The T-Shirt of Shame

Happy Monday!

Things are looking up for me … this last week has been another really eventful one! Yet again, I’ve had to prove just how brave I am.

You see, it all started with the foxes last week … I had to chase them away from the rabbits and I hurt my leg in the process. By Monday it wasn’t better so I had to go back to the vets again.

I quite like it there. There are lots of smells to sniff, especially just outside the front door and I tend to get treats for just sitting there and being nice and still.  There was something in a cage making a funny noise and I really wanted to investigate, but I was practising my ”WAIT” instead. My leg was still sore but I still had a big hello for the vet … it pays to keep them friendly you know. When dogs show their teeth and make noise it’s sometimes a bad thing, but when humans do it, it’s usually good.

So they were all worried about my leg and decided that I was going to have a special photo taken for it. I have my photo taken all the time, so I wasn’t worried. Which meant that I got to stay at the vets. Then I heard something I didn’t really understand. ‘General anaesthetic’ … ‘fix the hernia at the same time’ … ‘

HUH? What’s all this … what does it mean?  (sometimes I wish my big brother was there so he could explain things to me)

Then nothing happened. We all went home. Oh well, I don’t mind the vets … at least I got to get out of the house!

BUT … The next day. Things were strange. Nobody was acting normally and my human would NOT feed me. I gave her really long puppy stares, nothing. I stared again … nothing. To be sure, I tried again … nothing. Nothing except an ear scratch.

And the next thing I know I’m at the vets again! This time I got to stay with them, which I didn’t really mind. There were so many things happening in the back I could just watch it all … then the door opened, they gave me an injection and  …..

I’m afraid I’m not really sure.

I remember a cuddle and moving and then …

No … it’s gone, I can’t remember at all.

When I woke up I felt REALLY wobbly and I couldn’t walk properly. One of the vets came to say hello. I had a little ear scratch and then my food was put in the cage. OH yeah! I suddenly remembered how hungry I was. Really hungry. BUT … just because you’re sleepy and hungry, it doesn’t mean you should forget your manners, so I looked at Mr Laughing White Coat and waited for him to tell me it was ok to eat. He showed his teeth and made some noise again. Then told me it was ok to eat.

After eating I felt a lot better, but realised that I had a hole in my belly and someone had been sewing on there! I couldn’t take it all in .. what exactly has happened! The next thing I know, my human is there, it took me a moment to realise but as soon as I defaulted to jump, lick, cry wagg, jump, bounce. … that actually hurt a little but I was so happy to see her!

She took me home it was good to be there. I was sore and feeling very sorry for myself, so I just cuddled my human. Well, my human cuddled me.

Here’s the sewing. My human says she’s happy with it and it looks much better now.

You see, after I woke up, I just HAD to get the sewing out. I mean, it’s just not normal is it ?

The vet said that as I had hurt my leg, they didn’t want me to wear the collar of shame. That’s how I ended up with this … it stops me from getting at the stitches. My human calls it ‘The t-shirt of shame’ … but I happen to think it’s rather … what’s the word I’m looking for?  …

 

Fetching!

 

Yes… it’s rather fetching. What do you think?

 

So, there’s been no mischief from me butPLENTY of mischief from my human this week. You’ll be glad to know all this resting has given me plenty of time to make plans for all the mischief I can think of … after all, if I’m going to be the boss, I’ll have to get my own back won’t I?

 

Paw Doggie…

Hiya, Sarah here, Bella’s human. I’m afraid Bella is not allowed to write this post today.

Unfortunately, Bella has been grounded. (YES, her mischief was THAT bad!)

No walkies, no jumping, no meeting up with her pals in the park, no running outside when she wants (we’ve had a couple of pee’s in the house for that!) and definitely, 100% no typing.  I think Bella qualifies for the Monday mischief blog hop this weekend. The kind of mischief that gets you grounded  …  hurts you, takes you to the vets, costs money, means you have to  stay in prison and means you’re not allowed to jump or run or generally terrorise your humans. The trouble with puppy mischief, is that they almost always take things TOO far.

What has she done? I hear you ask … WELL …

It happened on Thursday.  The sun was out (yes, I know I live in England, but it DOES happen every now and then), I’d got home from work and was getting ready to take Bella out for a walk. She’d just eaten, the back door was open … and all of a sudden there was a CRASHING, BUSH SHAKING BANG … then the rabbits started to THUMP.

