Week 7

When I first collected Lewi, he had a very sensible attitude towards the extremely long car journey home. Go to sleep and perhaps when I wake it will all have gone away. Unfortunately, over the last few weeks his reaction to being in the car is different. He sits up in his cage and gets travelsick. It starts off with a lot of dribbling and slobbering on short journeys, but on longer ones, like today, it gets messier. So the one and a half hour drive to my mum’s was not the best of experiences. Luckily, I had the foresight to take a couple of changes of bedding, so, on my return home, the washing machine had to work overtime. I did learn a lot though. His behaviour there was impeccable. I do worry a bit, she is a little lady in her 80s and he has a habit of jumping and mouthing. He doesn’t seem to do it with her though, even when she is enthusiastically stroking him and ruffling his coat and ears. It’s all in the confident and no nonsense approach I think. Anyway, his behaviour was perfect and I was proud of him. He seemed to enjoy the new garden to explore and the extra fuss.

We got through bonfire night with out any trouble. I had set up a DAP diffuser, but there was very little firework activity. Perhaps it will all happen this Saturday.

Last week, I thought he might be teething. He was. By Friday night his discomfort reached a peak. The signs, according to the textbook are bleeding teeth or teeth dropping out and behaviour changes. Lewi does it a bit differently. No baby tooth losses, yet. So it wasn’t clear. His behaviour did change. He tended to ignore commands and rules that had seemed to be established, his behaviour was rather wild, with uncontrolled running around and yapping, scratching or rubbing his ear and continual chewing and gnawing of people and things. Frozen Kongs, frozen chicken wings and finally Bonjela helped. In fact, the Bonjela was like a miracle cure, calming him. On Saturday, he woke up with 2 new teeth, premolars I think, between the canines and the powerful cutting carnassials.

There was no puppy class this week, due to fireworks. The trainer though has arranged some extra sessions during the daytime at weekends, to be held in a fenced paddock, so that we can do some off-lead work. Fran, who is the trainer (and owner of Acorn Dog Training) has experience of Finnish Spitz and so sees through the “naughty” behaviour and inattention in classes. She also refuses to accept the myths about the breed e.g. that they can’t be trained to work off lead. Whilst I am doing this plug, I ought to mention the marvellous support she has given through the start of the teething process and my worries with the change in diet.

Well, I’ve mentioned diet change, so I had better explain. For my own health, I try to eat a diet based on good fresh food, wide variety and the minimum of processed or junk food. I have gone through all sorts of worries and concerns about what to feed Lewi. I wanted to ensure that he had a diet that met all his needs, that he enjoyed, that didn’t fill him with e numbers and chemicals. My years as a head teacher did show me the effects of e numbers and junk on kids behaviour! So it was back to first principles. What have dogs’ digestive systems evolved to deal with? What would they eat in the wild? What did domestic dogs eat in the thousands of years before pet food was invented? I have done a lot of research, read thousands of words on the net and in books and decided to go for raw meat and bones, with “table scraps”. How much to feed? Is his diet “balanced”? Where do I get the food – at a price I can afford? So many questions. So much conflicting or vague advice. Well I bit the bullet. The pet food shops sell large packs of frozen chicken wings, beef (ox cheek), chicken necks and heart. I have found an almost local farm shop that has wild rabbit (ready jointed to save me the unpleasant bits) and as he only has liver once a fortnight, I get that from the supermarket.

It’s cheaper than the premium brands previously bought from the vet. It is so convenient. In the evening, I get out the food for the next day and put it in the fridge in a plastic box. Providing it’s not raining, I can just put his food for each meal on the patio and he can enjoy chewing, crunching and tearing at it. When I am preparing my own meal, it takes no effort to do a little more veg. and chop or blend it once a day – no onions though! He really enjoys an apple core as well, or a little bit of banana. He absolutely enjoys his food, if I give him a bit too much, he buries it and goes back to it later when he’s peckish. I make sure that he gets variety, and am continuing to research other sources. We have added to the mealtime fun with a couple of games. The first involves a big cardboard box, filled with torn and crumpled newspaper. I crumple up a small liver flavoured training treat and scatter that in there (just to increase the amusement value!) And then bury a couple of chicken wings in there. Then I let him into the room. He loves having to climb into the box and sniff out first the food and then afterwards, he will work for ages at finding each little crumb of the crumpled treat. The other game is hunt the food. I set up a scent trail, dragging the chicken wing (less messy than a piece of ox cheek!) across the ground and then hiding it, before letting him out. This game doesn’t last so long – he’s a good hunter! – but it does exercise me intellectually trying to find ways to fool him. It also helps to make meal times a shared fun experience. Am I feeding him the right amount? Well, I do keep a watch on his weight, and check his ribs, a thin layer of fat over them, but all can be felt – just like the books say. His coat is healthy, his nose cold and wet (proven each time he sticks it in my ear!) and he is sparkly and alert. The true miracle though, is that I have stopped worrying and fretting!