In the dog box!

Damage Assessment...

• Three curtain drapes, two couches, three cushions, one throw.
  
• Two pairs of long pants, two track suit tops.
  
• Two dresses, one shawl.
  
• Four pairs of sandals.

• Two antique dining room table legs.
  
• One book shelf, two desks' legs, skirting boards.
• One cell phone charger
• One garden

Bad, bad hair days!

I woke up as sick as a dog. I could hardly lift my head from the pillow. I just managed to stagger to the kitchen, feed the pups and take them outside to do their business. Then I would crash back into my bed.

Later that evening I had to face what I had been avoiding all day. A kitchen floor and passage full of dirty newspaper and dog's business. Just the thought of getting down on my hands and knees to clean it up, made me feel really, really sick.

In desperation I thought "I have to do some damage limitation!" So I decided that I would limit the territory that the pups had access to at night time. This required inspired thinking when it came to setting up road blocks. I rummaged through my garage and attic.









First I dragged a bench into the kitchen which restricted access. I then set up barriers in the passage so that they only had two metres of floor space instead of 15 metres.

All of this, as you can imagine took quite a bit of energy. Then I cleaned the floor, put down fresh newspaper, fed and watered the pups and took them outside for their ritual pee/poop/play time.
Sometime during the mayhem, Jemma slipped inside the kitchen. I returned to find a fresh puddle of urine right next to the up-ended bench. If I did not know better, I feel this was a protest action. Muttering and cursing under my breath, I grabbed my cleaning kit and once again cleaned, disinfected and sprayed the floor with vinegar (neutralises the smell of urine).

I was ready to snap. I was going to bite some body's head off. But then the words of my puppy trainer kept my temper on a leash.

• Never raise your hand in anger against your dog. It must always be seen as a symbol of love and caring. Dogs that are beaten and obey out of fear often become dogs that are aggressive, unpredictable and anti-social.
• If you are in a bad mood ( stressed, angry, frustrated ) rather leave your dogs in case your emotions spill over causing a negative interaction with them.

So I decided the wise thing to do that night was to walk away. The next day I felt better especially when I saw that my damage limitation barriers had worked. I only had to clean two metres of floor instead of the entire kitchen and passage way. Now the pups had less choice and the garden was becoming their inevitable destination.

Deception and Deceit

As you may recall, Jamie is not exactly into food. It is amazing the lengths one will go to in an effort to persuade your dog to eat. I have unashamedly resorted to deception and deceit.This requires great patience and a lot of experimentation.

First I sit like a Wimbledon umpire between my two dogs to ensure fair play. Jemma jumps into her bowl with gusto whilst Jamie shows a vague interest in the proceedings.

When Jemma is two thirds of the way through her meal, Jamie decides it's time to zero into her bowl.

So Jemma starts eating Jamie's food. This is when the umpire is called upon to intervene using various options:

1. Juggling Act: Juggle the bowls back and forth between the dogs in order to confuse them. However ensure that the right bowl finally ends up in front of the right dog. (Jamie still manages to suss out which is Jemma's bowl)


2. The Disappearing Bowl: Remove Jemma's bowl from play so that Jamie has only one choice. Then when he is not looking, sneak Jemma's bowl back in front of her.


3. Rapid Transfer: If Jamie insists on eating out of Jemma's bowl, shovel handfuls of food from his bowl into Jemma's bowl and hope you've estimated correctly how much to leave for Jemma in Jamie's bowl. (Confused yet?)


4. Hand Feeding: Use a saccharine sweet voice to persuade Jamie that the food in his bowl is the same as the food in Jemma's bowl. This is done by hand feeding him small amounts of pellets or dropping them near his bowl.
   
   
5. Less is More. ( You won't believe this one. ) Put a bigger bowl in front of Jamie so that he thinks he is getting less when in fact he is getting more. This is to trick him into thinking he is losing out and better get a move on.
   
   
6. Give up until the next meal. But beware! Don't overcompensate because then he won't eat his next meal.

I am sticking to my dog food of choice because despite his irregular eating habits, his coat is still glossy and he looks good. But since one needs to feed puppies three times a day for at least six months, I estimate that this takes up almost an hour of my day. (Another hidden cost factor because time is money!)

Wild Thing!

Several months before my pups arrival, a large ginger feral cat "The Wild Thing" had taken a liking to my garden.

But I worried that a clash between it and my pups could be fatal for the pups. Could it bring disease into my garden? "Don't worry," soothed my puppy trainer. "Cross infection between species is very rare and it will probably just move on if it finds the pups too annoying."

Well, one Sunday morning the dreaded encounter took place. I heard a lot of barking. The siege was being led by Jemma as they shouted at this strange new creature. But ginger cat sat like a sphinx, unmoving, majestic and barely a flicker of an eyelid.

After about 20 minutes my pups lost interest. This was no fun!

"The Wild Thing" eventually walked nonchalantly off.

One match to the ginger cat but was this the end of the game?