Take It To The Max
Created | Updated Apr 29, 2009
Return of the Max
I haven't given you a report on Max for quite a while, have I! Probably because there's little to tell, and believe me that's a good thing. His poor shoulder is improving somewhat, but we're still not allowing him off the lead, except out in the garden, where of course he goes crazy and races up and down, knocking over sun loungers and plant pots on the decking, relishing his rare moments of freedom. I'm sorely missing our long weekend walks, especially now that the spring is here, when all the trees are bursting with new life, and the forest floor is carpeted with bluebells and primroses. We've done a couple of short walks in Hillsborough, but with him on the extendible lead, so he can't run completely free. Maybe we'll head for
Portglenone this weekend— its bluebells are famous.
He's pretty good at taking his medicine: he gets a dollop of liquid glucosamine with his evening feed, and he's usually licking the bowl and chasing it round the floor after about 10 seconds. He's lost a great deal of weight since we had him on a diet, and in fact we've just started increasing the amount slightly, to keep him stabilised at his current weight. The new variety of dog food 'for the neutered dog' seems to be suiting him very well. His shape is lovely, ribs just visible, face slimmed down, nicely curved in waist. And his poohs are solid and firm. (Picking up pooh seems to have become my job – I can't imagine that I do it any better than anyone else could, so it must be one of those skills that can only be done by a mother, like changing the toilet roll.)
Another advantage is that cutting out his odd lump of cheese as a treat has removed the awful smelly farts! We haven't been back to training because of the shoulder problem, but he did manage to get one teeny lump of cheese off me last night, after I'd made him do a sit-down-come-bed routine, entirely with hand signals. He quite often noses the bucket of dry food when he thinks it must be meal-time, and he's even been known to grab the handle in his teeth and bring it over to you, provided it's not too full. My current training plan is to get him to do this in response to a command, 'get your food!' I need a suitable hand signal though.
As for the sleeping problems that we were struggling with, I can honestly say we've had a blissful month of undisturbed sleep. And the magic trick? Let him sleep on the sofa. No anti-barky sonar whistles, no citronella collars, no blankets over crates or soothing music. It just goes to show, the simplest solutions are quite often the most effective.
