Frightened of flies?

We think Shula may be frightened of flies. This all started several weeks ago when she suddenly shot out of her basket in the middle of the night. As she wouldn't get back in the basket I removed the cushion to check it and a big black buzzing thing flew out. I hadn't put the light on so couldn't see exactly what it was. By the time I did put the light on, and got the fly spray, the thing had gone, probably through the bathroom window. Anyway she settled down and we forgot all about it, well until two weeks ago. Shula was all relaxed laying on the floor one minute, then suddenly had a panic attack. I thought at first she might be having a fit but she wasn't. She was just trembling and her heart was racing. She didn't want to stay in the lounge, but was fine in the garden. We notice then that there was a fly in the room, I sprayed it and got rid of it and she came back in and was fine. Yesterday she went to lay in her basket in the bedroom and wouldn't come into the lounge, we looked around and finely found a half dead fly on the window ledge. Once we removed it she was okay. I don't think she could have seen it so can only imagine she could hear it. Whether she has been stung and that has frightened her we don't really know. It just seems that when our confident happy dog gets upset by something the timid frightened little dog we first met emerges.

100 Today

Ken's Auntie Rose on her 100th birthday 25th April 2010

Fed Up - Raining Again !!

It has been raining heavily all morning and I have been unable to walk Shula, she is fed up, as am I. So far this year, according to our local amateur weather station it has rained 51 days and we have had far more than our average years rainfall already. I think everyone would be quite happy if it stopped raining and didn't rain again for another year.

Last week we took Shula to the vet for her blood test for her passport, which will enable her to travel to the UK if the need arises. The passport is a very official looking document and is called a Pasaporte Para Animales De Compañia, which actually just means pet passport. The Spanish language really is twice as long as English. Anyway once we get the results of the test and the necessary time has lapsed she can travel whenever we want, as long as we keep her rabies vaccination up todate, which we will. The blood test and passport cost far more than a human passport so you would not want to do that too often.

She was really good for the vet, he gave her a check over and weighed her, she was 15.7 kilos which he said was fine but she mustn't put on any more weight. We are now including her in our weekly weigh in, she was 15.5 this week. Ken is keeping a strict eye on her meals and I am limiting her treats. We are both making sure she doesn't eat any of the cats food, which she would given half a chance as her favourite thing in life is eating.

Fun finding things

Shula hasn't changed her habit of picking up things to play with. I do wonder who drops these things, this was a big bundle of string.

This morning we passed a car parked about 30 meters into the ravine, music blaring out but nobody in sight. Behind the car was a big open bag of dog biscuits and a bowl of water. Shula, of course, had helped herself to quite a few mouthfuls by the time I caught up to her. Half way down the ravine I met up with a young Spanish couple with two dogs and asked them if it was their car. It was. I wanted to say that my dog had just stuffed down half a bag of their biscuits but my Spanish could only run to politely telling them my dog had eaten their food. Typically Spanish, they just shrugged and said it was not a problem. I suppose it wasn't, except I am trying to get this little dog, who lived wild for the first four months of her life, out of picking up and eating everything she comes across. Not to worry, she had a wild time playing with their dogs. I am not sure which she enjoyed most, finding the food, or playing with the dogs. Anyway when we got home she flopped out and was sound asleep within minutes.

Mimosa in full bloom

The Mimosa is in full bloom and looks wonderful. Fortunately the weather has been good since we got back from the UK and we have been able to go out on long walks.