Boys update

The boys seem to be OK after their operations. It's been 2 weeks and we've only just decided to relieve them of their buster collars. Those collars might not have survived much longer anyway, I was repairing them on a daily basis with gaffa tape.  We're still waiting to see a big improvement in their behaviour around other dogs, but we have to remember that this wasn't going to be a miracle cure. It'll definitely be easier on the boys when we're working from home so they can interact with us more.
Here are a couple of pics from earlier this week:

The Boys - an update

I realised I'd not put a photo of the boys up for some time. They are doing fine, we're working on Jackson's training, he has a good "sit", but his excitement just gets the better of him most of the time, he just can't sit still. We did have our first "Marley & Me" moment last week, when I came home at lunchtime to find that Jackson has chewed up a pillow I'd bought at Dubai airport for Lara. It was filled with tiny white polystyrene balls, it would have been a great travel pillow, but now the lounge looked like there had been an avalanche. It was a hell of a test for the hoover, and my patience, but one cute look from Jackson and all was forgiven. I'm a soft touch, really.
Anyway, here they are today...

Affectionate Pets

We had a new and very pleasant experience last night while watching TV. Mishka, whilst being very cute and lots of bouncy fun, has never been particularly affectionate towards us in terms of sitting on the sofa and letting us stroke him. Normally he'll clear off the sofa when we come and sit down, which I guess would be considered to be good canine manners. But sometimes we'd like him to act like a big cat and cuddle up with us. Jackson has been the opposite, he loves being stroked while relaxing with us on the sofa, and last night I think Mishka got jealous, as when Olga was stroking Jacko, Mishka came up and sat between Olga and I, then lay down on me, and was happy to let me pull his ears and tickle his tum. He's been the same tonight, so maybe now we'll have two affectionate boys who'll get off the sofa when we tell them to, but will be happy to snuggle up with us when we let them.
Here are a couple of photos, Jackson was looking soooooo cute that I just had to take some!

The Boys Play Nicely

It might not look like it, but this is Mishka playing nicely with Jackson! We're happy to leave them alone together now, and most likely I'll be taking the pen down soon in the lounge at home, which means they'll be able to interact with each other during the night, which might be interesting.

The Boys Survive

This afternoon we decided it was time to trust the boys to play together without either of us being around, so when I came home at lunchtime to check on them, I set up the downstairs so they would have access to the lounge, hall & kitchen and each other. Until now I've separated them when no-one else has been in the house, usually keeping Jackson in his pen, although earlier this week I did let him have a free run in the lounge, while keeping Mishka in the hall & kitchen - for the animal lovers out there, they both had access to their respective food and water bowls at all times! Jackson was a little destructive when I let him have the lounge, getting hold of some newspapers and some of Lara's toys, and most worryingly a 4-socket extension, which he chewed the cable of, but I'd already turned the power off at the switch to that, so it was safe, but it was a warning to us.
Anyway, I was a little nervous of what I'd find this afternoon when we got home from work, but everything was OK, Jackson still had both ears and all four legs still attached, and whatsmore, apart from three pee puddles, there wasn't any damage to the house.  For the next day or so I'll still only let them play for a few hours at a time without supervision, especially as Jackson is supposed to be "resting" to help his leg heal. Other than the bandage, you wouldn't know to look at him that he has a broken leg, so I'm sure it's healing properly. How do you convince a 3 1/2 month old puppy to relax? It would be like trying to tell Lara to spend the day chilling on the sofa and watching TV.
This evening we've given Jackson even more freedom, by letting him come and go as he pleases to and from the garden, making use of the catflap while he can still fit through it! We're hoping this will help him with his toilet training, which is going in the right direction, but perhaps not as quickly as it should, mostly because we're out most of the day and he's left to his own devices. The thing is, that was the case with Mishka and I remember being pleasantly surprised by what a breeze it was to house train him.  He's continuing to be the perfect older brother, even letting go of his favourite soft toy when a tog-of-war develops with Jackson over it.
Jackson's off to the vet tomorrow to have his bandage changed again, then it's one more week before we can go out for another walk together, it'll be interesting to see if he's as well behaved then as he was on our last walk...