Barbeque

We held a barbecue last Saturday to celebrate Tommys 'second pick me' day, and my 40th(!).

He was excited from the minute we got up on the Saturday because of the change in routine (we got up in the morning!).  Whilst b/f was at Asda, I done some last minute cleaning and moving of stuff, which Tommy watched with great anticipation.  Then 'the help' arrived, closely followed by b/f, and enough food to feed an army, let alone the 40 odd people that were due to arrive.  Tommy done his normal yapping at the Steves' and Matt, but they are well prepared for him now and ignore him till he calms down.  Then they are all quite happy to give Tommy a scratch and a good boy.

B/f decided to blow up balloons.  I was not impressed.  Tommy constantly barking the garden was not what I had in mind!  Even someone from up the road shouted to 'shut that bloody dog up'.  Not good.

I put a sign on the door with basic instructions on how to behave around Tommy - it took up an A4 sheet!  And everyone ignored it anyway...

People started to turn up.  Tommy was being his normal barking self to start with, but as the people kept coming, he kind of gave up.  He made great friends with 'the Steves' who were doing the cooking, and gradually made his way round everyone in the garden to beg for food!

He only growled at two people all day.  One of them was a lady I work with.  He moans at her at work as well.  The other one was a man from the pub who has a beard.   B/f had picked Tommy up and he was close to the other man's face.  I'm not sure Tommy had seen a beard that close before.

All in all, it was a good day.  Tommy quietened down about the balloons, and no one got bit.  It was more than I could have ever had hoped for.

Dog attacks

Bit worried that the attack on a young boy down at Southend could be linked to this?
Could it be the same dog?  I now feel bad about not reporting the incident.

I think the picture the Evening Echo has used is a bit over the top....

Tommy got bitten again by another dog last night.  It was a playful nip by an enthusiastic toy poddle as they were playing.  He has bite marks round his muzzle.

The Ladies

I had some friends over on Saturday, not particular dog people and knowing what Tommy is like, I was stressing a bit about it. We don't have enough visitors to train Tommy what is the correct 'thing' to do when we have visitors, ie not jumping up, barking and trying to get these intruders out of the home. Lets face it, I'm not confident enough - I worry so much that he will bite someone that I try to avoid anyone touching him - which is a shame for both of us.

I had prepared them all, saying ignore Tommy when you come in - no look, no touch, no talk - but I was still uneasy about people coming round. I decided to muzzle him - I really didn't want to - but I thought it would save me worrying - which I hoped would save him worrying.

The first lady turned up, completely ignored Tommy whilst he jumped up and seemed happish. His tail was wagging and he was just barking, not aggressively I'll add. She knelt down next to Tommy who started to moan a bit, I told him no and wished my friend would stop, but luckily the door went - friend no 2. She was excellent, ignored him totally, even folded her arms! I made them both tea and settled them in the garden. Tommy sniffed them, walked round them and all the time his tail was wagging. Lady no 3 turned up, Tommy barked a bit but soon gave up - it was much more fun to sniff these people! Then lady no 4. By this time, he had given up being the big bad dog and was allot more interested in smelling these people.

We sat in the garden for another 15 minutes before I took Tommy's muzzle off and he was fine with the ladies. They all fussed him and even gave him treats! I was a bit nervous about them putting their faces too close to his, but once I mentioned it, they stopped. I was pleased I had chosen the correct thing to do. I felt more relaxed which in turn must have made Tommy feel more relaxed. If I have non dog - or even some dog - people over again, I will not hesitate to put his muzzle on.

Upstairs

Where we lived before, we always had upstairs neighbours. Tommy was used to the sound of their door closing, people walking up the stairs and walking around overhead, as well as general background noise associated with having an ‘upstairs’. Since we moved into our new flat we haven’t had any upstairs neighbours. Until last week.

