Sad News

On February 10th 2009 our darling Coco went to Rainbow Bridge. He had been here only 13 months, but they were 13 very special months, filled with joy and happiness. He will be very much missed by all of us, not least by Sweep, who now has to find himself a new teddybear to snuggle up to.

Here is our gorgeous boy in his favourate place, taken only 10 days before he left us. He now 'rests' here, running free among the beautiful wildflowers, drinking from the stream, forever young and healthy again.

Run free at the Bridge, my gentle giant. You will always be loved and never be forgotten.

Coco celebrates his first Gotcha Day, with help from Sweep!

It was Coco’s first Gotcha Day last thursday. I had hoped to get this posted sooner, but alas no! But, as they say, better late than never!
Anyway, Big’un has been with us a year‼! Gosh, how time flies. When he first arrived I really didn’t know what I was letting myself in for! I collected a huge, brown, bear-like creature from Newcastle and wondered if I’d done the right thing! It took me all of a few hours to realise he was so special. In fact I’d go as far to say I’ve never met a Labrador who is so placid, gentle and loving.

On Thursday it was bucketing with rain so Coco refused to venture out. Instead, he decided he’d start the day with some chicken and rice for brekkie. And yes, he does lie down to eat!


Then he snoozed the day away using Sweep’s cushion as a pillow


… before sleeping with Ben and Willy – note that Willy has nicked Coco’s new mattress and Coco’s on his old one!


Of course, when he was offered some crispy bacon, he just couldn’t refuse!


… and he was most upset when it’d all gone!


On Friday, the weather had improved, so we went to the local loch where Coco gets to walk all around. It’s a flat walk, no hills, and he often has a bit of a trot at times, which for his age is incredible. Here he is waiting for Sweep to catch up!


And again, trotting towards us.


I have problems getting action shots cos as soon as I move away, he follows me!


Sweep saw the ducks on the loch and as usual couldn’t work out why they wouldn’t play with him.


Of course, Coco showed him it wasn’t polite to stare and encouraged him to sniff a tree instead.


Though when Coco had decided he’d sniffed enough of the tree, he told Sweep it was time to press on with the remainder of the walk.


Another out of focus action shot!


Then it was back home, in time for more of this!


So, one year on and Coco is still enjoying life. He loves his walks, he loves his R&R time and most importantly he is very much loved! He is such a gentle soul. Nothing is too much bother for him … so long as he gets to sleep afterwards.

It hasn't been an easy year, what with all his health problems, and I was worried just before Christmas that I wouldn't be able to post a gotcha day message. But he's still here and still enjoying life and for as long as that continues, we will love him dearly.

Thank you to everyone who donates towards his continued care. Your support is very much appreciated.

And as you can all see, Sweep loves him to bits!

So, that's Christmas 2008 over and done with! Hurray! Sweep managed his first Chrissy party very well. I spent some time the weekend before making him an elf costume and guess what ... he won first prize! He was a complete star wearing it too ... no chewing at all. As you will see he wasnt impressed.


The morning after pic was something to behold. Poor pup was worn out!


Richard came to stay for a few days before Christmas and met Sweep for the first time. They hit it off rather well.


On the monday before Christmas we took the gang up to the Grey Mare's Tail which holds a special significance for us all. Coco loves it there and seems to find a new lease of life. He wasnt very well for the few weeks leading up to Christmas and I was very worried he wouldnt make it. But he did and here he is posing with Ben and Willy.



Of course Sweep was on lead most of the time to stop him going daft!


Though when he did get off lead, this was the resulting photo!


Sweep has grown quite a lot recently. Here he is with Coco, using him as a pillow!


And here he is with me, as per usual chewing my chin!

It's been a very chilly week this week, and I'm afraid I've not been very well. So there isn't much news and even fewer pics.

However, despite the weather, there is one significant piece of news ..... Sweep has graduated from his puppy collar to his bigger puppy collar! Paula from House of Zed makes some truly beautiful martingale collars. Here is the little demon wearing his new collar. It seems to be a hit. He particularly likes running round in circles chasing the tags which dangle from it, lol.



Puppy class this week was again poop and pee class. But Sweep has improved in his recall and his walking on lead. I've put in a fair bit of work with him and Simon has helped too. Sweep now knows 'sit, stay'! His party trick is to sit, stay outside the bathroom door for me. Excellent! Luckily he hasn't identified with the labradors ... otherwise we'd have loo roll all over the house!

Next week is the Christmas Party. I'll keep schtum about his costume for now. But let's just say, he has a certain look which Im gonna exploit!

Puppy class ... or should that be POOPY class?

No pics with this post ... for obvious reasons. We did take the camera, but ... em ... well let's just say the pics can't be broadcast on the WWW. LOL.

Sweep made some very nice friends, including Lucy the scottie pup and Ciara the irish terrier pup and not forgetting Jack the dalmation pup and the bearded collie pup whose name escapes me. And we met Harvey the corgi on our way home. Harvey was going for the older dogs good citizen class.

First of all we decided it would be me handling Sweep this evening. Simon took a seat on the sidelines with the camera, doing his great impression of a surly teenager. Sweep and I took our place in the circle and when he gave me his attention he got his treat. Now, as you can imagine, one small hound has a limited attention span especially when there's new friends to play with. So that exercise was a non-starter. Then we had to do some dog distraction, and one by one we practiced weaving in and out of the other pups and encouraging Sweep not to play ... or bounce on everyone that was going past him. Again that exercise will take a lot of practice.

