Peppa's life in Penny's old home

 I thought I would just post a photo of Peppa relaxing in the crate that,.many years ago now, belonged to our much-loved Penny. 

It's just to keep Penny's blog alive, really. 

 

Just a random post

 

 This is just a random post to keep Penny's blog alive. So many beautiful memories. There will always be only one Penny. 

But Peppa is beautiful and lovable also.

She's great company when we're watching tv. I was never sure Penny registered what was on the screen, but I feel sure Peppa does. 

Finally getting back to training and fun

 Since we've been attending the Play and Train classes at Warringal on Sunday mornings, life has become more settled at home. Peppa has had frequent tummy upsets and visits to vets, and we seem now to have found foods that she can stomach. 

And, best of all, we've found that her appetite is improving and she will take food as training rewards.

Consequently, we're able to play in the kitchen with the toys I bought from K-Mart. 

 

At the moment, I'm rewarding for simply not being scared by the new objects in the house. I was surprised, after fifteen years with phlegmatic Penny, to realise that Peppa is a totally different personality, who needs lots of time to adjust to novelty. (Penny thrived on novelty!)

Re-reading my own old blog posts

 Peppa raced out the door this afternoon when our neighbour called, and we did our usual heart-searching about our awful standard of dog training. 

And then I began to wonder whether we had the same issues, so many years ago, when we had Penny living with us. Our vet agrees with us in referring to her as 'Saint Penny', haha. In comparison to Peppa she was indeed a saint.

I thought I'd look back at my own old posts from 2007, when Penny was around the age Peppa is now. And I'm finding it not only entertaining, but also actually helpful. 

One thing I'm noticing is that Peppa is more of a digger than Saint Penny was. I might have made an error of judgment in letting her 'help' me when I was weeding around the strawberries. She sure did love digging that big hole! It was a bit of a pity that a few of the strawberry plants ended up strewn around the area. But hey, she had fun, and it wasn't all that hard to replant the ones she removed.

I guess we'll find out soon if I've created a 'digging monster'.

I'm going to do a search on my old blog for references to digging and see what comes up. In the meantime, I'm intending to scroll through fifteen years of Penny's blogs to see which links still work and make a note on each post as to which links are no longer viable.

Lovely rain

 I was beginning to wonder if we were slipping once again into drought, despite the predictions that La Nina would give us a wet autumn (or some such thing that I don't quite remember). But the lovely rain has come and is staying all week.

Which brings me to the subject of dog-walking. I remember our vet once saying a dog must at least 'leave the property' each day. Well, in a most unusual event, Peppa didn't go for a walk today.

We did walk yesterday, even though it rained all day. We went to LaTrobe University and walked around under the shelter of the raised walkways. I wouldn't normally go there, but it was a holiday - Easter Monday - and I thought it would be okay. 

Having no walk today has proved Peppa is adept at entertaining herself. She has spent the evening jumping all over us and trying to drag our jackets off, racing out the back and barking piercingly at any movement, chewing anything within reach and generally being annoying, to be frank.

I realised it was my fault for not giving her the opportunity to go out today. Lesson learned. However, it did also make me realise that we're not doing enough training to allow her to use her intelligence. So, later this evening, we spent twenty minutes training.

She surprised me. We revisited: weave between my legs/sit (and wait for the release word)/ walk nicely beside me on my left/ find a treat hidden at the other end of the house/ drop/and...best of all, free shaping where I put an empty cardboard box in the middle of the kitchen and praised any looking at the box or touching it with her nose.

I'll admit I've been underestimating her and forever comparing her with Penny, who was a delight to train. It turns out Peppa, too, wants to use her brains. It's just that she's not really in the business of trying to please the humans. She lives with us, not for us. I guess we should have known this, having read up on Lhasa apso personality traits before she came to live here.

Now I'm going to look back through my old posts to look at the training we routinely did with Penny. A great reason to revisit Penny's lifetime with us. It will be sad but worthwhile.