It all started on Monday evening of last week, when we heard the door opening and closing a few times, with the footsteps on the stairs, general walking around etc… The door to upstairs is right by our door, so to start with, it was very confusing for Tommy to hear the door open and close without anyone walking in our hall! He would get up from his bed, (a miracle in itself sometimes!) and bark in the hall towards the door. It didn’t help matters that we had forgotten how to placate Tommy with a ‘thank you Tommy’ and ignore him – we would moan and shout ‘shut up’ which to Tommy, made him think we were joining in.

The next few days, more people turned up to move in. We have 5 adults living upstairs now. That is a lot of footfall on the stairs! We remembered by Wednesday what it was we originally said to Tommy and it has worked. By Friday he had started it ignore the upstairs door opening and closing.

On our last walk Saturday night, he saw a cat, which never fails to ‘pump him up’. Then on the walk back down the road, there were two people standing by their car having a cigarette. They were talking loudly and waving their arms around. This also ‘stimulated’ Tommy and he had a couple of barks. I told him it was nothing to do with him and to walk on. He was still ears and tail up but had come down from ‘defcon 1’. When we got in I settled him down in the kitchen, but he was still quite alert. It was about 2:30am. Then upstairs came in. The door opening and closing was just too much for Tommy who started on a big barking session only to have me come out of the bedroom to tell him off. He gruffed but went back to bed. Then someone else came in. Tommy went a bit gruffy but not enough to warrant getting out of bed again. Then the door opened for a third time! This time boyfriend got up and shut Tommy in the kitchen. This is something we never do, although it worked and from 3:30am he slept.

We have now found out that most of upstairs works at the casino. We’re hoping that Tommy will get used to the door opening, shutting and footfall on the stairs very quickly otherwise I have no idea when we’ll sleep again!

Holiday walking

We went out for a couple of long walks during the holidays. I love to get out of the house at this time of year! Tommy was well behaved for most of them! We had two incidents of barking at people, but these were called to a halt very quickly (one of them was well deserved though – why do people find it necessary to act in an aggressive manner?!).

We saw ‘Daisy May’, a terrier that is in our training group over the woods one day. She came bounding over to say hello, seemed to recognise Tommy and they had a dash about. I didn’t see her owner anywhere, although I could hear her calling Daisy back. I can imagine Daisy running back saying ‘Mom, Tommy’s over here! You know, Tommy from training, come on! Lets go play’ and Daisy’s mom just wondering what was so exciting over there, through the woods.

Tommy was also on the receiving end of dogs being protective too. We were walking along a path in Ashingdon on our way to Hockley Woods. The surrounding fields had horses grazing so we kept Tommy on lead. The muddy path turned to tarmac and as we were approaching houses, Tommy stayed on lead. Two dogs were coming towards us and were ‘skulking’. They were not happy that they had intruders on their path and went for Tommy! It was scary and Tommy screamed. They were called back by their owner, but they were much more interested in getting this bold (but small) dog away from their den. How dare he continue coming towards them! They circled and skulked while their owner called them again. One went back, the other was slower to retreat. She didn’t put them on lead, or even issue us an apology. I understand that Boris and Max were protecting their house, but I feel more control from the owner wouldn’t have gone a miss. B/f said it was because they have money – don’t admit to anything then it’s not your fault. It’s a shame because it spoilt what would have been a lovely day.

Lastly, I'd like to wish all my readers a happy 2011. Enjoy your walks!

Christmas time

Christmas is over and done with at last.

Christmas is a good time to be a JRT in our house. Owners are around more, food is about more and people come visiting more. That roughly translates as I have company and more walks, I get lots of treats and I get to bark at people!

Tommy had done very well this year with his Christmas presents. A lot of food based presents, some of which are too big for him - they turn him ‘silly’. He gets all protective and agitated when he has them. Visitors walking around are obviously not going to the toilet, or getting a drink. They are trying to distract Tommy so they can steal his treat. It’s just not worth Tommy getting all upset over (by that I mean him growing, barking, and generally snapping). I’m quite happy to give him a rawhide chew of a smaller stature, or a pig’s ear, sometimes even a dried bone, but the large treats, or the very hard treats are just not worth it.

Personally, I’d prefer stuffed squeaky toys as a present. They last about the same time before being totally destroyed!

