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