Ehren AKA Pigwit Puppy AKA Brat turned a year old on 28th June and has grown in to a beautiful and clever girl. I know I may be a tad biased but she truly is lovely. The Brat stage seems to have passed although I did fall foul of her new gnashers when she chewed through my doorframe & my door. Yes my door!!
The rest of the gang are doing OK. Miss Olive had surgery in April for the removal of a Mast Cell Tumour and Colin has recently undergone tests for stomach problems.
Olives diagnosis took me totally by surprise as previous tests had said it was non-cancerous but the surgery removed the tumour with a good margin & it was low grade. She has another lump that will be removed next month when the muscles in her legs are fully balanced again but the amazing Bendy Dog doesn't let anything slow her down.
Colin has been back and forth to the vets for months with obvious discomfort that 2 vets tried to tell me was his hips even though I was positive it was his stomach/abdomen. I had to insist on blood tests and an ultrasound which really disappointed me and has made me consider changing my vets after over 20 years.
The ultrasound revealed a thickening of his entire small intestines which could be either Inflammatory Bowel Disease or something more sinister like Lymphoma. As there would be no treatment if it was confirmed as Lymphoma I opted not to have invasive biopsies done and have gone along the road of treating him as having IBD even though he doesn't have any of the listed symptoms.
Changing his food to a novel protein (venison) and adding turmeric and coconut oil to his diet seems to be helping. Just yesterday he was chasing a ball and trying to jump in the tree to get apples. He is moving much more freely and when getting on and off of the sofa or the bed he isn't groaning in pain so fingers crossed that he continues to improve. I am going to make an appointment with a holistic vet once he has been on the new diet for a month and see what else they can suggest for him.
And the old Grott is still a grumpy, stinky old man & less than happy that I have increased his hydrotherapy to twice a week as he is so lazy on his walks.
The first year with a new puppy I think is always the hardest and most time consuming (& costly if you need to replace door frames and doors). Working with them to build that bond takes extra effort in a multi dog household. It is important that our relationship gets extra work so that she will respond to my commands no matter what the others are doing, that she knows when I am speaking to her and when I am speaking to the other dogs and also that the other dogs don't get left out.
Finding one to one time in a busy life for 4 dogs can be tiring but I wouldn't change it for the world but that doesn't mean it is for everyone. For some people, coping with just one dog can be too much and nothing like the ideal that they had hoped for.
As some of you know, that is how Olive came in to my life. Her owners had researched and planned and planned before taking her on but the reality of living with a puppy at that stage in their lives was just too much for them to cope with. They made a very tough choice to re-home her and she came to me for a week whilst they made sure they had made the right decision and just never left.
I feel it is part of my job to support clients when they come to this decision, it is not one I can make for them but I do feel it is a brave thing to do - to admit that you cannot offer a dog what it needs. No judgement should be made for those that accept this and make that tough choice to find a more suitable home for their pups/dogs.
Olives owners still come and see her now and again, it takes her a moment or two to realise who they are but then her whole manner changes, as is typical of Weimaraners they aren't really interested in other people but once she realises who they are she gets all giggly and silly and bouncy with them. It makes them happy to see that she is happy and enjoying the madness that is our life. I have no problems with them visiting her as I know she is happy with us and the life she has.
We should never judge others until we have walked a mile in their shoes.
With the Centenary of World War 1 approaching I will be featured on BBC Radio talking about the dog training facility that was located at Shoebury Garrison. I thoroughly enjoyed researching this piece so will post more about the wonderful work of the war dogs on 4th August 2014.
