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.