Walkies!

(photo by Miles)

Finally we can take Zebedee out for walks! I have been ill (more about it later) so Miles has been taking Zeb out for walks on his own until this weekend. On Saturday we went to Devil's Dyke. This is the first time we let Z off the leash - Miles ran down the hill just to make sure that Z follows him...



...and sure enough he did, all the way back, too.



It was brilliant to be able to let Zebedee run around free. And he thoroughly enjoyed it. We practised 'recall' many times with the aid of kibble pieces as a treat when he came back to me. He was doing it perfectly when there was no one else around, but had to be collected from a dog that he wanted to continue to play with.

The day was so hot that a travel water bottle / bowl gadget thingy became very handy indeed between bouts of running around.


(photo by Miles)

On Sunday we went to Ditchling Beacon for quite a long walk. Zebedee didn't show any sings of getting tired even after an hour and a half. My, oh my, I will get a lot of exercise walking this dog!





So anyway, I was ill from Sunday morning (last week) and my stomach pain became gradually worse, until on Tuesday evening it suddenly got so bad that I had to be rushed to hospital in an ambulance. I was a little disappointed that they didn't use the sirens during the drive to A&E, but then again... given a choice between a) life-threatening illness and sirens and b) non-life-threatening illness and no sirens, I have to grudgingly admit my choice is b. We got to the A&E (=Accidents & Emergency, ER in the US) around midnight, and after a long wait in a lot of pain, feeling extremely faint and actually fainting once when attempting a trip to the loo (luckily Miles was holding me at the time, so I didn't hit my head on the concrete floor on my way down) I got moved to a ward at about 4 AM and was put on a drip. Next day was pretty awful. Normal painkillers weren't enough so I was given morphine, which was an interesting experience: it didn't really get rid of the pain, but it completely zonked me out so that I was drifting in and out of consciousness.

Well, long story short, I'm still on strong painkillers but at least I don't have to worry about throwing up or passing out any more. And the pain has started to be bearable at times so that I have been able to go out and walk the dog with Miles. It's been great to be able to let Zebedee run around free and watch him enjoy it. He's met quite a few people and a few dogs during our walks, which has also been brilliant for that all-important socialisation. I wanted to start training 'recall' straight away so that I can let him run free off the leash (in safe places where there are no cars or other serious dangers around). And Zebedee has made us feel very proud: on Sunday we heard comments like "What a well-trained puppy!" when Z did a perfect recall, even sat down in front of me to get the treat after he'd run back to me from another dog. Wow, even I was impressed! :-)

Here's another look at Zebedee's mid-air matador style ears.