Tinkerbell is now going straight into her crate at night of her own accord. She is whining and whimpering for less than a minute. She’s not even been with us a month yet. I’m so proud and so very grateful.
Unfortunately our restful sleep was short lived as something woke Bluebell up at 3.15pm. A combination of sleep deprivation. laziness and softness meant we allowed them both up on our bed.
Tinkerbell saw her first horse today. We were a little apprehensive but we need not have worried. Her reaction was to give him a kiss, thankfully the horse didn’t mind.
She has discovered a passion for flip flops, chewing them that is and non are safe around her. She’s already eaten one and pulled the flower off another.
Bluebell farted really loudly, it took her completely by surprised and she started barking, wondering what that noise was.
They are now both barking at the next door dog and it is deafening.
Saturday 13 September 2008
Puppy Power
Puppy Power
Oh my goodness what have we let ourselves in for. We have agreed to look after a friends puppy whilst they are on holiday for a week. They hadn’t planned to get a puppy yet but they spoke to a breeder and someone gave back word so Pippa is now in their lives. Luckily K’s mum has offered to look after Bluebell for a few days if it gets too much for him. It’s a lot to expect of him to accept a new dog and a puppy in just a few weeks.
What am I thinking? Tinkerbell has only been with us for a matter of weeks. They were stuck and we are soft, what more can I say. We took Tinkerbell and Bluebell to meet Penny. I was petrified! She is only 14 weeks old, she is not that much bigger than the size of Bluebells head. She is gorgeous and full of fun, I think Tinkerbell is going to have a second puppyhood.
Our bedtime routine is now settling down. The routine has become we have family cuddles on the bed before getting into her own bed for the night. I am hoping that this doesn’t feed her anxieties and does build her confidence in us and helps her feel more secure.
Today we went to our first obedience class and either I showed Tinkerbell up or she showed me up. She was suddenly blind and also deaf. I’d used freshly cooked chicken as a reward which until now has been her favourite food. Today she wasn’t at all bothered about it. Thankfully things improved no end when someone donated some of their spicy sausage. She loved training though and she did start listening to me eventually. To be very fair to her and me, it was a busy course with lots of dogs and lots of new people. She was so excitable it made me wonder if she’d every done anything like that before. She was shattered afterwards and slept in the car all the way home. Bliss.
We appear to be getting the mouthing under control. She mouthed my cousin a little but we ignored her bad behaviour and rewarded the good. She hasn’t mouthed me in a while now so I guess she was just trying her luck.
The day ended with Bluebell and Tinkerbell sound asleep on the bed. It was so very cute to watch.
Oh my goodness what have we let ourselves in for. We have agreed to look after a friends puppy whilst they are on holiday for a week. They hadn’t planned to get a puppy yet but they spoke to a breeder and someone gave back word so Pippa is now in their lives. Luckily K’s mum has offered to look after Bluebell for a few days if it gets too much for him. It’s a lot to expect of him to accept a new dog and a puppy in just a few weeks.
What am I thinking? Tinkerbell has only been with us for a matter of weeks. They were stuck and we are soft, what more can I say. We took Tinkerbell and Bluebell to meet Penny. I was petrified! She is only 14 weeks old, she is not that much bigger than the size of Bluebells head. She is gorgeous and full of fun, I think Tinkerbell is going to have a second puppyhood.
Our bedtime routine is now settling down. The routine has become we have family cuddles on the bed before getting into her own bed for the night. I am hoping that this doesn’t feed her anxieties and does build her confidence in us and helps her feel more secure.
Today we went to our first obedience class and either I showed Tinkerbell up or she showed me up. She was suddenly blind and also deaf. I’d used freshly cooked chicken as a reward which until now has been her favourite food. Today she wasn’t at all bothered about it. Thankfully things improved no end when someone donated some of their spicy sausage. She loved training though and she did start listening to me eventually. To be very fair to her and me, it was a busy course with lots of dogs and lots of new people. She was so excitable it made me wonder if she’d every done anything like that before. She was shattered afterwards and slept in the car all the way home. Bliss.
We appear to be getting the mouthing under control. She mouthed my cousin a little but we ignored her bad behaviour and rewarded the good. She hasn’t mouthed me in a while now so I guess she was just trying her luck.
The day ended with Bluebell and Tinkerbell sound asleep on the bed. It was so very cute to watch.
Tuesday 12 August 2008
Small successes
We are finally all in the same bedroom.
I go to bed early with Tinkerbell and she only takes about 15 minutes to settle. K then comes up at about 10.30pm which disturbs her but she is usually settled again by 11pm.
I’m just glad Tinkerbell barking doesn’t set Bluebell off, it would be like the Twilight Barking if it did.
Tinkerbell in now settled in her crate until the reasonable hour of 6.30am. I then get up, let them both out and we go back to bed for family snuggles. This is my favourite part of the day. All four of us in bed snuggled up together snoozing.
