Monday 9 June 2008

Zebedee nine weeks old

Today Zebedee is nine weeks old. We started the day by going out for a drive. We stopped first at Birling Gap, and as it was low tide, we went down the staircase onto the beach.



Next we drove to Beachy Head to have a look at the view over the sea, and while Zeb was looking into the distance, I got a chance to take a photo of those long eyelashes I mentioned before.



View from Beachy Head towards Seven Sisters.



On the way back we stopped in Cuckmere Haven to go and see a couple of horses I spotted from the road. Zeb was in my lap and was a little scared of the horses, so I didn't force him to go too close to them. I told him that horses are not scary; you just have to run very fast if one charges at you. (Apparently it's good to let a puppy see lots of different kinds of animals, but only on his own terms, i.e. not to force him to be braver than he is comfortable with.)





Yesterday the three of us went to see Classic Car Run on Madeira Drive in Brighton. Zeb seemed to enjoy being in the middle of all that action, people and other dogs, even though he is not allowed on the ground yet. We went to sit on the pebble beach for a while, too, and it was all very new and exciting for Zeb.




(What a delicious moment for a prankster with access to the hood of this car...)

This is easily the best looking Rover I have ever seen.



Before that, though, remember my question about eating slugs and worming? I asked the vet and was advised to give the wormer.... well, later the same day, Zeb vomited once, and the next day he had a bad diarrhoea and vomited a couple of times... the last thing that came out of the rear end was blood... The vets that have examined Zebedee don't know what caused it, but they suspect it might be something he's eaten in the garden, or the wormer, or most likely the combination of the two. Anyway, he was given an anti-vomiting/diarrhoea shot and high energy delicious liver pâté-smelling tin food so that he would eat at least something (he hadn't eaten nor drunk anything since the morning). The vet said that if he keeps vomiting in spite of the shot he was given, he must be put on a drip as he wouldn't be able to pull through on his own. Luckily, he didn't vomit again, and was much better the next day. He was very tired for quite a while, but I think he's fully recovered now. The real bummer is that as we don't know what caused it, I'm reluctant to let him stay in the garden as it's impossible not to let him eat anything there. But I guess I will have to risk the garden and see if it happens again. Rather that than being cooped up indoors all day where life is rather boring in the long run for a little puppy, regardless of playing and training sessions. I won't worm him for another two weeks, so if it happens again before that, at least we know that it isn't the wormer that causes the upset. What we won't know is exactly what else it is, though!

So anyway, after the cars, we went to a nice pub in Kemptown where Zeb fell asleep on Miles's lap. And was mercilessly taken advantage of for a silly photo. He met quite a few kids there, too, which is great for socialising.



One more thing to report from this week: paws. How they grow. You know how puppies have huge paws and ears at one stage of their puppyhood? Well, I never realised that it's the front paws that grow first. And Zebedee's front paws have been getting bigger so quickly one can almost hear them grow.



Now I'm just waiting for the ears and back paws to catch up!

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