Deborah Mason
Here we are again, and I am already finding out that to commit to a weekly blog when one's life is not full of excitement and adventure is very hard work.
This week I decided, and I am really not sure why, apart from seeing a facebook post that led me to the ISCP (The International School for Canine Psychology & Behaviour) website that it is perhaps time to find out a little bit more about canine psychology and behaviour. This is in part due to the fact that my husband will often say "you don’t half know how to pick ‘em."
So there and then ( I am a little impulsive ) I decided to sign up for the Dogs BFF Award Course (Dogs are our Best Friends) I read the 73 pages of course material in one sitting. I have to say that I was aware of most of the content, but it did do me good to go over it again and relate it to the dogs that I have had the pleasure of sharing my life with....
The first dog we had was an Afghan Hound called Pele, he joined us as a pup and to be fair, in comparison to the dogs that have come along since he was a "good well balanced boy" I think this can be put down to having a normal puppyhood in a stable environment "he had no baggage".
We did what all good dog owners should do I took him dog training, and went to every single session, even though it was disheartening to see all the other dogs progressing nicely and Pele continuing to do his own thing. In fact this gentle, graceful hound went over rainbow bridge aged 9 and he still hadn't progressed past week 1, however he was lovely with children, did not pull on his lead, travelled well in the car and could be left for a few hours while we went to work. All These traits I would appreciate at a later date but it seemed like very normal behaviour at the time.
One thing I will never forget about Pele is that he could clear a work top in seconds (counter surfing) butter gone, tins of dog food battered into submission, pounds of tripe cleared in one sitting, loaves of bread reduced to crumbs, and we never once caught him in the act. The other is that Pele was diagnosed with bowel cancer and deteriorated very quickly over a number of hours, he was not in pain but we knew that the dreaded visit to the vet the next morning would be needed. That evening we Pele comfortable on his bean bag in front of the fire and we went upstairs to freshen up before settling down for the night. We had not been upstairs very long when we heard a bell ringing ( it was one of those brass ladies wearing a crinoline with a bell inside for those old enough to remember) we ran downstairs to find that Pele was in fact very close to taking his last breath, we were able to hold him close as he passed and we are so grateful for that ........... We found the bell on the floor near Pele, this was a distance away from the shelf it was kept on, and it remains a mystery to this day how it got there.