 We've enjoyed the first two episodes of A Dog's World With Tony Armstrong. In the most recent one, called 'Super Senses' , he looked at studies that investigate whether certain breeds have common behavioural characterists. They concluded that this is probably true to a certain extent, but individual experiences and individual personality traits also play a part.

Well, given that we had researched Lhasa Apsos before we bought Peppa, I suppose it should  be no surprise to us that she's so completely different from our beloved Penny, who died in 2019. 

We didn't realise at the time that Penny was a dream dog in terms of her trainability. Peppa is more of a challenge, to say the least. If she's out walking and sees something interesting, she's deaf to any human voices and impervious to the lure of any treat. 

So it might be quite a long time before we'd trust her off lead. On the other hand, it's wonderful that she's quite happy to trot along with us on lead, and as we have a big yard, she gets plenty of chances to zoom around. 

She is an independent learner, though. There's one room she's never allowed into (haha! she says, I'm quicker than lightning, so try stopping me slipping in when you open the baby gate.) She's decided if she creeps in when you aren't aware, she can sit at the  gate and wait to be given the command to emerge, at which point she gets a nice treat.

 Just a quick update on Peppa to keep this  blog alive. She's had ongoing issues with her eyes, but a couple of courses of medications seem to have settled the problems for now, and keeping up with the facial grooming helps. 

We're bemoaning the fact that she's not well-trained, and today I thought, 'Well, whose fault is that?' So off on a short training walk in the street, with lots of high-value rewards. She was great. She does get a walk every day, unless the weather is really against us, so it's not as if she doesn't get lots of stimulation. But sometimes it can be easier to let her just roam at the end of the lead. Lazy humans!

In general, she's a delight. If you don't mind sock-stealing... 

As you can see, butter wouldn't melt in her mouth:

a cat and a lhasa apso

 Our neighbour has a cat. He wants to be near Peppa, and in fact wandered right into our house the day after Peppa came to live with us.

Peppa loves him. But the problem is that he won't let her come very close. One day, when Peppa was tiny, we went for an on-lead walk along the street and he accompanied us by walking alongside us up on the tops of the fences. 

Peppa had conniptions and it was pretty nightmarish trying to stop her strangling herself on the leash. 

Things have settled into a sort of truce, where he strolls around the perimeter of the house and she races around inside, looking out the windows or trying to bash her way through the screen door, if the wooden door is open. It's fun for her and entertaining for us. Sometimes I wonder what will happen when he eventually decides to let her approach him.

Well, today I discovered that she  can play happily with a friendly cat. We came across  a cat lying on the edge of a footpath when we were out for a walk, and these photos show what a lovely time the two of them had together:

So perhaps Mr Next-door and Peppa will get to play together sometime in the future.

Baby Steps in Peppa's new life

 Peppa is making progress.

House training... well, the books say how to do that, but I think she hasn't read the books.

She's conquered the doggy door, and that's probably because she may have had one at the home where she was born.

A few days ago was first walk in the street. I had forgotten that cars would be quite scary for her. We were so used to Penny being relaxed around all the noises of city life.

 

Yesterday was first walk on a long, loose lead, exploring in Heide kitchen garden. We have never seen other dogs there, so it seemed a safe place for a first outing.

 

Of course, like all Melbourne citizens, she knows to collect a mask when preparing to leave the house.

 

Today was her first encounter with friendly stranger dogs in another park and that went well.

Changeable weather makes it hard for an old dog

It's difficult to feel positive these days, with the tragedy of the bushfires here in Australia, and the terrible loss of life - too many humans and an estimate of a billion animal deaths.

But we keep on trying to have a normal life here, fortunately living in the safety of a big city. Penny's missing her regular walks the last couple of days, because the air is smoky for an old dog (and her old humans). And sometimes it's too hot for her. She struggles if the temperature is higher than about 20°C.

Yesterday we didn't go out early because it was too hot. Here she is briefly visiting the front yard, where some of our plants are protected by our newly purchased beach umbrellas (only useable if the wind isn't blasting like a furnace).

 And then, when we thought of going out in the late afternoon, it was cold and raining.

