Hello Everyone

Happy Birthday to Sally - 1 today.

She has had a nice day, starting with a longer than usual walk down the lane, through puddles and mud and she seemed to love it.

When we got home there was food and treats including a fresh bone and playtimes and plenty of rest.  She is still asleep now at 8pm. I took the day off work today so that I could spend the day with her and it was lovely.

On the 11th November I took Sally to the vets to be spayed.  As usual she walked in with no problem to see the vet - I was more nervous than her.  When I handed her lead over to the vet she walked off with her without even a look back and a few minutes later after I had been to talk to the girls at reception I saw the vet and asked her if Sally was ok and she said she was licking the leg of the nurse that was getting her pre-med.

When we went to pick her up at 5pm she came walking out like she was drunk with her head held low and we brought her straight home where she took to her bed and stayed there for a few hours, sleeping mostly and every so often lifting her head deciding against it and putting it back down again.

 

Sally feeling sorry for herself aaawwwww

Sallys' wound

Getting lots of sympathy

First move and first food after operation.

This state did not last too long and by the next morning she was completely b ack to normal.  She has been really good and has never tried to lick or pull at her stitches, even Helen, the vet was impressed last Monday when we took her back to have her stitches out - there was no redness or inflamation and it has healed up very well.

This week with the colder weather we have discovered a way to keep Sally calm in the evening - by lighting the fire - she loves it and will lie in front of it for hours 

Sally with an empty whiskey bottle.

Well the birthday girl is well and truly awake now and wanting attention so I have to go as she keeps putting her slobbery chops on the laptop - not good.

Bye for now

Johanna, Neil and Sally

Hello everyone,
first apologies for not keeping blog up to date but we were away at the carvan for 2 weeks at the end of September after work on the new store at Garstang finished and there is no internet connection there - so we had a lovely quiet time just with walks down to the lake and through the woods. One day we went for a ride round Ullswater and walked up to Aira Force waterfall which was really nice - we had never been there before. Unfortunately I forgot to take my camera but Neil had his and took some photos so I'm just waiting for him to download and e-mail them to me to put on here.

One day the week before last I had followed my ususal routine of walking Sally then having breakfast and settling her down before I go to work. However when I got back there was a scene of destruction greeting me - tissues all over the floor, her food bowl, magazines that she had got off the dresser and the shade of my favourite lamp which she had removed and chewed up. She had also chewed the corners off a photo album - this is the beginning of a bit of a saga with photo albums. I started the album last year with newspaper cuttings following the progress of the Booths store at Garstang that we were building, and had it in the meeting room at work but Sally found it and chewed the corners off it, so I bought another album and transferred all the cuttings into that and that is the one in the photo below, so I bought another new one and had it on the dresser but she got that one as well so when I get another one she is not going to go near it. Below are photos of the destruction she caused in one morning - as a result she has been to work with us lately so we can keep an eye on her except for a couple of days last week when I had a cold so didn't go to work. This lamp was found on the floor without its shade.

Note photo album on floor!!!!!!!

Sally was at the vets again last week to have her blood taken to see if she had developed antibodies against Rabies - she didn't like that at all - it took 3 of us to hold her still while the vet shaved her a bit of her leg and took her blood. We are hoping to go to Spain in March or April next year but we have to wait for the blood results yet - they should be ringing us soon.

Sally is completely out of her phantom pregnancy now and so she is eating more. When we weighed her at the vets she was 43.5 kgs so we will see what she is on the 11th November when she goes in for her operation.

Well that is all for now - I'll write again soon

Sally, Neil and Johanna

Hello everyone,
Had to take Sally to the vets again yesterday as she is having a #phantom pregnancy'. Her mammary glands have not gone down at all and she has started 'nesting' - scratching at her bedding so it is all over the place. Anyway Neil thought the vet could give her an injection to help her but she said they did not do that anymore. She examined her thoroughly and said she should be ok in a couple of weeks. When she had finished she gave Sally her rabies injection so she will need a blood test in 3 weeks time. Before leaving I put Sally on the scales again and she was about 42 kg again, it was difficult to be accuate as she would not sit still on the scales - so no gain this week but she has not been eating as much as usual and the vet said that is due to the phantom pregnancy. Poor thing - she does appear to be suffering - she has started whining a bit today so she must be feeling off as she has never done that since the first few days she was here.

