well already! Clever dog!

Update on Ghandi

The night was a bit short again, as Ghandi didn't like at all, that he had to sleep in a box at night. The transport box we had bought for him is too small for him to sleep in, because he likes to sleep all stretched out. So we took Wesha's transport box out of the car for Ghandi to sleep in. But still, he didn't like it at all and he cried and he howled for well over an hour when we went to bed. And this morning at 07.00 he started again. When I let him out of the box, he went totally wild with joy. He jumped right into my face and was so happy, that he didn't know what to do. That got better after a few minutes and soon, Wesha and Ghandi enganged in their first play for today.

After Wesha and Ghandi had breakfast and a little rest, Reto and I took them for a walk on the grapevine hill. Because Ghandi walked right beside me (better at "heel" than Wesha, hehehe), and we could see far and there were no other people around, we decided to take him off the leash. It went perfect! Wesha and Ghandi ran together, sniffed together and in between, Ghandi came back to me very often and walked "heel".



Here are some video clips of that lovely walk:






While we had breakfast (also during dinner last night), Ghandi went to sleep underneath the dining table. I think he took his cue from Wesha, who is always going to sleep when we eat a meal. I am very happy about that, because we can have quiet meals, without dogs begging at the table.

And this is the reason we won't have more than 2 dogs....
...Reto only has 2 hands, hahahaha!

Airport Photos

Here are some photos that Manfred Schallenberg made at the airport when the dogs arrived. Thank you for allowing me to put them on my blog!


Checking the test results of Ghandi.

Putting on the leash wasn't easy:

The happy "parents":

The three dogs that arrived for Pfötchenhilfe.com

Ghandi is home & Wesha came into season

I have so much to tell, but I am so tired... So for now, I will tell you a short version. We picked up Ghandi at the airport in Cologne (Germany) last night. We stayed the night in a hotel and that was a long night, with very little sleep. Wesha wanted to play, Ghandi was stressed and didn't want to play. (He wanted to sit on my lap and get lots of TLC.) When we put them each in a transport box, there was a lot of whimpering and surprisingly, Ghandi was the first one to be quiet. Around 3am, Ghandi started crying and I went out with him. He was so scared, that I didn't have the heart to put him back in the transport box again. So we let Wesha out of her transport box too. That resulted in a lot of jumping on and off beds, walking over beds, crawling under beds etc. And very little sleep. Finally, Ghandi was the first one to fall asleep. On the bed, at my feet. Wesha couldn't find her peace yet and kept tigering around. Until she finally gave up too and fell asleep on the bed too, at Reto's feet. Then it was quiet until 07.45am.

Wesha left a little surprise on Reto's bed... a drop of blood! She had come into season during the night! She didn't seem unhappy or less active.

After walking the dogs and breakfast, we drove back home. The drive went very well. No whimpering at all.

At home, Ghandi seemed to feel better at ease soon. After sniffing around in our house and garden, he even started to play with toys and later he even played with Wesha.

I was worried, because Ghandi didn't pee or poo since we picked him up at the airport, but a friend told me this could be due to stress and I should worry too much. He finally did both this evening.

Wesha found a tennis ball when we went for a walk in Cologne.

Arrival of Ghandi at the airport. The big black dog had drooled all over Ghandi.

Late at night:


Early in the morning:



Enjoying themselves in the garden when we got home



Really playing for the first time:


Wesha got tired off all the running and playing:

Ghandi was still fit

I had to give Ghandi a bath, because he sure didn't smell like roses! It was a bit of a water ballet in the bathroom, as you can see from my shirt.

During our first walk in Dachsen

Finally tired enough to sleep

Photos

Here are the photos from our walk with Barbara and Lenny:







And we ran into Cordula and Nituna this morning. Wesha and Nituna had a great time playing:




I like this photo of this morning too: