Sarah Holroyd KCAI

20/05/2024

A day in the garden, playing together, and a trip to Ballachulish.

15/05/2024

Bru has been very good today. Making friends with Dobby, play in the gallery, and settled in his crate, more visitors, and a bit of fun before settling for the evening…

14/05/2024

Today was a big trip to the vet to get second DHP vaccine. Bru took it all in his stride.
Later we had visitors bearing gifts- thank you. A new squeaky duck toy which they played with well. They’re learning to play together, though Bru does end up overstepping!

13/05/2024

An outing to the Co-op today made for a sleepy pup this afternoon. Had a mad hour in the evening though to make up for it!

12/05/2024

Today Bru has been playing in the garden and continuing work on his hole! We’ve put a cone over it so no one falls down it!
Catching raindrops dripping off the shed is a great new game.
The thunder was a little concerning, but he came to me, we didn’t make a fuss, went to the back door where we had some treats, and then upstairs where we played some music and he wasn’t bothered at all by the thunder.

11/05/2024

A fun day with more visitors to meet. Sunny and warm to play in the garden (good job I’m not precious about the lawn as he’s decided to dig a wee hole!). We did a nice bit of play on lead in the front garden, and a bit of training in the gallery too. A new chicken flavoured nylabone chew is proving popular and keeping little puppy teeth occupied. And settled out of the crate beside me to watch dr who. When he’s busy he’s very busy, but he’s learning to settle too.

11/05/2024

I didn’t see the northern lights last night despite being out twice with Bru (sleeping through the night was a one off!). Maybe we can sync our night time p**p trips with the aurora watch tonight…

10/05/2024

Well this morning was a beautiful sunny day to sit and enjoy the garden … that was until four jets did a noisy low flyby and terrified Bru. He ran to hide in a corner and then just wanted to come indoors. Don’t blame him, it was a horrendous noise.

We did a little gentle training indoors, and used a broken wooden bench as a low dog walk, early agility training!

He had his first taste of raw puppy complete food which he seemed to enjoy. Just a little for breakfast and lunch to make sure it didn’t upset his stomach, and then a wee portion for dinner.

We met neighbours in passing, and we are working on the gentle hands = no biting with them too. After all, if people stick their hands in a puppy’s face you can’t exactly blame the puppy for putting those hands in their mouth.

Bru would desperately like to play with Dobby and I’m sure when Bru stops tickling his feet and chewing his ears they are going to get on well. Meantime we have a funny wee “play” together…

10/05/2024

Bru is a bit of a land shark with bitey puppy teeth. So I was watching Susan Garrets podcast on how to stop puppy biting and thought I'd share for anyone going through the same phase...
https://dogsthat.com/podcast/17/
He bites when he's overexcited and when he's overtired so that's good to be aware of. We will work on calm play, less handsy from us, and calm praise when he's being gentle.

How to stop puppy biting, why puppies bite, and Susan Garrett’s protocol for acquired bite inhibition.

09/05/2024

Todays new experience was the mobile library. While he took it all in his stride it was all very exciting and he became a bit bitey being held for so long- we’re going to work on that (the biting not the holding!). Slept well in his crate in the gallery, and a good play in the garden at lunch time and tea time. Made our dinner time much more relaxing as he was much more settled. And I’m managing to get out with Dobby too which is making things a bit more normal for him too.

09/05/2024

Celebrating little successes- Bru went to sleep in his crate at my bedside at 10.30 and slept right through till 7.10am 👏. Went out for pees and poos and I thought I might be pushing my luck, but he went back into his crate quietly till the alarm went off just before 8. Clever boy, getting a full night sleep will be good for everyone 😴🐾

08/05/2024

Bru is still being very good at night, only waking to go out for pees and poos and then straight back to bed. We’re slowly figuring out a morning routine, with a wee sleep so I can walk Dobby. Then he slept again in his crate in the gallery like a star.
A lunchtime visit from Michelle @ Dog Behaviour Lochaber was a great excuse for some mad play in the garden, and a good chat about puppy behaviour. Then another sleep in the gallery in the afternoon and a wee bit of training.
Things got a bit chaotic after closing when Bru wanted to play and Dobby wanted a walk and his dinner. Maybe not handled as well as I could but heyho, still figuring it all out.
After a good sleep it was time for zoom yoga with Mountain Yoga Kinlochleven. Let me tell you “puppy yoga” is not easy or as fun as it sounds! Anyway dinner time for us was then a lot more settled with gentle play at our feet in the kitchen. We’re slowly sorting out our daily routine, one step at a time.