Otherwise Sally has been doing great - she is fully housetrained now and can be left alone for about 5 hours while she has a sleep and I go to work. I take her to work occasionally but there are too many distractions for her to get enough rest, especially when Holly is there as Sally just wants to play. She will be going to work in the morning as Carolyn and Isobel are coming to clean and they wouldn't get anything done with Sally chasing the dusters and hoover. When they have finished the house they come to the office to clean there so when they get there I bring Sally home to catch up on sleep.

That's all the news for now - will add more after her her blood test and tell you how she went on with that.

Sally, Johanna and Neil.

Hello everyone, me again,
here are a couple of pics of Sally 'sat' on the chair - this has become a common occurance lately.

Sally will be 40 weeks old on Tuesday and now weighs 42 kg - just over 6 and a half stone. She does not seem to have grown much more but does appear to be filling out more in the chest area. She still has a scar where the tick was weeks ago - I don't know if it will go or she might always have it - hope not!

When I took her to the vets last week to be spayed the vet recommended not doing the operation yet as she was still in season, her mammary glands were still swollen so she said she still had some hormones circulating which would mean the tissues were still more delicate and may make the operation more risky and also she might be more prone to phantom pregnancies in the future and we definately did not want that as Katie suffered badly with them. So weare now waiting until the end of October or beginning of November to have it done - there is no rush as she will not be due another season for 6 months. Instead we are starting on the programme for applying for a pet passport; Sally is already microchipped so that is the first part; next she has to have a rabies injection followed by blood tests. We are hoping to take her to Spain next year and the passport taked about 8 months to be final. It is not a problem taking her out of the country but bringing her back she would have to be quarrantined for 6 months without the passport.

That's all for now, we have just come back from the caravan and Sally has had a couple of hours rest and is now playing with Neil.

Sally, Neil & Johanna.

Hello all,

Well I am back from Spain now and had a lovely week in the sun with Sarah, Dave, Holly and Matthew. Sally had been acting a bit different while I was away and Neil thought that maybe she had been missisng me - she certainly went wild when I walked in the door on Sunday night. She continued to bleed for a full 2 weeks, so it could have been that making her act differently too. Anyway she is back to normal now and back in her usual routine. I have made an appointment to have her spayed on the 26th August so I'll take a couple of days off work after until she is back to normal.

The photos above were taken since I came back of the damage Sally did when she was younger - chewing a little table; destroying DVDs and chewing the plug off the iron - there has been no damage for several weeks now and no accidents in the house, work or caravan.

Bye for now

Sally, Neil & Johanna

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.

Hi everyone,

Sorry I never got round to updating the blog last week (it has been noticed and commented on by certain people!!!!!) but I was really busy and I don't know where the time goes to. No sooner have we come back from the van on a Sunday night than it is time to go again on Friday. The weeks just fly by and we just live for the weekends to go to the lakes.

When we weighed Sally last week she had lost a little weight and was down to 34.3 kgs but we have just weighed her now and she is back up to 35.1 kgs (5 1/2 stones). Maybe her weight gain is starting to slow down a bit now she is 7 months old. Neil is starting to struggle getting her on the scales so I will have to start taking her to the vets to weigh her until she reaches her adult weight and it stabilises. Also she is 23 inches high and getting bigger by the week.

I don't want to speak too soon but I think that Sally is at last toilet trained, although I don't for one minute think that there will not be any accidents to come but she has not had any in the house now for 3 weeks and even at work there have been no accidents for a week ..... so fingers crossed.

The main highlight of last week for Sally was meeting Bertie. We met up with Judith, Steve and Bertie in the Lakeside carpark at Keswick as it was halfway between Windermere and Penrith where they were staying. Bertie is just gorgeous, like a massive teddy bear.

Sally meeting Bertie, Judith & Steve.

Bertie what a big boy you are!!!!!

They both got on quite well together and walked happily down the path by the lake as far as it went (not too far) and then we strolled back again. Steve held onto Bertie and Neil held Sally while Judith and I walked between them chatting away - mainly comparing notes on the 2 dogs. Its good to talk to someone in the same situation sometimes.

Happy family - Neil, Me and Sally down by the lake.

After the walk we all went for a drink at a lakeside cafe and Sally and Bertie were very good Sally sitting and Bertie lying quietly while we drank tea and coffee and chatted. After we had finished our drinks Bertie and Sally had an ice cream each, we already knew that Sally liked ice cream but it was Berties first one and he seemed to love it.

Bertie enjoying his ice cream.

Sally enjoying her ice cream. Look at that face!!!!