Dog poo

'Excuse me' called the (suspected) drug dealer from his window 'can you not let your dog poo there'.

'Don't judge others by your low standards, just because you don't pick up your dogs poo and if you didn't have a smelly carpet halfway across the pavement that the bin men haven't collected for the last month because they don't collect carpets he wouldn't even be sniffing here anyway! And why are you looking out of your window at 1:30am on a Saturday morning, waiting for another customer' I thought...

'He's just sniffing and I pick it up anyway' I repiled...

Firework time again

Tommy has had a while to get used to the fireworks this year. Adventure Island has had displays for the last 4 or 5 Saturdays, when X-Factor is on. No worries for us as we’ll subtly turn the TV up so we cannot hear them. A couple of times Tommy has got spooked, but not too often.

Walking in the evenings hasn’t been too bad either. Strangely, we haven’t had as many fireworks where we live now as what they were over the other side of town. This has been a blessing! I managed to get out every night last week without hearing a single firework. Friday was quite bad, we heard a lot but after an hour or so of cowering under the sideboard, Tommy came out and fell asleep in his bed quite happily.

Saturday could have been a lot worse! I took him out in the afternoon for about 2 hours. We walked to Southend Leisure and Tennis where he played with a couple of Labrador crosses and a Bichon Frise before catching the bus back home. This seemed to do the trick! I settled down at about 7 to watch the rubbish but good TV and as the fireworks started, the TV was turned up. On a few occasions, when a particularly loud rocket went off, he would go under the sideboard, but otherwise he was curled up in his bed most of the night. Bless.

Play? or aggression??

Tommy came into the office with me yesterday and spent most of the day chasing flies and laying in the sun. At home time, I decided to take him to Victory Park – its normally one of my favourite walks…

When we got there, there were four other dogs in the middle being walked by three ladies and a girl. One dog was hastily picked up by one of the ladies, who was there with the girl and walked off. They called a Westie along and walked out of the park. I’m not sure what happened, but Tommy and I carried on round the outside of the park for a while and then I decided to cross over the middle of the park (something I never do!) to let Tommy play with the remaining two dogs.

Tommy saw the dogs and ran over to them, greeting a (what looked like) beagle JRT x, (intact male I’ll add here) with bounds of energy and a ‘chase me’ stance. From where I was standing, about 90 mtrs away, they looked like they were playing and having fun. A bit of chase, some boxing, and rolling around on the floor, but the owners body language told me otherwise. I sped up my walk across the park. ‘Is he being mouthy?’ I said. ‘He’s aggressive and shouldn’t be allowed off lead’. Humm, I thought. I called Tommy to me, he was having fun and not really interested (the other dog didn’t look too bothered either if truth be told!). The dogs were running round; both play biting, and bumping shoulders. I called Tommy but he was having way too much fun to notice I was even there. I launched myself at Tommy when he was on a return run, slipped on the wet grass, which made Tommy look. I called him again, with my finger in the ‘wait’ position, which he did. Lead goes back on. The other dog then starts circling Tommy, running off, coming back and play bowing. ‘I’ve owned dogs all my life and your dog is just nasty, if I see him off lead again I’m going to report him’. She was trying to get her dog back, so she ‘could look for bite marks’. I said ‘can you call him back then please, I’m not leaving this park until I know your dog is ok’ (I knew he would be!). The dog was having a whale of a time playing tease with her, not wanting to come back. He came several times back to Tommy though! I was making sure Tommy wasn’t looking at the dog, and I held Tommy’s muzzle. There was no way I was going to let Tommy sniff this dog again. The lady walking the other dog said ‘I don’t know what’s up with him today, it must be the weather’. I decided silence was golden; besides, I was fighting back the tears.

After the lady had caught her dog and said ‘no he’s fine’ I said ‘that’s good’ and carried on walking Tommy, on lead towards the other end of the park. Walking along the fence was the old lady with her aged collie and cocker spaniel bitch. I walked along with them. Tommy being excellent on lead and not even pulling towards the bitch. I felt so sad, but I managed to get home before I burst into tears.

