Bath-time? No Thanks!

Both pups are currently laid at the side of me on the settee as I write this. They have had such a trauma today, they have been in the bath! Horror of horrors. There must have been a whole 2 inches of warm water for them to paddle in. They have a habit of either walking through their puddles of pee or worse, laying down in it, so they needed a little freshen up. It was only warm water, no soap or shampoo involved but as I lower Brandy in his 4 little legs were doing their best to stay out. Think of Roger Rabbit trying to avoid ‘The Dip’ and you have a perfect picture of Brandy.

Once in he just stood rooted to the spot. Brinkley isn’t as bad, he didn’t seem to mind the water and stayed relatively calm while I washed him down, keeping clear of his ears, eyes and nose. Brandy on the other hand, I can see this is not going to be a favourite pastime of his. Fortunately dogs don’t need to be bathed too often but I do wonder what he will be like the first time we get caught in the rain, and in this country that could be cold rain!

They must have been in the water all of 5 minutes but that was quite enough. Once out, they were wrapped in warm, dry towels and patted down. Brinkley was still ok but Brandy was now shaking and looking quite the sorrowful puppy. Having brought them downstairs, now wrapped in fresh dry towels they quickly fell asleep, exhausted from the event. Within the hour they were dry, they had climbed out of their towels and are now sleeping peacefully at the side of me. At least they don’t seem to bear me any grudge over their mornings’ event. At least at this size they are easy to handle. As they grow, any necessary bath-time’s are going to be much more of a battle, if experience with my previous Cavalier is anything to go by, being in water wasn’t one of his favourite experiences.

Ben was a ruby Cavi who unfortunately died at the age of 6½ three years ago. He suffered from a bad heart but the joy he gave me in his short life meant I didn’t think twice about getting 2 more Cavi’s, I love the breed and even though we’ve had Brinkley & Brandy just over a week, they have totally transformed our lives and our home for the better.

Day 7 – 7 weeks old today.

Today has been a hard day. We had another 4am wake up call by Brinkley (above) & Brandy and they wouldn’t settle so I got up with them. After a couple of hours of running around and fighting with each other, and leaving little puddles and worse in various rooms and then walking through it, they decided they were tired again and settled down together for a couple of hours. So at 7.00am I was mopping floors with yet more disinfectant, having already cleaned Brinkley up under the tap. Somehow Brandy had managed to stay clean.
Then, as I was all set to go out to visit my Dad, the puppies were in the car and quite settled, the car wouldn’t start – it’s been sat on the drive over Christmas and the battery was dead. Neil was at golf so I unpacked the car and called for help in the shape of my brother, who’s up from London for Christmas.
So, shopping list this weekend – add 1 car battery.
While at my Dad’s they both behaved themselves beautifully, (Brinkley & Brandy, not Dad and brother!) so our first real visit was a success. Back home, they started again – fighting each other. I need to see how to calm them down as it’s quite distressing for me to hear them both. I don’t think they really hurt each other but they make a lot of noise about it.

Day 6

Brinkley & Brandy have now been home for 6 days and we have had so much fun. They are hard work but such a joy. It’s really good to have wood floors everywhere, so much easier to keep clean than carpet. They must think that the world smells of disinfectant as we have cloths, sprays and floor mops all doused in the stuff (special pet formula of course – don’t want to upset their tummy’s – and have even more mess to clean up!)

So far they recognise their names, come running when you call them through for food and fight each other whenever they are awake. They know what ‘No’ means and haven’t damaged anything, even stuff that’s on the floor. They try to chew most things but are easily distracted with one of their toys. When we get up in the morning we have to be careful where we put our feet as they are prone to accidents in the night but at least half of the time they are using the training pads properly. Brinkley is learning quicker than Brandy.

We’ve got a puppy play-pen so that we know where they are. We thought this would be useful when visitors come round especially our grand-daughter who is only 10 months old. One slight problem, the pups are so small they can get through the bars. It will be a couple of weeks before they have grown big enough not to escape in the meantime they play in there quite happily with their toys, or fighting with each other, and when they have had enough they just walk out between the bars and go to bed, or go and check the kitchen to see if any food has miraculously appeared or just come over to the settee to be picked up and cuddled. Oddly enough, they will quite happily go into the playpen themselves to play with their toys and even if the gate is open, will go in through the bars. I can see one of them is going to get stuck in a couple of days time when they have put a bit of weight on.

