Yesterday evening a zoom call was held between the rescue home and Kate.
The outcome of the call was that Ace will be in limbo at The Village for at least another two weeks.
The reason for this delay being to allow his paw to heal after he managed to lick it.
Apparently this is something dogs that have little feeling in a paw are prone to do.
Here is the video I mentioned in the previous update plus a new one as well.
The last couple of days has seen a lot of photos of Ace, plus a short video clip. In this post I’m going to share the update that came in last night plus all of the photos. I’ll save the video clip for another day when there are more clips to go with it.
“Hi! Here are some pictures of Ace in The Village :)
Wound is closed but with the minimum contact with the boot over night it opens a little bit
Today we are doing laser on the wound to help healing
We will see how it appears tomorrow morning to see if he is able to pass SENASA on Monday
If not, we will need to posponed the departure some extra days”
I love as a Prisoner fan that they call the place Ace is staying The Village. It’s almost apt.
I know the last few posts have all been dog related. To be fair that is the most important thing going on in my life at the moment. There will be other content soon I promise.
Last night Kate asked how Ace’s paw was doing. What I present here is the resulting exchange that was interspersed with photos and video.
“He’s healing well, and we’re keeping a very close eye on him”
“Good he seems very friendly and good with the other dogs.”
“Yes, he is very friendly with everyone !”
“Ace has been friendly/playful with other dogs and people.”
It is very obvious from the photos, now and previously, that he gets on well with other dogs. I have to admit I find these photos hard because I want the other dogs as well. They too deserve a loving forever home.
The one thing I am unsure is whether myself, Dolly, and Loki are ready for Diogo and Ace playing!
Looking at the paw in the video I don’t think next week is out of the question for Ace completing his journey to us. Then I can start getting excited again.
Tuesday saw Diogo have his second pickup and train session with Heidi.
As usual Heidi takes the odd photo and video of Diogo to show how he is doing throughout the lesson.
This time he spent time in the main park in Wisbech.
Obviously there were other dogs and even joggers there. He’s still reacting to other dogs, but his recovery ie stop reacting is improving.
Diogo even took treats from Heidi this time!
Diogo even had his first ever pup cup from the local Costa. Something I wasn’t aware they did. That did feel a bit like missing a child’s first word to be honest. It also means road trips to walks in the area just got expensive!
It does appear, no it’s obvious that Diogo is enjoying these sessions with Heidi, and a trust is building up between them.
Diogo has another session booked in two weeks time.
Over night there has been an update on Ace and his injury. Sadly it’s a bit of bad news.
“We have an update regarding Ace’s injury.
Although it is improving, it has not fully healed yet. If SENASA were to inspect him today, they would see the injury and would not approve the issuance of the health certificate.
For this reason, we believe it would be best to reschedule his trip for at least one week later and continue with his treatment until the wound is 100% closed and healed.
The little one is under constant supervision. He’s in great spirits and eating well. We’ll continue to keep you updated on his progress and health. He’s such a sweet, lovable little guy. ❤️”
It was pointed out that “It looks like he has chewed his paw too.”
They replied:
“In fact, it looks wet because we cleaned the area this morning.
I can confirm that he has not been chewing his paw, as he has been wearing the cone, and we only use the boot when we are not able to keep an eye on him.
We are trying to keep him without the boot as much as possible, while keeping the cone on at all times, because the boot causes his paw to sweat excessively, which does not help the healing process.”
Can’t say I’m more than a little disappointed with the delay. It does mean there is a high likelihood that this now overlaps with my ex-wife (who is paying for all this) being out of the country. Which adds a further complication that isn’t insurmountable. Just inconvenient.
Let’s finish this update with some more photos of Ace that were also shared with the bad news.
The great journey from Peru to his forever home here in the UK with me and the monster squad, has started for Ace.
Ace is currently in Lima (as an update below will confirm) going through the “usual” checks required for him to leave Peru and enter the EU, before then coming to the UK.
Here is the latest update and photo drop of Ace. Which is a combination of photos of him at the airport and at the foster home.
“Ace is a very loving dog. He has a limp on that foot. Sometimes he drags that paw and he’ll hurt his nails. These days he’s been nervous. Thank you for all the care.
I recommend to order his boots for when he arrives to England. I’ll send the size I previously ordered on Amazon.
But that’s why his boots will end up getting messed up with holes very quickly.”
Naturally when I read that update at 4am (what was I doing awake at that time in the morning? Old person bladder issues, and I’ll leave it at that) I was onto Amazon and ordering the suggested boots.
However…
“There’s been a hiccup he has a sore on his paw. He’s in Lima now.”
