May 10th

The past week has been relatively uneventful. The beginning of the week saw lots of rain and boy, does Maja not like the rain. She is showing signs of being very stubborn and refused to go out to the garden for the toilet, to the extent that we had to carry her out and stand around until she went.  Her toilet training definitely took a backward step and her love of the nice, warm Aga shot up!

Tuesday saw as at ringcraft - not the best performance!  She found it difficult to stand for any length of time and when she didn't want to run she sat.  A bit of work to be done in that area. I was dreading puppy class on Thursday night, but wearing her new coat, not the best example of stitch work but serving the purpose, she was remarkably good and very cosy.  No photo of her with coat on but will take one soon.

Towards the end of the week the weather improved and we went on two of our favourite walks, one along the river and the other up the hill from the house..  There were tadpoles in the ditches and the primroses were out on the banks.  Maja loved the walks and was constantly charging off amongst the trees.  One thing she is still very good at is coming back when called.  I have started using the whistle and she is responding well. Long may it last!

There was  also a deer to chase - it crossed the path in front of us so off they went, not that they were ever going to catch it

And there is still snow on the mountains but the views were spectacular

back home it was time to rest and play!

Finally today, Sunday, we went to a local dog show.  Obviously not to compete but just as a social event.  Disappointingly it was inside but we had a wander around and she was pretty good.  Slightly hesitant to start with but soon settled and had a good look around.  All good experience 

Saturday 2nd May

Yesterday we had a nice walk along the beach and back through the forest.  Sun was shining but there was an icy wind.

Much of the afternoon was spent in the garden, grass cutting and digging, whilst the dogs slept inside. Hamish by the fire , Kobe in his bed and Maja hugging the Aga.  She  definitely doesn't seem to suffer separation anxiety unless you count the Aga!

Later they all came out to help and play!  It's amazing that when the dogs play they can have an ear or a nose in the other's mouth and yet it obviously doesn't hurt yet if we are playing with Maja she can get a bit too excited and her mouthing can really hurt.  We obviously aren't putting out the correct doggy signal yet. 

And Hamish did a bit of hunting around the pond.  It was freezing cold so I decided to try a coat on Maja but as you can see she looked like the poor little girl whose mother had bought her clothes far too big as she will grow in to them! Will have to sort something out for training on Thursday as this cold weather is forecast to continue for a while yet.

April 30th / May 1st

Last night saw us at puppy class for the second week and I have to confess that we hadn't practised as much as we should have done.  It is held at the Black Isle Showground which even on the best of days often has a cold wind as it is quite exposed.  Anyway the first 30 minutes went well and Maja was noted for her excellent behaviour.  The second 30 minutes, well that was a different story!  After being told to try and never have a tight lead what are you supposed to do when you have 20kg of spring on the end of a lead making the most peculiar noises in an effort to entice the neighbouring classmates to abandon any thoughts of lessons and have some fun!  When all that failed, she then discovered that there was rabbit poo hidden in the grass.  Dried liver/beef heart was no competition. As a friend used to say - "if only we could freeze dry rabbit poo, we would make a fortune". And finally the cold hit her and she refused to move off her mat, as she sat shivering and huddled looking very sorry for herself.  Next week I will have to put a coat on her if the weather doesn't improve.  Also perhaps an hour is a bit too long for a puppy class - especially a Ridgeback puppy.  A Ridgeback will do something once, twice if your luckily and then they just don't see any point in repeating it again and again.  I must say that last night, given how cold it was, I very much agreed!









Ist May - today we had a nice walk up the hill and heard our first cuckoo.  I have changed the feeding regime to suit Maja and the other two are finding it difficult!  I used to feed them after their morning walk but it meant that Maja was having meal one and two too close together so I have changed to feeding them before our morning walk.  Problem is that Kobe and Hamish seem to have forgotten by the time they have been walked that they have already been fed and look at me accusingly when we return from the walk as if they have had no breakfast.  Hopefully they will soon adapt. Walks these days are incredibly peaceful compared with when she first came.  The odd play but mostly the dogs just doing their own thing which is nice

Later this morning Maja and I went to the supermarket and then visited the vet to pick up some dog food.  After that we had a socialising saunter in Nairn.  She loved meeting all the people and was greatly admired but was not too keen when two very big Retrievers had a sniff - in fact - she didn't like it at all. Something to work on.  We met a nice little Scottie later on and that was fine - in fact - she wanted to play.  Visited the pet shop and bought some biscuits.  After her initial excitement she settled down and was very good whilst I was sorting it all out.  All in all a good experience.

Finally, for now, and a change from dogs, I set the motion camera up on the badger sett the last few nights hoping that the young ones might be emerging but no, just lots of coming and going from the adults. Ignore the date but the time is accurate which is interesting, as it is still light at 20.38.  Perhaps we should try and watch them one night soon.