Differences

 

Differences

 

Arthur sleeps!

    There are many differences between working Labradors and Cocker Spaniels.

The most obvious difference is size. Labradors are bigger, between 25 and 38 kg. I’ve just discovered that working Labradors are known in the States as American or field-bred Labradors. British working Labradors are field-bred dogs from the UK and Ireland.

Working Cocker spaniels weigh 11 to 16 kg and are between 36 to 43 cm at the withers, which I have to remind myself is the highest point of the shoulder blades. Compare that to a Labrador standing 54 to 62 cm. at the same point.

Labradors are relaxed, steady dogs, though they do have their wild moments. Generally, well-exercised and well-fed dogs will settle down at your feet and snore sleep the hours away. Cockers are busy, fizzy little dogs. They are anxious to please and will greet their owners with enthusiasm and at least one toy in their mouths. Labradors are equally delighted to see their people and are keen to nose them and give them a good sniffing to discover where they’ve been and with whom.

When they’re outside, a cocker’s nose is never far from the ground if it’s not scenting the air. Labradors like to read the environment as well, but they’re not so keen to seek prey. That’s not their job. They are required to pick up, though they will sometimes spring birds or rabbits.

Both breeds love water and are drawn to it as to a magnet.

The biggest difference is in their approach to food. All Labradors – at least, all the many ones we’ve had, love food, and most of them live to eat, whereas cockers eat to live, from our limited experience of them.

When Arthur comes to play, we have to persuade him to eat, even when it’s obvious he’s hungry. Like a restless child, he is easily distracted from eating, whereas the Labradors plough straight through the food until there’s not a hint of a scent of anything left, and then look around with a half-starved expression, hoping to convince any passing human in the house that they really have not been fed for days.

Both breeds are great friends, like all dogs.

Jake

Dogs are wonderful companions, no matter what their provenance, and some of the best are rescue dogs looking for their forever homes. One of the loveliest dogs I ever knew was Jake, an absolute peach of a dog.

Of unknown breeding, he was delighted to be accepted and loved by my daughter and son-in-law. He was an amazingly loyal and loving dog to them and their children. When they acquired a Labrador puppy, and we went to see them, he would jump into the back of our car, hoping to come home with us. He liked the puppy but sometimes wanted a rest from her. All puppies are exhausting for a while and Jake enjoyed a quiet life. As the puppy grew up and calmed down, Jake became very fond of her.

There is always an unknown quality in rescue dogs. Unless they are very young puppies in a rescue centre, there is no knowing what has befallen them in their lives. It’s too easy to be led by the heart, rather than reason.

 Rescue societies do a grand job of assessing them and advising to the best of their ability whether a dog will settle with young children, or cats, or more than one or two people. The best rescue centres will interview prospective owners and will not release a dog unless and until they are satisfied that the dog is going to a good home and will not be returned in a few weeks when the novelty has worn off.

We don’t deserve dogs, really.                        

Human and veterinary medical procedures

 

Human and veterinary medical procedures

Barry had his nose medically photographed again. It’s a fine nose, but he’ll be getting above his station if people keep taking photographs of it. It’s for the dermatology department to consider what next to do, if anything.

In the afternoon of that day, a doctor called to say that Barry should present himself at hospital on the following Friday for a colonography – another sort of photograph, really! Thursday was spent ‘preparing’ so he didn’t stray far from the house.

We’re not superstitious, so Friday 13^th didn’t bother us and all I had to do was worry, anyway. I’m very good at that – I’ve had lots of practice.

On Monday 16^th, Barry intended to go to the walk-in centre at one of the local hospitals for a chest x-ray, but something cropped up to prevent that, so he decided to go in on Tuesday. However, there was a call on Tuesday morning, to tell him that he needed a colonoscopy to remove some polyps. This would be organised very soon.

The colonography had also revealed a potential problem with the prostate and ‘someone from Urology would call.’ In the afternoon, ‘someone from Urology did call’ to tell him to report immediately to the Emergency Surgical Unit. They thought it highly unlikely he would be kept in overnight, but Barry obeyed Flanagan’s Law and prepared as if to stay. It was fortunate he did, as he stayed in for two nights. 

