Well, here we go again, another New Year. Here’s hoping you all have a good one and give in to the desire to adopt more dogs !!
My Christmas was a washout ! A rotten, eyes streaming, nose running, throat tickling, head exploding, limb aching cold started to attack on Christmas Eve and blossomed on Christmas Day. So whilst Ernst, his nephew Sebastian and Sebastian’s mum all went off for fun, food and festivities at our friend Lesley’s, I stayed in bed clutching a hot water bottle and menthol soaked hankies watching the lovely Hugh Grant in the dvd of Love Actually. (Hmm. Thinks. Not such a bad Christmas after all !!).
Luckily New Year’s Eve was lovely !
On the doggies front we had a flurry of adoptions to end the year. Quite a few puppies have been reserved ( still many left though !), Lassie has found happiness in a lovely new home, Poodle Ben is getting a second chance (hopefully he doesn’t blow it this time !), Freddy has been rehomed (that caused the tissues to be brought out for obvious reasons) and, joy of joy, not only did Rocky go to a new home but he took a pal from the Carcassonne refuge with him !
Now I seem to remember quite a few months ago that I explained that I would no longer be taking in any more dogs as we have so many that will never be adopted. In future dogs needing homes would go to my SPA Inspector friend and I would keep the website going. Yeah right. Poor Danielle is bursting at the seams so we had to open our doors again. Caline and Lola are here at Poorpaws as are three black LabX pups who will be old enough to go to new homes in about three weeks.
I promised another piece of advice for training your dog. A lot of people have problems when leaving dogs at home. The dogs bark or cry and sometimes destroy things. This is caused by anxiety but not, as is often thought, because the dog is left behind, it is because the dog thinks he is responsible for you and is worried about you. You have to teach your dog that it is perfectly ok for you to go out whenever you like. You can do this, starting when you first get your new dog, by, several times a day, just walking out of the house and, if possible, walk back in through a different door. Stay out for a very short time at first, just a minute or so, making the time out longer and longer. The most important thing is to NEVER talk to the dog before you go, no “bye bye darling, I’ll be back soon” and VERY IMPORTANT when you come back in, completely ignore your dog for at least five minutes. Then you can call him and fuss him. He has to get used to you just going and coming whenever you like and he doesn’t have to worry.
If that sounds muddly buy The Dog Listener by Jan Fennell who explains it much better than I do !
Going to Limoges this week to collect two Chinese Crested Bald (yes, bald !) dogs ! Look out for them on the website !
Have a lovely January
Sue x