We have discovered her favourite food is chicken, sausage comes a close second. Give her a chicken and sausage Kong and she is in doggy heaven.
The mouthing is calming down, she now seems understand that it has the opposite effect to the one she wants as I ignore her and walk away.
She has been introduced to the neighbours dogs and that went well. It wasn’t planned. The dogs escaped and ended up in our garden. K brought them into our house whilst he put shoes on to take them back home.
She loves to chase things, we have a rope toy and a bouncy star which seem to be particular favourites. We are just playing in the house at the moment as we are taking our time with letting her off the lead.
I feel like the house is a tip as we haven’t cleaned properly for ages. A ‘lick and a promise’ as my mother would say, is all it’s had in weeks. Tinkerbell needs us to spend time with her, cleaning can wait until she’s settled.
I go to bed early with Tinkerbell and she only takes about 15 minutes to settle. K then comes up at about 10.30pm which disturbs her but she is usually settled again by 11pm.
I’m just glad Tinkerbell barking doesn’t set Bluebell off, it would be like the Twilight Barking if it did.
Tinkerbell in now settled in her crate until the reasonable hour of 6.30am. I then get up, let them both out and we go back to bed for family snuggles. This is my favourite part of the day. All four of us in bed snuggled up together snoozing.
We have discovered her favourite food is chicken, sausage comes a close second. Give her a chicken and sausage Kong and she is in doggy heaven.
The mouthing is calming down, she now seems understand that it has the opposite effect to the one she wants as I ignore her and walk away.
She has been introduced to the neighbours dogs and that went well. It wasn’t planned. The dogs escaped and ended up in our garden. K brought them into our house whilst he put shoes on to take them back home.
She loves to chase things, we have a rope toy and a bouncy star which seem to be particular favourites. We are just playing in the house at the moment as we are taking our time with letting her off the lead.
I feel like the house is a tip as we haven’t cleaned properly for ages. A ‘lick and a promise’ as my mother would say, is all it’s had in weeks. Tinkerbell needs us to spend time with her, cleaning can wait until she’s settled.
Small steps towards success
We are taking small steps towards success. She actually slept from 10.30pm to 4am. We have started getting to bed really early so if she does bark her head off the neighbours can’t complain.
She barked/rattled/howled and whined for 25 minutes but she barely touched her Kong. The sad cow that I am I am actually timing just how long she barks for and whether it is continuous or broken up. One of our neighbours is very nasty and complained about Bluebell barking even when he wasn’t in the house. I’m documenting everything just in case they complain.
Tinkerbell woke up at 4am. It was possibly the nasty neighbours moving around that disturbed her. They clam to be retired yet they go to work to a cleaning job at 4.30am! As it is cleaning at the golf club they consider it to be a posh job. The really weird thing is they are not unskilled, he was a builder and she was a seamstress! Not the retirement I have planned I can tell you.
Anyway I got up and let her out and then encouraged her back into her crate. She happily went into her crate then came out again with her Kong and promptly jumped on the bed with it. I let her finish the Kong on her bed on the floor outside the crate.
K and Bluebell joined us at about 6am. Did I mention we were in separate bedrooms? It’s really tough but there is no point both of us being disturbed.
All four of us snuggled on the bed together and I fell asleep again. This was a big mistake, huge in fact as I slept through my alarm! I’ve never slept through the alarm! I really must catch up with my work…next week.
This evening I decided to try some lead training in our courtyard only to be disturbed by a nosey neighbour. I was walking Tinkebell very closely to me with a tasty treat in my hand pressed against her nose. She ‘was’ doing really well.
J – ‘What you doing there then?’
Me – ‘I am trying to teach Tinkerbell to walk nicely on the lead, to do this I need her to not be distracted and concentrate only on me’
J – ‘What you doing that for then?’
Me – ‘Because she pulls like a train which makes walking her really hard but I have to have her complete attention for it to work’
J – ‘And what you doing to get her attention’
For goodness sake are some people really that stupid? By this point Tinkerbell had completely lost her focus and was busily trying to munch on her lead.
Later in the evening we had our first casualty. This is the start of a very long list called ‘so far today I have eaten’ I left her unattended for a matter of minutes and in that time she broke into my make up box and stole an eyeliner. She ‘ate’ the eyeliner on the bed. You can imagine the mess.
She barked/rattled/howled and whined for 25 minutes but she barely touched her Kong. The sad cow that I am I am actually timing just how long she barks for and whether it is continuous or broken up. One of our neighbours is very nasty and complained about Bluebell barking even when he wasn’t in the house. I’m documenting everything just in case they complain.
Tinkerbell woke up at 4am. It was possibly the nasty neighbours moving around that disturbed her. They clam to be retired yet they go to work to a cleaning job at 4.30am! As it is cleaning at the golf club they consider it to be a posh job. The really weird thing is they are not unskilled, he was a builder and she was a seamstress! Not the retirement I have planned I can tell you.