Once again, it was not a restful stay, with the man in the bed next to him needing the attention of two nurses all night, to calm him down and make sure he stayed in bed. Barry was pleased to get home on Thursday, and was greeted rapturously by Roxy and Gilbert, and also by Arthur and Lottie, who had spent the day with me.

Jellicoe, our diabetic cat, ate very little on Thursday evening, which is most unusual. On Friday morning, he ate most of his breakfast, but then started behaving quite strangely. He was sniffing his way cautiously round the house and we deduced that he had suddenly gone blind and perhaps had had a stroke. He spent the day with the vets and came home in the afternoon, quite his usual self. There had been a diabetic imbalance in his system. Feline diabetes can be difficult to control, and Jellicoe is particularly challenging.

Roxy also went to the vet, for a pedicure. We have not been able to take the dogs out very much recently and her claws were exceptionally long. Before Barry could prevent her, she ate all her toe clippings!

So, the chest x-ray will now be next week, I suppose, unless something else urgently needs attention. There are two family birthdays next week. My daughter-in-law has her birthday on 25^th September, and my great-grandson, Fergus, is ten years old the following day.

                                                                            

Feeding time

                                                                 Feeding time

                                           Roxy and Arthur

        Working cocker spaniels eat to live. Arthur has to be persuaded to concentrate on eating and is very easily distracted. He is a fizzy little dog, tail and nose never still, and he would like to be a lap dog. He is such an affectionate fellow.

Gilbert

Working Labradors live to eat. For Roxy, eating is a hobby, one that she likes to indulge as often as possible. Gilbert enjoys his food, but is not greedy. Is that a difference between male and female dogs?

Bitches, in the expectation of rearing puppies, are hard-wired to eat when food is freely available, to build up fat reserves against the times when food is scarce. The instinct remains despite being spayed. That’s just my observation – I’m not a behavioural expert.

Arthur is busy most of the time. Gilbert is a lively young lad and Roxy watches the two boys play, relieved that she is having some respite and giving an occasional short bark of remonstration if they get too noisy or rough.

Jellicoe

We call Jellicoe the third Labrador. He would also like to develop his obsession with food and steals from the dogs’ bowls if he can get away with it, as well as swiping food from our plates. For him, the naughty corner is the conservatory. He doesn’t really mind – it’s light and warm and full of plants – and his banishment never lasts long.

                                                                    Herschel

Herschel is just a normal cat. He eats when he’s hungry and doesn’t attempt to supplement his rations with food from other sources.

A week ago

 

A week ago – how time flies!

A week ago today, Sunday, it was Easter Sunday and we had been invited to lunch with Susannah and James, along with some friends of theirs.

I made a trifle to add to the festive table.  My trifles are quite substantial and threaten to overwhelm my ‘trifle dish’ (a Pyrex bowl!) which is not very large. That doesn’t usually matter as it’s just a short distance from the kitchen to the dining room. However, as it was travelling further afield, I had to balance it on my lap in the dog car. The roads, like most in the UK, are full of pot holes and temporary patches and we have the added pleasure in this area of ‘sleeping policemen’.

The journey was made more interesting by the myriad of traffic lights, which seem to proliferate day by day. Holes are dug, heavy plant and other work vehicles of the ‘Motorway maintenance’ variety are parked near them, and occasionally one or two workmen may be observed, sometimes even doing something down a hole or at the controls of a digger. Usually, nothing is happening, apart from drivers becoming ever more frustrated as access is blocked or diverted and temporary traffic lights impede their progress. I feel very sorry for those who commute to work daily or who drive delivery vans for a living, and I dread to think how emergency vehicles cope.

The custard and cream slid from one side to the other as Barry drove carefully from our house to theirs, applying the brakes many times as he negotiated obstacles. As it was Easter Sunday, there were many cars parked outside friends’ and relatives’ houses, people taking the opportunity to visit and be sociable. This had the effect of narrowing the roads, turning them into a slalom course. It was a stop-start, staccato journey and I feared I would present with a bowl and lapful of trifle by the time we arrived, but managed to avoid that. I have now bought a ‘proper’ footed trifle dish!

