Happy Birthday Mishka

Mishka is three today! He's had a lazy day, mostly being looked after by Lucy. He'll have a nice tea tonight, including some roast chicken, and if he wants to sit on the sofa with us and watch TV, we'll make sure Jackson doesn't bother him. Here are some pics from this evening, including ones where Jackson is definitely bothering him!

 

Mishka strips for the weather

Given the lovely weather we're having at the moment, I took pity on Mishka today and gave his coat a strip. Normally Olga does this, but I need to know how to do it, and he looks, and hopefully feels, a lot cooler now.
Jackson had his second lot of injections this morning, and has put nearly a kilo on in 2 weeks, going up from 2 to 3 kilos, so at least I've been feeding him properly.
Olga and Lara went to the beach today, so I'll be hoping for some photos later tonight or tomorrow. I've been invited to dinner at a friend's house tonight in Wycombe, so I'd best get out of my stripping gear, ooo-err, missus.
Here are a couple of the boy playing this afternoon:

No Show without Punch

Mishka didn't want to be left out this weekend, and we felt it was important to devote some time to him, as he was a little neglected last week while Olga was away. Weeks ago we'd arranged to meet some Airedale-owning friends on Sunday morning for a walk in some woods, half an hour north of Wycombe.
After a very wet Saturday, our friend Helena, who had arranged the meeting, decided to postpone it, so save people from a longish drive (some were coming from Suffolk) there and back for a very soggy walk. The thunder that rocked our house in the early hours of Sunday morning backed up Helena's decision, but by 9am things were looking like this out of our study window:

The bad weather seemed to have passed over us now, so we decided we'd go and meet Helena anyway, and as it turned out, the weather was lovely all morning, nice and warm with blue sky and fluffy clouds. Helena brought her Airedale, Rufus, who you might remember came to visit Mishka a month or two ago at our place. Some friends of Helena also came along, with their Airedale, Jansie, and their Welsh Terrier, Norman. Here's a group photo, and one of the "family":

Mishka was very energetic, to put it politely, but the poor fella just wants to play all the time, there's no agression there, just frustration that he's not allowed to go and play with the other dogs. Maybe next year, Mishka!

The walk was at Wendover Woods, near Aylesbury. It seemed like a lovely place, it was a shame that we didn't have more time to stop and enjoy the views, but I'd arranged to pick up a lawnmower I'd won an auction for on eBay, so we had to dash off. We'll go back again soon though and spend the day there. I might even have a try at the Go Ape! elevated climbing assault-course type thing that they have there (Anton knows all about that). Any other takers!!?

And yes, as I mentioned, I've bought a lawnmower, a petrol one, and I can start it without any black magic. It's such a relief!! I've only mown the front lawn so far, but the back garden doesn't know what it's in for during the rest of the summer!! Vvrrrooooooooommmmmmm!

Mishka survives his weekend away

Mishka was fine when we picked him up on Monday afternoon, after we'd been away in the North East for the weekend. It was reported that he'd eaten OK, and hadn't needed his buster cone on as the staff hadn't seen him scratching his poorly cheek.
He seems to have learnt some clever things from his dog-mates, he can now undo our stairgate at the bottom of the stairs, which has prevented him from coming upstairs for nearly two years, this led to a few surprise visits by him in the study and nursery this week. I made some alterations to the gate last night and now he can't open it, but whilst he was told off for doing it, we were secretly impressed that he had learnt how to defeat the gate!
It wouldn't have helped him get through the secondary gate that we have installed at the door to the nursery though, which we use when Lara's playing in there and we can't be in there full-time with her, so we weren't worried that he could get to Lara without us being there. Even if he did we've not seen anything so far to suggest he'd harm her, but of course we're not going to tempt fate.

Well, it was a half-day after all

I had to collect Lara from nursery after lunch today, they reported she had the squits and we needed to take her home and we can't bring her back in for 48 hours after the runs stop. We're going to miss Monday anyway as we'll be up North, but it's a pain for Friday. It's rather surprising too, as she acts absolutely fine, as happy as ever she's been (even between 4.40 and 5.40 this morning!).
I took some photos of her (and of Mishka) this morning when the weather was chilly, to say the least. They are in the New Uploads web album (or get to them from the slideshow on the left as usual) but I particularly liked this one, after I'd messed with it in Picassa:


OK, and one of Mishka just to maintain the balance:

Poor Old Mishka

No sooner has Lara recovered from her lurgy (sorry, Baba Luda, I mean illness!) than Mishka decides it's his turn to get some attention. Olga had noticed earlier this week that Mishka was behaving slightly strangely, it seemed like he was trying to lick the air around his head! On Wednesday evening I noticed something nasty in his fur on the side of his head, below his ear. By Thursday evening he was scratching this area a lot, so on Friday we took him to the vets, and either a cut or an insect bite has become infected, and he has a badly affected patch of skin about the size of a £2 coin. The vet shaved this affected area so we can get to it to clean it, and apply some magic gel, and Mishka's also on antibiotics now, but to top it all off, he needs to wear one of those radar dishes as much as possible over the next few days to prevent him from scratching the affected area. He really didn't like it on Friday evening, and we let him sleep without it then, but as of yesterday he's wearing it all the time apart from when we take him on walks. He's off into kennels next Saturday morning until Monday afternoon, so we hope it will have cleared up by then. Imagine the embarrassment he'll feel in front of other dogs if he has to go in looking like this:


It's also taking him some time to get used to getting through doorways and between furniture, and while he's got it on we dont' let Lara play with him in case he accidentally hits her with his "dish".