Anyway I got up and let her out and then encouraged her back into her crate. She happily went into her crate then came out again with her Kong and promptly jumped on the bed with it. I let her finish the Kong on her bed on the floor outside the crate.
K and Bluebell joined us at about 6am. Did I mention we were in separate bedrooms? It’s really tough but there is no point both of us being disturbed.
All four of us snuggled on the bed together and I fell asleep again. This was a big mistake, huge in fact as I slept through my alarm! I’ve never slept through the alarm! I really must catch up with my work…next week.
This evening I decided to try some lead training in our courtyard only to be disturbed by a nosey neighbour. I was walking Tinkebell very closely to me with a tasty treat in my hand pressed against her nose. She ‘was’ doing really well.
J – ‘What you doing there then?’
Me – ‘I am trying to teach Tinkerbell to walk nicely on the lead, to do this I need her to not be distracted and concentrate only on me’
J – ‘What you doing that for then?’
Me – ‘Because she pulls like a train which makes walking her really hard but I have to have her complete attention for it to work’
J – ‘And what you doing to get her attention’
For goodness sake are some people really that stupid? By this point Tinkerbell had completely lost her focus and was busily trying to munch on her lead.
Later in the evening we had our first casualty. This is the start of a very long list called ‘so far today I have eaten’ I left her unattended for a matter of minutes and in that time she broke into my make up box and stole an eyeliner. She ‘ate’ the eyeliner on the bed. You can imagine the mess.
Shopping
My little brain quickly put two and two together. The poor girl is a victim of her own brilliance ergo bored Tinkerbell means an unsettled Tinkerbell.
We took out a small loan and went shopping at Pets At Home. We came back with every dog distraction toy they sold plus a couple of comforter toys.
All through the day we have been giving every single treat in her crate and feeding her every single meal in there. We’ve not locked the door but closed it. She seems perfectly happy when she has something to do. Tonight she is going in her crate with a couple of her new toys and a frozen stuffed Kong.
We took out a small loan and went shopping at Pets At Home. We came back with every dog distraction toy they sold plus a couple of comforter toys.
All through the day we have been giving every single treat in her crate and feeding her every single meal in there. We’ve not locked the door but closed it. She seems perfectly happy when she has something to do. Tonight she is going in her crate with a couple of her new toys and a frozen stuffed Kong.
Crate training
This morning we tried a little structured play. I needed some time to be able to get some work done. I’m working from home a little more often to give her time to settle in. I can only imagine this type of play isn’t something she’s done before, she just didn’t get it, I had to show her what to do. Bluebell ‘used’ have a treat pyramid. It worked on the same principal as a weeble. The dog pushes the pyramid that is weighted on the bottom, pyramid leans over dispenses a treat and stands back up again. The poor deceased pyramid didn’t last 10 minutes! Tinkerbell decided it would be much more fun and much quicker to actually break the pyramid open instead. I could see exactly what she was doing but as I had to get my work done I just had to let her get on with it. I promised Bluebell a new toy to replace it.
We also need to break the mouthing habit. If she wants to play she will take my arm in her mouth or grab my clothing. She barely makes contact with my skin but I’m worried she might do it to my young nephew or my elderly Nan. I tried squealing but this completely backfired as it seemed to excite her more. The only thing I’ve found that works is turning my back on her and crossing my arms in front of my so she physically can’t reach me. Unfortunately the clever girl soon learnt that all she had to do was come round the other side of me and there I was in full eye contact. I have ended up stood in corners so she can’t get to me, I look like a character in the Blair Witch Project.
After last nights performance I am determined she'd go in her bed and stay there.
Boy what a night. I am at a loss at to what to do to make her settle. In despair I even signed into MSN for morale support. I spoke with Judith at length and we decided the best course of action would be for me to try sleeping on the floor with Tinkerbell. I was adamant that I wasn't going down the rocky road of allowing her to be naughty and get to sleep with me as a reward. No sireee.
In the end I just sat in front of her crate doing stuff, sorting the washing, writing my diary etc (what a rock n roll lifestyle I lead!) I kept bribing her to go in the crate with treats. The clever little minx would go in the crate, pick up the treat and bring it outside to eat it.
In the end I put her in there with some tasty ribs and locked the door. We managed a whole 10 minutes before she started barking and howling. It’s progress.
She was quite content until she’d finished the ribs then she started squealing like a banshee. I know this is attention seeking behaviour and I have to not give in but it’s soooo hard. She claws at the crate door and rattles it, it’s heart breaking to watch and listen to but we have to get our sleep. I hate that we have to literally lock her away but if we don’t she jumps all over us on our bed or she pesters Bluebell. He’s been a superstar so far but there is only so much he’s going to take before he tells her off.