However then Sweep decided it was time to pee. Result: one empty puppy and one red-faced Alison! Out came the mob and bucket and, many apologies later, we started our treck round the hall, weaving in and out of the other pups. That is until we got to Lucy, who Sweep decided he would hump. Then came the beardie pup who Sweep barked at, then Jack ..... Sweep couldn't get free to play so he promptly pooped all over the floor instead. So, again another red-face and lots more apologies. We finally got back to our starting position having ignored Ciara for all of a second before lunging at her and creating havoc with knotted leads!

The next exercise was sit and stay. Yeah right! Sit we can do. Stay we cannot do! Stay means Sweep completely ignores me and wanders off in the opposite direction. Recall was impressive though. He was being held by the trainer while I walked away a few steps constantly telling him to stay. Excellent ... until I said, in the most stupid high-pitched tone, 'Sweep, come'. At which point Sweep ignored me and ran off to get to Jack the dally pup again. Ho hum.

Walking to heel was a no-no. Even when being bribed with a million and one treats Sweep doesnt do THAT at all. But while waiting for our turn to go up and down the hall, he found pooping a most appropriate passtime! Purple-face ensued at this point and a quick look at the clock reassured me that there was only 5 minutes to go ... PHEW! Again, for the third time, the mop and bucket appeared.

So, where are the pictures? Well Simon did take a few ..... he thought it was funny to catch Sweep 'in the act' so to speak. Then again, to a teenager, a poopy puppy is sidesplittingly funny, especially when you see your mother's face turning from pink to red to puce! Now you realise why I havent posted them!

Better luck next week, I guess. And we'll work on the pooping in the meantime.

Busy week

We've had a busy week this week. Unfortunately puppy classes were cancelled because of unfinished works at the town hall. Hopefully they'll be back on this coming monday. But we've been doing training at home and Sweep now knows 'roll over' though he gets a bit confused by this sometimes. We managed to fit in a walk aroung our local loch earlier in the week with big brother Coco. Coco is 16 and doesn't walk quite as fast as he used to but he does enjoy his morning constitutional. So Sweep joined him in him wednesday constitutional though got a little impatient at having to stop to let Coco catch up. Of course Coco wasn't at all bothered by Sweep's tantrums and just walked straight past, totally ignoring him. Then we met the ducks. Sweep wanted to play with them but Coco stood well back. I think Coco's worked out that ducks are best left to their own devices and he tends to walk past them without batting an eyelid. That is unless there's an egg lying around. Then its a case of sod the ducks and grab the egg! He's only managed that feat once though, luckily!!! Sweep met the ducks again today and I let him get a bit closer. He's now learned why we steer clear of the ducks ..... having been hissed and quacked and snapped at! After the walk, Sweep decided to use Coco as a pillow. Well, Coco is lovely and soft, isn't he!?! On thursday Sweep decided to raid the bin to get a yogurt pot. Sweep likes yogurt, especially strawberry flavoured! He also has a taste for peanut butter. Well Im a marmite gal so the thought of having peanut butter in the fridge makes me cringe. But I relented and now Sweep has his own (tightly lidded) jar in the fridge which gets used to smear the inside of his Kong. Probably a bit more suitable than a pinched plastic yogurt pot! Unfortunately over the past couple of days big brother Coco has been quite ill. He has problems with his skin and ears which need pulse therapy with antibiotics. He also has a lot of muscle wastage in his old muscles and has become very thin. We're all very worried about him, not least because of his age. He's been with us since January 2008 when his owner had to give him up to go into residential care. But we fell in love with him within seconds of meeting him. He's a very gentle and loving giant - and a true gentleman. He also has the patient of a saint having Sweep around. If you're reading this, please spare a moment to send a good thought or a healing blessing Coco's way. We went back to the loch today, in the fog and ice, with Sweep, Coco, Willy and Ben. Having found a nice quiet (duck-free) spot, Sweep got the chance to go off the lead and have a daft few minutes charging round with Ben. Willy tried to join in but gave up and decided to dig up stones instead. Coco just stood still and had cuddles from me. Here's one manic puppy wearing off a fraction of steam, on a perfect winter's morning.

Chip Day!

We had a trip to Lockerbie today to meet the vet. I thought Sweep had come of age to get his microchipping done.
He was brilliant in the car and did what he needed to do before we went into the surgery. He sat patiently in the waiting area and didn't lunge too much towards the beautiful border collie that was also waiting.
Jo the vet came and called for us and Sweep happily trotted after her. Jo had a listen to his chest, checked his teeth and eyes and confirme that 'he's probably deerhound cross', which we kinda already knew, but I guess they like to prove they know what they're doing.
Sweep sat quite patiently while Jo got the needle ready ..... but boy oh boy did he yell when it went in!!!!! I think the whole of Lockerbie now know he's arrived. He even refused the treats I had with me. And Sweep NEVER refuses food!
But, he's done now, so that's that. I think we may have to check it's Hazel on duty next time, because Sweep learns very quickly and Im sure he'll remember Jo and the needle.
I managed to snap a couple of pics last night and here they are.
First is Sweep with two of his new brothers, Willy (black lab) and Ben (greyhoundxcollie). The feet belong to Simon and are best ignored!!!

Second is another group shot ... and as usual Sweep is in the middle of the dog pile!

Next is Sweep trying to get Tiger to play with him. Can you guess who won THAT battle? LOL! Tiger was happy to put her nose right into Sweep's bowl at breakfast this morning too, so I think he's learning a little respect for the cats. Smudge, our other cat, is still staying up a height when the boisterous mop on legs bounces around!

And last is a side-on shot of the little darling ..... before he pounced on Coco's tail!

Tonight we're going to have a lesson on sleeping in the crate WITHOUT howling. If anyone passes me in the street over the next few days/weeks - I'm the one with the dark shadows and the matchsticks propping my eyelids up! zzzzz