Saving Ghandi

Today we had a little adventure along the Rhine. We were on a walk along the Rhine and came to a tiny "bay". Ghandi went to the right side of it and smelled something in the water. But there was a very steep bit to the water. Because it was a little bay, there was no current there and alongside the land, there were a lot of dead leafs on the water. Ghandi must have seen that as "land"... because he tried to put his paws on it... I saw what he was going to do and called him and told him "NO!", but the little guy didn't listen and fell into the water head first. Wesha was right behind him and did the same (not sure if that was by choice or not!).

I was standing in the middle, where the water is really shallow and where the dogs could walk back onto land easily. Both dogs were trying to climb back on land where they fell in, but it was too steep and they couldn't get out. So I called them, hoping they would swim to me. After trying to climb out twice, Wesha listened, swam to me and walked out of the water. But Ghandi was scared and didn't want to let go of the land that he was hanging onto with his front paws. He was whimpering pitifully. I threw a stick in the water, hoping he would want to get it and swim towards me anyway, but no chance.

The problem was, that it was very hard to reach him. The land very steep and grown with moss and slick with wet, rotting leafs. I was afraid I would slip into the water too. I could put my foot against a small tree that was growing right on the edge of the land, but then I couldn't reach Ghandi. I threw another stick into the water and from behind me, Wesha jumped right back in to go and fetch it, LOL! I tried getting to Ghandi from the other side and with a lot of effort and stretching, I got a few fingers on his skull and I could pull him out!

He was so scared, that he tried to jump into my arms. But I was concentrating on keeping my balance and getting back to the path. Then he started shaking himself dry vehemently. He must have done that at least 30 times before we got home!

Silly dog!

Holiday in Davos

We spent some time in Davos, where the dogs were enjoying themselves as usual. Loving the snow, being able to be in the same room as us 24/7 (Ghandi loves it, Wesha likes to retreat to the bedroom during the day, to be alone), being allowed on the sofa etc.

My parents where with us and they love the dogs and talk to them a lot.


Wesha enjoyed sitting on the sofa like a human being:


Ghandi enjoyed the warm sun on the balcony:


Because our holiday was so late in the ski season, there weren't as many people in Davos as in previous years, and I could let the dogs go off lead during almost every walk. Less people, less dogs, so Wesha and Ghandi didn't meet a lot of other dogs to play with. But they have each other and ran and played a lot.

The Spanish Patient

Saturday I noticed that Ghandi was licking himself a lot. That is not so unusual, because Ghandi is a bit like a cat... when we come home from a walk, he first licks himself totally clean. However, it was excessive licking in one place. I also saw that this particular "spot" (his penis) was red. Of course, my own vet was not available, so I decided to wait a little and see if it would get better by itself.

Sunday morning it was obviously worse and it was bothering Ghandi a lot. Even during our walk, he would lay down to lick! So I called the emergency vet and took him there at 1pm. The examination by the vet was painful and Ghandi howled a few times. Poor boy! The verdict: infection. He got an injection against the pain and antibiotics for 5 days. I also got something to clean him with.

During our walk later in the afternoon, he was already doing better and he didn't stop to lick. The pain medication was working fine.

Dummy training - fun again!

I had another dummy training today with Wesha and she did so well! I am so happy because only a few weeks ago, it wasn't going so well at all. Wesha was losing interest, I was getting frustrated. And we both didn't have fun anymore. Wesha liked playing, but as soon as she got the feeling she had to "work", she didn't like it anymore.

What helped us getting back on track?
- lots of help and ideas from our trainer: Jolanda. Thank you!
- we did a lot of playing during one of the trainings, without asking much of Wesha. That brought back the fun for both of us.
- I bought a new toy (small, soft, disk-shaped, fake fur thing), that I didn't give Wesha to play with. I do take it in my hands often, play a bit with it alone and make it interesting for her. She never gets to play with this toy at home, only during dummy training
- we started to hide the dummy/toy and Wesha loves searching

The fun came back for both of us and suddenly Wesha seems to "get it" too. I am very happy and also very proud of Wesha.

Snow (no) fun

We have a good amount of snow since 2 days. But unfortunately, Wesha is having a lot of problems with snow/ice between the balls of her feet. Even a few minutes in the garden is too much. I will have another try at cutting the hair under her feet and rubbing vaseline on her feet before we go out for another walk.

New harnesses

I have bought new harnesses for Wesha and Ghandi. I took them to the "Hundenshop 4Pfoten" in Schaffhausen. First I took Wesha into the shop with me. She loves going there. Food smells everywhere and Marion, the owner, is very nice and Wesha knows that she will get some goodies (think: food) from her. Plus that she can greet Felia and Shakira, Marion's dogs, who are always in the shop.
So in between running around, we fit various types of harnesses on Wesha. In the end, I had to order one, because the one I wanted wasn't a perfect fit.

I changed dogs, and went back into the shop with Ghandi. He was also very excited. He wasn't too interested in Felia and Shakira. But the huge bags of dog food were attracting him. I could just see the street dog in him. He climbed up on some bags and started chewing a corner of one of them! At least he came whenever I called him. In between him running around, he also had to fit on various harnesses. Both his old ones were too small (too close to his elbows), so I bought Ghandi 2 new ones.

(I ordered the same model, but different colours for Wesha)

I like this one best:

World Famous! (in Germany)

This must be Wesha's 15 minutes of fame... The above photo got published in the best dog magazine in Germany "DOGS"! It is in the January/Februar 2010 issue, on the (last) page: "Happy Dogs". (The small one, on the right hand bottom)

The photo is from last year February in Davos. Wesha's eyes are now amber, they no longer have this blue/green in them.

I am happy and a bit proud.