I'm sincerely hoping this a symptom of her being ignored for so long and once she's got used to us lavishing attention on her she'll feel more confident in us and settle down.
Tomorrows another day and another challenge.
We also need to break the mouthing habit. If she wants to play she will take my arm in her mouth or grab my clothing. She barely makes contact with my skin but I’m worried she might do it to my young nephew or my elderly Nan. I tried squealing but this completely backfired as it seemed to excite her more. The only thing I’ve found that works is turning my back on her and crossing my arms in front of my so she physically can’t reach me. Unfortunately the clever girl soon learnt that all she had to do was come round the other side of me and there I was in full eye contact. I have ended up stood in corners so she can’t get to me, I look like a character in the Blair Witch Project.
After last nights performance I am determined she'd go in her bed and stay there.
Boy what a night. I am at a loss at to what to do to make her settle. In despair I even signed into MSN for morale support. I spoke with Judith at length and we decided the best course of action would be for me to try sleeping on the floor with Tinkerbell. I was adamant that I wasn't going down the rocky road of allowing her to be naughty and get to sleep with me as a reward. No sireee.
In the end I just sat in front of her crate doing stuff, sorting the washing, writing my diary etc (what a rock n roll lifestyle I lead!) I kept bribing her to go in the crate with treats. The clever little minx would go in the crate, pick up the treat and bring it outside to eat it.
In the end I put her in there with some tasty ribs and locked the door. We managed a whole 10 minutes before she started barking and howling. It’s progress.
She was quite content until she’d finished the ribs then she started squealing like a banshee. I know this is attention seeking behaviour and I have to not give in but it’s soooo hard. She claws at the crate door and rattles it, it’s heart breaking to watch and listen to but we have to get our sleep. I hate that we have to literally lock her away but if we don’t she jumps all over us on our bed or she pesters Bluebell. He’s been a superstar so far but there is only so much he’s going to take before he tells her off.
I'm sincerely hoping this a symptom of her being ignored for so long and once she's got used to us lavishing attention on her she'll feel more confident in us and settle down.
Tomorrows another day and another challenge.
Sunday 10 August 2008
One sleepless night later
How do I begin to describe last night?
To say Tinkerbell wouldn’t settle is the understatement of the century.
We did all the right things. We made her crate a comfy nest with a brand new bed, we gave her treats in her crate, we fed her in her crate, we sent her to bed with a lovely Kong stuffed with fresh chicken, we even climbed in the crate with her for goodness sake but she was having non of it. As soon as we closed the door she screamed and howled. I was worried the neighbours would complain we were ill treating her the noise was that bad.
Next we tried plan B. We took her bed out of the crate and put it on the floor next to our bed. Still no luck.
Plan C. I got out of bed and laid on the floor with her. This isn’t something I’d normally do but the poor girl had been uprooted, travelled across the country for 10 hours and then stuck with these strange people and a strange dog. I felt she deserved a little pampering.
Still she wouldn’t settle. This farce continued with Kevin on the floor with her and then a combination Blue and Kevin, me and Kevin, me and Blue, me, Blue and Kevin, all of the above but in the spare room away from the crate etc etc
You get the picture but nothing worked.
In the end at about 4am Kevin and Blue went back to our bedroom and I allowed Tinkerbell to sleep on the spare bed with me. Again not something I would normally do but she’d worn us down so much I’d have agreed to sell my children I was so tired.
Eventually we all got some sleep but Kevin and I were determined this would be a one off.
Tomorrow we write to the neighbours and apologise in advance then we go back to basics with the crate training and she stays in there until the morning.
To say Tinkerbell wouldn’t settle is the understatement of the century.
We did all the right things. We made her crate a comfy nest with a brand new bed, we gave her treats in her crate, we fed her in her crate, we sent her to bed with a lovely Kong stuffed with fresh chicken, we even climbed in the crate with her for goodness sake but she was having non of it. As soon as we closed the door she screamed and howled. I was worried the neighbours would complain we were ill treating her the noise was that bad.
Next we tried plan B. We took her bed out of the crate and put it on the floor next to our bed. Still no luck.
Plan C. I got out of bed and laid on the floor with her. This isn’t something I’d normally do but the poor girl had been uprooted, travelled across the country for 10 hours and then stuck with these strange people and a strange dog. I felt she deserved a little pampering.
Still she wouldn’t settle. This farce continued with Kevin on the floor with her and then a combination Blue and Kevin, me and Kevin, me and Blue, me, Blue and Kevin, all of the above but in the spare room away from the crate etc etc
You get the picture but nothing worked.
In the end at about 4am Kevin and Blue went back to our bedroom and I allowed Tinkerbell to sleep on the spare bed with me. Again not something I would normally do but she’d worn us down so much I’d have agreed to sell my children I was so tired.