 

THUMP THUMP THUMP

THUMP THUMP THUMP

WOOF WOOF WOOF!! (“oh no … Bella ! … COME HERE“)

THUMP THUMP THUMP …

 

There was such a commotion, I ran outside as fast as my little legs could carry me … by the time I got out there, the rabbits had gone to the inner quarters of their palace and were thumping enough to start an avalanche in Southern France, Bella was behind the palace in the bushes and a fox was running across the back fence.

 

“Bella … COME HERE” *whistles*

….

*whistles again*

 

This time she came … on three legs. (!)

Uh oh. Bella, what’s happened to your leg? (naturally, she didn’t answer me)

After having a feel and getting no yelping, we were happy that there weren’t any broken bones so cancelled that evenings walk and headed for the house instead (Bella being carried) … she’s still, of course, fired up from chasing the fox off, so adrenaline has the better of her.  We were expecting that the next day she would be fine and business would resume as normal … unfortunately she still had quite the limp and wasn’t putting any weight on her paw at all.

So, off we went to the vets on Friday. She went on anti-inflammatories and painkillers for the weekend, with no walks and to be confined in a small space to stop her running around. If it wasn’t better on Monday then she has to go back to the vets for an x-ray to make sure she’s not hurt herself. As much as I’d love to say she’s bounding around again, she still has quite a bad limp. So we’re off to the vets again in the morning.

At first she wasn’t too fussed, then she was barking mad (I now truly understand the meaning of that saying) … now she’s frustrated at being kept in one place all the time. I took her out into the garden earlier and let her stretch her legs a little, to give me a look at her walking around and to give her a break from staring down the kitchen cupboards. She got one of her favourite treats (carrot) and I got to take a picture.  Despite being a bit sore, she managed to work out how to get the carrot out, ate as much as she wanted and hid the rest in her new favourite corner.

 

 

Making Friends

Being a smart Entlebucher Mountain Dog means that there are a lot of things I can learn. Being a puppy means that these things can take some time .

 

I’ve reached the 15 week mark. My humans want me to have lots of friends and it doesn’t matter to them what the friends are. I’ve got rabbit, human and doggie friends so far but they’ve said something about cows and sheep in the future.

I had a bit of a shock when I met a really scared dog. We were in the park and a dog came over to say hello … then just ran off screaming. Really screaming. Not the ‘get off my ear’ scream that I’m used to, this was a different type of scream. The screamer’s human thought I had done something nasty but I didn’t. So this is the point … it’s really important to let your dog meet other dogs. It’s really sad that the dog I met in the park didn’t know how fun it can be when you have doggie friends. I’ve met a scared dog before but not one THAT scared.

My humans have helped me make a LOT of friends. I go to puppy play group every Monday where there are 16 other pups from my neighbourhood and we’re all learning to play nicely with each other. After that, in 3 weeks time, is the ‘real deal’ obedience training but for the moment they say socialisation is the most important thing. I’ve got lots of other friends too; family friends, park friends, barking over the fences but never seen you friends and of course, there are big brothers too.

Saturday was another day for socialising. It was raining as usual but I had a play date planned with another pup who was going to bring along his new big brother. We got on the bus this time which was great as a little girl wanted some puppy attention so I got to show her my tricks and eat lots of treats! I don’t know why my human says public transport is bad. That’s the thing with humans … some things they say aren’t exactly right. Like meeting a pup and his big brother for a play. That wasn’t exactly how it went. He was a pup but to say he’d come with his big brother was a HUGE understatement. You see … my big brother looks just like me. He plays like me and we’ve got the same mum. When I saw HIS big brother, I wasn’t even sure if it was a real dog or not … IT…WAS … GIANT… so I got brave and went and checked.

Not only was he the biggest most furry dog that I have ever seen … he was a real nice guy. Like all big brothers he did think puppies were a bit stupid and pointless and not really much fun, so he just watched us playing and barked at us when we were getting too excited. The humans said that he was doing a grand job and they wouldn’t be able to teach us as well as he could. It’s is true. Humans never say the right thing when they’re barking at you so the puppy has to guess what the humans want them to do, till it learns to speak a bit of human.

