Labramundi

Just walk beside me greeting card - Loyal Friend

noreply@blogger.com (Reasonable Robinson) — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 16:09:00 +0000

Just walk beside me by reasonablerobinson
See more cards available at zazzle

Just walk beside me greeting card | Zazzle.co.uk

Grace The Black Labrador Has A Friend To Stay

noreply@blogger.com (Reasonable Robinson) — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 20:48:00 +0000

Grace the hygenist cleaning Sasha's teeth

Sasha: "Do my teeth look good now?!!

Sasha: "I'm bored, got any toys?"

Grace: "Here, you can have this to play with"

Sasha: "Im off home now, see you soon"
Grace: "Ok. Mind the step"

Sasha: "Bye!"

Grace Goes To Skegness

noreply@blogger.com (Reasonable Robinson) — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 07:29:00 +0000

Grace had her first trip to the sea-side the other day. It was amazing to see how excited she was. She was really puzzled at first by the waves. It was fantastic to see her run about without such a sense of freedom. Lots of new smells, new things to eat like sea weed and crabs! Lots of things to not do again like eat sand and drink sea water too. All in all and amazing day out.

Mousepad Dog on the Beach by reasonablerobinson
More Dog on beach Mousepads

Grace the Black Labrador is 14 Months

noreply@blogger.com (Reasonable Robinson) — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 07:16:00 +0000

Grace is now 14 months old. She is starting to settle down now. That certainly doesn't mean slowing down or stopping her curiosity. She gets 3 good walks a day and she will often disappear out of sight for 5-10 minutes at a time in the fields around our house. Her obdience is getting better. We can whistle her and 90% of the time she'll come back immediately. She is also very good at retrieving 'lost' objects. Yesterday we went to a country park and took her favourite water Kong toy.

It's a good a idea to keep soome toys as 'special' for particular walks as the dog will 'value' them more. Any way, Grace managed to get under some fencing with her toy and decided to leave it on the 'wrong' side of the fence where we couldn't get it. We carried on walking and 45 minutes later went back. Using the command 'fetch your toy' she went went back under the fence, found her toy and brought it back to alots of fuss and some doggie treats.

Grace's First Warm Day of 2010

noreply@blogger.com (Reasonable Robinson) — Sun, 18 Apr 2010 07:35:00 +0000

Yesterday was the warmest day of the year and Grace decided to enjoy to the most. Sunning herself in the garden we all went for a walk in Clumber Park. The day was amazing. The UK has been declared a 'no fly zone' because of the volcanic ash cloud created by an eruption in Iceland far to the north. Walking Grace made us aware of the silence. Even high flying planes created a dull drone in the background that I think we've all become used to.

Grace is being really behaved now. She comes (most times when called) and her friendliness to other dogs and people is exceptional. She does jump up in enthusiasm sometimes which annoys (understandably) a rare few of people. Mind you we're working on that.

Grace Is One Year Old

noreply@blogger.com (Reasonable Robinson) — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 22:23:00 +0000

Grace is 1 year old this month. I think she looks great in this photo. Today we went for 3 walks. She picked up a pigeon wing and even when we were 300 yards away from where we made her drop it she raced back to it when she was off the leash! She seems to have an amazing memory and did exactly the same with a large log that she found, dropped and then raced hundreds of yards back to retrieve it.

Grace at Bradgate Park

noreply@blogger.com (Reasonable Robinson) — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 12:49:00 +0000

We went for a walk in Bradgate Park Leicestershire the other day. Grace had great fun and met some deer for the first time. There's loads of open space and plenty of new smells around. If you get the chance you really should visit.

Grace The Black Labrador is 11 months old

noreply@blogger.com (Reasonable Robinson) — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 11:12:00 +0000

Grace is 11 months old now. She's turned into a loveley dog. Still a bit disobedient but that's her age. Everybody she meet loves her.

Labrador Eats Everything

noreply@blogger.com (Reasonable Robinson) — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 08:58:00 +0000

We learned early on that a labrador will eat anything, and I mean anything. We sort of expected the kitchen units to take a gnawing and we weren't disappointed. Grace goes through stuffed toys like nothing. There's something a bit too much like the 'real thing' when we find an evicerated stuffed chicken in the living room though!