Eventually we all got some sleep but Kevin and I were determined this would be a one off.
Tomorrow we write to the neighbours and apologise in advance then we go back to basics with the crate training and she stays in there until the morning.
Tinkerbell arrives home
Yesterday I wrote in my diary that I was looking forward to having a younger dog around the place and looking forward to the challenge of taking on a new rescue dog.
Those famous last words are now coming back to haunt me.
Boy is she lively. After a little while I took her upstairs out of Kevin’s way to give him and Bluebell a break.
The good news is Tinkerbell is utterly besotted with Bluebell. The bad news is she won’t leave the poor guy alone. She has been pestering him to play ever since we got home. Bluebell bless him is taking it all in his stride and just letting her get on with it.
We tried to put her in her crate in order to give the poor boy a rest. Tinkerbell literally screamed the place down. In the end we had to let her out. Clever Bluebell climbed in there instead.
Those famous last words are now coming back to haunt me.
Boy is she lively. After a little while I took her upstairs out of Kevin’s way to give him and Bluebell a break.
The good news is Tinkerbell is utterly besotted with Bluebell. The bad news is she won’t leave the poor guy alone. She has been pestering him to play ever since we got home. Bluebell bless him is taking it all in his stride and just letting her get on with it.
We tried to put her in her crate in order to give the poor boy a rest. Tinkerbell literally screamed the place down. In the end we had to let her out. Clever Bluebell climbed in there instead.
Saturday 9 August 2008
Meeting Tinkerbell
My friend, Jane, has 6 dogs in total, 5 Weims and a tiny Norfolk Terrier. They are all lovely but I was a little nervous that Tinkbell might find it all a bit over whelming. Between us we decided if Tinkerbell looks nervous we’ll just put her in my car and get straight off. I’d planned to spend a little time with Jane as I wanted to give Tinkerbell the chance to have run around after such a long journey.
I had a very nervous drive down on my own to meet Tinkerbell. Kevin and I discussed how to make the move as easy as possible for her and we felt she might be a bit overwhelmed if we were all there. I was also secretly a little pleased that I would get to spend some time with her alone before meeting the boys.
Just as I arrived at Jane’s I rang Cathy to let her know I’d arrived. Cathy told me she wasn’t far away now if we wanted to wait outside for her. She told me Tinkerbell had been as quiet as a mouse the whole journey. This wasn’t something she would keep up.
When Cathy arrived and she let Tinkerbell out I was instantly in love but also a little shocked. Tinkerbell was huge, I’d been told she was a tall girl, she was slightly taller than Bluebell but she was so fat also her feet didn’t look quite right, it was as if she was walking slightly on tip toes. Sadly these were two tell tale signs that she had been overfed and under exercised. My heart reached out to her instantly. I was also struck by what a gorgeous personality she had. She was so friendly and despite everything she’d been through she was very loving towards me. We decided we thought she’d been fine with the other dogs so off we went into Jane’s house. I have to admit I was holding my breath slighty….
Tinkerbell must have thought she’d won the doggy lottery or something. She positively woofed with delight at having so many doggy friends to play with. All 7 dogs made a mad scramble for the door and off they went into the garden to run around and play.
My poor baby was run ragged by the other dogs as she was so unfit bless her but she was obviously having the time of her life. We had a cuppa and watched them from the kitchen. Every now and then she’d run back into the kitchen to check we were all still there and then she was off again running back to play with her new pals. It was truly delightful to see her having so much fun.
With the poor girl adequately exhausted we decided it was time we headed back home. Tinkerbell easily went into my car which. Whilst it was nice that she trusted me so quickly it was a bit of a worry that she wasn’t more cautious. I immediately started thinking how easily she could be stolen.
Tinkerbell and I had a lovely peaceful journey home. Little did I know she was on her best behaviour and this angelic little girl wasn’t all she appeared to be.
I had a very nervous drive down on my own to meet Tinkerbell. Kevin and I discussed how to make the move as easy as possible for her and we felt she might be a bit overwhelmed if we were all there. I was also secretly a little pleased that I would get to spend some time with her alone before meeting the boys.
Just as I arrived at Jane’s I rang Cathy to let her know I’d arrived. Cathy told me she wasn’t far away now if we wanted to wait outside for her. She told me Tinkerbell had been as quiet as a mouse the whole journey. This wasn’t something she would keep up.
When Cathy arrived and she let Tinkerbell out I was instantly in love but also a little shocked. Tinkerbell was huge, I’d been told she was a tall girl, she was slightly taller than Bluebell but she was so fat also her feet didn’t look quite right, it was as if she was walking slightly on tip toes. Sadly these were two tell tale signs that she had been overfed and under exercised. My heart reached out to her instantly. I was also struck by what a gorgeous personality she had. She was so friendly and despite everything she’d been through she was very loving towards me. We decided we thought she’d been fine with the other dogs so off we went into Jane’s house. I have to admit I was holding my breath slighty….
