The Labraventures of Carbón, Spanish (ex-) foster dog extraordinaire
- Thread starter Emily_Babbelhund
- Start date
- Location
- Cornwall , UK
Aww, lovely photos , twas nice to see you both , and the boys of course ! I know how much the café girls love dogs , they are friends of ours and are lovely , so no doubt Benson having an explore of the kitchen didn't bother them !
Best time to visit Cornwall when hardly a soul is around !
Best time to visit Cornwall when hardly a soul is around !
- Location
- Argyll & Bute, Scotland
Aww just a fantastic read @Emily_Babbelhund and @Beanwood It's a definite cast of 'me and my shadow' with the boys 
I gotta say Emily, Carbon is looking so gorgeous and healthy. So are you Benson 
xx
I gotta say Emily, Carbon is looking so gorgeous and healthy. So are you Benson xx
- Location
- Andorra and Spain
Aw, Squidge wishes she was there with you! Cornwall in the winter was absolutely lovely. I'd love to go back 
Beanwood
Administrator
Carbon has the softest, shiniest coat! It is just amazing how far he has come, literally and considering his background. He put Benson to shame on more than one occasion!Aww just a fantastic read @Emily_Babbelhund and @Beanwood It's a definite cast of 'me and my shadow' with the boys
Beanwood
Administrator
I have such fond memories of that weekend....past the hotel a couple of times and smiled to myself remembering the night of pizza and loony puppy Squidge!Aw, Squidge wishes she was there with you! Cornwall in the winter was absolutely lovely. I'd love to go back
Emily_Babbelhund
Mama Red HOT Pepper
- Location
- Regensburg, Germany
What a great update, Kate! Thank you!
How embarrassing about Benson and the barbecue shack - I honestly thought he was still on the lead.
Just a small correction lest anyone think Carbon is some perfect restaurant diner. He WAS very good at the barbecue shack, but CARBON is the one who was tied to the table in Padstow and nearly dragged it across the street to get a sausage. AND he stole Benson's sausage in the split second before it got into Benson's mouth. Luckily the sausage-giving man had two and gave the second to Benson.
I really should have learned by now not to tie leads to tables or chairs. Brogan famously dragged a metal chair behind him up Rue Mouffetard in Paris once.
It really never ends well - but it does make a good story. Maybe that's why I keep doing it?
My mum does this with her lab, who’s good as gold 90% of the time. But he did once drag a big wooden chair across the very full dining room of a pub (with the legs squeeeling on the flagstones) to say hello to a Great Dane
- Location
- Malvern Worcestershire
Carbon adores Benson and it was lovely seeing them doing 'boy stuff' together. I remember years ago that I was in a gundog demonstration and asked a friend to hold my other GSP while I did it. Three quarters of the way through, there was a loudspeaker announcement that there was a loose and lost looking Black GSP wandering around. My friend was found still holding the lead, he had no idea that my dog had bitten through the lead and gone off!
- Location
- Sydney, Australia
Such wonderful stories! It's almost like we were all there with you
Emily_Babbelhund
Mama Red HOT Pepper
- Location
- Regensburg, Germany
Carbon and I have been laying low since Kate and Benson's departure. Rattling around in the house yesterday was a no-go, so I first took Carbon to the nearest beach for a big ball session, then down to Marazion and St. Michael as I knew that would keep us out of the house all day. This visit to Marazion I actually checked both the tide tables and the weather, so we had the rather amazing experience of walking out over the old stone causeway to the island. Most of the island is shut up for winter and the castle is not dog-friendly, but it was a really unique experience just walking along the causeway and poking around the port.
Unfortunately Carbon is not thrilled at being again left without a dog friend and was even more grumbly with other dogs than he had been on Saturday with little Reuben. He lunged and barked at a young chocolate Lab who just wanted to say hello and then at an enormous Afghan hound. I've gone back to lots of treats in my pocket and LAT and I'm simply going to have to also go back to NO on lead greetings for a while. This makes me sad because I see this as a consequence of so many changes for Carbon in too short a time.
Despite little bursts of silly happiness, I've also noticed that Carbon is just down. When I take photos of him...good grief, if looks could kill! He is NOT happy to be solo again, that is abundantly clear. And of course it makes me sad to see such a normally goofy dog go all maudlin on me. I really do worry that he may only be really happy in a multi-dog household, poor boy.
Having said that, I've been trying my darnedest to take Kate's advice and throw regular dog parties for him. That's me acting silly and chasing him on the beach, or rolling around on the floor with his toys. He does seem to get a kick out of this crazy new version of foster lady, but time will tell if it makes a dent in his 'oh woe is me, I am the only dog in the village' attitude.
