Settling in

Dare has been with me now for 7 weeks !!! where did all that time go ??

Sorry i cant figure out how to turn the pic over but there he is in the middle of some of mine and Sharons pack - not so dog aggressive now :o) x

He is settling in well and finally beginning to feel confident in exploring the house - he now mooches about on his own without having to be permenantly glued to my side !

He is much more at home with the other dogs and as i type is asleep on the sofa cuddled up inbetween kia and Crusoe . He is still very wary of Mishka GSD (he has a GSD phobia !) but is now able to cope with being near her - still not brave enough to puch past her in the hallway etc.

He is really good offlead and has a fab recall - totally focussed on herding Magix which at the min I am allowing - hoping to transfer this fixation on to a toy like i did with Jack but all in good time, At the min its just nice to see him running and jumping and getting used to his body . Weight loss is all going good although he is still a lazy bum and needs encouraging to run (unlike my others) . He is such a fussy eater - which i have never had to deal with before and refuses to eat dry food without any meat on it - so the Chappie sales in west penwith have gone up considerably as then they all have to have it on their tea !!

He is now fine at travelling in the van - no stressy panting or drooling so i guess although flooding is not recommended when needs must sometimes it does work ! (poor Dare but i had no choice he has to come with me in the van everyday) he happily hops in the van now and has got his own crate which he prefers .

He is doing really well at meeting people and has got a few male friends which i never thought would happen . As long as people IGNORE him and let him go to them then he seems ok - why why why though when you say ignore him do people have to speak to him ?? its driving me mad its as if they all believe they have the magic charm to win the collie round !! actaully u knob you are stressing him out and your either going to get bitten or thumped by me !!! annnndddd why when you put a muzzle on a dog do people make a bee line to try and talk to it ?? are you stupid ?? Rant over :o)

Consequently he rarely wears his muzzle now - except for our early morning walks which are now in the dark boooooo and i cant see who is on the moors (no one in their right mind!) so i muzzle him just incase we bump into anyone unexpected :o)

He is sooo like Kai its scarey and very deja vu as Kai is a NAWT boy who came to me with his muzzle and in some respects Dare is already better than Kai in terms of his rehab . Kai is my little protector and takes his job a little too seriously (sorry uncle Alf) Dare on the other hand is reactive but able to change his response in the right situation - Kai if you try to hurt me (in his eyes) will still ;after 3 yrs with me , flip out (sorry uncle Alf !!!)and can not then be reasoned with until the bad person is at least a mile away from me . They have such similar looks its uncanny at times.

He has met some of the volunteers from the NAWT (Les and Judy) and he was overjoyed to see them again . It was also nice for me as I left Les to hold him and Dare was not keen at being parted from me so the little chap knows who his mum is now :o)

Agility training began this weekend with Sharon and he can do 2 jumps, a round, tunnel, and beginning to learn 2x2 weaves. He is treat and toy motivated but can loose confidence and go off sniffing so keeping sessions really short and highly exciting/ motivating and see how we get on

thanks for reading

Anne and Dare x x x

Hellooooo waistline !!

We can fianlly see a waistline !! Dare is not longer completely round - it seems the hours of hiking, swimming and chasing are starting to have some effect ( I was beginning to wonder if they ever would !) I can def feel his ribs now instead of them being buried beneath a layer of chub !

He has been a very good boy and I road tested him offlead at agility (with his muzzle on) with strangers (Sharon Ang Sibylle and Aileen - cant much stranger than those bunch!!! :o) and he was really very good . He loves Sharon as if he has always known her - he was a bit bad with Aileen and was happy to eat her treats but decided she was NOT allowed to try and touch him - tee hee !

Dare's agility training has begun (i think the chances of me letting him offlead in a field full of strangers is unlikely but he will get trained the same as the others just coz i like training !) He has now got a nice sit wait, and a good down. He already had some idea about jumps as the staff at the kennels took him a couple of times to agility on a saturday. Cant ever see him making full height he is the most uncoordinated dog I have had - he fell off the hedge this morning because he had no idea where his back legs were !
We have begun weaving 2x2 - its the first time i have used this method so we are learning this one together seems to be going well and he can totally do the 2 poles at 2 o clock and 8 o clock after one session this evening .

He is beginning to be a real pushy collie ( which is lovely to see) and is beginning to learn that demanding fuss does not always work - jumping up is his new trick which is quite cute but not something i am encouraging :o) His confidence is growing and growing off lead and he now gallops off herding the others . We have a GSP staying at the moment and Rowan and Dare have become great friends and seem to find running huge laps of the fields as a very rewarding behaviour ??!!

So the boy is doing well to be honest i forget he has any issues a lot of the time - we so rarely have visitors or meet anyone on a walk that i can quite happily pretend he is normal !! Although i will begin to address his meeting and greating of people next month when he is even more settled.
The poor boy is shut downstairs with all the other dogs (of course not Lace!!) as they stink of cow muck after chasing around Harvey's fields ! he is doing his best 'dog in kennels' look from the other side of the baby gate :o)

Have run out of things to write now and i am sure i was going to put something else in this update !!!

Thanks for reading
Anne and Dare x

Its as if he has always been here

Sorry for the delay but my computer decided to go off sick - so I have currently nicked Dad's so i can catch up on emails and update Dare's blog :o)

He has settled in really well - at first I thought being in a pack may have been a bit much for him as he was so withdrawn but my lovely bunch of mad dogs have shown him how to party and he is really starting to act like a collie at last !

I let him off lead for the first time about a week ago (i know very soon but i tend to go with my gut feelings and it felt right) he was such a scaredy boy that he didnt really wander far . It took him 3 days to finally try running and now he loves it - chasing birds is his favourite past time so no cliff walking for us ! Hr has a fab recall and i can call him off two running ponies without any trouble (which Lucy will know is a big deal after his first reaction to ponies !)

Its been fun watching him settle in - a bit like watching a new boy at school . He started off hanging out with the teachers pets/ geeks (sorry Kai and Crusoe but you are ! ) but you could tell he really wanted to hang out with the cool gang . He is now spending most of his time with Magic (brave move) but I guess every boy wants to be friends with the prettiest girl and thats definatly my Magic - and she knows it ! She has told him off loads but he is yet to be put off.

In the mornings when he wakes up he still does his crazy rolling and mad runnning aound the house he genuinely seems glad to wake up here everyday which is such a nice way to look at the world :o)

He has been to 2 agility shows and camped at one . A very good boy throughout and is learning that most people carry sausage and can be mugged for it ! He was fab when he met Sharon it was as if he had always known her straight up to her for a hug and thats what he got ! He also has the most amazing memory and dragged me across the agility field to see Lesley who had fed him some cheese the weekend before !

He can still be very very afraid - i took him with me to the toilets (very dark and cramped little toilets) late at night at the show , thought nothing of it until we got there . . . bless him he had a proper panic attack at me trying to take him into the dark place . Luckily i had lots of treats and we got there in the end . I guessing it brought back memories of being in a shed ? :o(

He is one big cuddly bear of a dog and follows me everywhere the other dogs have accepted him totally and he is getting used to the ever changing dog visitors we have here . Slowly he is learning to play tuggy which is fab

I love him to bits :o)