Tinkerbell must have thought she’d won the doggy lottery or something. She positively woofed with delight at having so many doggy friends to play with. All 7 dogs made a mad scramble for the door and off they went into the garden to run around and play.
My poor baby was run ragged by the other dogs as she was so unfit bless her but she was obviously having the time of her life. We had a cuppa and watched them from the kitchen. Every now and then she’d run back into the kitchen to check we were all still there and then she was off again running back to play with her new pals. It was truly delightful to see her having so much fun.
With the poor girl adequately exhausted we decided it was time we headed back home. Tinkerbell easily went into my car which. Whilst it was nice that she trusted me so quickly it was a bit of a worry that she wasn’t more cautious. I immediately started thinking how easily she could be stolen.
Tinkerbell and I had a lovely peaceful journey home. Little did I know she was on her best behaviour and this angelic little girl wasn’t all she appeared to be.
Friday 8 August 2008
Bluebell
May 2007
Dear Diary
I’m so excited. Tomorrow my family becomes complete when our little bitch, Tinkerbell joins us. Only one more sleep to go.
Little did I know when I wrote those words that the word bitch would describe more than her gender.
Introduction
My love affair with Weimaraners started in December 2003 when we adopted Bluebell. We were so unprepared for the very steep learning curve Bluebell would put us on. Blue was a 20 month old full on, over weight, adolescent male Weimaraner. He had the bouncyness of Tigger, the energy of a dynamo and very ineffective hearing. He didn’t have a hearing impairment, just an unwillingness to listen to anything we asked him to do. He would bark at other dogs, steal their toys, steal their food, lunge at them and on the whole he could be a pretty obnoxious character. But we loved and adored him from day one. We saw through his faults, which is a good job as there were lots of them. To us he was a huge bundle of fun with a never ceasing zest for life, he was also the cuddliest bundle of love I’d ever met.
I’m ashamed to say we even got expelled from our training class. As a doggy parent for the first time I wanted to do the very best for my boy so I immediately enrolled ourselves into doggy training classes. The trainer seemed credible enough and told me she only used positive reinforcement training methods. Meaning the dog does the right thing he gets a reward, the only ‘punishment’ for the wrong thing was being ignored. The training classes were run in a draughty local village hall and it was packed with dogs. There were two sessions held back to back and there was only a very tiny entrance area for the dogs and owners to wait. It was impossible for the dogs not to come almost nose to nose with each other on the way in or out of classes.
On the first day of training I arrived extra early. I was keen to get started and knowing my dog was 45kilos of high powered energy and excitement I wanted him to familiarise himself with his environment before we actually got down to training. Despite arriving early he still barked his head off and tried to lunge at other dogs when they arrived for the class. I tried to distract him with treats but my scavenger dog suddenly decided he wanted to diet. The trainer came out and gave me a stern telling off and told me to keep my dog under control. I felt like I was five years old again and being told off by the head mistress. I also felt like replying that ‘if I could keep my dog under control then I wouldn’t need to attend beginners training classes would it?’ but I didn’t think that would have gone down too well so I kept my mouth shut. It quickly degenerated from there.
The hall was so packed with dogs and people it was impossible to sit more than a foot away from another dog. I tried to sit as far away from the others as I could but sods law that on the day I wanted to be alone everyone wanted to be friends. Luckily by this time Bluebell had forgotten about his diet and could be distracted by treats. That was until a yappy little terrier dog stole his sausage and all hell broke lose. Fearing for the little dogs life and that my shoulder may dislocate I discreetly moved as far away from the little dog as possible. This plan worked until another small, this time fluffy, yappy thing came late into the class and instantly took a dislike to Bluebell. He saw Bluebell and immediately started barking his head off and would not shut up. It was at this point that Bluebell decided he was back on the diet and could not be distracted by treats. As there was no where else for me to go other than out the door the newcomer had to walk over to the other side of the room, grumbling something about the dangerous dogs act as she went. Somehow we managed to get to the end of the class. Thankfully Bluebell was way beyond the very basic, sit, down, stay commands we were being taught at this stage and performed these tasks with a smug grin. At the end of the class the trainer asked me to stay behind after all the others had left. Despite actually outperforming all the other dogs I somehow knew she did want to see me to give us a certificate for coming top of the class. In a nutshell she told me that I had an out of control, vicious and dangerous dog and that if we wanted to continue with the classes I would have to muzzle him. There was no helpful advice about how to harness this pent up energy in a constructive way or comforting words about his obedience once focused; just another telling off. I left the class on the verge of tears. By the time we got home I was distraught. I felt I’d let Bluebell down and left myself down. I’d always wanted a dog and had to wait until I was in my thirties to finally get one. To learn I was crap at it was heartbreaking. Luckily my husband isn’t so soft. He gave me a straight talking too about how far we’d already come with Blue and that the trainer was just a silly old bag who knows nothing about Weimaraners and I should ignore her. Confidence restored we put our heart and soul into training Bluebell and was repaid a thousand fold.