Our worst experience was after a walk in the fields where there are lots of rabbits. Grace came home and was poorly. I was too squeamish so I asked Sallemange to check out the results. She came back to the house screaming because when she washed the dog puke away with a bucket of water a rabbit skull was left staring back at her!!

Grace has now moved onto watering cans and buckets I'm pleased to say, and the only rabbit orientated delicacies she trys now is rabbit poop. Her latest trick is opening a door in the telephone desk and removing gloves. She just snaffled my good pair of leather gloves, so guess what I'm getting for Xmas!

Black Labrador Grace

noreply@blogger.com (Reasonable Robinson) — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 07:53:00 +0000

As you can see Grace has grown quite alot now! Isn't she beautiful. She is a wonderful character, very even tempered and she loves to romp and play in the fields near our house. We decided to have her spayed before her first season. There seem to be two schools of thought on this. One view says that you should wait so that she 'mature's the other says get it done sooner rather than later. We chose the latter. It was a bit tough the first two days. Her powers of recovery were incredible. One day later and she seemed back to normal. Of course she wasn't and as the vet said, she might 'lool' ok but she's had a major op so she musn't go on further than the garden and perhaps after a couple of days 10 mins maz on the lead.

She is in full health now an features on Sallamange's Zazzle store on some great gift merchandise. If you like black labradors why not pop over and have a look.

Working Like A Dog

noreply@blogger.com (Reasonable Robinson) — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 14:16:00 +0000

At the week-end Grace went to the CLA Game Fair at Belvoir Castle. Not only was it an first for her it was a first for us too!. The day was great, nice people, nice atmosphere, superb organisation, and Grace was fussed by scores of dog lovers.

Of course Grace is more of a pet than a working dog, and it was very impressive to see the handler and dog skills on display. She wasn't phased walking past the Clay Line where the shooters were, and she was very well behaved in the presence of other dogs...there were loads of labradors naturally!

The CLA Game Fair totally absorbed Grace. She watched Clumber Spaniels doing their thing, and at the end of the day she was tired out.

A great day was had by all.

Puppy By Night and Time Vampire By Day!

noreply@blogger.com (Reasonable Robinson) — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 08:38:00 +0000

Anyone with a basic grasp of arithmetic will see that the date of today's post is much later than the date of the last post! How can that be you ask in astonishment? Well let me warn you about the Time Vampire aka Grace the Labrador puppy.

No don't me wrong we love Grace to bits. However anyone who is considering buying a puppy MUST realise that puppy's are a huge time commitment. Your time is no longer your own.

Grace requires almost constant supervision especially during this 'chewing phase' They certainly don't show you that in the Loo Paper Ads What? 3 labrador puppies and a stack of intact loo rolls. It must be photoshoped because 1 Grace and a small piece of paper = shredded mess.

Labrador Dog Discovers Web 2.0

noreply@blogger.com (Reasonable Robinson) — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 08:52:00 +0000

Grace is a digital dog! Alot has been written and posted about how coping with deluge of information in blogosphere is like taking a drink from a fire hose!

Well OK, the garden stand pipe isn't quite the same, but you get the idea. Grace has learned that she can extract a few drops the tap if she 'sucks' it. Taking just the amount she needs. Its a bit like Google Reader I guess, instead of being deluged she stays in control of the input.

The Must and Shoulds of Dog Owners

noreply@blogger.com (Reasonable Robinson) — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 12:14:00 +0000

Its been a few hectic and demanding days since we last posted.Grace has met lots of new dog friends, and we have met lots of neighbours who we've never bumped into before too!

Grace is now havng 3 meals of 100 grams a day instead of 4, and she sleeps through from 10.30 to 6.30 - 7.00. In the morning we have a gentle walk and I let her off the lead. As I walk ahead (glancing back of course) Grace mooches around then when she spots me she follows at a trot. 'Treats' reward every return to my side.

People of often say 'dogs look like their owners'. I am begining to wonder if its really the 'body language' of the dog that represents their owners. In other words dogs behave in the way that behaviours are modelled to them by their owners.

