Tommy and I have finally sorted our morning walk. It took a while after the easiness of the graves, but now we have found (and appreciate) our morning walk. His 'off lead' time has diminished, but the walk itself is about 10 minutes longer.
We go down the dual carriageway, where Tommy sniffs, wees and poos. We then go through the graveyard and along to Royal Terrace. This is right in the heart of Southend, we see the Pier and the river every morning. He will go off lead here most mornings, as long as there is no rough sleepers or someone taking in the morning air (for some reason he's so suspicious of people sitting on benches). He often sees squirrels or foxes to chase. Then there is the random fish pond for me to look into. I just find it a bit wierd that there is a fish pond in this part of Southend. The pond often has old beer cans, chip wrappers and condoms floating in it, but the fish seem to survive.
We then go up the stairs, back towards the High Street. Tommy goes back on lead here, but to make the walk back home more interesting, we play catch with the tennis ball (this also stops him sniffing so much!). Five minuutes from home, I let him keep the tennis ball which he carries quite happily all the way back.
I love this area of Southend - I fall in love with it again every morning.
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Wednesday, October 06, 2010
Vet time!
Tommy had his annual vet trip tonight. He has only been to ‘my’ vets once before, and as no harm had been caused, I thought this trip would be easy. But he was so worried, bless him! He was quite happy in the waiting room watching the world go by but that certainly changed after I had to drag him into the consulting room! He wasn’t having any of it…
When we eventually 'coaxed' him in, the vet and I thought a sniff round and weigh might settle him. Tommy now weights 9.35kg! That's a 1.5kg or 20% increase, but the vet said he doesn’t look fat, his ribs are nicely defined and his spine is covered, so that’s ok. It’s probably down to more body mass. We then got him on the table where the vet listened to his chest and checked to make sure Tommy’s chip was still readable, which it was. Tommy had his standard boosters and kennel cough up the nose. All without problem but he took some persuading to eat his treat!
Mr Gilmore, in my opinion, is an excellent vet. He stands away from the table and never looks the dogs in the eye unless he has to. When he examines the dog he seems to choose his moments, and is quick, but gentle. What needs to be done is done very quickly and without undue stress. We talked about pet insurance, as I’m still unsure as to what breed of dog I should class Tommy as – JRT, JRTx or general mixed breed. Mr Gilmore said that he would be happy to sign off documentation stating JRTx. He then went onto say that JRT are very healthy, sturdy breeds and don’t seem to have any inherent problems that a lot of pure breeds do. I didn’t have the heart to say I wanted it more for the public liability! He also cracked a joke saying he’s a fine dog, looks very healthy but could do with some plastic surgery on his ear! I am happy to pay more for his services.
When we eventually 'coaxed' him in, the vet and I thought a sniff round and weigh might settle him. Tommy now weights 9.35kg! That's a 1.5kg or 20% increase, but the vet said he doesn’t look fat, his ribs are nicely defined and his spine is covered, so that’s ok. It’s probably down to more body mass. We then got him on the table where the vet listened to his chest and checked to make sure Tommy’s chip was still readable, which it was. Tommy had his standard boosters and kennel cough up the nose. All without problem but he took some persuading to eat his treat!
Mr Gilmore, in my opinion, is an excellent vet. He stands away from the table and never looks the dogs in the eye unless he has to. When he examines the dog he seems to choose his moments, and is quick, but gentle. What needs to be done is done very quickly and without undue stress. We talked about pet insurance, as I’m still unsure as to what breed of dog I should class Tommy as – JRT, JRTx or general mixed breed. Mr Gilmore said that he would be happy to sign off documentation stating JRTx. He then went onto say that JRT are very healthy, sturdy breeds and don’t seem to have any inherent problems that a lot of pure breeds do. I didn’t have the heart to say I wanted it more for the public liability! He also cracked a joke saying he’s a fine dog, looks very healthy but could do with some plastic surgery on his ear! I am happy to pay more for his services.
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