Ian and I were sat at the table with Charlie (who has gone into complete sheepdog mode) running round and the table in one direction, Millie running round in the other direction, Wilbur getting excited because he thought there may be some chocolate and Larry in full squawk demonstrating his pleasure/annoyance at a bit of lettuce. It can be quite exhausting!
Charlie is showing no long term damage from her broken leg, which is good. I don’t even notice her limp now. Perhaps she does, but she generally is running so it is difficult to see.
Life with Horace continues to be challenging. He is desperately sweet, but he is extremely strange too. He remains very funny about eating – but also drinking. He will only drink if his water bowl is full. And as his bowl is right outside the back door, all the others tend to drink from there too. So we have to watch it. We’re getting to know the signs and when he is thirsty he won’t settle. It’s very strange, because he’s obviously thirsty, but won’t or can’t drink if the bowl isn’t full. This is something we’re really going to have to watch in the summer.
His food also remains an ongoing challenge. I’m close to giving up feeding him outside as he ‘loses’ his bowl and then gets lost himself. More often than not I finish feeding him inside on the sofa so he can’t get lost. I did try feeding him again in the bedroom, shutting him in there, thinking there would be less to distract him, but he just scattered his food over the floor and couldn’t pick it up. He wouldn’t eat soft food when I’ve tried him before, but I’m going to try again as there’s obviously a problem with his crunching on dried food.
He hears noises but doesn’t seem to be able to work out where they are coming from and he has absolutely no sense of direction. He’ll take one step away from his food bowl and will be unable to find it again – without stepping in to it. I think he knows my voice, but he doesn’t really react – not like Millie who goes into full pelt running round in circles when she hears me finish a class!
I think that without a doubt, Horace has been our biggest challenge and I think that if he had been our first ‘special needs’ dog, I doubt that our house would be so full of other animals with special needs. Even with our experience he can be a bit of a worry and I think if we didn’t have any experience we would find his odd behaviour quite worrying – even though we do see real improvements in him almost daily.
It’s lovely to see the steps forward he makes – and he does make significant steps forward. But we ‘re currently congratulating him on almost crossing the floor of the living room to Ian’s desk – or we may feel pleased that he ate most of his food before getting lost again – things the others picked up in seconds! I can’t help thinking that when I say ‘well done’ to Horace for eating most of his food the others must wonder what all the fuss is about!
But he does seem happy and he does play and skip around. He clambers up onto the sofa and he’s started shunning his little bed in the bedroom and climbing onto the chair. He does seem to like company and will snuggle up with the others or sit on my lap, so he’s not completely in his own world.
And he is actually extremely good at using his puppy training pad. In fact, he is so good I have put one outside as he will come in to use his training pad rather than go to the toilet outside!
It’s going to take time, but it would be great to think that in a year or so’s time he was more confident and I read back at these posts thinking how much he’s changed!