He is eating 220g of puppy pellets three times a day, although he only gets two thirds of that for breakfast if I know we're going to be driving anywhere (we're up from the third and then the half he's been having). He hasn't thrown up in the car at all and isn't showing any signs of nausea so I think its working.
I took him to my vet this morning to use their scale while I got a refill on Louise's epilepsy meds, and he weighs 24kg. I didn't weigh him last week so that means he's gained 3kg in two weeks.
One of my neighbours has a labrador named Kilo who is about 6 months older than Volt, and as is the nature of their breed he has LOTS of energy! One of his favourite things to do if he gets out of his yard is to run to our garden gate and "talk" to Thelma and Louise, who are not at all impressed by his visits. My neighbour asked a while ago if Kilo and Volt could play together, but because Volt is in training if he's awake its not really an option... But twice this last week I went and fetched Kilo from his yard using one of my spare leashes, and let him and Volt play together in the garden of an empty house in our complex! I know its not strictly polite to make use of a garden thats not ours, but the house has been empty for years which means the garden neutral territory for the dogs. And I clean up after them if they do mess in the yard. There's also a pool in the garden, and Volt has been so well taught that he is not allowed to swim in a pool that he stands on the grass and watches Kilo jump in and out of the pool with a look on his face that says "Dude, I'm sure you're not allowed to be in there..."! Its classic! I let them play and wrestle for about 20 minutes and when both of them are wet and muddy I take Kilo home again!
Volt lost another of his baby teeth this week but I wasn't fast enough to get it out of his mouth before he swallowed it. His grown-up canines are growing so fast- the top and the bottom ones! The top ones are coming out in front of the baby canines and the bottom ones are coming out next to the baby ones from the inside of his mouth.
Mine and Volt's walks are getting longer as he gets older, and he gets better on the leash every single day. He is also getting better and better at ignoring dogs that bark at him from behind their gates. I know people must curse us mightily when we walk down a street causing every dog to go ballistic, but its an important part of Volt's training to ignore dogs and distractions when we're out and about. And when we sit on the side walk for a bit (so I can teach him to sit quietly and not to react to the dogs, cars and passers-by) people always come up to us and want to pet him and they always marvel at how quiet he is!
Volt thoroughly enjoyed the last week's wet weather! I got one picture of him with muddy feet when I got home from fetching my hubby from the Gautrain station, but he was clean in this picture compared to what he looked like earlier in the week!
On Sunday we visited my folks again, and this time it took no time at all for Toppy to decide Volt was cool and start playing with him. Toppy's favourite game is still a running version of keep-away where he has a toy and tries to get Volt to chase him and make a grab for the toy, and while Volt doesn't have Toppy's speed or manoeuvrability, he has bulk on Toppy- so when he does get a grip on the toy he hangs onto it and then he and Toppy play a bit of a tug-o-war before Toppy runs off with it again. Its so cool to take home a worn out puppy!
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