Hello everyone.
Just a quick entry to let you all know that Sally is a big girl now - she has come into 'season' already. The information we got from the breeder and the vet and the books we read led us to believe that she would be 9 1/2 to 12 months before she would start so I had planned to have her spayed at just before 9 months and was going to arrange it the week after next when I came back from Spain. So she took us all by surprise by going into season so early, so now we have to wait at least a month before having her spayed. It was Neil that noticed it as he was first home on Monday and noticed small drops of blood on the floor. This could be why she was a bit 'off' over the weekend.

That's it for now. Will put another blog up when I get back.
Sally, Neil & Johanna

Here is a little postscript to my blog of Sunday.
Sally likes apples - I had tried her on small pieces over the last couple of weeks and she liked it. Then yesterday I put her in the car after being at work with me for the afternoon and left her to lock the unit up and when I went back to the car she had pinched an apple off the passenger seat and was quite happily munching on it on the back seat, but she didn't eat much of it.

Another thing I forgot to mention on Sunday is that Sally is becoming a bit dangerous and I think we will have to get a child gate for the kitchen. One day last week after our walk I went upstairs for a shower and I could hear her barking downstairs. When I went down into the kitchen I noticed that the oven gloves were on the floor and there was a light on in the oven. Madam had been jumping up to get the oven gloves and in the process had caught the knob and switched the oven on - good job its electric - so now we do not leave the oven gloves where she can see them.

Another time last week Neil was in the living roon and heard a lot of clicking and when he went into the kitchen he found Sally up on 2 legs with a paw on one of the knobs on the hob - it was a good job that she didn't manage to turn it or she would have switched on the gas.
Anyway after having said all that she has been good this week being left in the lounge while we are at work. Long may it last.

Johanna

Hello all,

Here I am again with the latest update on Sally.

She has got so big now that Neil struggles to lift her onto the scales so yesterday I took her round to the vets to put her on their scales. With a little encouragement she got onto them and sat down when asked to, (isn't she a good girl!) She weighed 37.7 kgs which is about 6 stone, so there is no sign yet of her weight stablilising as we thought last month. The last time we were at the vets she weighed only 29 kgs so they were happy with her progress for 32 weeks old - 8 months in weeks but in months it will be on the 25th July, if you know what I mean.

Sallys' diet is now more varied - she loves baked potatoes and carrots and will happily lie down and chew a raw carrot (and make a nice mess in the process, but at least its good for her). She also has bread and rice and other vegetables depending on what we are having at the time.

Whilst on the subject of food, Sally has started to pick up her dish and bring it into the lounge when she has finished her food, just to let us know and she will lick the empty bowl as if asking for more food. It's really quite amusing.

Above are photos of Sally taking her 'medicine' - as you can see she does not like it at all and it has to be mixed and given by syringe. I have that job whilst Neil holds her and strokes her throat until she swallows it all.

We didn't go to the caravan last weekend as Neil was chopping back a tree and we are not going this weekend as it is going to rain all night and there is nothing worse than being in a caravan when it is raining hard - it is very noisy and not much sleep is got so we thought it was not worth it. Hopefully the weather will be better next week and we can go then.

A couple of weeks ago we all went over to Ripon to see the new store before it was opened. Sally slept most of the way there (2 hours) and then we went for a nice walk in a nearby park while Neil got his work done. When we got back Sally reaquainted herself with some of the lads she knew and made friends with others - she definately loves men! The store looks great and we shall have to go again after opening.

Not really much else to say this week, as we haven't been anywhere. Sally is getting better as each week goes by and learning more and settling down at work better, but she still gets over excited and bites at times. We have tried all sorts to stop this but the only thing that works is to put her into her pen which acts as a 'sin bin' for a short while and she is usually calmer when she comes out. Apart from this she is great. Hopefully she will grow out of it eventually.

Bye for now,

Sally, Neil & Johanna.