Lara & Mishka, best friends!

I've not seen Lara since I got back from the US, Olga had taken her to nursery already by the time I got home from the airport. One thing I've noticed is how much I want to see Lara, and want her to see me. It's a different feeling from how I miss Olga - I can, and do, talk to Olga regularly on the phone, so that feeling of separation isn't the same. So I bought a very cute little Reindeer doll on the plane (not that Lara's spoilt! The cheerleader dress and the tracksuit are practical things :-) ) and will give that to her when we go to collect her this afternoon.
Olga give me a little fix of Lara though today with these video clips she recorded of Lara playing with Mishka and his toys.

Planet Airedale

So Mishka doesn't feel left out, we've joined the Planet Airedale website. It has a good forum for swapping stories, ideas, photos etc with other airedale owners, and when I posted this photo

up there in the "Hello, I'm New" forum, we received many compliments on it, and have been encouraged to submit it for potential publication in the Planet Airedale 2009 calendar. So I'll send that one (and a few others) in and see if the little fella becomes Mr September or whatever!
We'll also hope to find him other local airedales to play with, as he doesn't get the chance to socialise much with other dogs, and maybe we'll find him a girlfriend... if I am enjoying being a father, I'm sure he will too!

Mishka: The Before and After

Here are his before photos.......

... and the after ones:

Oh, and I checked the Crufts records and his Dad won the "Reserve Dog Challenge Certificate" in 2002 for the Airedale Terrier breed, which is about equivalent to coming third, if I read the webpage correctly.

Mishka - Best In House

As I'm sure you're all aware, and avidly watching, it's been Crufts weekend. We're just watching the final now. Of course we'll cheer on the terrier (the Airedales didn't make it near the final, which is why I've appointed Mishka as Best In House so the Airedales win something!), but we like the Beagle and the Giant Schnautzer too.
Mishka is feeling much better, I've just taken him for a walk and he seems like his old self, so he'll be going for his marathon grooming session on Tuesday. It's probably three to four hours to get him finished, he'll look totally different, so we'll put before and after photos up.


Oh, and the result is....the Giant Schnauzer.

Poor little Mishka

Mishka had a trip to the vet yesterday morning. When I came down to see him at 8.15 it was clear he wasn't a happy puppy, he was looking very sheepish and not his normal bouncy self. I thought he'd perhaps left a little brown message for me somewhere, but I couldn't see (or smell!) it. I let him out into the back garden anyway, in case he was desperate for the loo, but he just went and lay down on the decking, then slowly moved to the garden and just lay down again. I showed Olga and we agreed he should go to the vet straightaway. Olga took him, and while she was stroking him in the waiting room he yelped when she touched his right hip area. The vet diagnosed just a soft tissue injury and after a massage and prescribing some anti-inflammatory painkillers, Mishka came home looking more like his old self. We're not going to take him for long walks for a day or three, but he's booked in for a long grooming session on Tuesday so hopefully he'll be OK for that. We don't know what caused it, although Olga & I did hear a thud followed by Mishka's scurrying paws, so perhaps something fell and scared him, and he pulled a muscle while trying to run away. Our wooden floors downstairs aren't ideal for dogs and he does look like a cartoon character when he tries to run on it. He seems a lot better this morning.

Mishka's new friend

Earlier this week I bumped into another dog-walker on Deeds Grove, and as we shouted a greeting to each other (I'd taken Mishka across the road as he does get excitable around other dogs) we agreed that it would be a good idea to socialise the dogs together, and this lady - Yvonne - had a suitable area in her back garden for this, and that I should bring Mishka around on Sunday morning. I discussed it with Olga, and we agreed it would be a good thing if Mishka could play with another dog regularly, it might make it a bit easier to walk him in places where he's likely to bump into other dogs.
So we took him round to Yvonne's on Sunday morning, and he spent 20 minutes playing with Daisy the 2-year-old Rottweiler. As you might imagine, much of the play was Daisy telling Mishka that she's not that sort of girl, but there was plenty of chasing round in circles and other doggy-type fun. We decided to call a halt to it when we noticed blood coming from Mishka's mouth! It wasn't anything bad, in all the excitement and rough and tumble, he'd bitten his tongue, the poor fella!
Being that little bit older than Mishka, and a good few kilos heavier, Daisy could be a good influence on him, and she's very friendly, and wasn't jumping up at us, so we're hoping to make this a regular thing, Olga & Yvonne can meet up for a cup of tea and the dogs can play for 20 minutes. He will keep trying to romance her but an old fairy liquid bottle with cold water in it might remind him of his manners!

Mishka Swims!