We had a lovely day and everybody was suitably exhausted by the end of it.

Barely able to move!

Roxy and Gilbert were flat out for the whole of Monday, and unusually quiet, and so were Susannah and James’s dogs, Arthur and Lottie. 

Half in, half out of bed 

Like young children, dogs love seeing their pals, and having happy new experiences and meeting different people. Roxy basked in the joys of being stroked and talked to and receiving lots of attention without young Gilbert barging in, demanding, ‘Me too, me too’. 

He was busy fetching and playing and his tail wagged non-stop, miraculously without knocking things flying.

 Since he was a very small puppy, Gilbert has liked to lie under my chair and under my legs. He sometimes goes there for reassurance if he thinks he's in trouble. At other times he just wants contact. He doesn't realise he's so much bigger now, and squeezes in so I end up in some very odd contortions. He doesn't usually stay for long, though, and it's very pleasant to feel his warm body next to my feet and legs.

We bought Roxy and Gilbert some toothbrushes recently. 

‘Whimzees’ come in various shapes and sizes from extra small to large. I rather like the alligators and will enjoy seeing the dogs trying them out soon.

Wait!

                                                Look at me!

                                        Good dogs, look at me.

                                                        Gently!

Good girl, Roxy.

Good boy, Gilbert.

Gilbert the good – update

 

Gilbert the Good – update

Well, good morning my faithful readers. I said I’d let you know what happened at the vets. I went back to see them on Monday and I know they really, really like me ‘cos they wanted to see me again yesterday. They said that although I was heeling healing really well they wanted me to carry on wearing the puppygro for another week. Then they would see me again and after that I could go out on a lead. I ask you, where’s the fun in that?  So I’m a bit fed up. The good news is that I won’t have my stitches taken out. They will dissolve because they’re magic!

Janice has hauled the puppygro off me again, twice. She washed it yesterday but then it got wet this morning when I went out. There are lots of puddles in the garden and I think it came untucked and dragged in one of them . . . or else I peed on it . . . so she heaved it off me. She said it might smell, otherwise.  I thought that wouldn’t matter too much – it would only smell of me and that’s alright in my book, Honestly, the woman’s got a positive fetish about washing things as you can read here.

The humans have got to ‘keep an eye’ on Roxy’s lumps. I wonder how they’re going to do that? Whose eye will they use? We all need all our eyes and anyway how would they make it stay in place? It sounds daft to me but I’m only a dog, so what do I know?

Did I tell you that Roxy’s got kennel cough? I don’t know where she found it as she only sees me and Arthur and Lottie. It’s not very bad and the vets have dealt with it. Roxy told me she had something sprayed up her nose – no wonder she’s coughing.

Jellicoe’s coughing too, but Janice thinks it might be ‘reverse sneezing’. That cat can’t do anything the simple way.

TTFN

Gilbert 

Morning has broken

Morning has broken . . .

Arthur and Lottie have been enjoying doggy hols with Roxy and Gilbert while their owners have gone off to distant - and warmer - climes. They have settled very well and Lottie has decided we are worth protecting, assuming the responsibility for barking at goodness knows what. She doesn't bark very often or for very long.

Lottie, with the wayward topknot that just begs for a ribbon, (but won't get one!) is a working Cocker Spaniel, like her companion, Arthur.

She sleeps downstairs in the big crate which serves all the dogs, apart from Roxy, as a place to go and calm down during the day, although obviously not all at once! 

She always greets everyone with enthusiasm and has to find something to carry in her mouth while doing so. Arthur does the same. Today's excited greeting was accompanied by her blue blanket for a little early morning dusting before the other dogs came downstairs.

It was followed by a vigorous play session with Gilbert, who is very much bigger and stronger than her. He understands that he is subordinate to her and respects her position in the pack, just as she has learnt that all canines are inferior to cats.

After that it was time for breakfast and a post-prandial snooze. 

Adder

 

Adder (Viper berus)

Early this morning when Susannah went running with Arthur she found an adder on the track. It was small and probably dead. 