08/05/2024

As Bru is into everything, I thought I'd google garden plants toxic to dogs. I had already moved the daffodils out of the way (they're past their best anyway). There's not much else for him to get hold of in the back apart from grass and dandelions, and a few herbs which should be ok (as I'm not letting him chomp at them anyway)

07/05/2024

An early start with a visit from Cuil Developments. Then a new experience- learning to be a gallery dog. Bru was very good, sleeping in his crate most of the time. Then more visitors bringing gifts and cuddles. He’s done a fair bit of sleeping today so didn’t settle too well for us to get our own dinner in peace. However after an evening play with an old slipper he’s on his back again. How he can sleep like that I don’t know 🙄🐾

06/05/2024

A busy day with lots of new learning. An empty egg box makes a great chew toy. It was warm and sunny so we spent a long time in the garden, mainly just chilling, but also helping with the weeding, Dobby supervising from the table top 🤣
We met passing neighbours who stopped to say hello, and had our first visitor too. A few wee accidents in the house but mainly going outside - we’re all still learning…

06/05/2024

Morning 🐾
Another good night with two requested outside trips for pees and p**ps. Ready for another busy day ahead…

05/05/2024

Bru is desperate to play with Dobby. Dobby wants treats!

05/05/2024

Out for the count. He slept well last night. Up at 2.30 and 5.45 for pees and poos, then back to bed till 8.45.

04/05/2024

Pleased to say Bru slept most of the way home…

03/05/2024

Some hoopers practice on a beatiful evening…

02/05/2024

Our new puppy Bru is a Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retreiver.
I’ve admired this breed since being introduced to them at rally obedience training many years ago. The time seems right to add one to our family.

“selected over the generations for his intelligence and trainability. As a result he makes an ideal and enthusiastic family companion for the active household”

https://www.thekennelclub.org.uk/search/breeds-a-to-z/breeds/gundog/retriever-nova-scotia-duck-tolling/

26/04/2024

I've heard about Titre Tests before and only recently taken the opportunity to have it done. Dobby was overdue his core vaccinations so the vet took a blood sample and it was sent off to the lab to check for antibody levels. The results came back positive for antibodies for all three core diseases (hepatitis, parvovirus and distemper) which is "Consistent with protective level of antibodies to ICH, CPV, or CDV. Revaccination is not needed"
Testing works out a bit more expensive than revaccination. And had the test come back negative I would have paid for revaccination as well. However from a scientific point of view I'm really glad I decided to test, and pleased that the results show these vaccinations last longer than the 3 year period suggested by the pharmaceutical companies...
If anyone wants to read more about the science of vaccinations I recommend this book....it makes an interesting read...and then make your own informed decision....

Are vaccinations killing our pets? When this book, originally titled Who Killed the Darling Buds of May? was first published in 1997, it started a grass-roots movement of dog lovers that has resulted in the overhaul of vaccination protocols throughout the U.S. and England. Catherine O'Driscoll, p...

24/04/2024

What an amazing act...

20/04/2024

Further discussion on regulating the dog training industry makes me proud to have achieved the Kennel Club Accredited Instructor qualification recognising the experience and knowledge built up over more than ten years.

https://www.thekennelclub.org.uk/media-centre/2024/march/kennel-club-dog-training-update/

07/04/2024

Happy 7th Birthday Dobby ❤️🐾

05/04/2024

Dobby and I did a hoopers session last night. Some back to basics practice on the hoops and barrels. No photos from last night, but here's a video from a few years back (2021) when we were working on our CHUK bronze hoopers exercises....interesting to look back, he's improved a lot since then....

Canine Hoopers UK bronze