That blows that theory!

      If the early morning walk is ‘good’, that is Bella isn’t pulling at every floating leaf or smelling every footstep, then the lunch-time walk is horrible!  This morning’s walk she was, apparently, bad! So I confidently set out on the lunch-time walk expecting a reasonably obedient and happy doggy.

      Our village butcher has a half-day closing and perhaps the rabbits thought they were safe to run around, or perhaps the undergrowth creatures didn’t want an afternoon siesta. Or maybe, just because it’s a cooler and more pleasant day than it has been all week, it was just the afternoon for country lane games!

      Whatever the reason, it wasn’t the afternoon to take Bella across those fields!  She pounced into the nettles, nearly tripped over her own nose on the ground, and snorted as if she was being strangled.

      Consequently, by the time we’d got halfway through the walk (after only 20minutes) she was emotionally exhausted and far more obedient. :)

      The last 15 minutes of the walk were pleasant moments of owner and dog enjoying the gentle breeze, watching the cottony seeds floating across fields and happily traipsing home!

      Which is why she is now .........

... tuckered out on the lounge floor!

Bella's Mixed Bag!

      Not much happening in the life or times of Bella lately. She goes for walks, sleeps, eats just a little, kills her duck (soft toy!), and generally hangs around!

      Last week she needed a new collar so for the first time went with us into the big Pets At Home shop.  So many strangers passing so close! So many smells, including guinea pigs and rabbits, but the experience was too stressful and confusing to bother!  A few people stopped to admire her and ask about her breed, as expected, and not only did she come away with a new collar but also an un-stuffed duck soft toy, with a squeaker in its head!  Quite a hit! After just a week the duck’s eye is hanging by a thread, but otherwise it has so far survived! The special present Megan brought back from Zambia lies untouched next to her bed! She’s a soft cuddly dog and doesn’t like the hard raw-hide chew toy, so she also hasn’t found the treat which is apparently hidden inside!

 

      A couple of days ago hubby was not feeling up to the early morning walk so I (reluctantly) shuffled out and ended up being out for an hour and a half! Bella was really good on the short lead – I don’t use the flexi-lead anymore – and was responsive …. mostly! Once we got to the really muddy bits alongside the River Orwell which she didn’t mind one tiny little bit, but since I only had trainers on, I did mind, we turned around and trudged back home. A 4½km walk which was fairly pleasant – straight out of bed!

     This morning, hubby was again not feeling too well so instead of going out for a walk, he opened the back door and told Bella to do her thing on her own!  She was OK until I greeted her at the bottom of the stairs but I didn’t pick up the lead. It was then she must have decided to take herself on a walk and once again found the secret (that is, we don’t know where it is) opening into the neighbour’s garden!  8am was a bit early to knock on said elderly neighbour’s door to ask for our dog back, so we waited about half an hour, and kept an eye on her from upstairs knowing she couldn’t escape but she might trample a prized flowerbed! Fortunately elderly neighbours are very understanding and allowed her to leave their paradise! Needless to say she was confined to her own bed in the kitchen for the morning and any attempt to sneak into the lounge was met with a stern reprimand from Mum!

(Mine, not theirs!)

     At tea on Sunday evening someone brought up the subject of whether animals have consciences! Despite hearing a preacher adamantly say that dogs don’t have consciences, this someone could tell many a story of how his dogs had shown human childlike traits....... like after stealing the chicken waiting to be Sunday’s roast!

     So life goes on as normal! An early morning ‘good’ walk generally means a lunch time ‘bad’ walk and vice versa! Pleading eyes and ears pinned back beg forgiveness and eagerly accept ................... and forget!

But we love you Bella!

Bella Survived the Boarding Kennels!

Some people don't own dogs because, they say, they wouldn't be able to go away on holiday! Some people don't like leaving their animals in the care of others - especially 'institution' type places like Boarding Kennels!  In South Africa, where your home security is an added factor, people don't stop going on holiday! There's good business in House-sitting ... and Dog-sitting (include cats, fish, hamsters, birds etc!) The cost of someone looking after your house is simply part of the holiday budget - just like putting a dog in Boarding Kennels!

