They’re home, they’re well and they’re still friends with us!

I called the vets just after 1pm and was delighted to hear that both pups had come through their operations well and were sleeping off the anaesthetic. They could be collected later in the afternoon.

They had been kept in separate kennels, next door to each other and as I walked in to get them I was pleased to see both were awake and pleased to see me. Brandy allowed us to put his harness on but Brinkley just wouldn’t stay still, he wanted a cuddle and after trying to get his harness on for a few minutes we gave up and decided to carry them to the car.

Once home, they had a quick look around and then went looking for food, after all they hadn’t eaten anything for almost 24 hours. They were allowed light snacks for the first day so I gave them some scrambled egg which they demolished in record time, poor mites, they were starving.

After that they went to sleep for another couple of hours. I was surprised how active they were, they would jump up to be picked up, trot through to the kitchen and out onto the decking. Neither pup seemed to have fallen out with us, which was good.

Brinkley had had a reaction to the lotion they use to sterilise the skin so he looked very red underneath, but other than that the operation looked very neat and each pup just looks to have 1 stitch holding a very neat wound together.

My task now is to keep them calm, and try and stop them licking themselves too much. According to the vet’s aftercare notes, I shouldn’t be too surprised if they are relatively inactive for the first 24 hours. After a reasonably good nights sleep both pups seem to be fully recovered from the anaesthetic and certainly no one had told them they should be ‘relatively inactive’. They are wandering around as normal, been out in the garden barking at each other and I had to stop them when they decided they were going to play fight, as normal. Brandy is the one that’s starting it this morning and Brinkley doesn’t look impressed.

So, it looks as if I’m going to have a bit of a task on hand to keep them quiet today!

Well, the boys have had their pre-meds!

I decided (I have to say ‘I’ because if I left Neil to decide, the pups would not be at the vets today) as a responsible dog owner, that the dogs need to lose their bits, and that it would be better to have this done before going to Spain rather than having to try and sort it out when we first arrive as they will be 6 months old just before we go. So, we had checked the recovery time and discussed with the vet whether they could have the op and the end result is, yes and it happens today.

Both Brandy & Brinkley did really well last night considering they weren’t allowed any food from 6.00pm and nothing to drink after midnight. My main concern was how they would be this morning, because of their normal morning routine.

First thing, they go straight downstairs and outside to do what everyone does after a nights sleep. As soon as they come in they charge through to the kitchen to get a biscuit. At this time we are normally making our breakfast and they get a couple of cubes of cheese once we have had out breakfast, so having eaten their biscuit they sit next to the unit where the chopping board is to wait for their cheese – oh dear, their little faces this morning – no biscuit, no cheese!

All this happens at 6.00am and then when Neil goes to work, we all go back upstairs for another hour or so. This morning they had to be at the vets between 8 & 8.30 so I decided we would stay upstairs until just before 8 and them I could bring them straight downstairs and into the car, avoiding the kitchen, and it worked well.

By the time we got to the vets they were wagging their tails happily unaware of what was to come. Of course, the first problem for the vet is how to tell which is which, we recognise so many different markings but to someone new, they both look the same. So I went through the ‘Brinkley has a dot on his head (no, not the green one) and Brandy has a stripe’ routine.

We got them weighed in and taken through for their pre-med and pain relief injections. As Brinkley always makes a fuss he was given his pre-med first, and because he yelped as normal, the vet decided to give him the pain relief one after he had gone to sleep. The pain relief is so that they are not too sore when they wake up.

Brandy, as normal, little toughie that he is, not a murmur, but he did give the vet one of his ‘looks’!
I then walked them through to the kennels where we settled them with nice soft puppy blankets and I left them to go to sleep. I now have to occupy myself until 1.00pm when I can ring up to see how they are and when I can collect them to bring them home.

It’s going to be a long day!

Friday 25th April,a day to avoid.

Something's up! We are currently on a starvation diet, we had a really nice dinner at 5.45pm today, our Bakers biscuits, scrambled eggs, ham & cheese, all in the same bowl. We couldn't just eat the eggs, ham and cheese because 'she' (we're not friends with mum at the moment, so she is just 'she' for now) - she had made the scrambled egg and mixed it into the bakers biscuits and it was all stuck together, so we had to eat it all. We were really full afterwards, but it tasted really good.

But since then she hasn't let us have anything else to eat. We normally get treats after dinner, and dad usually gives us the core to his apple to share, but not tonight. I've heard that our water is being withdrawn from mid-night AND, we went on a really long walk at tea-time, got really wet when it chucked it down with rain but it made all the smells stronger as we walked home.

None of this is normal so we know something is up, and Dad looks really worried for us, we just don't know why.

Anyway, I'm really tired now and Brandy is already asleep so I'm off to my bed and I'll see if we can work it out tomorrow.

Night everyone.

I got stuck today!

Our house has got lots of places that we aren’t allowed to go – but it doesn’t stop me trying, and most of the time I get there, eventually. Upstairs there are all these doors that we weren’t allowed to go behind when we first came here but as we’ve grown up mum’s let us take a quick peek in to the new places. Downstairs was the same, but over time we’ve been (nearly) everywhere – even outside we are now allowed down the side of the house which has been cordoned off until this week, and we managed to sneak into the shed when dad went in, and there’s lots of good smells in there, can’t wait to get in there again…..

BUT……

There is one place in the whole house which we haven’t been able to get into, and that’s the corner at the side of mum. She has boxes blocking the gaps, and we couldn’t get past them.

