Poor Dexter dog

P1010012.JPG

Originally uploaded by swingnut.

Dexter was bitten by another dog on Monday night.

We had gone to the park, for me to do some training for my Race for Life, and while I was running Ade was walking Dex. Dex saw two other dogs and ran up to say hello. One of the dogs took offence and bit Dexter.

Dexter ran off and cowered under a tree the other side of the park. The guy who owned the dogs came up to tell Ade that Dex was bitten, but they couldn’t see Dexter. When they eventually found him, they discovered that he had a chunk taken out of his side.

So, we took him straight to the out of hours vet. The wound was raw flesh, there was no blood, but it looked bad and was maybe 3-4 inches round. Dex was surprisingly fine though and didn’t seem bothered by it.

The vet said it needed to be stitched straight away and prepared Dex for surgery. Luckily he hadn’t had his evening meal so could be anaesthetised. He was given a pre-med that made him woozy, his legs started collapsing underneath him and he looked drunk; then he was taken into surgery.

2 hours, 15 stitches and £500 (we have insurance luckily!) later, he was ready to come home. He spent the first night with a lampshade ‘cone’ on his head but it distressed him a lot, so Ade made him a foamy doughnut to stop him biting his stitches. He’s lucky, he’s a puppy with elastic skin, so he’s healing well and is still ‘Dexter’ – still playful and loving and licky and a bit bitey at times. He would still appreciate healing thoughts and virtual hugs though!

Gummy Bear

Tooth

Originally uploaded by Ms Chick.

Dexter’s losing his puppy teeth. Every now and then he spits one out, usually after a game of tug – we’ve got quite a collection of them now.

This also means he’s teething again – so anything that stays still long enough for him to get his jaws round it is chew fodder!

He’ll have to suck his food before long.

Lurve is in the air

Yesterday was Dexter’s first day at school.

Considering Dexter already knows the basic commands sit, lie, paw, other paw, wait and come we thought he’d be the star pupil.

Unfortunately Dexter had other ideas.

He spent most of the hour-long class making sweet puppy dog eyes at an admittedly rather gorgeous Malamute puppy (scroll down the page to see a pic of a pup) called Maddie.

As for Maddie – she was equally enamoured with Dexter.

The only lessons these two were interested in were lessons in love, sweet love.

Yikes! – 2 weeks to Christmas Day!

Gimme that bauble!

Originally uploaded by prrincess purrplechick.

Where has the time gone? Only 13 days of preparation left and so much left to do!

We’ve bought a small Christmas tree that we can put on a table so that Dexter doesn’t just eat the baubles – although he tried to pinch them when Ade decorated the tree.

We still have so much shopping to do, and the shops at this time of year are horrendously busy. I hate shopping at Christmas, but there are some things I *have* to get from the shops. We try to get as much as we can on the Internet, but it’s a pain getting it delivered when we’re both at work all day.

For some reason I feel quite unbothered by Christmas this year. I think there are a number of reasons: getting older; getting increasingly fed up with the excess commercialism; trying so hard to think of fantastic presents for the people who quite literally have everything… Also I never get to spend Christmas day with my own family – the last time I was with my parents (who go abroad for Christmas) on Christmas day was 5 years ago. However this year I should hopefully be seeing my sisters in the days shortly after Christmas for the first time in years

I have my work Christmas party on Friday (always a messily drunken affair) – maybe that will help get me in the Christmas spirit

Things I have learned in the last 24 hours

- Puppies will chew everything. And I mean everything.
- I reckon it will take about 4 days before Dexter gets on the bed with us, of his own free will. He’s already trying.
- Puppies are sleep, eat and poo machines.
- The gate and trellis area by the back door is not Dexter proof. I nearly lost him at about 1.30 a.m., through the 10cm gap in the gate.
- Using the umbrella to block the steps means that Dexter won’t escape to the back door and might actually wee in the garden.
- The above point means that we all get wet, when it’s raining and blowing a gale.
- Crouching down to puppy level makes your back ache.
- There is nothing cuter than a dog stopping crying when you place your hand on them.
- Dexter will get into everything. And I mean everything.
- It’s not easy to clean up pee at 4 a.m. when you have a puppy swinging off the bottom of your pyjama legs.
- Everyone falls in love with a puppy. Especially one as small yet gorgeous as Dexter.
- Having a shower will be difficult unless I go right now while he’s asleep.

Puppy power!

Cuteness overload

Originally uploaded by prrincess purrplechick.

Meet Dexter, our little bundle of mischief and poo. He’s a lurcher puppy.

Poor little Dexter is only 8 weeks old but has already had a harsh life. He was one of 2 litters of pups born to dogs on a travellers’ site. The puppies were starving, the mothers weren’t fed enough to be able to feed the pups, and so they were rescued.

Dexter comes from a litter of 5; the other litter had 10 puppies and sadly only 4 survived. They just weren’t strong enough to make it The pups from Dexter’s litter are all doing well though, eating lots and being very boisterous.

We picked Dexter up today from Bristol, coincidentally only about 4 miles away from the University hospital where we took Jack. There are other coincidences too: the organisation that rescued Dexter was the one we gave some of Jack’s stuff to. Dexter even looks a little like Jack.

So now we are embarking on the fun that is house training. We’ve already had several little accidents but it’s to be expected. He’s just starting to recognise his name, but knows no commands yet. All he does is eat, sleep and play This first night with him should be fun!