After meeting lots of different people I really believe that young puppies especially (because they attract attention and comments)are actually human values and beliefs detectors Now, what do I mean by this? Well, if you listen to the advice and tips that fellow dog owners offer, you see a glimpse into the psyche of the person. All of their 'musts' and 'shoulds' are indicators of the the way in which they 'frame' the problem which in turn determines their solution. In short Grace has been a superb 'theory for success' magnet.

The tips, behaviour, size and shape predictions have been many and varied. "To stop her biting grab her lower jaw", "She needs to go for a long walk", "She'll be a good swimmer", She's clearly a chewer","Hit her on the nose if she nips", "'They are a long lasting pet labradors are'"

Each comment seems to be an indication of the observers World View We couldn't help but spot clear values that reminded us of the ideas in Spiral Dynamics by Don Beck and Chris Cowan. Using their system of colour coded world views its easy to spot the so called 'value memes' of dog owners. Now the important thing to note here is that we are NOT talking either/or classifications, just the 'colour' that people that tend to operate from the most. The situation triggers other modes as appropriate.

As an example, a very highly regulated dog would live with a blue meme owner, a red meme owner might encourage the dog to be aggressive to deter an intruder. The same owner might also philosophically hold that the dog is a fellow life form on the planet (yellow meme owner stance) and not a 'thing' that to be exploited and used for personal agrandisement (orange meme owner stance)

So how do you react when you see this picture of Grace, is she simply being 'natural', does she need 'controlling', should she be encouraged to 'fight for the watering can', might her gardening skills be developed for entertainment'? Each perspective holds a different solution.

Does my take on Spiral Dynamics work for Dog Owners I wonder?

Beige and Purple owners are likely to be subsistence people who have dogs as working animals.

Blue are owners that make strict very clear rules.Working dogs, show dogs etc.

Red owners encourage a competitive, aggressive and territorial attitude in their dogs. The benign version might be military and police dogs, the malign version is seen in dog-fighting.

Orange owners see the dog as a resource to be exploited, dog breeding? celebrity 'add ons'

Green owners see the dog as an equal partner. The owner is not the pack leader he is the dogs friend

Yellow owners see the dog as life form to be respected. Occaisons will dictate the use of ideas and behaviours from the preceding value meme colours as necessary.

Turquoise owners see the dog as a complimentary life form able to co-create insights and advancements in human behaviour and knowledge by tuning into the unique attributes of 'dogginess' to give humans an alternative world view.

Now, after all that brainwork I think we need to have a sleep!

Big Wide World

noreply@blogger.com (Reasonable Robinson) — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 21:19:00 +0000

Grace went on her first outside walk today. We were advised not to walk her for too long because it could damage her joints. So a short walk around the park, and then a car ride into the local town.The puppy trainer we are talking to recommended walking a minute-ish for every week of age to start with. This might not sound much at all, but apparently the risk of long term bone and joint damage is high.

She was a star attraction. As a novice owner I was staggered at the number of people who just fell in love with her, stopped, gave her a fuss, and shared stories.

Next we went to the Pet Store, and same again. I never realised just how important dogs are in people's lives. When Grace got in the car she fell fast asleep and then spent most of the day snoozing.

It was just what she needed! She was getting very pent up restricted to the garden and the last two days clearly saw a change in her energy levels so the oustide walk couldn't come soon enough.

We are now dropping a meal and increasing the quantity to 100g of dried food per meal from 75g per meal four times a day.

What is fascinating is the kindness shown to an animal and yet we see people doing horrible things to each other on the news, in the home and in the workplace.

Human's are a funny breed.

Grace The Labrador 5 Days to 'Walkies!'

noreply@blogger.com (Reasonable Robinson) — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 05:14:00 +0000

Here's a few pictures of Grace who is now just over 11 weeks. She had her second jab a couple of days ago. The countdown begins to walks in the park. Yesterday we went on a car trip to ASDA (Wal-Mart)to get some scales to weigh her dry food properly. We're increasing the amount now to 75g per meal four times a day. We'll be dropping to to 3 slightly bigger meals next week.

I never realised just how pets bring total strangers together. A woman walked past our car in the supermarket car park looking a bit glum. As soon as she saw Gracie her face lit up! I've never seen a reaction like that before. Then some young people pulled up next to us and the girls went wild to see her.