We left at 6am Monday morning so had to take Bella to the local Kennels before they closed at noon on Sunday. She was quite distracted by so many different smells in the reception and didn't even know I'd handed over the lead :(  Plus her blankie and Green Fluffy Thing Piece (about a third of the original). And I walked out :(

(Bourne Hill Kennels, Wherstead, Ipswich)

So there was no Bella to play ball with on Sunday afternoon in the garden; no Bella to take for a wee walk before church on Sunday evening; no Bella to wag her tail when we got back from church on Sunday night; and no need to wake up early to take Bella for her morning walk - except that we had to get up early to get to the Midlands by mid-morning!

Hubby was REALLY looking forward to not having to wake up at 6.30am on Tuesday morning to take Bella for a walk, part of the holiday feeling - so he woke up at 4am and went fishing instead!!

Did we think of her and wonder how she was managing in the Kennels? Of course we did, but she was being well looked after!

(Plenty of space to walk the dogs!)

We got back after closing time on Friday and got another sleep-in on Saturday, except that we needed to go shopping and planned to be at the Kennels at 10am when they opened!

"Bella's been fine!" was the expected comment! We caught a glimpse of her being brought to reception and saw her turn aside to say goodbye to a friend behind the bars! What went through her mind when she suddenly discovered on Monday I wasn't there? Had I abandoned her? Did she have flashbacks to her time at the Blue Cross?

Whatever she thought then, she was very pleased to see us on Saturday and soon settled back home. Bella is a quiet dog - she doesn't bark much and doesn't like noises when she wants to rest! If she's in her bed in the kitchen and we come in and start talking, or if I put a machine on in the kitchen, she'll move into the lounge. If the TV noise gets too much she'll move away from our company and into the quiet kitchen. So I reckon the fact that she seemed to sleep the rest of that Saturday was probably from lack of sleep and rest in the Kennels - sorry Bella, it wasn't a holiday for you!

It may be that having been around other dogs for a week, seeing them next door, hearing them bark, whine, cry etc. that she may ... here's hoping! ..... have got a little more used to dogs and that on walks she won't get over excited! Maybe! She certainly didn't react as excitedly as she has when the dog-behind-the-big-wooden-fence barked madly at her smell on the other side!

Another couple of weeks and she'll be back there again - I wonder if she'd be crossing off the days on a calendar if she knew!!

Don't turn your nose up at my Rescue Dog!

In the first few weeks and months of having Bella, quite a few comments were made on her ‘Rescue Dog’ status. She is a ‘Rescue Dog’ so the allusions were taken as quite harmless and true. However, eight months on and the ‘She’s a rescue dog isn’t she?’ comments are starting to niggle; the smug smile and the tone of voice are making some of the ‘friendly’ comments sound quite snobbish! Sorry, but it’s true!

Yes, my dog is a Rescue Dog; we found her at the Blue Cross having been taken in with a broken leg, but we love her and she loves us and she’s part of our family.  She may look ‘aggressive’ to you when you and your pedigree Spaniel / Jack Russel / Labrador meet us on walks, but just because she’s part Staffie doesn’t make her an aggressive dog. She’s excited! She wants to play with your dog and if you have a miniature breed, she doesn’t discriminate. She is strong, it’s the Staffie in her, and combined with the long history and dignity of a Japanese Shiba Inu she is also strong-willed. Having only discovered her mixed heritage earlier this year we now know how to handle her and hopefully train her while out walking. It’s an ongoing project.

Bella is impeccable indoors: she doesn’t jump on the furniture - like some dogs do, she did it once, was disciplined and never did it again; she doesn’t chew our human things - like some dogs do (e.g. slippers), she did it once, was disciplined and never did it again; she doesn’t need to be shouted at or cajoled to go out of a room - like some dogs, simply point to the door and she’ll go. She knows that just because the door is open, it doesn’t mean she can go out; she waits for us to step out or in first and follows – unlike some dogs. Only on the first night in the house did she ever mess inside. She doesn’t bark at dogs or people unnecessarily – like some dogs do.

