Emily and Carbon

[Woodwoman]

Good to see you back, I was wondering what had happened to you. Lovely to see Carbon swimming and enjoying himself. I hope you get through all the bad stuff soon.

 

[Emily_Babbelhund]

Sorry you’ve been having such a rough time, I’m sure i speak for all of us when I say if there’s anything we can do to help please just let us know xx

Thanks! I appreciate the sentiment even if right now it's a legal quagmire that I have to unravel with the German government so nothing much anyone can do except think good thoughts in the direction of my lawyer and me.

 

[Emily_Babbelhund]

I will give you a shout when I’m over in just over 2 weeks.

It would be great to see you if you can fit it in. And Carbon would be beside himself with joy!

 

[Emily_Babbelhund]

Emily, how is Paul?

I've been staying off FaceBook too - my goal for tomorrow is to get back on there as well - but I talked to Kate yesterday who said she saw a post with Vizzy (Paul) and sister Polly playing together like champs. Once I brave FB re-entry, I'll see if I can link the video here.

 

[Emily_Babbelhund]

ummm - he's a Labrador. This is what they do. Good luck though.

Yeah, the 'pavement Hoover syndrome' may not be something we overcome...I freely admit this!

 

[Emily_Babbelhund]

I hope you get through all the bad stuff soon.

Thanks for the nice thoughts. It's going to take at least until September and maybe until the end of the year to resolve, but I'm trying to take it step by step focusing on daily goals and not the whole (very overwhelming) picture.

 

[Aitch]

It is so good to have you back with us Emily. You are one of my heroes and I really missed you.

 

[Emily_Babbelhund]

It is so good to have you back with us Emily. You are one of my heroes and I really missed you.

No hero here, but thanks again for such nice words - it's a lovely boost and so good to 'see' everyone here again.

 

[MellowYellow]

Yes, it's really lovely to have you here!!!

 

[Emily_Babbelhund]

So this evening I gave my dog walking trousers a much-needed wash. I did check the pockets but frankly couldn't be bothered to get all the little treat crumbs out of there. "Aw, the washer will get it," I thought.

Fast forward one hour and I've hung up my wash to dry. Back on the sofa and I hear "lick lick lick" behind me. I turn to see Carbon with his whole head shoved into the washer and is giving the inside a very thorough tongue washing. He's in heaven. He now thinks the washer - along with countertops at Rosie's, Beanwood's dishwasher and abandoned picnic sites - is a magical source of delicious goodies.

I would not be terribly surprised to find him trying to throw himself into the washer again at 2am when he's feeling a bit peckish.

 

[M.F.]

Lovely to see you back! Sorry about the hard times. Thinking of you.

 

[Emily_Babbelhund]

Carbon and I had a nice snuggle on the sofa after his swim and dinner. Just getting up to take him for his evening walk and thought, "Oh no! He's sick! His nose has gone all white and dry and pasty!".



On second inspection I realised it's not just the 'wet' part of his nose, but the whole bridge of his nose that seemed particularly white and...sparkly?



That's when I realised that I really need to lay off the foundation/sunscreen. On me, that is, not the dog. He'd had his whole nose shoved into the side of my face for about an hour on the couch and all my makeup ended up on him instead of me.

Medical emergency averted.

While I'm here, here's Carbon doing a lovely downstay during training at the local department store. He's aces as a shopping buddy!

 

[Charlie]

Great shopping buddy! xx

 

[MellowYellow]

What a good boy!!! Does he not pee on the clothes? I would be terrified to take Merlin into a store, he'd be bound to pee on a rack of stuff.

 

[Emily_Babbelhund]

What a good boy!!! Does he not pee on the clothes? I would be terrified to take Merlin into a store, he'd be bound to pee on a rack of stuff.

No, no clothes peeing! I do keep a very close eye on him, though, just in case. Especially as there are a LOT of dogs who visit the store and there could be previous...um...markings.

Carbon has never been much of an indoor marker, except for at @Beanwood (sorry, Kate ) but very much an outdoor marker. I've been very proud how he has been able to grasp the idea of eliminating on command and being able to sniff where another dog has marked (to 'read the news') without having a wee there himself. It took about a week and he is still not 100% reliable, but he's doing very well with being able to stroll through town and not wee at all.

 

[Lisa]

He is such a gorgeous bundle of thouroughly Labrador Labradorness ?

 

[Xena Dog Princess]

It's just amazing what the weight loss has done to him. He now looks like an adolescent Labrador, not a fully grown adult. If I didn't know better I'd think it was a different dog!

 

[Cath]

He is such a lovely lad. I do love reading about you and Carbon. I hope you are feeling better Emily.

 

[Boogie]

What a good boy Carbón is - great to have a shopping buddy, Keir is brilliant at it. Now I have a new boy to teach shopping skills

 

[Emily_Babbelhund]

It's just amazing what the weight loss has done to him. He now looks like an adolescent Labrador, not a fully grown adult.

That's funny you say that, because everyone who meets him here says something along the lines of "Look at those paws, he's going to be huge when he grows up!". I can't convince them that he's a year old, not a six month old puppy. It's the way he walks too...all floppy and "Hello world!" like a typical puppy. If I didn't know him, I'd think he was still a puppy, too.

I'm not above using it as an excuse when he does something really silly like trying to play pounce on another dog in town. We're working on that little 'habit' and he's doing much better, but his puppy appearance does seem to get him more sympathy from other dog owners than if he was perceived as an adult.

And of course I enjoy the admiration he gets when we practice in the main square. Such a long downstay from 'just a little puppy'!

On the other hand, not too much personal protection walking him in the evening. Last night during his final walk of the day there were a bunch of young men out after the football match being general idiots. They decided it would be fun to make cat and dog noises at Carbon and dumb comments about the 'cutsey wootsey" little puppy. Couldn't help but think that if I'd been there with Brogan, it would have been a decidedly different reaction.

Maybe I need to exchange Carbon's flowered bandana for a spike collar?