Blue bell has been with us three years and is a now a clam middle aged gentleman. He’s a different dog to the Tiggerdog we rescued three years earlier. His daily routine now looks something like this.
Alarm goes off – Jump on the bed and have a snuggle with the humans.
Humans get up – Out for a wee and then onto breakfast.
Humans do human stuff – Lie on the sofa and snooze.
Around midday – Out for a potter in the woods, chase the odd rabbit, eat the odd cow pat.
Post walk – Time for another snooze. I’m not getting any younger you know.
Human comes home from work – bring her a cushion, get some fuss, have my tea.
After tea – Time for another snooze I think.
Bedtime – One last snoozy snuggle with the humans and then it’s time for bed a proper sleep.
With Blue bell being so perfect now, and I’m ashamed to admit, a little boring…it just seemed the right time to complete our family.
It all started with an innocent chat with my friend Cathy. Cathy was asked me if we’d ever considered getting another dog. I said we had but our wish list would be so specific we’d never find a dog to fit the bill.
We’d need a girl of course; it wouldn’t be fair to bring another boy into the house. This girl would need to be quite a bit younger than Bluebell as I wouldn’t want anyone threatening his place in the pack. Having said that she needed to be younger, I wouldn’t want one too young. I couldn’t face sleepless nights and toilet training. Little did I know about the sleepless nights... I’d want one with a huge personality, Bluebell is middle aged now, I think it’d do us all good to have a dog that one bring some excitement into our lives. I’d want a really snugly dog. Bluebell is still very affectionate but doesn’t sit on you and squash you as much. As he’s got older he seems to get very hot very quickly and now often prefers the cool wooden floor to sitting on the sofa with us. Oh and in my ideal world she’d also play fetch. I’ve always wanted a dog that plays fetch. Bluebell will bring a ball back but thinks it’s much more fun to then run off with it so you have to chase him to get the ball back.
I should have mentioned that Cathy works for a dog re-homing charity. As her next words were ‘I think I’ve found the perfect dog for you’.
Cathy explained that a young Weimaraner bitch had come into the rehoming centre were she works. She told me the dog had a wonderful temperament but was severely overweight due to lack of exercise and lacked basic training. She told me that she had been handed in as her owner just didn’t have the time she needed and she was locked in her cage for up to 8 hours a day. She even plays fetch she told me. I was smitten but also stunned. How the hell do I tell Kevin?
The ‘how do I tell Kevin’? question turned out to be quite easy in the end. We made a deal. I get another dog and he gets an Xbox. Simple.
With that little problem dealt with all I had to do was sort out getting her up here. My friends rehoming centre is on the south coast, we live in the North. In the end we agreed to meet at a mutual friends in the midlands.
Dear Diary
I’m so excited. Tomorrow my family becomes complete when our little bitch, Tinkerbell joins us. Only one more sleep to go.
Little did I know when I wrote those words that the word bitch would describe more than her gender.
Introduction
My love affair with Weimaraners started in December 2003 when we adopted Bluebell. We were so unprepared for the very steep learning curve Bluebell would put us on. Blue was a 20 month old full on, over weight, adolescent male Weimaraner. He had the bouncyness of Tigger, the energy of a dynamo and very ineffective hearing. He didn’t have a hearing impairment, just an unwillingness to listen to anything we asked him to do. He would bark at other dogs, steal their toys, steal their food, lunge at them and on the whole he could be a pretty obnoxious character. But we loved and adored him from day one. We saw through his faults, which is a good job as there were lots of them. To us he was a huge bundle of fun with a never ceasing zest for life, he was also the cuddliest bundle of love I’d ever met.
I’m ashamed to say we even got expelled from our training class. As a doggy parent for the first time I wanted to do the very best for my boy so I immediately enrolled ourselves into doggy training classes. The trainer seemed credible enough and told me she only used positive reinforcement training methods. Meaning the dog does the right thing he gets a reward, the only ‘punishment’ for the wrong thing was being ignored. The training classes were run in a draughty local village hall and it was packed with dogs. There were two sessions held back to back and there was only a very tiny entrance area for the dogs and owners to wait. It was impossible for the dogs not to come almost nose to nose with each other on the way in or out of classes.
On the first day of training I arrived extra early. I was keen to get started and knowing my dog was 45kilos of high powered energy and excitement I wanted him to familiarise himself with his environment before we actually got down to training. Despite arriving early he still barked his head off and tried to lunge at other dogs when they arrived for the class. I tried to distract him with treats but my scavenger dog suddenly decided he wanted to diet. The trainer came out and gave me a stern telling off and told me to keep my dog under control. I felt like I was five years old again and being told off by the head mistress. I also felt like replying that ‘if I could keep my dog under control then I wouldn’t need to attend beginners training classes would it?’ but I didn’t think that would have gone down too well so I kept my mouth shut. It quickly degenerated from there.
