Flash scared me to death today... he screamed...

I was getting ready for our monthly meeting tonight and was tidying up in the kitchen just before 7 pm. All of a sudden, I heard Flash screaming like mad. I thought Troy was shaking him or something... But when I got into the sitting room, Flash was on the sofa, still screaming for another few seconds. None of the dogs were near him.
He eventually came off the sofa and I called him to me. He came, very rigid and scared!

I think he must have hurt his neck whilst fooling around on the sofa... his neck/shoulder felt very tense right after the incident!

It really scared me so much that I cried. I was in shock. Luckily Flash is perfectly all right and he recovered fully from whatever it was within a few minutes... God, I never want to experience anything like this ever again!

Muzzled

I have decided to muzzle Dylan and Flash for a while again... They are normally muzzled when I take them out at peak walking times or to places where I don't know the dogs. In the mornings when I know everyone and the dogs know everyone, I didn't muzzle.

However, on Friday, Dylan bullied a lab. He never liked him much since he was hassled by a lab a while ago that wouldn't take "no" for an answer until Dylan had to get quite nasty to get rid of him. Since then he has been a bit full-on with some labs, though never injured any (and I always made sure I'd call him back before he ran up to them). However, on Friday, said lab suddenly appeared from behind without me noticing it (with owners, so no-one's fault). Dylan charged over and - unlike all the other times - the lab ran off and Dylan chased and nipped him, which made the lab yelp. The owner then told me that he'd been attacked two weeks ago and is a bit more worried now! Fair enough... so Dylan is muzzled now until we gain a bit more control again and things have settled.

The same Friday morning, another lab appeared literally out of nowhere with no owner in sight... I did hear a faint voice of a woman calling presumably this lab... from about 200 yards away or so. Flash wasn't happy with him (the lab had a challenging body posture which Flash doesn't like) and nipped him too... again, no injuries, but he kept at it as the lab - yet again - wouldn't leave us alone (even after being nipped). It took minutes until we finally managed to get rid of him!
What worried me though was that Flash's teeth kept chattering for quite a while even after the event and I didn't like that. I think it is because he got hold of meat/meat juices during the previous few days which my husband leaves out and doesn't bother to put away. Flash is allergic to animal protein and one of the symptoms is behaviour problems including lowering of the aggression threashold, less self-control and less bite inhibition! So apart from telling hubby off and get him to tidy up after himself, in particular meat food, I have also decided to muzzle Flash for a bit until things are under control again.

Top Dog... the TV show was finally broadcasted

On Friday, 18th April, the show with Flash and me was finally aired. Unfortunately we did not have sky in the cottage and couldn't find anyone that had. But last night, Sandra in the training classes, brought me the DVD which she had recorded.

Cornel and I watched it last night and it was most strange to see myself and even worse hearing myself talking... Although Flash didn't always do what he was supposed to do, it was lovely watching him. And they did show a lot of footage of him running, bless him! It's what he does best and he looks stunning.

But I am very proud of him; six months earlier, he wouldn't have been able to cope with this scenario! My boy did well and I will always cherrish the beautiful record I have of him now!

All the people I talked to that saw it loved it, eventhough Flash came last with not that many points (but he had some... ha ha). It was after all entertaining to watch!

Our holiday in Wales 12th - 19th April

We drove to West Wales on Saturday, 19th April. It was a smooth ride, the dogs were fine and we arrived at around 3.30 pm.

First of all a few pictures of the cottage Swallow's Dance, where we stayed

The front of the cottage

The back of the cottage

The huge garden which we all loved

The living area downstairs

The sitting area downstairs looking out into the garden


Saturday, 12th April - ARRIVAL

On the day of arrival, we just settled in and relaxed. The dogs had a good inspection of the house and garden and then started to play and run around in the lovely garden.

Dylan, Flash and Jesse playing


Yay, I can run here... Dylan going mad!

Troy patrolling the perimeter

I like it here, mummy!

Troy's favourite spot just outside the back door from where he could see all of the garden and observe the house too

What? - say Flash and Jesse

Wow, that's worth a shake...


Sunday, 13th April - WISEMAN'S BRIDGE BEACH

All of them together observing things first thing on our second day

Dylan having a walk around

King of the Castle... sorry, Cottage...




Monday, 14th April - NEWBALD BEACH



Tuesday, 15th April - FRESHWATER WEST BEACH



Wednesday, 16th April - PEMBROKE CASTLE and FRESHWATER WEST BEACH



Thursday, 17th April - A DAY OFF TO RELAX



Friday, 18th April - TENBY



Saturday, 19th April - TIME TO GO HOME

Titre Test

It was time again to do the yearly titre test on Flash. I took both Dylan and Flash to the vet. Dylan had the second blood test and Flash had blood taken for the titre. They were both very good at the vet's, though Flash was worried as usual, but coped fine.
Paul didn't have the lepto vaccine there (or rather the one they had was out of date), so Flash will go back next week to get that. I hope he doesn't need the full set of vaccinations as he is doing so well on his vegan diet and I'd hate to upset the immune system and cause problems with vaccinations.

1st Place in Culverston Match

Today, Flash, Jesse and I went to an obedience match in Culverston, which takes place every year.

Last year, Flash won 1st in his group (Primary: circle of heel, novice recall, sit and down stay). And he did the same again this year... WOW. Well done, Flash.

Heelwork was quite dodgy to start off with (though no tight lead), but once I got my hand in the right place, it was perfect! So that was all my fault.
Recall was fine until he didn't do a present... just like last year... I got him to sit somehow and then to do a finish... That's where we lost our points.
The sit and down stay were perfect, eventhough I had to do them with Jesse and Flash together next to each other. And even when the dog next to Jesse got up, they stayed put.

I am so proud of Flash. He did very well.

Jesse came third and I was more than happy with his performance as it was the very first time he was in the obedience ring.

TTouch

I asked Jacqui to come round yesterday to do some TTouch on Dylan and Flash in the hope she could help shed some light on what is going on with them. She found Dylan to have a problem in his back end... which isn't surprising really and Flash was also a bit tense at the back end and around the head. Some more TTouch and probably a trip to Sue, our chiropractor, will hopefully help sort things out in this respect.








Competing for attention


And all TTouched out