Basil seems to be enjoying life at the moment teaching Rosie and Wilbur his favorite Big Dog tricks. So far he has been teaching them the standing-in-the-door-so-noone-can-get-in-or-out trick and the lying-in-front-of-the-door-so-they-can’t-open-it trick. They both seem to be learning well. Next will be the more advanced stuff, such as lying on the other side of a closed door so we can open the door and then immediately fall over him (Basil finds for this well to work it is better done at night), or finding the busiest place in the room and then standing there, blocking it from all directions.
One of Basil’s favorite tricks, which Wilbur seems to be picking up well, is hovering at Ian’s shoulder, from about 2 o clock onwards in the afternoon to remind Ian that tea is in about four and a half hours. Obviously for this to work really well, they then need to attach themselves, limpet like, to Ian’s side, getting increasingly closer as the time goes on.
Neither Ian or I expected that Basil would still be here now. I think the combination of the very good winter that we’ve had, with the addition of Rosie and later Wilbur, has helped to give him a bit of a boost. While he is very weak in his back legs, and we have to watch him closely when he tries to play with the others as he can fall over and can’t always get back up, he does seem to be enjoying life and has a bit of a spring in his step.