Adders are venomous but there are very few reports of adder bites since these snakes are shy and rarely seen. Like all snakes, they are cold-blooded and have to bask in the sun to increase their body temperature and speed up their metabolism.

Here is a joke from my childhood:

‘Why couldn’t the viper viper her nose?

Because the adder adder handkerchief.’

Susannah has just returned from walking Roxy and Gilbert. She didn’t find any more adders.

 

 

Gilbert the Good - proper swimming

Gilbert the Good - proper swimming  

The other day I thought I’d help the humans with putting the shopping away. They didn’t seem to think that my bed was the right place to put the mackerel pâté. I dunno, I suppose they’re right - it would be too warm. I was really careful carrying it, though, but then we Labradors are known for having soft mouths.

Roxy and I aren’t having brazils regularly any more – too fatty, apparently. It makes sense – if the humans only have three a day, one a day for us dogs is too much. We still have our carrots every day and celery some days and I’ve discovered I almost like lamb’s lettuce, but Roxy doesn’t.

Arthur came to play when Susannah had to go to London. It was all nice and quiet until Jellicoe came in with a baby magpie in his mouth. The humans tried to get it away from him but he wouldn’t let go so they had to shut him outside and leave him to it. We all tried to help but it was no good. Poor magpie! I think it died of fright. I dunno why Jellicoe wanted it – he didn’t eat it or anything. He just walked away and left it on the ground. It’s a good thing we dogs are bigger than him or he’d hunt us down, too. 

 Barry’s got a new harness arrangement thing that means Roxy and I can both be attached to him at the same time.

 It takes quite a long time for him to get into it. Janice wonders if he could attach a parachute to it. 

Anyway, the weather has been beautiful lately and we’ve been having wonderful walks in the woods. 

Roxy and I really like it when we go to the ponds. We went to the big pond the other day, where Roxy first learnt to swim. We did some proper swimming - no paws touching the bottom. It was exciting! 

The humans said when Roxy was young she always used to hold her head up high when she swam, as if she didn’t want to get her hair wet. 

 I nearly managed to get the stick away from Roxy . . .

  We were still quite damp when we got home but we soon dried off on the furniture. It's so  kind of Janice to put clean covers on the chairs for us.

We're  going out in a few minutes, so I've got Barry's shoe for him. I'm a very helpful chap.*

*Janice says: It's the wrong shoe, but we won't tell him that. We don't want to hurt his feelings.

*Janice says: These are the boots he needed.

Gilbert’s greetings

 

Gilbert’s greetings

Gilbert greets everyone with enthusiasm and a toy. It’s a habit he has learned from Arthur, Susannah’s busy, energetic Cocker spaniel, and a thing none of our other dogs have ever done.

Arthur with a few of Gilbert's toys

Wagging his tail and pinning his ears back, he grabs a toy and advances on his prey, I mean, human friend. This morning, Gilbert greeted Barry with his emu. 

Having retired rather too late last night, Barry was not very receptive to Gilbert’s overtures, so he tried Roxy. She was slumbering in a lovely patch of sunlight and averse to high jinks at 6:00 a.m. She is a lady, after all, and advancing in age, though the years drop away when she’s galloping round the forest.

Finally, he gambolled over to me and we engaged in a game, after which he retreated to his bed to chew and reflect and, finally, sleep, with a cat, naturally.

Jellicoe provides a soft, warm pillow for Gilbert

Chewing in tandem

 Chewing in tandem

In another example of what Barry refers to as my 'shoot, aim, observe' attitude, in a hurry, as usual, I wrote before I thought carefully enough. Of course, Gilbert and Roxy are not 'in tandem' but side by side. I still think 'in tandem' sounds nice even if it isn't strictly accurate!

Chewing in slo-mo is so much tastier

We always give Roxy a large chew and Gilbert a smaller one, but they often swap over

Arthur is here for the day, to Roxy and Gilbert's delight. 

