Keeping up appearances.......

Honey_Bear

HappyNow wrote: »

Honey - he is GORGEOUS!!! What a lovely smiley face!! Sounds like Devil Cat is happy with the situation too. Does he have a back-story? Sad to be in rescue at his age but I hope he now has his forever home and you all make each other very, very happy for years to come.

Devil Cat is trying to get the dog to play by bouncing his paw off the waggy tail and then standing back and waiting for a reaction. Devil Cat did this with one of the previous dogs for years, who never realised what was going on. The dogs just can't feel it through all the fur, and Devil Cat automatically thinks everything he does is significant. I think they'll be good together when they get the full measure of one another, but at the moment they're both pretty intent on stealing the other one's food and leaving it at that.

Apparently he and his sister were owned by a woman who bought some land where she couldn't keep them (?), so someone took on the female and he was going to be PTS. A generous and kindly person offered to foster him until a new home could be found but one of her dogs bullied him. Yet another person (my heroine) found a place for him at Bath Cats' and Dogs' Home where he languished for more than four weeks, attracting not a scrap of interest, apparently. That's what I was told and there's no way of finding out if it was true but some of it doesn't make sense - to me, anyway. Having a dog for nine years and then just deciding to put it to sleep? I couldn't live with myself.

I am very aware that he has no idea of how to be on his own, at all, because he's never been in that position. Devil Cat won't count when Mr Bear and I leave Kelpie at home for the first time, and he's not crate trained, so that won't work either, although clearly it's a priority. I've never crate-trained a dog, but I'm doing all I can to learn as quickly as possible and fortunately I found one in the paper that's all but new, so it's in the attic ready to start once he's happy here. I'm not keen on having a dog with separation anxiety, so that's got to be forestalled and I'm a bit short of ideas on that score. He hammered on the front door fit to bust when he saw Mr Bear go out, having forgotten that I was upstairs. I'm working on asking a neighbour who really likes dogs, but often agrees to do things and then ... doesn't.

I re-insured our dog in January and Direct Line came out cheapest with good cover and also gave £50 cashback which has been confirmed although I've not got it yet. I did find dog insurance to be the most complicated product I've ever bought, but maybe it's just me!

And then you go on to say that my Marvellous May is easy! He's nine years old - pet insurers just love older animals when the new owners know absolutely nothing about their past health history *kerching* *kerching* *kerching* The excess will be crippling, anyway, never mind the exclusions.

This dog had to be sedated to cut the mats out of his fur, so grooming him is not going to be easy and his coat is very, very thick - think suitable for outdoors in Norway all year round. If experienced groomers at BCandD's home can't get him to calm down enough to just snip chunks off, I don't want to be near the bitey end of him when I inadvertently run the slicker brush over the knotted longer hairs on my new-to-me double-coated dog. They've left his feathers on his front legs because he hates them being touched so I'm not quite sure how I'm supposed to know how to do what they couldn't.

I have to say your Marvellous May looks pretty easy! Hah! I will let you off because you need to focus on settling your new friend, but I note there's no mention of fruit tea or fruit and veg. Feel free to add them........:D

Unlike some of us, those of us who kept to five fruit and veg a day in February, March and April don't feel the need to post about something they do every day now, automatically. And you only say that because you think one pound is a small amount to lose, but on top of the eleven pounds lost since last July when I stopped drinking, I'd say compared to those who have booked a holiday before they got beach body perfect, my guess would be some of us are closer than others.

GET CRUNCHING!

That's what I think of 'easy.'

