This is technically both an Ace update and a Diogo update.
But primarily it’s to share a couple of recent videos of Ace.
The I spoil you with one of the most brutal videos you will ever see. Forget the Dare Devil corridor fight scene, John Wick, or the bus fight from Nobody. They look like kids fighting with foam weapons compared to what you are about to watch.
For your viewing pleasure I managed to capture two duelling Jedi, it’s brutal to watch. You have been warned.
Monday saw Diogo and myself have our first session with the dog trainer.
It was an hour long session at home where we worked on Diogos barking in excitement at going on a walk.
This session saw us getting through a pack of dog treats. It wasn’t only Diogo getting the treat as part of his training. Every time Diogo got something Dolly was also there expecting, nay demanding she had one to. Once he cottoned on to what was happening Loki also wanted in on the action.
Diogo did really well. Although it did tire him.
Our next session is in just over a couple of weeks and will be in a local paddock where we will work on Diogo’s reaction to other dogs while on the lead.
Obviously in the meantime Diogo has homework of about 15 minutes a day going over what we practiced in the session. Plus I’m using the stuff getting ready for our walks.
Things are improving.
There was an overnight update on Ace.
From the photos shared his paw looks to be healing nicely.
So for this post I’ve collected the photos of the paw that have been shared so far.
They show the paw healing.
However there is still a ways to go.
Looking at the progress over about a month the difference is amazing. I’m hoping the healing continues at this rate.
WARNING! these pictures are not easy to look at
Naturally I can’t wait for the healing to get to a point where we can start the process of bringing him over to his forever home with us.
I’m starting to think we won’t have Ace with us now until the end of the Summer, early Autumn.
UPDATE: 20/3/26
Last night another photo was shared with us showing Ace’s leg healing nicely.
Hopefully this saga will be over soon and we can focus on getting him over to his forever home.
UPDATE: 30/3/26
Literally hot off the press so to speak are these amazing photos below showing just how well the healing process is going on Ace’s paw.
The foster family bought Ace a new bed. So they shared some new photos of Ace in his new bed (see below).
I’m in two minds about sharing the latest raw photos of Ace’s paw without the bandage. They are not pretty to look at.
But it’s really nice that his foster family, and the rescue home are keeping those of us in the UK up to date with his progress.
Yesterday Diogo and I had our initial consultation with the dog trainer/behaviourist.
Part of the consultation saw Diogo going out for a walk, much to Dolly’s disgust. The intent of the walk was to allow the dog trainer to see how Diogo reacted towards other dogs.
Obviously getting ready for the walk allowed the dog trainer to see how Diogo reacts, and his excitement that is vocalised as barking.
We headed off to Tillery Park. A five minute walk.
Back as a teenager when we lived in Princess Road, Tillery Park was literally opposite the house. It was where each day I used to walk our dogs Timmy (a jack russell) and Rex (mostly lab). Back then there used to be a fallen tree in the middle of the park. A tree as an even younger kid, like many others, used to be climbed all over.
When we got to the park there were people present on the benches. But alas no dogs.
We didn’t see a dog until near the end of our circuit of the park. Diogo reacted with his usual response of barking.
Having not seen another dog until that point, we saw another three or more on the way home.
The trainer confirmed my assessment of Diogo getting excited at the start of the walk, and that he was pretty good on the lead.
The barking at other dogs she thought was more to do with frustration that Diogo couldn’t just run up at them. Which is what he would do back in Peru living on the streets.
It was a positive that not only would Diogo respond/get distracted by food, especially in his excited state.
Back at the house the trainer went over the structure of the sessions. Two of the five will be in a paddock with another dog to teach us both how to handle the situation.
The rest will be indoor training. Which will see us working on the vocal excitement.
The trainer did recommend that Diogo and I take part in one or two of her socialising dog walks that she holds. And I will do that. But Dolly will be on those too. I saw on Facebook that they take place in places like Hunstanton beach or Shouldham Warren. The latter Dolly and I are familiar with.
Our first session should be at the end of the month once the trainer is back from her holiday.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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”.
As you can see we’ve had the cold spell but no snow. Which is kinda disappointing. I’d like a good snow fall.
Well it’s a new year but to get here every pet owner and pet has to go through the same gauntlet.
Despite the many pleas on social media in the run up to the new year for others to consider how stressful fireworks are for the animal kingdom. There still seems to be those that think letting off enough ordnance to put the illegal airstrike of a sovereign nations nuclear program to shame is justified in celebrating the passing of the old and the start of the new.
This would be Diogo’s first time experiencing such explosive celebrations. How would he handle it.
I’ve been lucky in the past. The wolf pack were not bothered at all by the loud explosions. Which was handy when we were living in Crook because we were living next to the towns cricket ground where we found out they held the annual fireworks display.
Nico and Loki have been ok as well with fireworks. And Dolly has been as well.
I think the secret is not to get stressed out by the fireworks yourself. I think the furballs pick up on this. So being calm and not reacting helps them.
Mums dogs Ebony and Toby were always getting stressed out by fireworks. Which I think they picked up from mum. She got stressed that they were going to be stressed. It was a self fulfilling prophecy.
Last night Diogo was in his bed when the first explosions of the night started going off. All he did was get on the bed and cuddle up next to me. As did Loki and Dolly. I was literally pinned on the bed by them cuddled up next to me.
They weren’t stressed, worried or under any duress. Just content cuddled up next to me.
I was really proud how all three handled the fireworks. I’ll take doggy cuddles any day of the week.
This morning on our walk there was very little evidence of last nights explosive celebrations. Usually the remains of some expensive fireworks display in a box type thing are left next to the dog bins or in the middle of the grass. All I saw this morning was the remains of a sparkler and a couple of rockets. I know times are hard for lots of people and this is just a tiny example of where people are making cuts.
Anyway happy new year from the little monsters.
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.