Hooray for the rain. Here's hoping the exhausted fire fighters can get a bit of an advance on the flames while the cooler weather is here.

walking in beautiful surroundings

Penny and I are fortunate in the variety of places we can walk together. Here's a recent location:

It's easy to take these wonderful places for granted, but I was reminded recently that such bushy surroundings occur only because of the work put in by local government,  indigenous people and groups of volunteers.

I thought this sign at the Willsmere billabong in Kew had an excellent explanation of why we dog-walkers need to respect the other users of our spaces, both human and non-human.

These plantings are newer than the one pictured at the top, but in time they will be just as lovely:

 

senior dogs and mental stimulation

Wow! I see I haven't posted since February. And I know why.. It has been so hot that Penny has been less willing to go for a walk.

She has spent most of the time each day snoozing, and we had put that down to her age. Our vet agrees that perhaps she doesn't deal so well with hot weather these days, so we have let her set the pace on walks and if she didn't want to go we'd let her lie. However, we do manage a walk of some sort most days.

Lately, though, it has become cooler, and we're wondering if her sleepiness might be as much due to boredom as to her senior status. So, we're trying to play a few games each evening, and use some of the lovely Nina Ottosson games when feeding her. ( A bit tricky, given that these days we only feed raw meat, with some additions of vegetables and vitamins.)

Also, today I took her for a swim in the warm water of the indoor pool at Kepala.

Afterwards, I asked in the office whether it would be okay for us to pop into the agility area to see how Penny would cope with it. As soon as we stepped through the gate, she headed for the tyre and the tunnel!

Before I even had time to give the 'begin' signal, she was through. I hurried to catch up so she wouldn't jump over the higher items (because of her arthritis.)

She managed the little seesaw like a pro.

And what was that in the distance? A set of weave poles...

Yes, she sort of still remembers how to do them. Hooray! So, next time, after a warm swim to get her muscles loosened, I think we might try this again.

hot weather as a start to Autumn

It's been a while since I posted, but the hot weather we've been having takes the energy out of me and out of Penny.

But we still manage a walk most days, even though often a short one if it's a hot day.

Yesterday we headed off to Yarra Glen for a Bowen therapy session for both human and canine together.

And how wonderful it was, for me with a sore aching back and Penny with her arthritic joints.

On the way home we stopped off briefly at Heide Museum of Modern Art for a quick lunch. There's a huge garden with outdoor sculptures and various installations, and many old, substantial shade trees. Dogs are welcome as long as they are kept on lead.

However, because Penny and I had been in an air-conditioned car driving the fifty minutes down from Yarra Glen in the hills, I hadn't realised how hot it was, even in the shady outdoor section of the cafe. I had already ordered my lunch, so while we waited I quietly poured my drinking water onto Penny. (As you can see in the photo, the kindly waiter had brought the dog drinking bowl inside for us.

Christmas Kong toy for Penny

I intended to begin this post by reporting that for the first time in Penny's 14 years I succumbed to the commercialism of Christmas and bought her a gift, but on looking back through my blogs I see that I did the same in 2011.

This time I decided it was years since Penny had a new toy, and it's never too late to liven up an old dog's life with something novel.

She loved it and immediately hunched possessively over it.

So of course I couldn't resist trying to get it from her. But no way!

After a while I could have sneaked up to steal it while she was sleeping, but she did have her paws resting on it, so I thought I'd leave her in peace.

The instructions say it should only be used under supervision, so I'll put it up on a shelf when I'm not there to watch her.

Life with an old dog

Life is quieter these days, now that Penny is older. She's still enjoying life, though. We headed to one of our favourite places late this afternoon, to enjoy the early evening.

Last weekend was the Grand Final of the football, and, hey presto! it's time for cricket now. You can see the teams playing in the background, but Penny wasn't interested.

We walked under a lovely planting of large trees, mostly oaks. There were plenty of interesting scents for a senior dog to enjoy.

Of course, there are always yummy dog treats if you keep your attention on your human when she asks you to.