Here are some photos and a video to prove it, Mishka can swim! He didn't like going in, and either had to be pulled in by his leads or literally dropped in (there is a carrying handle on the back of the lifejacket!), but once he was in, and so long as he was away from the sides of the pool, nature took over and he swam. Scientists say that a 5 minute swim is equivalent to a 5 mile run, so although he was only doing 2 lengths of this 5 metre pool at a time, it should have been enough to tire him out.
We'll do another one or two sessions in here in the Spring, then we'll take him down to the Thames and see if he'll swim in there!

Get yer trunks on, Mishka!

This photo isn't of Mishka, but if everything goes according to plan, I could put one up later this week of him swimming.
Swimming is very good exercise for dogs, and we'd love it if Mishka would go bounding into rivers and lakes when we take him on walks (safely of course!). There's a farm not far from Wycombe that has kennels and a doggy swimming pool, so I booked him in for a "Help Swim" on Thursday lunchtime. We get their pool for 25 minutes, and for this session the pool staff will put a lifevest on Mishka and entice him into the pool, as he's never been in water deeper than his chest before. They're used to dealing with nervous dogs, but Olga assures me that terriers are very good swimmers, so I just hope that once he realises everything is OK, he'll enjoy swimming and we can take him down to the Thames in the Summer and have a whale of a time chasing ducks. And rowers.

Other things this week

The Superbowl finish was quite exciting, I will own up tp napping during the Third and Fourth Quarters, but I woke up in time for the final two plays, which saw the Giants score a touchdown to win the game. I missed the pass that set it up, which has since been proposed as the Best Catch in Superbowl History. It was a good one, the Quarterback doing well to evade three tacklers and the receiver pinning the ball against his helmet, one-handed, as he fell. Here's a You Tube video of someone's TV who was watching the highlights (the only way to get round the NFL's copyright!). The replays from about 45 seconds onwards are what matter:



Lara should be safe in the car for our trip up to Radcliffe this weekend now, I bought a Dog Guard to go in the boot of the car to stop Mishka from jumping over the back seats from the boot. I've been assured by the firm I bought it from, and from their advert on eBay, that this will fit in our CRV. I'm not convinced, the box reckons we need an extension unit for 4x4s... I'm going to fit it tonight so we'll see who's right.

We're very much looking forward to our road trip this weekend, but the car is going to be very full! Even more so for the last hour or so on the way home, as we're calling in at Swindon to pick up a big play-rug we bought on eBay for the nursery. At 2.4m x 1.6m it's going to take some room in the boot with Mishka, even when it's rolled up!

Mishka's getting adventurous

The summerhouse was finally totally finished on Saturday, and just as I thought I might have a break from worrying about outdoor DIY jobs, Mishka has learnt to jump up onto our garage roof (from the side passage of the house it's only a four foot jump - like everything in Wycombe, we're on a hill). From there he can bypass the garden gate and escape. In fact he did clear the gate yesterday after Olga put him in the back garden while the health visitor was here. When Olga popped out to check on him, she could just see the top of his head on the far side of the gate - he was just sitting quietly on the front door step, watching the world go by! He came straight in when she opened the front door and called him - it was a close shave though. He does have a collar of course, and he's chipped too, but that won't matter if he goes running into the street and gets mown down by a car. We were lucky that no-one came by walking their dog, because he certainly wouldn't sit quietly on the step if he saw another dog.
So, this weekend I need to investigate getting 2 new large garden gates and some screening to keep him off the garage, so we can leave him outside without worrying where he is!

That's yer cot

After the weekend, we now have a bed in the spare bedroom, and the baby's cot and changing table are in place (that's not our cot, but you get the message :-) ).
I need to crack on with getting the study ready, then we can actually move into the spare bedroom and I can get used to navigating around in the dark, avoiding all the furniture when I get up to go to the loo in the night.

I've taken pity on Olga and taken on most of the dog-walking duties, aren't I the caring, thoughtful guy :-) Where's my Nobel Prize?!

Flash, bang, wallop

Poor Mishka was spooked by fireworks when Olga took him for his walk last night; someone fired one from their back garden just as Ola & Mishka happened to be walking by, and once Mishka got home we couldn't coax his tail out from between his legs - see the photo. He get's like that when something frightens him, but normally it only lasts for a minute or so then he's wagging it like it's going out of fashion. Last night though he stayed like this for 30 minutes, and kept glancing up at the ceiling, as if waiting for another firework to go off!! We're planning to launch a few fireworks ourselves on Sunday, so we'd better get him some earmuffs before then.

He's not Zero any more, he's One!

Yep, 20th September is Mishka's real birthday; the Kennel Club have him down as the 19th, as that's when most of his brothers and sisters came along, but he was fashionably late. We bought him a new soft toy to play with, and here's a proud mum about to give him his present.

Bath time

While I'm concentrating on Mishka, it was bath night tonight, as he's off to the poodle parlour tomorrow for a haircut. We've not got the old bath ready yet to use as his personal bath, so he had to make do with an IKEA storage box and some Boots Baby Shampoo. The lead was there as a precaution, but he only ran off once.