Today we hit the local beach again, supposedly for 'just an hour' but the rather amazing lure of November sun meant it turned into an all day affair. Carbon had a big old swim with his ball and then a big old run across what seemed like 5 km of beach when he saw a pair of dogs playing in the distance. Then the worst...or best, depending on your point of view. A woman pipped her whistle for her dog at the opposite end of the very long beach. Carbon stared for about two seconds and then took off running. He thought it was Magic Pockets Kate and My Buddy Benson. Carbon ran and ran and ran. I didn't even try to call him back...absolutely no point.
He finally reached them, took a look at the woman, took a sniff of the dog, turned back around and then ran - albeit in a slower and more hangdog fashion - back up the beach to me. His face. Seriously, he's breaking my heart.
Now he's come up stairs and is under my chair as I'm on the computer at the kitchen table. This is not normal either as usually he's glued to the sofa no matter where I am in the house. I'm going to give him a good cuddle tonight and let's hope for some improvement tomorrow. Maybe I could bribe a neighbor dog to play with him!
Unfortunately Carbon is not thrilled at being again left without a dog friend and was even more grumbly with other dogs than he had been on Saturday with little Reuben. He lunged and barked at a young chocolate Lab who just wanted to say hello and then at an enormous Afghan hound. I've gone back to lots of treats in my pocket and LAT and I'm simply going to have to also go back to NO on lead greetings for a while. This makes me sad because I see this as a consequence of so many changes for Carbon in too short a time.
Despite little bursts of silly happiness, I've also noticed that Carbon is just down. When I take photos of him...good grief, if looks could kill! He is NOT happy to be solo again, that is abundantly clear. And of course it makes me sad to see such a normally goofy dog go all maudlin on me. I really do worry that he may only be really happy in a multi-dog household, poor boy.
Having said that, I've been trying my darnedest to take Kate's advice and throw regular dog parties for him. That's me acting silly and chasing him on the beach, or rolling around on the floor with his toys. He does seem to get a kick out of this crazy new version of foster lady, but time will tell if it makes a dent in his 'oh woe is me, I am the only dog in the village' attitude.
Today we hit the local beach again, supposedly for 'just an hour' but the rather amazing lure of November sun meant it turned into an all day affair. Carbon had a big old swim with his ball and then a big old run across what seemed like 5 km of beach when he saw a pair of dogs playing in the distance. Then the worst...or best, depending on your point of view. A woman pipped her whistle for her dog at the opposite end of the very long beach. Carbon stared for about two seconds and then took off running. He thought it was Magic Pockets Kate and My Buddy Benson. Carbon ran and ran and ran. I didn't even try to call him back...absolutely no point.
He finally reached them, took a look at the woman, took a sniff of the dog, turned back around and then ran - albeit in a slower and more hangdog fashion - back up the beach to me. His face. Seriously, he's breaking my heart.
Now he's come up stairs and is under my chair as I'm on the computer at the kitchen table. This is not normal either as usually he's glued to the sofa no matter where I am in the house. I'm going to give him a good cuddle tonight and let's hope for some improvement tomorrow. Maybe I could bribe a neighbor dog to play with him!
Jacqui-S
Moderator
- Location
- Fife, Scotland
Poor Carbon.
Lilly is one of the least overtly sociable dogs I know, yet still looks down and flat after a holiday with her cousin (or a weekend of puppy intrusions).
Give him time to settle again.
Try not to worry x
Lilly is one of the least overtly sociable dogs I know, yet still looks down and flat after a holiday with her cousin (or a weekend of puppy intrusions).
Give him time to settle again.
Try not to worry x
- Location
- Sydney, Australia
I do feel for you, Monty adores other dogs too and I frequently feel bad dragging him away from them. I wonder if this is just a culmination of weeks spent on the move and being in different places, with dogs, even different ones, being a constant for him? I'm sure he'll cheer up very soon. And welcome back to the uk,(rather belatedly from me) the home of the ready meal. 
- Location
- Malvern Worcestershire
Poor Carbon; my Rourke misses his dog companion who died over a year ago, he used to howl when we went out. He has a couple of doggy friends, he doesn't play as I don't encourage play, but they walk off together and do dog stuff together and if they are on lead, Rourke walks as close to George as he can. I don't feel I can cope with another dog at the moment because of OH. Didn't mean to ramble on! I am sure Carbon will get used to being on his own eventually.
- Location
- Herefordshire, UK
I think it's not unusual for dogs to feel the lack of company they enjoy, whether it's another dog or humans. Especially perhaps Labradors, I know how much Cassie loves it when the house is full, I'm sure then that it seems so quiet to her when it's just me and her, but she gets used to it again.
And I worry about her being an "only dog", I don't know whether she's had too much interaction, with other dogs, not enough, or the wrong kind...… what I'm trying to say is you are not alone with Carbon and this type of thing!!