The hall was so packed with dogs and people it was impossible to sit more than a foot away from another dog. I tried to sit as far away from the others as I could but sods law that on the day I wanted to be alone everyone wanted to be friends. Luckily by this time Bluebell had forgotten about his diet and could be distracted by treats. That was until a yappy little terrier dog stole his sausage and all hell broke lose. Fearing for the little dogs life and that my shoulder may dislocate I discreetly moved as far away from the little dog as possible. This plan worked until another small, this time fluffy, yappy thing came late into the class and instantly took a dislike to Bluebell. He saw Bluebell and immediately started barking his head off and would not shut up. It was at this point that Bluebell decided he was back on the diet and could not be distracted by treats. As there was no where else for me to go other than out the door the newcomer had to walk over to the other side of the room, grumbling something about the dangerous dogs act as she went. Somehow we managed to get to the end of the class. Thankfully Bluebell was way beyond the very basic, sit, down, stay commands we were being taught at this stage and performed these tasks with a smug grin. At the end of the class the trainer asked me to stay behind after all the others had left. Despite actually outperforming all the other dogs I somehow knew she did want to see me to give us a certificate for coming top of the class. In a nutshell she told me that I had an out of control, vicious and dangerous dog and that if we wanted to continue with the classes I would have to muzzle him. There was no helpful advice about how to harness this pent up energy in a constructive way or comforting words about his obedience once focused; just another telling off. I left the class on the verge of tears. By the time we got home I was distraught. I felt I’d let Bluebell down and left myself down. I’d always wanted a dog and had to wait until I was in my thirties to finally get one. To learn I was crap at it was heartbreaking. Luckily my husband isn’t so soft. He gave me a straight talking too about how far we’d already come with Blue and that the trainer was just a silly old bag who knows nothing about Weimaraners and I should ignore her. Confidence restored we put our heart and soul into training Bluebell and was repaid a thousand fold.
Blue bell has been with us three years and is a now a clam middle aged gentleman. He’s a different dog to the Tiggerdog we rescued three years earlier. His daily routine now looks something like this.
Alarm goes off – Jump on the bed and have a snuggle with the humans.
Humans get up – Out for a wee and then onto breakfast.
Humans do human stuff – Lie on the sofa and snooze.
Around midday – Out for a potter in the woods, chase the odd rabbit, eat the odd cow pat.
Post walk – Time for another snooze. I’m not getting any younger you know.
Human comes home from work – bring her a cushion, get some fuss, have my tea.
After tea – Time for another snooze I think.
Bedtime – One last snoozy snuggle with the humans and then it’s time for bed a proper sleep.
With Blue bell being so perfect now, and I’m ashamed to admit, a little boring…it just seemed the right time to complete our family.
It all started with an innocent chat with my friend Cathy. Cathy was asked me if we’d ever considered getting another dog. I said we had but our wish list would be so specific we’d never find a dog to fit the bill.
We’d need a girl of course; it wouldn’t be fair to bring another boy into the house. This girl would need to be quite a bit younger than Bluebell as I wouldn’t want anyone threatening his place in the pack. Having said that she needed to be younger, I wouldn’t want one too young. I couldn’t face sleepless nights and toilet training. Little did I know about the sleepless nights... I’d want one with a huge personality, Bluebell is middle aged now, I think it’d do us all good to have a dog that one bring some excitement into our lives. I’d want a really snugly dog. Bluebell is still very affectionate but doesn’t sit on you and squash you as much. As he’s got older he seems to get very hot very quickly and now often prefers the cool wooden floor to sitting on the sofa with us. Oh and in my ideal world she’d also play fetch. I’ve always wanted a dog that plays fetch. Bluebell will bring a ball back but thinks it’s much more fun to then run off with it so you have to chase him to get the ball back.
I should have mentioned that Cathy works for a dog re-homing charity. As her next words were ‘I think I’ve found the perfect dog for you’.
Cathy explained that a young Weimaraner bitch had come into the rehoming centre were she works. She told me the dog had a wonderful temperament but was severely overweight due to lack of exercise and lacked basic training. She told me that she had been handed in as her owner just didn’t have the time she needed and she was locked in her cage for up to 8 hours a day. She even plays fetch she told me. I was smitten but also stunned. How the hell do I tell Kevin?
The ‘how do I tell Kevin’? question turned out to be quite easy in the end. We made a deal. I get another dog and he gets an Xbox. Simple.
With that little problem dealt with all I had to do was sort out getting her up here. My friends rehoming centre is on the south coast, we live in the North. In the end we agreed to meet at a mutual friends in the midlands.
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