15months to debt free - I hope

Sun_Addict

I’m glad you’re starting to think about the positives, he deserves a chance.  A neighbour has a border collie and someone calls to the house to walk him/her on the park across the road every 3 hours on the dot, you could set your watch by him, always quarter past the hour. Mr SA’s theory is the dog is joint custody 😆 but he could just be a paid dog walker. This dog is really well behaved and even my dog, who doesn’t like other dogs, feels comfortable around him/her. 

Humdinger1

@ladyholly what a wonderful post...you really are the dog whisperer! I have my first; was previously a cat person.  The relationship with the dog is so different; he is glorious and while I love cats for who they are, I have gone dog- bonkers. I'm sure you're going to crack this and if neighbours can already see the difference, please give yourself a pat on the back while you wait for the marching band to arrive.   Onwards and upwards love Humdinger xx 

Sun_Addict

I’m just like you @Humdinger. Although as a child we had a dog (boxer) I loved, we always had cats. Mr SA and DD pestered for a dog for years until one day I finally caved in and we got our dog almost 11 years ago. She is the best thing that ever happened to me and I can’t ever imagine being without a dog again. As much as I love my cats the bond with my dog is so different, she’s my best friend. 

ladyholly

I wish I was the dog whisperer . If you believe the TV programmes it can all be done in 5 minutes.😂
Thank you all for your kind comments. We will do our best with him.

beanielou

You are so much more awesome than you think.

Forging_Ahead

Delurking to say I LOVE your dog posts and am rooting for you to succeed with C, as I was for you when you were in the process of finding a new pup to replace your much-beloved previous dogs. I hope you can make a difference,  it sounds like if anyone can, it'll be you and Mr LH. Am also learning a lot, because I hope to be in a position to rescue a dog of my own in the near future. I so hope C settles and gives you an easier time so you can all enjoy eachother's company.

CRANKY40

He may have thought he was being abandoned again when you left him at the vets. He's worked out now that he comes home afterwards? Flying_By has just reminded me of my aunty's Blue Merle headcase. He could undo zips and one Christmas he undid my gran's suitcase (she was staying with us) and ate all her liqueur chocolates and all her sleeping pills (from a child proof but not dog proof bottle). My aunty rang the vets in an absolute panic and the vet said just to watch him. My poor aunty stayed awake all night while the dog had a lovely sleep. One of them was fine the next day and it wasn't my aunty!

I also caught him carrying the hamster round in his mouth when it escaped. There was just a tiny bit of fluff sticking out of his mouth and I said to my aunty "The dog's got the hamster". She said he couldn't possibly have it but I insisted that she look. Rescued - one rather soggy but quite happy hamster. 

Good luck for your chat with the behaviourist tomorrow ladyholly, I hope they are helpful.  

enthusiasticsaver

Hopefully the behaviourist will be helpful and C will settle soon. 

jwil

Great post, it does sound like you are making progress with C, so with a bit of time you'll get there.

As an aside, I always use veg water for gravy, but never thought about it for stuffing - thank you!

ladyholly

jwil Didnt want to admit it but I also used the veg water to make instant mash. I only have a small amount and Mr LH doesnt like it and prefers chips anyway  so its not worth boiling proper potatoes.

CRANKY40 You auntys dog story made me laugh although I would have been panicking as well. I once had to take a friends dog to the vet as she had eaten a whole box of chocolates. The vet gave her an emetic and said we should be able to get her home before it worked. We made it as far as the vets waiting room. I was telling a friend about the hamster and she apparently used to have a cat and dog that both carried their hamster around.

Mr LH looked at the light fitting today to remove the old one before fitting the new but found it had been fitted by Mr Bodge it otherwise known as our predecessor in the house and he had done very odd things  with the wiring (earth lead to a live wire?)  so didnt feel safe enough to do it himself. After umpteen calls to electricians I finally found one who can come next Thursday along with a large bill no doubt.  Until then we are using a flourescent light that Mr LH uses for camping trips. Yesterday I did the washing and this morning MrLH had filled the basket up again. So kind

I havent rung the behaviourist as we are pretty sure we have worked out Cs major issues and they are work in progress. The only major thing, I think is going to be noise sensitivity which is so bad I think he will need sedatives from the vet. I will make an appointment in the near future to talk to them about it. There was someone hammering in their garden today while we were on our walk and he became very stressed, last night it was plastic sheeting on someones garden that was rustling in the wind. We go back to our original thought that he has had virtually no exposure to normal life as even in the house he worries about noises he doesnt see happen. i.e. if he sees us tap on the table he is fine, if he doesnt see us do it he worries. Hopefully constant exposure will get him used to it. It is mainly the fireworks and thunder that will be more of a problem. I will use the noises CD but I know that is not always successful as the sounds over a cd are different to the natural sounds. We can only try.

Other than the noise panicking his walks have been pretty good today with minimal barking at the birds when we saw them first and could either disract him or tell him to leave. We have played lots of games in the house and for the first time he was allowed outside off lead for a few minutes. We took a ball but he had no interest in it although he chases it in the house but freedom was more important to him. He came back when called but we didnt let him go far. We will take it very slowly. The next stage will be to let him get near enough sniff to other dogs. I have one in mind that belongs to a neighbour. A little JRT/ Cihuahua. Sounds odd as it is very tiny but he is fast enough to get away if needed (C will be on a lead), he is very outgoing and doesnt care if other dogs knock him over etc. One local dog used to take his head in her mouth and he didnt care and I have seen him at the bottom of 3 or 4 dogs sitting on him and again he just though it fun. Just have to be careful until we are fairly sure the hormones are out of his body which takes a couple of months as two males are not always good together.

Thats enough for tonight as I want to list some ebay items that I photographed this morning. Thank you to all those who have commented that they dont mind posts full of dog.

Have a good evening.