Later that day Sarah, Dave, Holly and Matthew came up with a card and pressie for my birthday. After lunch - (fish & chips) we all had a walk down to the lake and they all had an ice cream - we resisted as we had already had one not too long ago.

Matthew with Sally down by the lake.

Sally watching the kids playing and wondering what mischief she could get up to next.

Sally is generally good with the kids although she does get a bit excited at times and that day she jumped up and scratched Hollys' face which did not go down well. We are trying to educate the kids how to behave when they are around Sally and they are very excitable - only to be expected - but this makes Sally excitable and that's when she jumps up and also we are trying to teach Sally how to behave around the kids too, which is not as easy.

We have just come back from the caravan again after another lovely weekend. We would have stayed there Sunday night but we ran out of bread for Sallys' tea and breakfast.

Oh well Monday tomorrow and back to the grindstone - will continue this next week.

Bye

Johanna, Neil & Sally.

Hello everyone,

Sally has just been weighed and is 34.7 kgs - she has only put on put on 2 1/2 lbs this week which is a lot less than the 4 lbs of previous weeks, but she was ill last week and it has been hot this week so she has not eaten as much as normal. Next week she goes to just 2 meals a day - that will be a shock to the system for her!!!!!!!!

Well the weather people got it right at weekend - and we had a fab time.

We got to the caravan on Friday and had a lazy evening. On Saturday, after Sally got up we went for a nice walk through the woods and down to the lake then back up by the road before it got too hot.

Later John and Thelma came up - John is buying our boat and wanted to take the wheels off the trailer to get new tyres on so he can tow it home. We are going to buy a new boat that Sally will be more comfortable in - and we will be able to get her in and out easier. They stayed for a brew and a play with Sally and helped put the awning up on the caravan, its the first time in 3 years that we have had the awning out!!!!

John and Neil sat under the awning.

Later Barry and Ruth came up and we had a lovely barbeque - thanks to Neil.

Ruth saying hello to Sally.

Watching a caterpiller on Ruths' finger. After the bbq we all went for a walk to the lake and back but I forgot to take the camera with me.

Early on Sunday morning we went for a walk - well early for Sally but we had to go out before it got too hot for her.

Watching the world going by from the pier while daddy talks to Colin.

Sally paddling in the lake.

Sally didn't quite know what to make of this swan but it was doing a lot of hissing at her - the swan went off before Sally did!!!!

Sally loved paddling in the lake - tho she didn't go in too far - Karen and I threw sticks for her but she didn't catch any!!!

Then after a morning down by the lake we chilled out on the decking and Sally found the most comfortable place - on my sun lounger. Need to buy a new one now!!!!!!!!

Awwwwwwwwww and on that note I'll just say that I'm still taking Sally for a walk every morning, we do a few minutes lead training until we get to the lane and then she just wanders where she wants to, and we meet lots of doggy friends (and some snarlers) - this morning we met a guy with 5 Golden Retrievers - a grandma, mother and 2 duaghters and an uncle - they were gorgeous and Sally loved playing with them while we went down the lane. She loves walking through long grass but I have to watch her as she also likes to lick cow pats - yeaugh - definately a dog thing!!!!!!!!! And she loves school kids - especially on bikes - she just wants to be friends with everyone and does not realise that not everyone wants to be friends with her - although how anyone wouldn't is beyond me !!!!!

Well on that note I'll finish for now - we are soooo looking forward to next weekend - we are going to meet Judith, Steve and Bertie ( a Newfoundland pupply 18 weeks older than Sally) and hopefully stay over Sunday night into Monday. They live in Durham and are going to Penrith for a week so we will meet up with them in Keswick.

Bye for now.

Sally, Johanna and Neil.

Hello all,

Well Sally is now 26 weeks old and is 33.5 kgs (just under 5 1/2 stone) so she is maintaining a steady increase in weight.

We had a bit of a health issue last week - Sally had terrible diarrhoea a week last Tuesday, she had been a bit loose in the evening but at 2 am (why do these things always happen at night?) I heard her whining at the bottom of the stairs and when I went down she had had diarrhoea from the front door to the back door and in the kitchen, all up the walls and kitchen cupboards. Took me ages to clean it up. When the morning came I rang the vet who advised me to take her in. Helen (our favourite vet) gave her a good examination and weighed her and asked if she picked things up when outside and I said OH YES as she will pick anything and everything up. I spend more time with my hand in her mouth taking stones off her than anything else. So anyway she gave her an injection of anti-biotics and some tablets to take for 3 days, I just waved them under Sallys' nose and she ate them like a good girl. The diarrhoea soon cleared up that day and she has been in great forn ever since. Unlike me who started with diarrhoea on the Wednesday and it lasted a full week. I thought it was the eggs, they were the only things that Sally and I had eaten in common, but I have since heard that there is a bug going round so that must have been it.