Bone broth for a raw-fed dog

I received a yummy-looking recipe from DogsNaturally magazine recently and decided to make it - bone broth. I hastened down to the local raw-food/canine naturopath to buy some bones.

I shouldn't have been surprised when she said she doesn't bother making bone broth. As she says, it's unlikely that dogs in the wild would be boiling up a batch of broth.

But I wanted to try it.

Fortunately, I  was wise enough to cook it out of the house. I thought of doing it on the back patio, but the thought that Penny might sniff around the slow-cooker and perhaps scald herself was worrisome, so I did it in the glasshouse at the bottom of the garden. The reason for going outdoors was the mention of a bad smell.

Bad smell... Wow! Yes! Disgusting to me. But Penny thought it was interesting, as the slow cooker operated over the next two-and-a-half days. Yep, I decided to give it a nice long cook.

So, after cooking it up, I put it into the fridge and a layer of fat collected on the surface. I skimmed that off and put it into the compost. The result was a thick jelly that looked delicious, but smelled awful. I've put it into ice-cube trays in the freezer. There seems to be enough to feed a pack of dogs for the next century.

Penny thinks it's delicious.

Here's the recipe, but I acknowledge it comes from DogsNaturally and suggest you go over there and check it out properly. There are great photos of the broth preparation.

BONE BROTH FOR DOGS Step 1: Add Bones, Water And Vinegar
 First, I fill my crockpot with bones. Because I like to make sure there’s lots of healthy, joint protecting gelatin in my broth, I use bones with a lot of joints in them like chicken feet. I’ll also add some garlic for health and flavor (and if you think garlic is dangerous for dogs, just leave it out or read this article).If you don’t have a crockpot, you can use a regular old pot on your stove … but you have to leave it cooking overnight so I prefer the crockpot.Organic, grass fed bones will be the best … don’t skimp on the bones and feel free to use discarded bones from your own meals … they’re just fine for broth. Step 2: Add Water And Vinegar Next, I’ll fill the pot so the bones are completely covered, plus an extra two or three inches of water on top. The important part is to add raw apple cider vinegar or lemon juice to the pot … this is the magic ingredient that makes sure your broth has all of that great and healthy gelatin in it … it also pulls the nutritious minerals out of the bones.I’ll add about three or four tablespoons of vinegar to a pot this size.Once I’ve added the bones, water and vinegar, I put my crockpot on high for an hour, then I turn it down to low and leave it cooking for 24 hours. You can leave it cooking for two or three days if you want, but I find it starts cooking down too much after a day and I can still get a good jelly-like consistency after a day. Step 3: Strain The Bones
 When the broth is finished, I need to strain the bones and meat out. These bones shouldn’t be fed to dogs, so I put them in the green bin. My dogs don’t need them anyway … I’ve already got the good parts in my broth.  Step 4: Get Creative Here’s the fun but optional part.When I turn the crockpot off, I’ll add some nutritious extras. For this batch of broth, I added some frozen kale and fresh leftover green beans. But I also like to add medicinal mushrooms, broccoli, kelp and herbs … and sometimes nothing at all. Check out this articlefor some ideas of nutritious veggies you can add.
Toss in any healthy herbs or vegetables your dog loves (and if he doesn’t love them, then bone broth is a great place to hide them).I’ll add these ingredients while the broth is hot, right after I’ve turned it off. Then the broth will cool with the veggies in it, making them just soft enough for my dogs to get their yummy goodness. Step 5: Let It Cool Once my broth is cooled, I’ll put it in the fridge. This is where the magic happens … and in just a few hours, you’ll know if you’ve made a good batch!Once your broth comes out of the fridge, it will have a hard layer of fat on top. You should chip this off and toss it in the green bin. Underneath the fat, your bone broth should now look like jelly … the jelly means you’ve got lots of gelatin in there, and that’s what helps with your dog’s joints and the leaky gut that can cause allergies and digestive upset. That gelatin plugs the holes in leaky gut that can cause allergy symptoms, so the more jelly-like, the better! If your broth doesn’t look like jelly, don’t worry … it just means you didn’t add enough vinegar. Next time just add a little more vinegar and your next batch will be just fine. But first use the broth you have because it will still be packed with healthy goodness! Step 6: Store Your Broth  Because I have a lot of dogs, I just leave my bone broth in the crockpot in their fridge (yes, my dogs have their own fridge, but I’m sure there’s room in your fridge for bone broth). A pot this large will last my five large Labradors about 4 or 5 days. I wouldn’t want to keep it in the fridge for more than a few days anyway so I just make a fresh batch once or twice a week.If you have just one or two dogs, you can take the broth and label it into mason jars and store it. If you’ve got small dogs, you can ladle your broth into an ice cube tray and just pull a cube out at a time.Having a supply of bone broth in your freezer is a super idea … bone broth is incredibly nutritious and healing for sick dogs (think chicken soup). So make sure you have some on hand for emergencies.  Step 7: Give It To Your Dog! The final (and best) step is to feed the bone broth to your dog!I pull bone broth out of the fridge and give my large dogs two or three heaping spoonfuls over their dinner. It’s food not medicine, so I don’t get too hung up on exactly how much I give my dogs.My dogs love hanging out in the kitchen when it’s cooking … and you can see above that Dottie can’t wait to sample it after smelling it all day!So there you have it … it’s incredibly easy to make bone broth and your dogs will love the taste and reap the health benefits.

