A big part of being able to take part in that race was Clare volunteering to look after Bronte and Farah - a pretty big challenge in itself. Since Farah was so poorly over the last couple of years putting them into kennels isn't really an option, and I needed someone who would understand their sign language.
Here's Clare's report on how the weekend went for her, with some handy tips for anyone who has canine family visiting over the Easter holidays. I am very grateful for all her hard work - having Farah sleep in the bedroom so it was easier to give her 6am heart drugs went above and beyond the call of duty.
Have a great week!
Morag
PS I'm still recovering, managed a slow Parkrun on Saturday but oh my blisters....
PPS If you're worried about family dogs visiting over the Easter holidays, why not book a Skype consult to create the perfect plan or even a 1-2-1 session at home to make sure everything goes smoothly. Contact us here!
Hints and tips from Clare
Last weekend I had two of Morag’s dogs come to stay, Bronte and Farah. This was while Morag and Freya were away running 55 miles (yes…that’s right 55 miles). While the dogs have met each other on a few occasions previously, Farah and Bronte have never stayed or mixed with my dogs for any reasonable length of time. This was going to be interesting and, as I suspected, hard work!
Meet the animals
Clare's dogs
·
Poppy (Cocker Spaniel, 6 years old, gets along with
everyone)
·
Beano (Border Collie, 6 years, deaf blind, gets
extremely over aroused with people/dogs)
·
Spencer (GSD, 4 years, fearful of people and
other dogs, will run towards and bark)
·
Scout (BC, 2 years, deaf and over enthusiastic
in every aspect of life!)
Morag’s Dogs
·
Farah (BC, 11 years, deaf)
·
Bronte (BC, 8 years, deaf partially sighted)
My other animals
·
Cats x 4
·
Chickens x 12
·
Goats x 2
·
Goose x 1
·
Ram x 1
What we did to make it work:
- Pre-planning and instructions
- Management
- Make use of basic obedience training
- Observing body language and interrupting
Pre-planning and
instructions
I like a list, it’s sad but true! Having a list of feeding
times, medications requirements, how to walk them etc. made my life much
easier. I didn’t have to guess or worry I wouldn’t remember something. I needed to make sure Farah got her heart
meds and painkillers at the right time!
Management
The
key to making sure I kept all dogs safe and happy was good management. I had a
total of 5 areas I could safely have groups or individual dogs at any one time.
Making use of baby gates or doors made it much easier to move dogs around the
house or out to the toilet. Although these dogs have spent time outside
together before, it’s often much more difficult for dogs to spend time together
indoors together, where there is less space and more resources (food, beds,
toys etc.) which could cause tension.
Obedience
All
the dogs have a good level of obedience, they respond to verbal cues or hand
signals (other than Beano!) very well, this make my job of keeping them safe
and happy so much easier. Asking for a wait at doorways, or to have leads put
on, keeps them safe and excitement levels lower. Being able to recall them or
stop on cue means I can more safely walk them as a group.
Body language
Although much of their time spent with me this weekend was managed carefully to
avoid difficult situations, the time the dogs did spent together (whether in a
big group or smaller selected group) I was carefully observing the dogs the
entire time. I watched for any signs of tension between dogs and immediately
interrupted and redirected the dogs to diffuse a potentially difficult
situation.
How did it go?
While a weekend of looking after an extra two dogs was no
walk in the park (get it?!!), thanks to good management, training and observing
the dogs body language carefully I managed to keep all the dogs safe and
returned them to their owner in the rightful condition :-)