A working Cocker spaniel is very different to a working Labrador. Arthur is much busier and always has to have something in his mouth, usually two or three somethings. Labradors are more relaxed. Even Gilbert at 18 weeks, is ready to flop down and sleep. We are told that Arthur sleeps all day at home, but when he's with us he doesn't stop until we put him in Gilbert's crate., obviously not with Gilbert!  When he's with his working Cocker friend, they play themselves to exhaustion.

After a riotous and extremely noisy play session, with Roxy watching the two youngsters and grumbling at them to be quiet, they settled down with chews. We gave them Himalayan Yak milk chews, which kept them busy for a while, until they started trying to pinch each other's chew, at which point we separated them. 

Another visit to the vet

 

Another visit to the vet 

Last Thursday, Gilbert was fourteen weeks old and visited the vet again for his final vaccinations. As he was not allowed to put paw to ground until fully immunised, he had to be carried. He now weighs 12 kilograms, the average weight of a three-year-old child, but he doesn’t cling on in the same way!

Most three-year old children are competent walkers and climbers and puppies would love to have the same freedom to tackle stairs and steps. The difference between them, though, is that children don’t generally fling themselves up and down stairs with gay abandon. Given the opportunity, puppies will.

However, there are dangers in allowing them to go full pelt because of the potential damage to their growth plates.

This is an x-ray of a two-week old puppy, showing how far the bones have to grow before forming a joint. 

From the Internet: ‘Growth plates are soft areas of developing cartilage tissue found by the ends of the dog's long bones. They are made of cartilage when the puppy is born, but gradually calcify and harden into solid bone; prior to that, the growth plates are vulnerable to being injured and possibly fractured because they are the last portion of the bones to harden.

Generally, most growth takes place between the ages of 4 to 8 months. After 8 months, there is minimal longitudinal growth of bones. By 12 months most growth plates are fused or closed and no longer show on x-rays. In some large/giant dog breeds the growth plates may remain open up to 18–20 months of age.’

We have always used the rule of thumb of 5 minutes of exercise per puppy month. When Gilbert sets paw in the outside world later on this week, he will be on a carefully controlled extending lead, so that he can explore and sniff the information left by other dogs. It will be an exciting time for him – and for us.

In the past two weeks Gilbert has learnt to climb stairs, under close supervision and control. At first he zig-zagged from side to side as he climbed, stopping every now and then to discover that Roxy, Herschel and Jellicoe had been there before him. 

Coming downstairs he always wants to go faster than he is allowed, usually because he wants to get into the garden. He has been a very reliable puppy, only having had one or two ‘mistakes’ in the house when he first joined us.

He seems to be in a hurry to grow up. It’s always amazing that puppies grow so quickly but Gilbert appears to grow visibly by the day. In the last week his adult coat has started to come through. The soft plush of his puppy coat now has a coarser strip along his spine.

He loves playing with Arthur and doesn’t grab his ears as frequently as he did, probably because he is now taller than him. Roxy plays with Gilbert, too, but not as much or as frequently as he would like. I think that will change as they start going out together for walks.

Herschel continues to strengthen his bond with Gilbert but Jellicoe usually ignores him in the supercilious way only cats demonstrate. Gilbert is grateful for any attention, even that of being positively ignored.

He saw Selene-the-Vet this time. She confirmed Patrycja-the-Vet’s discovery that one of his testicles hasn’t descended. We have to wait now to see whether the second testicle will descend by the time he is six months old. Life as a stud dog was never envisioned for Gilbert, nor a career in the show ring - just as well, really.

From the Internet: ‘Dogs with cryptorchidism can develop torsion, an extremely painful condition where the testicle twists upon itself, inhibiting blood flow. The testicle swells as it becomes engorged with blood. This condition typically presents with abdominal pain and evidence of a firm mass in the stomach. The pain can be so severe it causes the dog to go into shock. Immediate removal of the testicle is required to provide relief.’

Dogs with cryptorchidism are at a higher risk of developing testicular cancer later in life. Testicular cancer is the second most common cancer in older male dogs, and the risk among dogs with cryptorchidism increases by about 13 percent.’

It was all going so swimmingly! Hopefully, the problem will resolve itself. Meanwhile, we shall be keeping a closer eye on Gilbert’s nether regions than we had anticipated. I was going to say ‘watch this space’ but that hardly seems appropriate!  