Emily_Babbelhund
Mama Red HOT Pepper
- Location
- Regensburg, Germany
Just a short update tonight as I really feel I've been falling down on the job. It was a glorious day weather-wise here in Cornwall and Carbon and I made the most of a short bit of it by heading again to our local beach.
I was hoping there might be some other dogs, but all the Cornish dogs must be hard at work during the week because we were all by our lonesome. Carbon still perked up around his ball as always and - again as always - tried to think up creative ways of keeping me from heading back towards the car when it was time to go home. He mysteriously seems to lose his ball and have to instigate a beach-wide hunt for it, or decides that a bit of sand WAY over there needs investigating. Luckily he does understand the concept of "foster lady operates the car" so when I really head for the way out, he does come bounding along behind me.
The rest of the day, I'm VERY sorry to say, was dedicated to my German taxes. What a waste of Cornish sun. However, they are now done, at least until my German tax attorney comes back with his 101 questions. I know that doing tax preparation sounds deadly boring, but for me it's also emotional. The two years I had to go back to were the year I had cancer and the year Brogan died. Going through every line item for every operation and most of all for Brogan's final months including the day he died was tough. Even the happy stuff, like our last stay in Venice, our treks to Spain, Berlin and Prague...good memories but hard to dredge up in the name of taxes.
I have to say that Carbon was a champ through my hair pulling. Instead of taking his normal place on the downstairs sofa, he stayed under the table and glued to my foot through the whole seven hour ordeal. Now maybe he was just hungry - as usual - and hoping for a tidbit from the nearby refrigerator, but whatever the reason, it was comforting. Funnily enough, no sooner did I hit 'send' to my tax attorney, Carbon decamped back to the sofa. I guess he thought his job was done!
Just before sunset, we walked over to the dog field that is part of the little holiday park where we're staying and I threw his ball for him until it got dark. It is a great grassy flat field and he had a blast. He also carried his ball all the way home, which I think is adorable. I never have to worry about Carbon losing a ball...he loves that thing more than life!
Tomorrow we're back to FUN stuff. In the morning we're going to investigate the local dog shop and then in the afternoon - hopefully! - a visit with @kateincornwall . That's WAY more like it. As Carbon might say: "Pfft! on taxes...let's go have a puppy party, si!"
I was hoping there might be some other dogs, but all the Cornish dogs must be hard at work during the week because we were all by our lonesome. Carbon still perked up around his ball as always and - again as always - tried to think up creative ways of keeping me from heading back towards the car when it was time to go home. He mysteriously seems to lose his ball and have to instigate a beach-wide hunt for it, or decides that a bit of sand WAY over there needs investigating. Luckily he does understand the concept of "foster lady operates the car" so when I really head for the way out, he does come bounding along behind me.
The rest of the day, I'm VERY sorry to say, was dedicated to my German taxes. What a waste of Cornish sun. However, they are now done, at least until my German tax attorney comes back with his 101 questions. I know that doing tax preparation sounds deadly boring, but for me it's also emotional. The two years I had to go back to were the year I had cancer and the year Brogan died. Going through every line item for every operation and most of all for Brogan's final months including the day he died was tough. Even the happy stuff, like our last stay in Venice, our treks to Spain, Berlin and Prague...good memories but hard to dredge up in the name of taxes.
I have to say that Carbon was a champ through my hair pulling. Instead of taking his normal place on the downstairs sofa, he stayed under the table and glued to my foot through the whole seven hour ordeal. Now maybe he was just hungry - as usual - and hoping for a tidbit from the nearby refrigerator, but whatever the reason, it was comforting. Funnily enough, no sooner did I hit 'send' to my tax attorney, Carbon decamped back to the sofa. I guess he thought his job was done!
Just before sunset, we walked over to the dog field that is part of the little holiday park where we're staying and I threw his ball for him until it got dark. It is a great grassy flat field and he had a blast. He also carried his ball all the way home, which I think is adorable. I never have to worry about Carbon losing a ball...he loves that thing more than life!
Tomorrow we're back to FUN stuff. In the morning we're going to investigate the local dog shop and then in the afternoon - hopefully! - a visit with @kateincornwall . That's WAY more like it. As Carbon might say: "Pfft! on taxes...let's go have a puppy party, si!"
SEVEN hours doing taxes??? I am extremely impressed at your perseverance. I find doing taxes very scary. Silly. I once didn’t submit a tax return for about 5 years, maybe 6 or 7! Eventually I wanted to buy a property and felt I needed to get my financial life in order. So I took my files (I’m an excellent record keeper!) to a tax agent. And just like that—chop!chop!—she sorted them out and submitted them all. And the ridiculous thing is that I was owed so much back from the tax office!!! Hopefully you’ll have a pleasant outcome, too. Good luck!
Carbon is a darling. He knew you needed support.
Carbon is a darling. He knew you needed support.