Honey_Bear

Scores on the doors so far:

1. He wagged his tail while I ran a soft-bristled brush over him this evening, doesn't mind me washing his face with a damp microfibre cloth, and loves being towelled after a walk in the rain, so that's all good. Apparently spitz dogs are prone to conjunctivitis so I need to keep a very careful eye on his slightly watery eyes.
2. I've started on the MSE pet insurance pages but there are links in links in links so it'll take forever to do the background reading alone. I've got the name of the person who deals with all the insurance claims at the vet practice I use so I'm planning on speaking to her on Tuesday, as recommended by my vet, to get the lowdown on which companies pay out promptly without quibbling and which ones are tricky.
3. Ate hobnobs yesterday (fatal saying I'll just have one) and cheese and onion sandwiches today while I was out because they were freebies and I love them. Bad me.
4. I absolutely love waking up before I have to get up. I had insomnia for decades which was hell and this feels like heaven and it's all down to you, Happy, for starting off these monthly goals saying you were going to get a certain number of hours sleep a night.
5. Cleaning will not commence until Tuesday and I'll have to do a bit because we've got guests for grub on Thursday.

HappyNow

Honey_Bear wrote: »

GET CRUNCHING!

*Drops effortlessly and gracefully to the floor and gives Honey 20 one-armed press-ups and a five minute Plank* Yeah, right. More like lowers the creaking old bones gently onto the padded rug, attempts a few half-a$$ed crunchies with much grunting and groaning, while the dog joins in with this hilarious new game by jumping on my head.

Managed all my challenges yesterday again (including the sit-ups!).

• Builders bill was £290, so £20 more than the estimate. Paid in full, giving yet more red numbers on the YNAB. No other spends, but will need to go to supermarket today.
• Good diet, which included several buckets of water, tinned peaches, an orange, an apple, orange juice, raisins, and a multi-veg huge salad. Only downfall was two glasses of wine - the bottle was meant to be for next weekend and proves to me that I just cannot store nice things in the house, I really need to buy them the day I intend to use them.
• Managed 7 hours in bed and slept for most of them
• Kept house tidy but no spring-cleaning
• Did my sit-ups, badly as usual. Surprisingly I am not feeling any aches in the tummy muscles, so I mustn't be doing it right

HappyNow

Kelpie's is a really sad story. How on earth can anyone just get rid of their dog like that?

GSDs are heavily double-coated too. They're certainly different but once you've got his coat sorted it will hopefully be easy to maintain. My top tips (which aren't honestly mine - we belong to a breed training club, and this is stuff I picked up there!)

• Invest in an Aquasorb cloth from Pets at Home. They're only £5 and brilliant when you come in from a wet walk. They're like a synthetic chamois leather and you wipe the wet dog with it (which mine loves!), squeeze, rinse, repeat, and the dog is fit to be in the house. They're washable and last forever. I'm surprised everyone doesn't have them, but no-one has ever heard of them.
• I use a Furminator, which yours probably won't like at first, but they also do a waterless, non-rinse deshedding shampoo and conditioner. Maybe he would let you just stroke along his matts with this on your hands? It makes the hair slippy and 'siicony' so the matts might break up a bit and eventually come away as the hair underneath grows?
• Unless the matts are so bad they're stopping him moving, could you just ignore them for a while until he feels settled and secure and totally comfortable with you?

His Rescue looks really good and maybe their behaviourist can help with any separation anxiety because I agree it could be a problem. You might have already come across Champdogs, but if you haven't, their forum is really good if ever you're worried or just want some guidance. It tends to be used by breeders more than pet-owners, so there are some real experts there and always someone who knows about any particular breed. I've never needed to post there, but I do read it and they all seem very helpful.

Good luck with the insurance! If the premiums and excess are really high, might it be worth just putting an amount of money away each month in the hope that it builds up before you need it? Mine is £14.85 a month with a £200 excess, but she's young, healthy and been with me all her life.

Honey_Bear

HappyNow wrote: »

*Drops effortlessly and gracefully to the floor and gives Honey 20 one-armed press-ups and a five minute Plank*

I've got good news for you, Happy. Apparently the Plank is really, really bad for you! It appears that a fair number of people are straining bits of themselves by being so determined to do it for longer than their bodies can cope with it, so if I were to go back to keep fit classes (that's so never going to happen again, and I used to be willing to pay to be put through that in public!) I'd skip the plank completely. Pain means you're doing too much too soon, not that you're doing it the wrong way.