 

Where does the time go?

Gilbert is nearly twelve weeks old now and enormous – for a puppy. We think he’s going to be a big dog, as tall as Bertie

 and as broad as Gus.

I believe that it’s preferable to have a summer puppy, rather than a winter puppy, but over the years we’ve had a mixture of both. The main differences are in the hours of darkness and the weather. Summer tends to be warmer and the daylight hours are longer, though many days can be quite chilly, and very wet. It’s not unheard of for us to light a fire in June!

We had a couple of rainy days when Gilbert was first with us but now it’s dry and very cold, -7° Celsius yesterday morning with a sparkling hard frost, but taking him out to relieve himself has not been particularly arduous. He quickly does what he has to, then, depending on the time, goes back to bed or has breakfast. This morning he woke us at 6:00, but a few days ago he wanted to go out at 1:00 a.m. and then again at 6:00. Some mornings he has woken us at 3:45. In general, though, he has slept through the night, and starts his day between 5:00 and 6:00!

Roxy plays with him now. 

He’s very respectful of her and easily put in his place and that’s just as it should be. Susannah’s little dog, Arthur, is far too accommodating and doesn’t discipline Gilbert. His long spaniel ears and the plentiful feathers on his tail and legs are just too inviting for a pup to ignore. We are very vigilant and separate them when they get too excited. Playing together when one of the pair is in the pen is much safer!

Frankie is growing up fast. He has started making video clips, using his ‘phone. He adds music and text and uses different voices for the characters. It’s a good and imaginative way to express himself and he’s exploring relationships and feelings, though he doesn’t realise it.

On Friday, he went with his class to ‘The Living Rainforest’. Before he left for school he said that he wanted to hold a tarantula if he was given the opportunity. ‘I’m scared of spiders,’ he said, ‘but I’ve got to get over it.’ With a positive attitude like that he should go far.

Though still cold, the weather has improved. Last night’s temperature was -2° and at 6:00 this morning it was zero.  It feels quite balmy and this afternoon’s predicted temperature of 5° sounds almost tropical. There’s no wind, which makes a huge difference. No matter what the weather, the birds and squirrels are busily preparing to procreate, apart from the wood pigeons, which are active all year round.

A pair of magpies is nesting in a nearby oak. Watching them yesterday, I concluded they were refurbishing their nest, as they pulled out leaves and twigs. They keep a lookout for the red kite which roosts near them and will attempt to steal any chicks, though they will vigorously  defend their offspring and chase it away.

red kite being pursued by crow

A visit to the vet

 

A visit to the vet

On Thursday, Gilbert was 10 weeks old and ready for his next vaccinations.

He wasn’t very happy in the car. The last time he was in a car he had a long journey from Shropshire to Berkshire but this time it was a five minute drive to our vet, not long  enough to unsettle his stomach!

               

Vet Patrycja greeted us at the car and carried Gilbert in to the consulting room. She had seen the sadness of Gus and Bertie’s final days, so was delighted to see a young, healthy puppy.

Gilbert, of course, was excited to meet another new human. He’s very excited about everything and particularly if treats are involved. 

Back home, he settled down for a snooze before Arthur came to play.

Roxy and the cats watched tolerantly as the two youngsters mauled each other, then they went to sleep. 

Jellicoe doesn't stand any nonsense from Gilbert and tells him off with a hiss and a cuff if he becomes too boisterous.

Herschel adores the dogs and understands that Gilbert is young. Therefore, his discipline is firm but less harsh than his brother's. 

Jellicoe takes the meaning of 'dog bed' to a new dimension. Roxy doesn't seem to mind.

Herschel likes to sleep in the Master's chair, cosy on the faux fur cover.

He's quite well camouflaged!

In four weeks' time we will repeat the exercise. By then, Gilbert will be quite big and heavy. At nine weeks he weighed 6.5 kg. This week he was 7.8 kg. 

Will he have put on another 5 kg by then? I suspect it will be more! Carrying him up and down stairs will become more and more of a weight-lifting exercise. Will it improve my core strength, I wonder?