We got through Christmas without any major problems. Yesterday we were up at 4.00am because they wouldn’t settle once they had woken. Trouble was later in the day Neil & I both fell asleep on the settee and when we woke up had no idea where the 2 of them were, but we didn’t need to worry – they were quite happy, playing with their toys, they seem very content little pups. I’m sure having 2 has made settling them at home easier.

We can see changes in them already. Both noses have got a lot blacker, I hadn’t realised that their noses and paws were pink when they were born. Brandy has one paw pad that’s turning black all the others are still pink. Brinkley often sits by the patio door looking out, fascinated by outside but until they have had their jabs they can’t go walking outside. We have put their collars on them for a short time each day to try and get them used to them – Brinkley really isn’t impressed but Brandy tolerates his quite well.

Tomorrow we have a trip out to Dad’s so it will be interesting to see how well behaved they are in the car and in someone else’s house. In the meantime we’ll see how well they sleep tonight. We have had a couple of broken nights – 4am and 5am but this morning they slept through until I woke which meant we all had a good nights sleep but they were absolutely turbo charged for the first hour – then instant collapse.

Brinkley & Brandy have arrived.

We brought them home at 7.00pm on the Friday before Christmas. 2 little puppies with a whole new world to explore. We carried them into the house and put them down in the lounge. For a moment they looked completely shell-shocked, then slowly they began to explore. They went everywhere together, there was safety in numbers. After 10 minutes they seemed to realise there were no bad surprises waiting for them and they started to run around checking every corner.
The Christmas Tree was a fascination for them, the baubles at the bottom were in reach and they were curious to see what they did, but chewing the branches was more interesting. I can see they will learn the word ‘No’ very quickly as within two or three tellings they left the tree alone.
Within half an hour they were totally relaxed. They had explored all around downstairs, they had found their beds, their water bowls and now we gave them their toys – Christmas was coming early for them, and had come early for us.
An hour later and both of then were flat out asleep, today had been tiring and they needed to recharge their batteries. We had an opportunity to take stock of what the next few days were going to be like – chaos interspersed with calm spells while they sleep. At least for now, they both sleep at the same time. They were happily cuddled up together breathing peacefully.
Time to get there supper ready, lightly scrambled egg.
Half an hour later Brinkley started to move and a well placed foot in Brandy’s face had him moving too. They wake remarkably quickly and within minutes were out of their basket and running all over the room. Another hour of madness. If I try to walk more than 3 steps I have one of them at each ankle, after all they might miss something.
Time for supper. They both followed us through to the kitchen where they will learn they have a place to eat and drink. They both have good appetites and made quick work of their supper.
Eventually they started to slow down and we could see what sort of night was in store. They have a bed upstairs and once they had fallen asleep downstairs I took them up and put them to bed. Both together, happy to each have the other. Not knowing whether I would have an hour’s sleep or more, it would be an interesting night.

Well, remarkably, the pups have slept right through the night and were still asleep when we woke this morning, and it’s obvious they have not been out of bed. However, the minute we started to move their little heads popped up, first Brinkley quickly followed by Brandy and they were quickly out of bed. Their first need was to relieve themselves, same as anyone and this they duly did in the en-suite , where else? This is the down side to having such small dogs, you have to very careful where you put your feet and need lots of disinfected cloths around the house. At least they are both very small so what ever they do is generally in small patches.
Ok, so now they are up they realise they are in rooms they haven’t explored yet. They were brought upstairs asleep so now they have a bedroom and en-suite to discover. We have sectioned off the changing room with a barrier constructed of wicker storage baskets. High enough to keep them out but low enough that we can step over them quite easily.
Neil was playing golf this morning so he got ready while I kept an eye on Brinkley & Brandy. They are quite comical, they will wander around, play with their toys quite happily then all of a sudden they eye each other up and start play-fighting. They will sit facing each other several feet apart and then hurl themselves at each other and as they roll around the floor together they try to growl & bark but as yet, they only yap like a toy. Brinkley is definitely the more vocal but although Brandy is the smaller of the 2, I think he is responsible for starting more of the fights.
Time to go downstairs and start breakfast. As yet, they are too small to get downstairs but it doesn’t stop them trying. I catch them as they both attempt to get down the top step, this is a lesson for later – but we’ll start on going up the stairs first. Once downstairs they quickly check out all the rooms again, everything seems the same so they both decide it’s play time and start attacking their toys. This gives us time to have our breakfast and for Neil to get ready for golf. After he’s gone I can sort their breakfast. It won’t take them long to recognise certain things happening mean food and when I call them for their breakfast they come running through together.