Sorry to hear about more red in YNAB but if it offends your eye at least it means you won't ignore it and pretend you can afford to go on a spree.

Honey_Bear

HappyNow wrote: »

Kelpie's is a really sad story. How on earth can anyone just get rid of their dog like that?

There's probably a totally different interpretation of events, and who ever owned him must have known that he was utterly adorable or he wouldn't be so keen to ask for cuddles or (relatively) well-behaved.

There's a bit of boundry-testing going on and he's a fast learner so tonight he had his harness on and out of the door in a couple of minutes without a single bark, a vast improvement on where we were three days ago. The point is, that without being taught lovely manners in the first place he wouldn't be so quick on the uptake so some of the things I was told don't really make much sense. Or maybe he's just naturally good.

GSDs are heavily double-coated too. They're certainly different but once you've got his coat sorted it will hopefully be easy to maintain. My top tips (which aren't honestly mine - we belong to a breed training club, and this is stuff I picked up there!)

• Invest in an Aquasorb cloth from Pets at Home. They're only £5 and brilliant when you come in from a wet walk. They're like a synthetic chamois leather and you wipe the wet dog with it (which mine loves!), squeeze, rinse, repeat, and the dog is fit to be in the house. They're washable and last forever. I'm surprised everyone doesn't have them, but no-one has ever heard of them.
• I use a Furminator, which yours probably won't like at first, but they also do a waterless, non-rinse deshedding shampoo and conditioner. Maybe he would let you just stroke along his matts with this on your hands? It makes the hair slippy and 'siicony' so the matts might break up a bit and eventually come away as the hair underneath grows?
• Unless the matts are so bad they're stopping him moving, could you just ignore them for a while until he feels settled and secure and totally comfortable with you?

I'm going to get him an Aquasorb tomorrow, they sound marvellous. When the rain lasts for days here it's hard to get the dog towels washed and dried without resorting to the tumber dryer (ain't happening) so that cloth should make a huge difference. I'll skip the Furminator I think; it's a bit advanced for me but it looks useful.

He doesn't currently have any matts - they were removed while he was sedated in rescue, and I'm desperate not to let any build up because he would find it so traumatic to go through all of that again. He's being as good as gold about being brushed gently but very thoroughly around the ears in particular, and I even used the microfibre cloth to wipe inside them today. I'm towelling his front legs thoroughly because I was told he hated them being touched, in an effort to get him to accept interventions generally.

The reality is I use a really good groomer because two of my three former dogs were terrified of being groomed, and all the negative associations weren't directed towards me if someone else did it. All I want to do is get him to the stage where I can keep things relatively under control and then let the groomer bath, strip and clip as necessary, do his teeth and claws and then hand him back to me after three hours, untraumatised, because she's brilliant at what she does.

I'm hoping to speak to the person who was actually responsible for looking after him when he was in Rescue - she wasn't there on the two days I went up there. She'll be able to fill in quite a lot of blanks for me.

Thank you so much for the information about Champdogs and the insurance figures. I haven't come across Champdogs before and the forums look really helpful.

I dunno why, but I had you down for a labrador.

Honey_Bear

1. He's been very good about what I've been doing so far, to the point where it seems there isn't a problem which I absolutely know isn't the case. He's enjoying it as attention I think, so tomorrow I'm going to get a bit more business-like about it, but keep the sessions very short, say a minute at the most, but four times.
2. Nothing on insurance today, that can wait for working days. Although, of course, reading your figures counts as research, no?
3. I baked hobnobs today as my contribution to a cream tea I've been invited to tomorrow. Quality control occurred. Hmm. I'm going to have to eat some tomorrow as well, aren't I, or it'll look a bit weird, taking them and not eating any.
4. I have to wait up until Match of the Day is finished to go and haul Mr Bear's sorry a$$$ upstairs as he's likely to fall into a coma the amount he had to drink today. He doesn't do it at all any more, but today was a 'Special One' for him. He will snore, horribly, loudly and persistently. Not looking forward to that.
5. No Flying. It's Sunday, and tomorrow is a holiday, too, so it just wouldn't be right to disturb the lodgers by throwing a vacuum cleaner about, would it?

