#SAGApupVolt Is One Year Old Today!

Volt has been back at SA Guide-dogs for a little over a week already so there won't be any peanut butter cupcakes for my boy today.
I still can't get over how quickly you went from this:

To this!

Happy happy birthday my sweet Voltinator! I know you'll be working hard and they won't be making any fuss, but I will be thinking about you all day long!
His trainer sent us a little update on how he's doing last Friday, which I thought it was very kind of her to have emailed us some news already!
The first week of training is always a big adjustment for the dogs as they bond with their trainers and get used to a whole new routine.
He's sharing a kennel with Bentley and he's settling in well.
His trainer says he is a sweetheart indeed and that he is very energetic and easily distracted, LOL!
He's obviously got a long way to go in his training still.

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Don't forget to check out the Twitter hash-tag #SAGApupVolt to see updates on my puppy raising adventure!

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#RiddickPup Is Thirty Weeks Old

He weighed 26.8kg on the vet's scale today, so he's up 200g from last week. I'm glad he's gaining weight again but he's obviously going to be smaller than our Volt- he's a full 4kg lighter than Volt was at the same age!
His first week without his "big brother" Volt has been okay, he's a little bored without Volt to wrestle his excess energy off with, but otherwise it was fine. We play fetch a couple of times a day and we have an obedience session (or two if I can fit them in) to practice "sit" and "down". And he's learning "shake" too!
Unfortunately for me, he's right back to waking up at 5am again! Every day! I know it would be a different story if he was sleeping in a crate and couldn't come and wake me up when HE wants to, but we decided when we adopted him that we wanted him to sleep in our bedroom and be a guard-dog so we didn't do crate training.
I've noticed lately that Riddick reacts very strongly to dogs and dog sounds on TV or on my laptop!
He's enjoying his walks more and more too. He's still stopping and starting whenever an interesting smell catches his attention, or crossing in front of me to follow his nose, but he doesn't pull me off my feet and he's not flinching at passing cars or barking dogs at all.

asleep on mommy's bed

I made a little video too! He is just so cute!

Riddick found an old fluffy slipper of mine under my bed and I let him keep it. I had to toss it a mere three days later but he enjoyed the HELL out of it while it lasted. I was throwing it for him and he was sleeping with it and everything.

He's doing better and better in the car too. If he is benched to the door handle on the backseat he is a lot quieter than when he's not benched. He HATES the sound of the hooter and gets very vocal and upset if I hoot at anything. While I'm driving, he sits down when I start to brake for a traffic light or stop street and stands up again when I pull away. I had a good giggle on Saturday when I looked over my shoulder and saw he was sitting on the armrest in the backseat!

And then this week I submitted another picture to dog shaming* (a different one to the picture below). Riddick got hold of my husband's new Samsung Galaxy Ace without us noticing and when we realised he was chewing something he had managed to get the back cover off and chew dents in it! Luckily it can still be attached to the phone, but its all wonky now. Thank goodness there was no other damage to the phone.

*Riddick has been on dog shaming before!

Aaaand Louise Has Now Had Kennel Cough Too!

So all the dogs have had it now.
Louise's cough was a dreadful wheeze and I was more than a little worried about her, but she never lost her appetite and with cough mixture twice a day she was fine in less than a week.
All three of them will get the kennel cough vaccine in a week or so, as soon as I am sure all three are completely over it.

Thelma Had Kennel Cough Too

I knew it was inevitable after Volt had it and then Riddick caught it briefly that one or both of the girls would get it too.
Thelma was coughing a lot and I felt very sorry for her, but I dosed her twice a day with the cough mixture (Benylin with codeine) that I had left over from Riddick and Volt's stints with the bug and by Sunday she had stopped coughing already!
I'm now waiting on tenterhooks to see if Louise will get it too...
The nature of kennel cough means that it depends on a dog's constitution and immune system, but there is also an inoculation against kennel cough that you can have done every six months.
And its a good idea, especially if your dogs are socially "active", spending time in dog parks and traveling with you, to have the kennel cough inoculation done regularly. Its a spray into the dogs nose so it doesn't even hurt!
I'm thrilled that Thelma got better so quickly!

#RiddickPup Is Twenty Nine Weeks Old

It seems I spoke too soon, Riddick has been waking me at 5h15 all week! My one week of sleeping till 6h00 was bliss, but it seems it was an anomaly.
:D

snoozing and watching me work

He's been "alone" at home, without Volt, since Friday morning. He's definitely fidgety and bored, but he's not  unmanageable and he's not pining at all. I have increased our ball play sessions and the length of our walk so I can burn off some of his excess energy.
He weighed a healthy 26.6kg on the vet's scale this morning, but thats a little bit down on last week. I increased his two daily meals to 200g per meal a week ago since he is still growing, but if he starts looking tubby I'll reduce it again.
:)
Our walks are going well. He's not as responsive on lead as I would like him to be, but the lessons I learned from Volt have made my life far easier and he doesn't pull me all over the place!
He's learning to "shake" as well which is very cute! He doesn't always lift his paw but he's getting it.
I am also teaching him, with cookie treats, to be okay with having something on his head- like a cap or a new pair of Doggles.
On Saturday afternoon Jo'burg was hit by an incredible hailstorm! We didn't have hailstones as big as they were in some areas but I was worried at one point that we were going to lose a window or two! Thankfully that was not the case, and my gentle conditioning with Riddick has worked a treat in that he no longer barks at the noise made by a storm like this one was. When we went out a little later after the storm, Riddick went barreling out the door when I said "okay" and stopped dead in the middle of the lawn!

hailstones banked up against my garage doors

The hail had banked up against the garden wall and Riddick was not at all sure what the white stuff was. He barked at it until I went to the ice and stomped on it and called him over calmly. Once he realised it was ice he had a ball! He loves ice cubes and he was digging and chomping the hailstones and running up and down the garden! It was very funny!
I took his stitches out on Saturday morning as well. He's been very good about not licking or chewing on them and it looks like its healed nicely.

 Riddick loves the balcony outside my bedroom!

using daddy's leg as a pillow 

his favourite chew toy