Emma of Waggy Walkers fame asked how the move was today. I said good, flat is lovely but it took Tommy until Wednesday to really settle in’. ‘He’s such a sensitive soul’ said Emma. ‘Well, yesterday I got told he’s really aggressive and if he’s ever seen off lead again in this park he’s going to be reported’. ‘Really, what park?’ said Emma. ‘Victory, near Sutton Road’. ‘Oh I don’t go to that one' 'The other dog didn’t seem that bothered though’. ‘The dogs never are. It’s a more common thing this reporting to the authorities. (sigh) Next time you should say ‘he's goes to a behavourist every week. Talk to her about dog behavour’. We talked a bit more about how hated the dog world now is and went our separate ways. It made me feel a bit better (or maybe justified) talking to Emma, but I still feel sad about Tommy not being able to go to Victory off lead anymore.

He's back!

At last! I've missed the annoying playful thing he is!

Tommy had eaten some of his breakfast and the rest went into his treat ball. He was staying at home today by himself. I couldn't get away lunchtime so dad took him for his walk.

I left him with the radio on and his treat ball. When I came home tonight he was so pleased to see me! No change from how he normally is but his kong was empty and he'd been knocking his treat ball about as there was only a couple of bits of kibble left. When I went in the garden he was in full tail wag mode with nose down investigating allot more than what he had done all week. He was enthusiastic on his walk and greeted b/f with wags and play bows. And he ate all his dinner!

Welcome home Tommy.

Still not eating...

Tommy came into work with me today. He ate a bit of his breakfast (and I put some olive oil on it to make it taste nice!) but he left most.

He moped most of the day at work. Not interested in his treat ball or the flies. He had his kong lunchtime stuffed with a bit of pastry but otherwise he seems really down. Even the foreman noticed!

We went over Victory on the way home. He showed some interest in his tennis ball but after about five retrieves he'd had enough. We went home where he went straight to his bed and didn't eat his dinner. He did come through to the front room after allot of cajoling from b/f and I.

His skin is very bad (and bald) again at the base of his tail where he keeps itching. He has no fleas and his treatment is up to date. Oh when will Tommy come home??

1st 'Pick me' day

It's Tommy's 'Pick me' day today! As we don't know when his birthday is, I've decided to use his adoption day as his special day and named it his 'pick me' day. I think it sounds great!

What a year its been, some lows, lots of highs, and allot of general getting to know you stuff. I'm still unsure sometimes of Tommy. He still has some issues and sometimes I wonder why I chose him. Then he rolls on his back with his nylabone in his mouth... What a cutie!

Here is one of Tommy's first photos -



And here he is now. (I couldn't get him in the pose I'm afraid!)





As you can see, he's put on some weight! But seems allot more relaxed in his surroudnings.
We didn't do anything special to celebrate - I'm more worried about him settling into the flat to be honest! He's still off his food...

Worried!

Tommy is still not eating. I had to go out for quite a while today and b/f said he was looking for me most of the time. He (Tommy...) seems really quiet and all he wants to do is stay in his bed in the kitchen. He doesn't want to play or sit with us in the front room...

I hope it passes soon.

All done!

Well, we've moved. Tommy was well behaved all day. He loves running round the garden and didn't bark at the guys helping us move. He kept a very close eye on what was happening but only ate his breakfast quite late in the day. I hope he settles quickly.

Moving date (at last)

We have our moving date at last! It has been a struggle but on the 3rd September we shall pick up our keys!

Tommy has taken to living around boxes no problem. The only time he took any notice was when I packed some of his toys, his treats and his coat. He laid by the box in the small room for a very long time then!

I wish I wasn't so stressed about it all. He is going to Waggy Walkers for an extra day on Thursday so I can get on with packing and not worry about his walk. Emma can't take him on moving day as she is going to Burley horse Trails... It may work out better in the end as he can see all the 'stuff' being moved into the new place. I hope he settles.

On the move...

We are moving flats soon – hurrah!