She’s nervous of people, it’s a characteristic of her breed, not the fact that she’s a Rescue Dog. She’s excitable, she’s a hunting dog, nothing to do with the fact that she’s a Rescue Dog.

“You never know a Rescue dog’s history” you say, feeling smug that you got yours from an expensive breeder and have pedigree papers proving that his mother was Queen Patty and his father was Sir Pan. Bella was given a second chance by someone who knew they couldn’t give her the life she deserved. We’ve given her a loving family and friends, she doesn’t need to look back to the past!

So please don’t put our Bella in your ‘class system’ of dogs; discrimination is dead!  

The Ins & Outs of Boarding Kennels - and my purse!

The downside of owning pets is having to make two holiday bookings if you can’t take them with you! The next human excursion won’t exactly be a ‘holiday’ but a necessary long weekend away from home. I doubt whether Bella will think being away from us, being fed by strangers, having many noisy house-mates and no home comforts, will be a holiday!

An earlier seaside holiday!

Choosing a home-from-home for man’s best friend is not easy. In South Africa, in the interests of ‘home security’, one pays a house-sitter who will also feed, walk and clean up after your animals, in the comfort of the animal’s own home.  In the UK the security risk is a little lower in many areas, so we need to look at kennels.

Nothing like a bit of love!

Three of us set off to two local kennels to check them out!  It was a Thursday during an entire week of rain, but the morning had stayed dry. We walked into reception to be hit by that characteristic doggy smell, not a good start! (Vet surgeries don’t smell doggy and not even the Rescue centre smelled doggy!) Before the usual question of breed came up, one lady came straight out with, “I’d say there’s some Shiba Inu there!”  

For a complete stranger, who knows her dogs, this was quite a surprise to us and at the same time a confirmation of what we thought. So for the next five minutes we talked Shiba Inu characteristics – just enough time for the rain to gather so that when we toured the kennels we managed to get soaked!  Bella was left with a dog-sitter while we walked round and she did us proud by not growling or crying as we walked away leaving her leash in the hands of a complete stranger!

Got to climb!

By the time we got to the second kennels, she remembered the drill and once again sat quietly with a dog-sitter while we were taken around – still in the rain. These kennels have infra-red lamps for heating (although it probably won’t be necessary in summer!), and “hammock beds” – not that they hang from trees, and I’m not too sure how Bella will feel sleeping a little elevated, although she does like to climb!

The fees for both kennels were about the same, except that the second one had a half-day charge, which was a plus.  The first kennels didn’t insist on the dogs having the Kennel Cough vaccine, which was a little worrying.  The second was also closer to home (and the golf driving range!), so with the score 3-0 to the Second Kennels, it was decided.  This decision was celebrated by one human hitting 30 little white balls across a piece of grass with distance markers scattered down the centre!  Bella tried to shake the rain off numerous times from the car to the undercover driving range ‘kennels’. She doesn't usually bother with rain, however, the reverberating ‘clonk’ of several golf clubs against white balls sent her scampering under the bench behind my legs. It was time to swim back to the car and wait patiently while listening to the soothing sounds of BBC Radio Suffolk!

At home I made the vet appointment for her Kennel Cough vaccine and (stupidly) asked how much it would cost! £36?!  Bella’s ‘holiday’ is going to cost more than ours at this rate!  Her appointment is next week – I have a few days to plan a ‘discount attack’!!

(http://www.bournehill.co.uk/press/kennel-cattery.jpg  November/December issue of the Kennels and Cattery Management Magazine.)

18. A little rain, a little freedom!

        Ok so it’s been more than a ‘little rain’!  A TV news reader or weather person recently said, quite seriously, “It’s been the wettest drought on record.”!  The last two days have been a little drier, with just the odd shower, but the country lanes are still puddled and the country pathways are still muddied.

       The little bit of freedom belongs to Bella.  In the intervals of sunshine we’ve been able to get into the back garden to cut the grass and pull up weeds which catapulted out of the ground into the lawn and the garden with the deluge of rain throughout April. Since we were in the garden, Bella was granted a reprieve and allowed out with us with no restraint.

