Visiting Viva

Wesha has an ugly infected eye. The vet had already warned me that that could happen when the corner teeth are about to break through. So I guess that is about to happen. She keeps the eye almost closed at times. I am cleaning it a couple of times a day with chamomile tea and I hope it will soon be better.

Today, we visited my MIL again. Her dog Viva still doesn't like Wesha much. Viva was rejected by her mother at 7 weeks old and then bought by my MIL. She is has missed a lot of the important socializing with other pups/dogs. For her to have a fidgety young dog like Wesha around is pretty stressful. Viva loves playing with people, but she cannot play with other dogs. And Wesha, well she just wants to play so badly. She won't stop "inviting" Viva. After a while she starts barking at Viva and won't stop.




When we arrived we took Viva and Wesha for a walk. That went fairly well. Viva was just walking and Wesha was running around, coming back to Viva time and again. Viva would growl at her and flash her teeth. Wesha would run a wider circle around Viva until she forgot again and would get too close. They once sniffed at the same spot and that was very peaceful:



While we were having lunch, we tried to keep Wesha under the table with a bull's pizzle to chew, but she couldn't find peace and kept barking. So we put Wesha in the transport box in the car. She fell asleep there.

After lunch, we took them to a small field next to the house, were Wesha enjoyed the grapes that my BIL grows there. :D

Reto's mum had some grapes too:

You live, you learn

On World Animal Day, I had bought a big bag of dried paunch (I hope that is the correct word for "1st stomach"? - "Pansen" in German) for Wesha. I had read that dogs really love them. I had also heard that they smell pretty strongly. However, I didn't realise HOW strongly they smell... - may I say: STINK!

Yesterday, we wanted to put Wesha in her bench, so that we could do the vacuum cleaning. So I decided to give her a piece of the dried paunch. Oh boy... THAT was a mistake. Wesha was chewing on it quite enthusiastically... but slowly the smell became stronger. And after a short while, our whole living room/kitchen were smelling like cow shit! Opening windows didn't really help, so we decided that Wesha should eat it in the garden. But Wesha always has to give up her chewy things when she leaves the bench... so she didn't want to come out. It was too funny! We opened the bench and the doors to the garden (right opposite from the bench) and then stepped back and after a while Wesha ran into the garden with the paunch.

By then the whole house was stinking. And after Wesha had finished chewing/eating it, she was smelling STRONGLY herself! We decided to give her yoghurt instead of her normal meat meal, in hope that it would neutralize the smell. It did help, luckily.

So the big bag of dried paunch is stored in a plastic bag in the shed in our garden. I doubt Wesha will ever chew on one again. I am seriously considering donating that bag to the animal shelter of Schaffhausen.

Reto and I did get a good laugh out of this lesson. And a nose full of cow shit smell.

More for the eyes

Reto tried to measure Wesha's height... needless to say that he failed. He estimates her at about 42cm.

A shorthaired Canadian Retriever

Wesha and I went to the young dog course for the first time yesterday. We knew most of the dogs because they also went to the puppy play group with us. In the young dog course, the dogs can play in the fenced off area first. Then we walk across the street. There is a field there and the woods start there too. We did some exercises on the field and let the dogs play there again.

Yesterday afternoon, Wesha was in the garden and barked. When I went to get her, I saw that there were 2 women with a Toller on the other side of the fence! So my first remark was "Oh, another Toller!" But the women didn't really react to that. So we chatted a bit and then one of the women told me that the dog was a "Canadian Retriever". So I told them that I knew, because Wesha is of the same breed. The reply was: "but that is a shorthaired one!". This made me grin. While we chatted, they told me that the dog was staying with them while the owners are on holiday. That explained a lot. It was a 5 or 6 year old bitch called Shima. She comes from a nearby city. It was the first time that we met another Toller (apart from Weta of course!) and it was really cool to see her.
And at least now we know that we have a shorthaired Canadian Retriever! ;-)

Me and my babies...

All three of them :D

Wesha alone, the cat, the labrador and posing

Yesterday, we went out for lunch and left Wesha at home for 1,5 hours. She was in her bench with a bull's pizzle. When we came back home, we sneaked around the house to see what Wesha was doing. We couldn't hear her, so that was good. But we couldn't really see what see was doing. I have to remember to turn on the video camera next time. Although, probably, she will just sleep.

Reto let her out of the bench and into the garden when we got home. He hadn't seen that she still had some of the bull's pizzle left. So Wesha came back into the bench, snatched it and went outside again. She started chewing it on the grass. And didn't even notice that there was a visitor in our garden... look on top of the slide:



I have started to teach Wesha to stay when she is sitting. And this afternoon, during our walk, there was a perfect opportunity to try that. A good spot... a bit elevated from the road, so that I didn't have to kneel to take a good picture. I lured Wesha up there with a goodie and got her to sit and stay long enough to take this great picture:


Shortly afterwards, we met Labrador "Layka" (2.5 years old) and the two girls played for a while. Layka was running away a lot and she was faster than Wesha, so Wesha was going after her again and again. Then they'd come together for a quick sniff and off they went again. They both seemed to enjoy it a lot.

No News

No News is Good News.

Playing with Tina...

...and getting a tummy rub afterwards

Playing with Lorenzo

During a walk on the "Rebberg" (wine hill). I love the way the "feathers" on her tail are starting to grow.

There was so much wind, it made Wesha's ears fly!

She looks so sweet, but this pic was taken just seconds before Wesha tried to snap Reto's nose, LOL!