When we viewed this new place, there was a park about three minutes walk away, which would have been excellent for Tommy’s morning walk. Since then, this park has closed for ‘redesign’ work. They are building a café in the middle. I’m not happy.

The other reservation I’ve got is we back onto the railway line. What if Tommy decides that the big black thing going along the bottom of the garden is the enemy and needs to defend his garden? The train will reward him every time as it trundles on its tracks… I hope the neighbours don’t mind barking dogs.

Arsenal staffies

On the morning walk today, Tommy was very naughty. We left at our normal time and I told him to ‘leave it’ and ‘nothing to do with you’ to the three or four people that were walking towards us and all was fine. He gave them a side wards glance, but carried on, with his ears back. We got to the graves and the lady with the stroppy Alsatian was over there. I kept Tommy on lead and exchanged pleasantries then continued on our way round. Once she’d left I let Tommy off.
Over the other side of the graves was the man with the Arsenal staffies. Now, Tommy normally loves playing with these two. They have a good game of bitey face and ‘I’m on my back, no I’m on my back’ with some charging around. This morning was very different. The black staff came running towards me looking for Tommy who had run ahead and was hidden behind a gravestone. The black staff then ran back to her owner and then back to me. You could tell she was looking for Tommy. Tommy, on the other hand, had spotted their owner and seemed most put out that he was over the graves and started to bark at him. His nervous bark, half play bowing and tail wagging but with a definite ‘keep away from me and my mom’ tone. The man looked at him and looked at me ‘what’s up with him today?’ ‘I’m not sure to be honest, he’s been fine for ages’. ‘Maybe its because I’m not wearing my hat’. I carried on walking and Tommy carried on barking and playing up, albeit about 6-10 feet away from him. The staffies were just running around being happy. The black staff tried to get Tommy to chase her (normally his favourite game) but he wasn’t having any of it. The man half bent down but this just made Tommy worse. After about a minute, the white staff had had enough. She ran at Tommy and pushed him out the way with her shoulder. No malice at all but it was a ‘leave my dad alone’ kind of thing. Tommy yelped like a girl but wasn’t even knocked off his feet so I said ‘serves you right’. The man told his dog to ‘leave it out’ and called her straight to him, which she did, annoyingly. We all carried on walking our separate ways.
When I got in and told b/f about it he said that Tommy was probably jealous that I was talking too long with the man. I said we didn’t even get to exchange pleasantries. B/f then said he has often seen Arsenal Staffie man without a hat.
I hope Tommy hasn’t decided that he doesn’t like Arsenal staffies man and his dogs. The dogs are great and it would be a shame for all that to go – for whatever crazy reason.

Sea Wall

Tommy’s road sniffing has become so extreme recently, that we missed our train on Sunday. Normally, the walk to the train station would take 15 minutes tops, but it took us over 20! There are only so many times I can say ‘come on Tommy’ in a happy voice before I hate the sound of it. Maybe it’s the smells of the Saturday night take away, or just the heat on the pavement enhancing the smells that attracts him so much. Either way, pavement walking at the moment is taking a lot longer than normal. This is why, when we got to the station, we had to wait 20 minutes for our train. Not my fault boyo! Tommy was excited to be on the platform, but that soon passed, and he laid down looking just a little bored. Our train turned up on time so off to Benfleet we went.

The plan was to catch the train and then walk back as far as we wanted and then jump on a train home. I wasn’t sure what way to walk back, so on the way out I was looking left towards the sea wall and right towards Salvation Army land. There was lots of cows on the Salvation Army land so even though it’s a prettier walk, I decided on the sea wall. I didn’t fancy any upsets…

It was the right decision to walk the wall. There was a light breeze and Tommy enjoyed the smells coming from the cows. The grass is quite long so obviously some ‘bounding’ had to be done. The difference in Tommy’s body language is so visible when we walk somewhere away from town, even the town parks. Instead of scrabbling for smells and unfinished take away, with almost constant full alert for other dogs and (how dare they!) cats, he seems to relax a bit. Take in the smells and his eyes definitely do shine brighter. As we got further into the walk he seemed to relax more. His floppy ear got more floppy and his shoulders didn’t seem so stiff. His tail is a lot happier…

The only people we seemed to meet were bikers. When I saw them coming, I would call Tommy to one side, ask him to sit and I was holding him on a wait with one finger and hardly any eye contact! I’m not sure if it was just because he was tired and decided to behave or if he actually wanted to, either way, he was perfect every time. I was happily surprised.