       She sat in the middle of the lawn, lifted her head to the sun and closed her eyes – what a sun-worshipper!

       Keeping an eye on her at all times enabled me to give a sharp ‘No!’ whenever she started wandering over the threshold of The Corner (where she’s previously climbed over the fence into the school playing field.)  She was totally obedient and turned back immediately, as if she knows that’s a boundary not to be crossed!  Even with her nose sweeping the soil beneath the grass following the black and white cat’s scent single-mindedly all around the garden, she has stopped at that boundary line and retraced her steps! Amazing!

       So she deserves a bit of freedom, in the garden that is.

       On a bedtime wee walk last week, she found a hedgehog! Fortunately a good jerk and distraction ensured Hedgehog’s safety and he was last seen crossing the quiet cul-de-sac road with his teeny tiny nose just visible.

        One of the ‘problems’ we have had with Bella is her utter excitement at meeting other dogs – she’s not aggressive, she just wants to play. But as I think I’ve said before, a lot of the dogs in this neighbourhood are about the size of her head and while they have no fear, she plays rough!  Tuesday afternoon’s walk zig-zagging around the puddles and trying not to slip on the muddy path (me trying not to slip, she’s quite sure footed!), we met a dog who was just as excitable and still being trained, and her owner was struggling to keep her under control.  Bella behaved more or less impeccably! The sniffs then the play, but I think the other dog’s owner was more nervous and pulled her back causing her to climb further up the scale of excitement.

       On top of that little CJ the Jack Russel came bounding up. He seems quite the popular one as everyone says he gets on well with their dogs! Again Bella stood calmly for the sniffy greeting before trying to play but knowing she was restrained. While three owners stood nattering about dogs (it’s like mums chatting about their babies and nappies!) the three dogs had a good sniffy natter amongst themselves and by the time the humans were ready to part, so were the dogs – well, Bella was anyway.

     Now that was quite an achievement. It felt like Bella is growing up! Of course she still comes into the lounge at about 10pm every night asking to be ‘tucked in’, or at least ‘please switch the kitchen light off I want to sleep!’

     So a little freedom and a little growing up and it’s all looking quite positive for Bella’s future……………..

17. In memory of ........

Dogs and Cats are the epitome of enemies! Which makes the pictures we see floating around Facebook and emails, of huge Alsations and tiny kittens so very, very adorable!

Take for example …. !

But growing up in the same household they do learn to tolerate each other, although I think it is often just that – tolerance – mainly on the Cat’s side of things of course!

My favourite picture of our own pets is this one of Tetris the Cat and Tigara the Lab x Rottweiler enjoying the sun together on the top step!

(Tetris is about 16 years old and living with two other cats and a bouncy dog in South Africa!
Tigara went to friends on a farm when we left SA and we haven't heard about her since)

Bella doesn’t have a Cat house-mate and so has the ‘typical’ response to cats in the neighbourhood!

There’s a black and white Cat who very bravely crosses our back garden regularly when Bella’s safely indoors, and Bella tears around the garden following its scent when she gets a chance!

There’s a black cat just down the road, which manages to slink into the shadows when we walk past.

When aiming for the muddy lane at the corner of our road, I’d often see a streak of ginger, just before Bella picked up the scent!  We discovered this was Vincent, Vinney for short, and he had a few tricks for getting to safety behind a dog’s wagging tail! ('a few tricks up his sleeve' just didn't work for a Cat!)

A message went out on the Villages' Facebook page this week that Vinney was missing, and asking people to look out for him; perhaps he’d sought shelter in someone’s open shed during one of the daily downpours.  When I took Bella out for her walk this evening, a lady was ripping down posters from trees on Vinney’s corner; Vinny had been found, but not good news.  A dog – not Bella! – had got free from his lead …….... The dog owners had taken the injured cat to a vet, possibly not knowing to whom it belonged, and maybe only when the news went out, were able to identify him.

We never got close to Vinney, but will miss his orange streak across the lane.