Honey_Bear

Forgot the aquasorb - doh!

1. Brushed his fluffy tail today as well as his back and sides, and did his head and he was okay with that. The tail needs another go but we've had an 'interesting day' with him so I left it this evening after towelling him dry several times after walks.
2. Nothing on insurance again.
3. I [STRIKE]baked[/STRIKE] ate hobnobs (but only out of politeness, obvs) cream scones, banana cake, and fruit cake (ditto re good manners). Pity really because I weigh myself on Monday mornings and the cheese and onion sandwiches and previously scoffed hobnobs have lodged somewhere about my person.
4. The dog had me out walking him at 5.30 this morning, so I am a tad cream-crackered. The light will be going out very soon.
5. [STRIKE]No Flying[/STRIKE]. The carpet washer was pressed into service. The lodger was very nice about the puddle. The dog got a tripe stick because he's obviously stressed.

Dolphin1

HappyNow wrote: »

I do keep hoping that Dolphin1 might feel like giving up/starting something too

Oh dear, I've only just seen this Mrs H, if only I'd seen it before the bank holiday weekend!

Anyway, I'm a bit late to the party but I'm going to join in with Marvellous May if you'll have me.

After a lot of thinking, my targets for Marvellous May are...

1) No chocolate, sweets or biscuits.

2) No cake. (Need to list this one seperately as it is my biggest weakness. Hello, my name is Dolphin1 and I am a cakeaholic! )

3) Switch light off no later than 11pm Sunday to Thursday and midnight on Friday and Saturday.

4) Meal plan at the end of every week for the following week. (At the moment, I am only meal planning for the following day so I am going to the shops far too often for bits and pieces which is so time consuming and probably costs me more.)

5) Cut back on the money that I spend on gifts for other people. (I am far too generous especially with my nieces and nephews and need to start setting limits and sticking to them.) For May, this is going to be £30 although should be £20 really, £10 for one niece's birthday and £10 for one nephew's birthday but I have already given my niece £20 (ooops). I will stick to the £10 for my nephew though because he's only young and won't know the difference anyway. I am not going to spend anything besides.

And that is it for Marvellous May. Let's see how it goes.

Dolphin1

HappyNow

Honey_Bear wrote: »

Sorry to hear about more red in YNAB but if it offends your eye at least it means you won't ignore it and pretend you can afford to go on a spree.

No chance of ignoring it, I can't stop thinking about it :(Chances of me going on a spending spree? Zero. I WANT MY SHINY BLACK NUMBERS BACK

Honey_Bear wrote: »

I dunno why, but I had you down for a labrador.

I do like Labradors, but I've never owned one. Two collie crosses and the current German Shepherd

Honey_Bear wrote: »

Forgot the aquasorb - doh!

1. Brushed his fluffy tail today as well as his back and sides, and did his head and he was okay with that. The tail needs another go but we've had an 'interesting day' with him so I left it this evening after towelling him dry several times after walks. Interesting day?
2. Nothing on insurance again.
3. I [STRIKE]baked[/STRIKE] ate hobnobs (but only out of politeness, obvs) cream scones, banana cake, and fruit cake (ditto re good manners). Pity really because I weigh myself on Monday mornings and the cheese and onion sandwiches and previously scoffed hobnobs have lodged somewhere about my person. Ooh, I've been VERY polite over the last couple of days too. Our manners are a credit to the thread
4. The dog had me out walking him at 5.30 this morning, so I am a tad cream-crackered. The light will be going out very soon.
5. [STRIKE]No Flying[/STRIKE]. The carpet washer was pressed into service. The lodger was very nice about the puddle. The dog got a tripe stick because he's obviously stressed. Early days

Sounds like it's been a bit full-on for you. Hope you're coping and today has been easier. Looking forward to hearing about it later