Bowen therapy and maremmas guarding hens

Penny and I visited the Yarra Valley today. We spent the morning at Bow Rei Me having Bowen therapy, first Penny and then me. It was, as usual, wonderful. Penny had lovely 'soft eyes', always a sign that she's relaxed and loving it.

Then we drove up to the Upper Yarra Valley, where I bought a supply of free range eggs from Little Yarra Free Range Eggs, some for Penny, but most for the humans in our family!

I couldn't resist taking a photo of  one of the maremmas guarding the flocks. Of course, he (or she) bounded across to tell me to leave immediately, barking fiercely, but the human who was attending to the chooks called the dog away, which is why, in this photo, you see the guardian angel of the chooks looking back towards the invisible human.

Penny's walk in the park

It's been nearly two months since I blogged. I guess both Penny and I are slowing down these days.

We still manage a walk every day. Today I set off for a stroll along a quiet back road, but Penny didn't want to keep going, so I lifted her back in the car and we set off for a nearby park, where she condescended to walk a little way with me.

Sometimes we get a brisk 50-minute walk in, but other times Penny just doesn't want to go. We  try to take notice of her mood, because in human terms she's a very old lady now, and we know she suffers some discomfort from arthritic knees. I suspect that sometimes she just isn't in the mood and it's not about pain at all. Who knows?

Today she let me know at this junction of paths that she thought we should head back to the car. Her body language is pretty obvious, and it usually includes a meaningful glance in the direction she wants us to take. Her bad luck, though, that the car wasn't down that path.

Seeing standing still like a statue wasn't working she tried an ostentatious yawn. It still didn't work on me, because I knew we still had a distance to go in order to get back to the car.

There was still a bit of sniffing to do, but eventually we got back to the car.

new places to explore

I've said it before... When you have a dog you find interesting places to explore.

Today we were looking around Alphington while we waited for Penny's appointment at the groomer.

We found Alphington Park, where there seem to be lots of rules.

Even if you must stay on lead, there are good smells to think about.

And since it was near a local wetlands, we were conscientious about staying on lead the whole time.

mental stimulation for an old dog

A  friend sent me a newspaper cutting about canine freestyle, and it reminded me of the fun Penny and I used to have when we were both younger.

I  sent my friend an old clip of us at a canine freestyle club, in the days when that was a new sport for Australia. OMG. It was NINE years ago! Now I know Penny and I are old...

Anyway, it got me thinking about the fact that I worry that life is boring for Penny now, because her creaky limbs probably aren't up to twisting and turning. We might have a go  at some modified canine freestyle, but our floors are slippery and I'd have to set up carpets.

In the meantime, an internet search for something to do has turned up this fun sport, canine nose work. This clip shows the progression of some simple home training and we're  going to try it soon.