But I’m bigger now, and heavier so I told our Brandy that next time we were left in the room and mum wasn’t there, I was going to have a go at getting in. Now, as well as the boxes there’s this table thing with bits across the bottom where those big glossy papery books go, mum calls them maga-something. Anyway, this morning she was out of the room so I told Brandy to keep watch for her coming back and not to move and I went to see if I could get into the forbidden corner. He has a habit of getting bored and wandering off, so I had to make him promise he would stay there and he crossed his heart! Trust me, that's not easy for a puppy, but I made him.

Firstly I tried to move the box, but it was stuck, so then I tried to climb over it, but there was a jaggy corner that dug into my tummy and hurt, so I had no option but to try and climb between the legs of the table thing – and as if by magic, I was through! So easy!

It was full of new things to play with, a wicker basket with lots of paper and things in, some cables and plugs, which are boring – they don’t taste nice, and another table thing with more maga-thingys on. Anyway, I chose a shiny piece of paper, it was blue and had the word ‘Walkers Cheese & Onion’ written on it – and it had a great smell. I shouted to our Brandy that I’d found something and I was coming out, and could he see where mum was and he told me she wasn’t anywhere to be seen.

Now, I got into the corner through the table thing no problem, but I couldn’t remember which bit I’d got through to get in and it all looked different now. I shouted to our Brandy to come and help but he said he wouldn’t because I’d made him promise not to. I told him it was okay, ‘cos it was me that was now asking him to move, but he was really stubborn and kept saying he wasn’t allowed – I was really cross with him because I needed him to come and tell me which bit to get back through and he wouldn’t.

So, I had to make a choice and hope I was right, and I got it wrong and I got stuck, and it was then that Brandy starts to tell me that mum’s coming back – great, thanks Brands!

So, first I got rescued – that was humiliating, and then I got told off while Brandy sat there all smug, and if he’d done as he was told I would have got out and not got into trouble – typical, wait ‘til he needs my help, huh! And, as if to make matters even worse, she took my shiny paper off me so I went through all that for nothing.

So next time, I’ll go in slowly so I can remember how to get out and I won’t share my treasure with Brandy, he’ll have to get his own.

We have lovely toys but a bag of shredded paper, now there’s a challenge……

The pups have a mountain of toys to play with, and to be fair they play very nicely most of the time but they both have a passion for chewing cardboard. They have gradually chewed the full side off a box of bottled lager that’s in the kitchen, but it’s preferable to them chewing the units whilst I’m out, they attacked the box that the new bed was delivered in before I’d closed the door to the deliverymen but today they have found a new game. In preparation for our move to Spain we have been going through old bills and paperwork and shredding what we don’t need to keep, so we have several bags of shredded paper waiting to go out when the recycling is next due.

As everywhere is still covered in snow this morning, the pups aren’t so keen on going out to run around so they have found a new game. Brinkley sneaks under the dining table and round to a bag at the back where they think I can’t see them and takes 2 or 3 strands of paper and then runs into the lounge and shares them with Brandy, where they are happily chewing through them.

Now cute as this may seem, I’m sure that it’s not the healthiest of diet for them, but try catching them – they are now fast on their paws oh, and suddenly they are happy to go outside when it means they can avoid being caught. So, I now have to find somewhere else to put all the bags. I’ve already had to put all the packing boxes in the office out of their way, and these are about to be joined by a load of shredded paper. Somehow, I think we’re going to have to pack the whole house into one room to stop the dogs eating the packaging.

Brandy is the clever one in all this, he lets Brinkley carry out the raid on the bags and get in to trouble for it, but then Brandy takes the shredding from Brinkley – but he was caught on camera with the evidence!

Independence arrives.

As Brandy & Brinkley have been growing, we’ve had to learn to accept that they will dive upstairs through every door left open, that they can reach towels on the rails and pull them onto the floor as temporary beds and that anything left on the low tables has to be ‘puppy proof’. We have come to accept that they will eat anything offered to them, and try and eat things they shouldn’t. And we have become used to them chasing around like maniacs, play-fighting and taking themselves off to a quiet corner to get some space from each other, but today Brinkley has excelled in his task for space from Brandy, he can now jump onto the settee – without our help, whilst Brandy still needs a helping hand. Today, I went into the lounge to find Brandy on his mat whilst Brinkley was happily sitting on the settee looking very pleased with himself. I’m not sure how long before Brandy can do the same but in the meantime, enjoy your quiet corner Brinkley, it may be short lived.

We don’t like wood floors!

Any time they can, the pups get out into the hall or onto the landing to play on the carpet, it’s more comfortable for them to lie on and it is easier for them to keep their feet when they are chasing each other around and we have wood floors in all the rooms.

This morning I knew they had been quiet for some time but that it was too early for them to be having a nap, it’s great knowing their routine, it saves me from being on puppy alert 24 hours a day. I couldn’t find them in the garden where they usually are when things go quiet but then I noticed the lounge door was open slightly and there they were…….in the hallway. We have a box by the door where we put all the cardboard in ready to go out into the recycling, and the pups have now grown big enough to see into the box. They are never bothered by the boxes but they do like the tubes from the inside of toilet rolls, and it was their lucky day – there was one not far from the top.

I found them laid in the hall having helped themselves to the tube and they were chewing their way through it. I always feel really bad about spoiling such a peaceful moment but cardboard is hardly the best addition to their diet so, sorry boys, but it’s back in the recycling please.

Having put it back into the box, right at the bottom, Brinkley decided to have a look to see what else might be good to chew. Caught in the act!