Category Archives: #littlemonsters

Operation A Dog Named Sue! #4 AND LiveFromPeru Part 10

#littlemonsters, #livefromperu

Wow a dual post!

I’ll start off with another Ace update. Yes I know I only posted about Ace yesterday. However within twenty four hours of that post going up I was sent two very brief videos of Ace at the vets. Which I now share with you below.

The kinda sad news is that once he has recovered and healed Ace will have a permanent limp.

Onto Diogo.

I’ve finally had a response from a local dog trainer/behaviourist. Which is exciting news.

Next Wednesday they are coming to see us for an initial consultation. Which if that goes well will see Diogo start a five session course to help him with his over excitement when getting ready and on a walk.

The only drawback at the moment is that the dog trainer/behaviourist is booked solid for the next two weeks, and is then going on holiday for two weeks after that. So the earliest that we will be starting to help Diogo is April.

But I’m hoping that once I’ve been through this with Diogo it will allow me to help Ace once he is with us.

It’s also likely that I’ll look at getting Diogo lessons that will allow him to be off lead as well.

And yes this does sound expensive. But making sure Diogo is happy and safe is the priority.

Operation A Dog Named Sue! #3

#littlemonsters

I awoke this morning to an update on Ace and his recovery from the operation.

Sadly it looks like his recovery has taken a set back. I’m not sure how major it is at the moment.

But here is the update I was sent. For the record Mancho is Ace’s rescue name.

“Mancho is back at the vet. He has a nasty bone infection. He has had to have his frame removed and he rejected it and it is infected. He will be in the vet 7 days. His leg seems rigid so it looks like the operation was still a success. Poor thing has been suffer ing. Felicia didn’t take back to the vet where he had the operation.”

It does sound like Ace is not in a good place. I just want him over here with us in his loving forever home.

Hopefully this doesn’t delay Ace joining us that much.

Operation A Dog Named Sue! #2

#littlemonsters

I’ve had two or three videos of Ace shared with me today via WhatsApp.

So I stitched them together with the handful that had previously been sent to me using iMovie on my iPhone into a single movie to share with you.

WARNING! At the end of this video are a couple of photos of the paw without its bandage. They are not pretty to look at. You may want to stop the video at the appropriate point (there is a warning in the video).

The paw will take about a month to heal. Ace will only have about 10% feeling in the foot. The operation was to set the foot so it can be used as a crutch so he can put weight on it.

After the paw has healed the process to bring him over can begin.

As I get updates I’ll keep everyone in the loop.

Operation A Dog Named Sue!

#littlemonsters

I’m not that cruel to call a male dog Sue, despite being a Johnny Cash fan. But it does make a cool name for a mission/project.

After a late night (more middle of the night) call from Kate (she’s down in New Zealand doing some running endurance thing) the decision was made to recruit a new member to our team from the same rescue place that Diogo came from in Peru.

It’s very early days. Not even twenty four hours since I made the decision to fill the space on our roster that the passing of Nico left.

I think Nico will be happy we are going to be giving a loving forever home to another furball.

I know there will be many questions, particularly about that front paw. And I will go into that in a future post.

Mum took the news well when I told her this morning. Much better than I expected.

I’ve settled on a name for the new recruit, it’s not Sue. I’ve gone with Ace after Ace Frehley (the ex-lead guitarist of KISS) who passed away last October. I wrote about his loss and what it meant to me at the time.

Going with the experience of getting Diogo over from Peru, Ace won’t be here until June the earliest. Just in time for our summer. Unlike Diogo who was robbed of a summer, and got two winters instead. Ace will be the opposite and have two summers. Or what passes as summer here in the UK.

I’ll keep you up to date as his transfer progresses.

The Waiting Game

#littlemonsters, life, the universe, and everything, still alive

Life throws curve balls that can’t be avoided.

One such curve ball was thrown recently due to world events.

I’m not going to complain about it because I support the reasons for the delay. My first world inconvenience is really minor and insignificant compared to the cause of it. If it’s not obvious I’m very pro Palestine and if the interruption and delay of shipping helps bring an end to the genocide then it’s a price I’m happy to pay.

Anyway it’s a waiting game for the arrival of the Stonemaier shipment containing the new Bordeaux expansion for Viticulture and the Americas expansion for Wingspan.

The estimated arrival is mid February, with orders in the post and dropping through letter boxes soon after.

I also have a preorder due to ship anytime soon. That preorder is the two expansions that make up the Ashes cycle in Netrunner. This is a reprinting of an “older” NSG cycle. It gives me all the cards that currently make up the standard format.