We have not really done much over the last couple of weeks but we have got ourselves into a nice little daily routine.... Neil gets up between 7 and 7.30 and sometimes Sally will get up for a wee but not always. I get up at around 8 and take her out for a walk straight away, sometimes she will wee on the walk but mostly she will wait until we get home. When we get back we will both have breakfast then at about 10 am I will go to work and leave Sally to sleep for the morning. 9 times out of 10 she be ok alone but occasionally there will be accidents in the house or she will scratch at the kitchen wall, like yesterday. I will come back again at 1 pm to let Sally out and give her lunch and then take her to the office with me for a few hours. She is learning to settle better there and will often fall asleep in either mine or Neils' offices. Sometimes Christine, who works for us, will bring her dog, Holly, in and they will play together for a while before they both fall asleep. Later I take Sally home and either Neil or I or us both will take her for a walk before her medicine and her evening meal. During the evening she will sleep and play before going to bed at 10 pm. She still has mad moments where she will run round the lounge, hallway and kitchen like something not right, she runs at full pelt with ears back and eyes wide like all the hounds of hell are after her and then she falls onto the floor panting. She loves chewing knucle bones which I get fresh from the butchers every week.

These are the only photos I have of her this week so here are a few of her mum, Athene and dad, Samson.

Athene

Samson

Well that's it for this week - we will be going to the caravan again on Friday, good weather has been forecast, so hopefully we shall get out a bit, will let you know.

Bye for now

Sally, Johanna and Neil.

Hello everyone,

Sally is now 28 kg, she has put on 4.2 kg over the last 2 weeks.

We have another momentous episode to report - Sally had her first public poo on Saturday. Hopefully this will be the start of the end of toilet training. Neil took her out for a short walk at about 9 am as we were taking the touring caravan to Barnard Castle for Neils' mum and dad who were staying there for 2 weeks so we would be in the car for 2 hours. Sally as usual was so good in the car - she falls asleep before we get to the motorway for at least an hour and then she sat in the middle of the back seat looking out of the windows. On arrival at the caravan site I took her for a stroll down a track thinking she would be desperate for a wee but it took her over half an hour of sniffing before she finally had a wee. While we were there a family came by with a dog and Sally just sat still while this 8 month old Hungarian Vishy something called Laslo bounded all around her. The woman commented on how quiet and calm Sally was and I was so pleased.

After we had left the lane we met a couple of ponies in a barn and Sally did not flinch when we heard a dog barking like she usually does so she is getting better. By the time we got back to the caravan everyone had set it up and got lunch ready, following which we set off back to our caravan in the lakes through Kirby Stephen and Kendal. Once we got there Sally slept for most of the afternoon after her lunch and later we walked down to the lake and back. It was such a lovely evening we all had out tea outside after Neil had got back from shopping including a load of bedding plants.

On Sunday we had a very lazy morning watching Cesar Millan on DVD - we all think he's great. After lunch I planted the pots up and then later we all went to Hawkshead, across the lake.

Sally and Neil in Hawkshead. This was the first time Sally had been anywhere with a lot of people and dogs around and she was fantastic. She sat and watched as people walked by and calmly walked by other people and dogs, even one that barked at her.

In amongst the crowds. Everyone said how lovely she is and commented on her soft coat.

Sally enjoying some ice cream in Hawkshead mmmmmmmmmmmm.

From Hawshead we went over to Tarn Hows. We had never been there before and I was surprised because Neil has been pretty much everywhere in the Lakes, but we shall definately be going back there again. It is a long time since I have been in such a beautiful idyllic location. There is a 1 1/2 mile walk around the tarn (which was originally 3 before a dam was built) with some slight gradients but nothing too much and we just took our time wandering round this beautiful lake.

Neil and Sally at the tarn.

........And with me.

Sally exploring the lakeside.

Making friends with a spaniel near the tarn.

Meeting a 'Belted Galloway' cow.

What a LOVELY day we all had and after our lovely walk we went back to the caravan for tea, and a chew on a bone (for Sally) and a nice rest (well Sally slept for most of the evening).

I would put more photos of the tarn on the blog but it takes ages so if anyone wants to see more let me know.

Well that's all for now.

Bye Neil, Johanna and Sally.