NEVER A DULL MOMENT

Catch me if you can!

Life is never dull in our household. I didn't realise how well I had trained Frank. I so miss my morning cuppa in bed, the great cooked breakfasts at the weekend, and the wonderful dinners he prepares when I am just too tired to cook. Now, I just have to get on with it while he scoots up and down stairs on his bum, hobbles around on his crutches or mostly just sits with his leg supported on a cushion while watching the cricket world cup. In the meantime, I have totally lost track of what is going on on Neighbours, (shameful confession!!!) while I wait longingly for the 1st April when, hopefully, the plaster comes off and a semblance of normality returns to the household. The only trouble is, he now knows that I know how to change a dead brake light, top up the oil, and check the tyre pressures on the car although, I have to admit, the blown fuses for the interior lights have still defeated me. It has taken 30+ years to train him, (he is no border collie), and I can't help but wonder if life will ever be the same again.
    I am so glad we have had a few Spring-like days so that I have been able to take Frank out to the coast for a change of view, (thus avoiding 'caged bear syndrome'). He has been able to do some bird-watching armed with his binnoculars and spotting scope while I have taken the dogs off for a mega romp along the beaches.


'Splish -splash'

I finally managed to complete the articles for the new Large Munsterlander handbook. They were a real challenge as I was trying to write from a factual point of view rather than a personal point of view. It also meant that I had to do some research as my memory of events from more than 40 years ago was not totally up to scratch. Not only that, but I then had to justify some of my facts and respond to queries from the 'ed' and rewrite bits here and there. It was actually great experience for me and I thoroughly enjoyed doing it. The worst part was sending the photos through; for some reason, I always have problems sending photos by email. I regret to say, I am still a luddite at heart. I also dragged my 'patient' down the road to take some photos of Ghillie tracking for the article on working trials. We hadn't done any tracking for a while and Ghillie set off at a rate of knots while I was still trying to sort out the tracking line. I got totally mixed up in it and how I didn't end up face down in the mud, I shall never know. Frank insisted it would have been a brilliant photo to demonstrate how not to.....

'I know there's chicken here somewhere'

Ghillie continues to improve after his latest illnesses, although I was shocked when the results of his faecal samples came back from the lab showing positive for parvo again. This is an almost identical scenario with last year when he also had a bad attack of parvo 3 months after his booster injections. This time it has been complicated by pancreatitis and none of the vets know whether the parvo caused the pancreatitis or whether the pancreatitis made him susceptible to the parvo. We are now waiting for the latest results from samples I sent to the lab on Friday. No-one seems to know whether he is shedding the parvo virus, or whether he is contagious, so we are trying to keep him away from other dogs at the moment. If anyone reading this has any experience with these issues which are even mystifying our vet and the vet school, I would appreciate any input you could send to me.
The final bit of bad news, although not a surprise, is that I have had the results of a genetic test carried out in the USA for Ghillie and he is affected with a condition that can give rise to stones in the bladder and the kidneys. My poor boy really doesn't deserve to have any more problems. You would never think he had anything wrong when he is out running, he looks so strong and full of life. Still we will keep our fingers crossed that we can stay on top of all these problems and hope that once again he will bounce back and continue to give us so much joy and love.


'Ghillie'