I’d love to play the eternal format. But that’d require purchasing a second hand collection of the FFG stuff. Which I may look into at some point.

Another item I’m waiting for is the Mayday card sleeves I use to sleeve Wingspan to come back into stock. I can’t even preorder them. It won’t be a small order once they are available. I’m estimating about 700 sleeves to not just sleeve the new expansion but also Asia and the fan packs.

But there has been a positive to the delay, it’s given me a chance to get all the bits together ready for the arrival. Or in the case of Wingspan get the nesting box and put everything inside it.

I’m looking forward to the new arrivals and having the excuse to get the games to the table once more.

LiveFromPeru Part 9

#littlemonsters, #livefromperu

We woke up Monday morning to a thin layer of snow.

I really would have loved a thicker covering of snow. At best we had one and a half centimetres. Not deep at all. It’s been at least fifteen years since our part of the fens has had anything worth describing as snow. Which firmly puts it into the twilight years of the wolf pack.

As far as I know this is the first time Diogo has experienced snow.

Diogo’s first experience of the snow was in our back yard. At first he found it a bit odd. But the fresh snow fall passed the lick test.

Moon still in the sky

It was funny throughout the day when out in the backyard that not only would he lick the snow but he got snow on his face.

I think it’s fair to say he enjoyed his first experience of snow.

LiveFromPeru Part 8

#littlemonsters, #livefromperu, #the3d’s, The 3D’s

This post is going to be less poor writing and more just a photo dump from the walks that we have had the last few days. Or as I like to think of it the start of Diego’s training to build him up to the much longer walks.

Our walk round the rugby and cricket fields (New Years Day)
Our walk at South Holland Main Drain (Friday 2/1)

The South Holland Main Drain walk will always be associated with Nico. As we walked along the bank of the drain I couldn’t help remembering the sight of Nico sprinting for his dear life towards me as a flying pheasant seemed to be chasing him. Other times on this walk Nico would go missing in the wheat fields looking for who knows what. Making our walk much longer than it had to be as Strider and I looked for him.

Once back it looked like Diogo had the limp returning. So I made the decision to make Saturday a “rest day”.

Newton and North Level Main Drain (Sunday 4/1)

As you can see we’ve had the cold spell but no snow. Which is kinda disappointing. I’d like a good snow fall.

LiveFromPeru Part 6

#littlemonsters, #livefromperu, #the3d’s, hiking/backpacking/camping, outdoors, rambling, The 3D’s, Walking

Today Dolly and I introduced Diogo to the fenland landscape.

We went to just out side of Newton in the Isle for a walk I used to do regularly with the wolf pack. This one saw us doing a there and back to the North Level Main Drain. It ended up being about 1.5 miles in total.

This is the furthest Diogo has been on a walk since arriving in the UK.

Although the sun was out there was still a bit of a chill.

While Dolly was off the lead, a trust she has learnt. Diogo has not got to that point yet and was kept on his lead. He did get a bit longer on it than normal because I used Dolly’s lead as an extension.

Although I did my best to avoid other dogs, and the inevitable barking in excitement from Diogo. I wasn’t 100 percent able to avoid that situation though.

But I am trying to get to a point using calming dog treats (I’m very sceptical about these but time will tell). I’ve also contacted a dog trainer but had no reply yet. But then again it is the Christmas period and they could be taking the time off. I’ll give them until middle of next week before looking for another.

In the meantime Dolly and I need to build Diogo up so he can do the longer walks.

One Year On

#littlemonsters

This post is a couple of days late. However it doesn’t change the fact that a year ago on the 27th of December I drove down to the Farnborough area to meet Dolly’s owner.

I’d been warned before hand that if I things went well with the owner I’d be returning home with Dolly.

We met at a friends house. Dolly wouldn’t stop barking at me. I think more protective of her owner. It wasn’t until Dolly and I were given some alone time that we started to bond.

We had a nightmare return journey.

But Dolly settled in so fast with Nico and Loki. Even got on with Ramsey the cat.

I can’t believe Dolly has only been with us a year.

We did a charity walk together for Alzheimer’s and dementia research. The both of us have a great time when we are able to get out on longer walks.

She is such an amazing dog. She is beautiful, such a character, you can see what she is thinking on her face, has the cutest yawn. Although her barking at the tv when animals or scrolling text are on it can be a bit annoying. But I’ve never had a dog that watches tv before.

I’m so glad Dolly joined our family.