The Spanish Patient, Part 2

About 10 days ago, Ghandi had another penis infection. Of course it started during the weekend again, so that we couldn't go to our own vet. After another treatment with antibiotics, I made an appointment with our vet to check him out while he had no symptoms. I was suspecting a problem with the foreskin.
So last week, I took Ghandi to our own vet. Ghandi wasn't pleased at all that the vet wanted to check on his penis/foreskin and we even had to put a muzzle on him. The vet luckily saw that there was no problem with the foreskin. But he also saw some signs of infection. So he rinsed the foreskin a few times and gave me an ointment to put on/in it.
The vet took some blood (we had to hold Ghandi with 3 persons, he is so strong!) to have it tested on Leishmaniosis.

At home, Ghandi was very good and allowed me to put the ointment between the penis and the foreskin every day.

We had to go back to the vet today. The blood test came back negative and we are very happy about that! Ghandi was a lot better than last week and it was a lot easier for the vet to pull the foreskin all the way back. There was a bit of dried ointment there, but apart from that, nothing unusual. The vet rinsed it again. I will keep using the ointment (but only every 2 or 3 days) and in 2 weeks time we will go back to the vet for another check up.

One year with us!

Today it is exactly 1 year ago that we picked up Ghandi! He has brought us so much joy and we wouldn't want to miss him for the world! He is a great friend and play mate to Wesha, a lovely cuddly dog to the children and to Reto and me. He learned so incredibly fast and he is still doing so well at dog training, that it is lots of fun to work with him. He is cheeky and sometimes stubborn, he is always hungry and looking for food, he can be a bit harsh to puppies and young dogs, he sometimes makes a mess and breaks our things. But most of all, he is part of our family and he managed to totally fit in after only a few days. We all love him to bits and we are thankful that we could give him a home. I hope we can enjoy him for many more years to come!

Another photo shoot...

Can't get enough of my new camera :








After about xxx photos, Ghandi got very tired of posing:

New camera has arrived!

YES! I got my new compact camera yesterday. Took it "for a spin" this morning:







I don't know why Wesha was suddenly enjoying a good roll in the dry soil. But it was fun to watch. She sometimes acted like that in snow, but I have never seen her do it in sand or soil.

Tick season

Tick season started last week, unfortunately. We already have found 3 (dug in) on Ghandi and 2 on Wesha. The last tick that we found on Ghandi, was actually found by Wesha. She was sniffing the spot above his tail intensly, so I decided to see what she was sniffing at. And found a tick.

Ghandi hates holding still when we have to remove a tick, it is a real struggle every time. And his coat is so dense, that it is really hard to find ticks in the first place. So this morning, I have put the anti tick treatment on their backs. It usually helps really well for 4 weeks. And then we repeat the treatment. Both Wesha and Ghandi are bothered by it today, though. Ghandi keeps trying to shake it off and he even tried to lick himself clean. It also means no swimming for 48 hours and no touching for 24... Wesha misses the swimming and Ghandi misses the cuddling. It would be nice to live in a tick free region with the dogs!

Canon Time!

Yesterday, it was Canon Time (can't say Kodak Time anymore!) in our garden. Iggy is staying with us for a few days. He didn't get much rest yesterday, Wesha keeps trying to animate him to play with her. Good thing he spends the nights in his own home. I think he needed a good night's sleep when I walked him home last night at 11PM.

Anyway, here are some action pics:

Toller Walk

Today, Wesha and I joined a few other Toller owners (and a breeder) on a walk along the river "Töss". Angi and Weta were there too and it was so good to see them again. The dogs were all very excited when we got out of our cars, there was a lot of sniffing going on and a bit of barking. But as soon as we started walking, it got a bit quieter.

Wesha found it hard to walk nicely on leash, but luckily we could let the dogs go and run free soon. Wesha enjoyed running with some of the others and later she got more interested in the rest of the environment too. We had never been to this part of the Töss before.

And so shortly before Easter, it was snowing again! But neither people nor dogs had a problem with the weather.

Weta & Wesha:


After the walk, we had a warm drink (chocolate, tea etc.) before we all drove home again. This walk takes place once a month and I will definitely go again with Wesha.

I decided to take only Wesha, because Ghandi can sometimes get a bit jealous when she is playing with others. But because I can't let Ghandi stay home alone all morning (it was a 50 mins drive to the meeting point), Reto worked at home this morning.