We stopped at the driving range near Two Tree Island for tea and cake (well, I had tea and cake). The café area was empty so I tied Tommy to a table leg whilst I went in to get my treat. Typically, someone came into the café and went up to Tommy to say hello. Tommy wasn’t happy and told him off. Luckily the gentlemen used to own a Jack and said ‘I should have known better, my one would do exactly the same, even if I was with him!’.

Tommy and I carried on walking along the sea wall, past the abandoned barge, where Tommy had another dash around the mud before we headed to the train station. I had hoped to continue through Old Town onto Chalkwell, but time was against us. We only had a couple of minutes wait for our train and then off home we went.

The local pavements still proved a perfect (yet annoying) sniffing ground for Tommy. He was especially bad as he was hungry as well. I wish I could train him out of it, but I suppose there is only so much I can expect from him in one day!

Clothes that Tommy has ruined in six months

One t-shirt – general excitement at thought of a walk, jumped up, got hold of, forgot to let go.
One work shirt – general excitement at me coming home from work, following me into the kitchen, jumped up, got hold of, forgot to let go.
Combat trousers – left on the bed. Tommy got into the bedroom and there were treats in the pocket. Obviously couldn’t find the opening to the pocket so ripped them instead.
B/f waterproof coat – Rainy walk, b/f was running around, Tommy jumped up at back of coat and forgot to let go. I told b/f not to run with Tommy without having something to throw!
One running top – Tommy’s first run off lead. He was very excited and jumped up, forgot to let go.
Bit of a pattern here don’t you think!

You get what you give

It’s turning into a really long, harsh winter. It’s been too cold for my dad to walk Tommy lunchtimes and since the attack on the air con man, Tommy hasn’t been allowed into work so much so his days are long at home all day. I do go home lunchtimes to take him round the block, but it’s not much of a break for him. I always thought that getting a dog in March would be a better time of year, but the timing was right in September.
I have found it hard to get the enthusiasm up during the week to find new and interesting things to do with Tommy. Let alone the dark morning walk and the bitter cold! I have been tired a lot with the late nights (my fault!) and early mornings and it’s all proved to be a bit much. Tommy has started to be more ‘assertive’ when out walking. He will bark at some people, no pattern, and dogs on lead are now a no no. I haven’t been enjoying the walks. It’s down to me not being ‘bothered’ recently, and I know it and feel guilty.
A few nights ago on his ‘quick one round the block before bed’ walk; I had a bit of a breakthrough. Recently, I’ve been ‘oh come on Tommy, lets get this done’ with a bit of a moaning tone to my voice and almost pulling him on his lead to get the walk done. Monday night I walked more briskly than normal, put on a happy tone and kept my head up, being the assertive one. Being the pack leader. The walk was easier, and Tommy was wagging his tail more and not sniffing so much.
Tuesday mornings walk I tried the same. ‘Come on Tom, there’s a good boy, yes he is’ was recited a lot in a happy, almost baby tone. I called him back more when over the graves and gave him a tiny treat when he came rather than leaving him to his own devises. When I took him lunchtime, more brisk walking and brought his ball to the park with us. With the time saved by the more assertive walk, we had time for a very quick game of fetch. When I’ve got in from work I’ve been thinking of Southend Training rather than Rochford Training. More fun stuff, different stuff to challenge his mind. Weaving threw my legs; find the treat under the cups, paw, high five, crawl. A quick game of fetch in the house, blowing some bubbles. And it’s working.
I’m starting to enjoy Tommy again! His mind is more occupied, his behaviour out and about is better (but no where near as good as it could / should /was!), and he’s looking at me more for direction. He seems happier and more relaxed.
Proves that you only get what you give…