The pup was a friendly guy too and totally proud of his new BIG family (he had two more big dogs at home!) … He showed me his big brother’s paws, telling me stories of how they flatten him.

So making friends is only a good thing. My human has said that my ‘puppy license’ is going to run out very soon although I’m not sure I got a license from anywhere. I’m sure I’ll find out soon enough what she means!

 

Alfie Initiation – Part 4

I’ve promised to keep my brother up to date with all the mischief that I can get my paws on. It took 4 steps but I think I managed it well. He said that it’s always good to have a back up plan ready. If you take things from your humans and put them in your bed then they take them away. I thought about this and when the moment was right, I worked my Entlebucher magic.

Step 1 – Steal a sock

Step 2 – DO NOT give the sock back

 

Step 3 – Socks with holes in are no good for humans

Step 4 – Find somewhere to hide the sock for another day

Big Brother Love

Life’s exciting for a 14 week old pup. My humans are intent on helping me to become a balanced dog without any issues, so I’m always really busy. I’ve been going to work on the building site during the week and doing something exciting every weekend.  So many things happen there’s not enough room to write about it all.

I have to do something new every day and work on ‘issues’ that I’ve had over the last few weeks. If I didn’t like something then the humans make me experience it again and again, until I’m really bored with whatever it was that was scaring me.

One of the new things I’ve done this week is take the train and the London Underground. We’ve walked around the train station a lot, so I’m already used to the noise and a lot of people … my humans were expecting a few problems; the ticket barriers, people stepping on me, me wanting to sit on seats (and people), me going to the toilet, not to mention the fleas on the tube.

This is me (BORED) waiting for the train.

To be honest, trains are REALLY boring. Yes, everyone loves me and thinks I’m the cutest thing they’ve ever seen, but I’m such a good girl that none of the things the humans had thought about were a problem. There was just one teeny tiny problem. I wanted to eat the train … that floor smelt and tasted so good!

As I said, trains are really boring, however tasty. Yes, people love me and everyone wanted to fuss me, but I’d much rather be in the woods or the park and some people on the tube DO NOT smell good.

There was one good thing though.

I got off the train and smelt a familiar smell on the wall, I couldn’t quite place it … then I heard a familiar sound ”Roooo-ooooo … Rooooo-ooooo”. Then I saw him …. ALFIE!!!!

 *wag wag wag wag wag* OHALFIEI’MSOHAPPYTOSEEYOOOOUUU. My big bro is SO cool. We all said our hello’s and then he led us back to his place.

Here he is … isn’t he handsome … (good looks run in our family)

Now … big brother’s are cool. It’s always handy to have one around. Someone to teach you all things Entlebucher and pass on secrets that, by the sounds of things, he’s had to work quite hard to find out. He didn’t even moan when I took his ball from him. Or when I took his water. Or pee’d on his rug. (oops, I couldn’t help it, I was just so excited!) There are lots of good things about brothers, but every now and then he had to prove to me he was the boss … he had a tried and tested way of doing this.

He’d JUMP on me …

Wrestle me to the floor with a bear hug …

And then EAT my head !!

Of course, there’s not much I can do about any of that. He is my big bro and I HAVE to do what he says. It’s the law.

After our play, Alfie took me to the pub. He said I have to bark at everyone that I see … we could gang up on them all and get a pigs ear easily. I had good intentions of joining in … but when we got to the pub I just had a little lie down … and then I don’t remember anything else after that. I woke up and Alfie was gone … bored of waiting for me to wake up he went off for an adventure without me.

There were lots of cuddles and that’s all I remember until I woke up in my bed the next morning. My humans have said that sometimes that happens in a pub, you remember getting there but can’t remember anything after that, so I don’t need to worry about it … we’ll go again soon. I do hope Alfie can come.

 

Alfie’s Initiation – Part 3

Me and my brother have different ideas about a few things … but he’s older and wiser than me, so I think it’s good to at least listen to what he has to say.

One of the things we disagree on are the rabbits. I think they should be chased into a corner repeatedly. Alfie calls them ‘breakfast’ and ‘dinner’ *wink*. He said that I have to carry on my herding training ”like a good little pup” and get as close to the rabbits as I can. I have to fool the humans into thinking that we won’t do ANYTHING.

