Tuesday 28th April

Yesterday, Monday, saw us off on one of our favourite local walks to Cawdor Woods.  Maja is gaining in confidence every day and now tends to be out in front 90% of the time.  Not a problem as long as she comes back when called.  She frequently checks to make sure we are following but when she gets too far ahead we, i.e.Kobe, Hamish and myself, hide.  That soon brings her back and it's good to remind her to keep checking.  I worry that when it's windy and they go off in to the forest that they can't hear my whisle so I have ordered a gun dog whistle which should help.  Yet another thing to teach her.  They continue to play on the walks and it has certainly perked the other two up .

Driving back down to the house there was a deer on the drive.  Luckily they were all sound asleep in the boot!

Once home fun and games started with Kobe - my pot of tulips didn't fare well!

As you can see Maja is very proud of her new big teeth! 

Today, Tuesday, we had a nice walk in the forest!  Pretty uneventful, no deer, no squirrels and didn't meet anyone.  

Tonight was ring craft night.  She was far more confident than last week and was much admired.  It was mostly Shelties there tonight as they have their champion show in Yorkshire this weekend to which they all, happily so it seems, travel down to.  Maybe I will have to rethink my self-imposed travel limits!  Maja was so good at the running bit and, as someone who shows Retrievers said, her movement is very tight for such a young dog.  We just have to sort out the standing/stacking part of it all.  Sit seems to be the default position at the moment but it is early days. Anyway she had a lovely time meeting more new doggie friends and humans AND she lasted until the end - no falling asleep.

Slightly worrying though is that we have installed a stairgate between kitchen and rest of house to keep her in one place if required.  Well tonight, she was asleep in her bed after ring craft so I shut the gate so that I didn't have to worry where she was.  Well as we were just about to sit down, relax and

watch some TV when who shoul appear, looking very pleased with herself, but Maja,  having jumped the gate - agility here we come!!!

Hounds of the Highlands

Our Hounds of the Highlands are, Kobe; an 8 year old Rhodesian Ridgeback, Hamish; an 8 year old Jack Russell, and Maja; a 4 month old Rhodesian Ridgeback who arrived from Sweden on April 9th 2015.

This blog will be primarily about Maja and her progress as she settles into her new surroundings here in the Highlands of Scotland, but that will, of course, include Kobe and Hamish. Maja was driven to the Highlands by Henrik and Bertil from Sweden via Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, France and finally up through the UK from Dover. She apparently coped extremely well with the constant change, something that doesn't really come as a surprise given her confident, bold and adventurous, (some would say naughty) character.

She has settled in extremely well, and despite Hamish's reservations to begin with, he has softened over the last couple of weeks and now the two of them frequently play together. He does draw the line at having his tail pulled though.  Kobe has taken it all in his stride and apart from the odd telling off, and she has deserved it, they have settled in well together.  It's almost as though he knew she was of the same kind! Henrik too seemed to settle in well and was definitely accepted as an honorary Ridgeback!

Week 2 saw us hitting the doggy social scene  with avengence.  Tuesday night was ring craft.  After a slight hesitation to begin with - Maja wouldn't get out of the car! - she took it all in her stride and performed very well for a first time.  Made lots of doggy friends but by 8.30pm it was past her bedtime and she fell asleep with paws on my knee and head snuggled into my neck and jumper.  A girl needs her beauty sleep.

Wednesday night we had supper at a friends.  Maja entertained their 8 year old boxer until poor Gem was literally dog tired. You could see where the saying comes from!  

Thursday night was puppy classes.  Despite not practising she was remarkably good.  Managed to do all that was asked for and then sat looking at her classmates with that aloof Ridgeback expression as if to say " don't quite know what all the fuss is about".  It's amazing what a Ridgeback will do for liver! And it is a lot easier for me third time round.  All these little tips that dog training Kate drummed into us certainly pay off - "make yourself more interesting than everything else, i.e. liver, sausages, chicken in the pocket, treat from the left of dog, command only once etc etc."  Anyway we shall see if the trend continues next week.

Kobe and Maja have also started to really play - it has given Kobe a knew lease of life.  She follows him everywhere when we are out which is good as I know he will always come back,  but I don't know how much he appreciates it when he is on the scent of something.  A small Ridgeback nose in your face doesn't really help.