So my first job of the day is to get a visit to the vet booked in for Ace.
I also need to get the vet to tell me how I can get Ace’s medical records transferred to them digitally because they are too large to just email.
Because Ace is limping I will need to get him to a specialist orthopedic vet hopefully near me. But these have to be through referral so I will be asking the vet to do that also.
Let’s end this post on a high with some video clips that were also shared with me.
I thought I’d share photos I took of the socialisation walk Dolly and Diogo went on at Shouldham Warren.
Yeah I actually remembered this time.
There were three other dogs on this walk.
Yeah we had the initial vocalisation of excitement from Diogo at the start. But being a food oriented, and bribable young dog. I was able to keep that to a minimum. Although not perfectly.
But on the walk round Shouldham Warren itself they both were really well behaved. Even when other dogs came the other way, and at the end. Yes he barked but was better.
There is another socialisation walk that master blaster (yes that’s my nickname for Dolly and Diogo) are booked on next weekend. Followed by a pick up and train session for Diogo.
Looking forward to next weekends walk.
A couple of days back some basic information was required by the transportation company bringing Ace over to the UK.
The first bit was how big was Ace so that they could send the right sized kennel for him to travel in.
Once Ace is in Lima they will review the kennel to make sure it is the correct one for him.
He has a lot of time in that kennel so I appreciate that they are making sure he will have enough room to be comfortable.
The other bit of information they needed was some photos of Ace’s paw for their vets.
I have uploaded those and put them on the end of this post. Which has been the post with all the healing progress.
I think that the paw is looking good.
We are literally just over a month away from him joining his new family and being in his forever home. That’s so exciting.
That had to be a heading.
A couple days back now things started to get real.
We now have a date for Ace’s arrival in the UK of 8th October.
This is what Ace’s journey to his forever home looks like.
Flight Cusco-Lima: October 2nd
SENASA inspection (Lima): October 5th
Flight Lima-Amsterdam: October 6th
Flight Amsterdam-London:October 8th
Yes that’s a long journey. But he will be in good hands during it. And I can’t wait to meet him and start our journey together.
It’s been a hot minute since I’ve done one of these posts. You’d almost be forgiven for thinking this was just the Ace show.
Diogo has finished his five sessions with the trainer.
The first session was about stopping Diogo from barking while we get ready for our walk, and get out the door. Diogo gets very excited and expresses that excitement vocally.
Diogo isn’t perfect but he’ll never be that. However he has made massive improvements. Plus it’s a work in progress.
The remaining four sessions were working on Diogo reacting to other dogs.
Two of the sessions were at an enclosed dog park with another dog. The third session was at the main Wisbech park. While the fourth session was a socialisation walk with another dog (a female Doberman) at Shouldham Warren.
Diogo when he reacts to another dog isn’t out of aggression but excitement to see them. His tail is wagging. But mean me is stopping him from going to say hello.
We still have a lot of work to do. However he is improving.
But that’s part of the excitement of him going on a walk. He wants to meet other dogs.
The socialisation walk was funny because after meeting the other dog he basically ignored her as we walked round Shouldham Warren.
Although he did react to other dogs we came across.
At the end of the walk at the car park were a couple of horses. I wasn’t sure how Diogo would react to them. I know Dolly would react to them. She barks at them in the telly, and has done in real life in the past.
Diogo was unsure what to make of them and growled a couple of times. I suppose he might have been more sure if they were alpacas or llamas.
Then last weekend we went on another socialisation walk. But this time Dolly joined us, and there would be several dogs on the walk.
It was hot but not as hot as it had been. I had plenty of water with me, a tarp, a couple of jungle knots. If we needed to stop I was prepared.
Overall my monster squad did ok, especially in the later half.
On the home stretch Dolly started to feel the heat. So we hung back, and let the others go ahead. Dolly is pretty good in telling me she needs to rest. We went at her pace. When she stopped I offered her water. Sometimes she drank, others she didn’t.
Near the end I picked her up and carried her. It wasn’t fair on her. And she is a kilo lighter.
I will sign them both up for more socialisation walks.
I did make Diogo a new lead using about six feet of climbing rope and a couple of carabiners. Obviously one end clips onto Diogo, and the other onto my bumbag. It means when he’s pulling he’s pulling against my body weight and not my arm strength.
I think we are seeing more and more of Diogo’s personality coming out as he feels more and more at home and safe. Since the passing of mums cat Ramsey, Diogo when we are round hers likes to lie under her dinning table for some reason. I’m not sure if that’s a feeling safe, secure thing. Diogo is also a digger we have discovered. He doesn’t just like digging, he likes lying in the hole he’s dug.
So that’s the end of this major update on Diogo.