He says when he comes to stay, we’ll put Part 2 of the rabbit plan into action. He said I have to concentrate on Part 1 and then when he next comes over to my place he’ll show me what part 2 is. I’m quite looking forward to another lesson from my big bro, so I’ve been good … Alfie didn’t believe me when I said I was so close he could have licked them.

I don’t know what Part 2 is, but knowing Alfie, it’ll be fun. WOOF!

 

Pack Sleeping

It’s taken me a long sleep to recover enough to lift my paws. I have had the busiest weekend ever. Mostly I’ve had three children in my house to herd. While the three children were here two more came and visited so sometimes I had four. I had to guard a HUGE kennel all night as well. It’s been really tiring. In fact – I missed two (yes, I know!! TWO!) walks on Sunday!

I’ve learnt a lot. I’ve learnt that small humans are really really fun to herd. Two is easy, three is really hard and I’ll have to wait until I’m bigger and faster for four. I’ve learnt that when you manage to get two of them into the back corner of the garden and you bark at them to celebrate your good job, they make funny noises to celebrate too! The only thing I don’t understand is that when we’re all celebrating my humans would come and stop us. It doesn’t make sense, I’m an Entlebucher … herding is just what I do. Another thing that I’ve learnt is that when you’re tired from all the herding, little humans don’t let you sleep. Some want to cuddle, some want to play and some want to throw things at me. This is ok for a while … I’m a puppy, I love cuddles, playing and chasing things in the air … but after a time it’s exhausting! I got a little sleep when the humans went out of the house for a while but there were a lot of new smells around to investigate, move and chew up make safe – a working dog’s life never stops!

When they came home, my human had some news. She said that the annual camping trip is coming up and the girls of the house were having a practise. It would be the first time for me and the first time for the smallest girl. If we were good and behaved ourselves then we could both come too. I learnt two big rules of camping. First important rule is ”You don’t leave the tent without waking up Auntie Sarah” (I don’t understand that one) and the second important rule is ”no biting”. I understand that one but it’s hard to remember, especially when there are wiggly toes in sleeping bags. I don’t know what we were practising and what camping means but she came into the garden and put up the biggest kennel I have ever seen. It’s a kennel for humans. There were human beds in there and all sorts. I LOVE kennels.

In the night, when it was time for bed, the boys of the house went to bed in the room that my humans normally sleep in and the girls went to sleep in the kennel. I was ready to sleep after my day of herding and was looking forward to curling up with my human in her bed. The little ones were asleep and my human and I were just about to drop off ourselves, I was enjoying a nice ear rub and massage when all of a sudden we heard this sniffing sound right by our heads. It made us both sit up quickly. We were really quiet… listening for the sound again …. then we heard it! My human looked at me in the eyes … I could tell that she didn’t know what to do so I took matters into my own paws and let out the warning bark. It was a fox. I heard it running away and climbing the fence at the back of the garden. I’d managed to guard the girls. I lay down again to sleep but I knew I’d have to leave my nose awake just in case it happened again. I was right. Sure enough it happened twice more in the night. Both times I managed just fine. I think it’s probably a good job that the foxes can’t see me – otherwise they wouldn’t be so scared!

All in all, camping IS fun. I can’t wait to sleep in the kennel in the garden for a second time. I just have to remember to get lots of sleep before we do it again!

Alfie Initiation – Part 2

I promised my big brother, Alfie, that I’d keep him up to date with our plans. I’ve been waiting for my moment just as he told me.  I didn’t even need to try hard for this one. It was easy peasy.

My humans have been leaving me alone in the house for longer and longer. The worst thing is that I heard them say they don’t even need to – they’re just doing it so that I get used to it. I told you they’re mean!! This week they did it for a WHOLE DAY! They left for work and I’d had a big walk so I was happy to be left alone for some peace and quiet. At lunch time I was starting to get hungry and someone I knew turned up for food and a love. We were supposed to go for a walk but it was really hot outside and I managed to convince her otherwise (I needed to save my energy of course!). It was lovely to have some company but I really wanted to know where my pack had got to. We hung out together for a while and then I was left on my own again. This time I was BORED.

Then, my big brother’s words echoed in my head.  He said I have to do whatever it takes, whatever I need to do, to show the humans that whatever happens some things are not acceptable. A good pack never EVER splits up.  The humans have moved the recycling now …