Christmas wishes

Yes I know I'm not blogging regularly at the moment.  1.  Icy weather, when it's slippy underfoot the thought of trying to reign in a dog that's lunging at another dog is not great for your confidence, he can pull me over at the best of times.  I wish I could stop him lunging it's wearing.
2. Bloody cold walking so find it hard to be out for long, I think I was probably a bear in a previous life.  My desire to hibernate in the winter months is very strong.  If I had my way I would draw the curtains in October and emerge when the bad weather was over!  3. A racking cough which is now on it's 4th week and making me feel wretched, I sound like old man Steptoe on a bad day! 4. Virtually not meeting other dogs or, as usual all untrained/dominant/generally lairy beasts.  Poor Sonny, why can't he be surrounded by nice sensible non reactive dogs who could help him build his confidence! 

This last week we've been trying him OFF medication to see how he would fare, in our view not much difference to his behaviour either way.  Only thing I did notice was that his todger was sticking out again, this is possibly a sign of stress so whether this is a good enough reason to keep him on it, I don't know as the meds are hugely expensive if we have to keep them going over a long period.  Will need to discuss this with Sally and get her advice on this.

Classic example of Sonny not exhibiting any common sense recently.  A girl in the village has just got herself a very sweet Jack Russell pup.  It is TINY, did Sonny react, yes he did.  It's obvious he shows absolutely no judgement about what could be a danger to him or, me.  Another day we past what is a habitually yappy Yorkie who is forever boundary-chasing in the garden.  Glad I don't live next door!  Whenever Sonny sees him, he goes mad. I thought that if we had been able to keep Sonny there long enough he would not have been able to react for ever and would eventually have to calm down.  He tried all tactics, the usual bark and lunge.  I put him in a sit, he would not take a treat, he would look at me, briefly, then he would start again.  At one point he tried 'flight' tactics and appeared to be trying to climb up into my arms, that's when you really see his fear, poor lad.  Unfortunately the yorkie was by now completely frantic and the owner came out to remove him, probably not best pleased that I was making his dog bark even more than usual.  Hey ho, a missed opportunity for both of us to have more well behaved dogs, never mind.

Well the next few days are Christmas so hope all of you have a great time.  Don't forget to keep all the grapes and chocolates well out of the dogs way as they can be lethal and you don't need an expensive vet bill to add to your Christmas financial burdens.

Sonny and I wish you all a Merry Christmas xxx