Later in the park behind us we carried Grace out to meet Hugo and Luca the neighbours little kids, where we all met be a loveable mutt called Toby too. Hugo and Luca love Grace. Hugo who is three keeps giving us human sweet biscuits for Grace 'when she's older' How thoughtful is that. We have explained that she can't really eat thme though.

Which Food and Plants Can Harm My Labrador?

noreply@blogger.com (Reasonable Robinson) — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 20:25:00 +0000

As a novice labrador owner I had no idea that what might seem innocent foods and plants can be very harmful even fatal for dogs.

Grace as you might expect is sniffing and mouthing everything. At the moment she has a predelication for small gravel stones which we have to take from her mouth as soon as we spot it. She never goes unsupervised into our garden where we have gravel path.

We have had to cut the neighbours ivy from the fence and we watch carefully as she tries to eat anything plant-like available.

I would really recommend these two sites for more information on dangerous food and plants for dogs:

Entirely Pets - Toxic Foods and Plants
MGB Training a pdf article on dangerous things for dogs to eat.

I'm sure many people know but the two that surprised us the most were Grapes, yes Grapes! and chocolate.

Major crisis today as she ran upstairs and snaffled the cat food. Luckily it was sensitivity food so the Vet thinks she might just 'get the runs'.

What Can A 10 Week Old Labrador Do?

noreply@blogger.com (Reasonable Robinson) — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 05:36:00 +0000

Grace has been 'training' with Sallemange and she now knows 'Sit', 'Wait', 'Down', 'Come','Dinner' and 'Leave'. We have found that 'leave' is a better word than 'no' as it seems to allow us to say it dissapprovingly. She has also started to retrieve consistently. A 'treat' which is one of her 'brekkies' is an ideal reward although we are watching the amount in relation to her meals. Lots of treats means slightly less at meal times.

The other key thing is that whenever she does something with ask (command?) we always praise and fuss her with a 'good girl'.

Feeding and 'loo' routine seems to be stabilising. She is in bed at 10.00 p.m. and I get up at 4.30 now for a quick 'outside'. She then 'mooches around' for a few minutes then is back in 'Gracies Bed' to snooze until 'Dinner'(the general word we use for any meal)between 6.00 and 6.30 a.m.

She has noticeably grown and her energy levels are high. She has a 'mad moment' now every day running from end to end in the garden and house before settling down. Great fun!

As I'm typing she's just dozed off :) It'll be back to bed (in the puppy pen) as I head off to catch the train for the second day of tutoring a block week MBA class. Sallemange will be up for her in the hour.

A Thoroughly Modern Labrador

noreply@blogger.com (Reasonable Robinson) — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 09:01:00 +0000

Time has flown and Grace has grown! It's certainly been demanding. We have had wake up calls at 3.00 a.m. for the 'loo'. This is because Grace lives in her puppy cage in our small living room, not in a utility room where we might have been able to do the 'disappearing news paper trick'. Nevertheless she is very good and we have had very few 'accidents'. The broken sleep is a small price to pay for such an amazing dog!

She now sits, waits, lies down, and comes on command, and is starting to retrieve. She has also made lots of human friends, kids, grown ups friends and strangers and she is ver well behavhed indeed.

Things are now in her reach! So everything is going up on higher shelves, and chewing is offset with toys and a bits of carrot!

Grace now features in Modern Dog in their photo competition. Why not pop over and vote for her.

Next week she has injection number 2 and then its off into the big wide world. Can't wait!

Old Dog Teaches New Dog Old Tricks

noreply@blogger.com (Reasonable Robinson) — Mon, 25 May 2009 09:43:00 +0000

Yesterday older Labrador Daisy came to visit. As well as meeting two new humans Grace was introduced to Daisy so that she could learn some 'Dogginess'.

It was fascinating to watch. They were friends immediately. Daisy began drooling and slobbering. Is this a natural response of an older dog to a younger one? Grace then started to 'copy' Daisy, especially the way she lay down. It was sort of like, 'this is how we dogs do this you know!'

As you know, Grace has been nipping and mouthing. What a change when Daisy came. She nipped Daisy's foot and ear and...WOOF! Daisy gave what can only be decribed as a very specific bark in terms of noise level, intesity and tone. It clearly communicated. 'STOP! that is not acceptable' Quite remarkable.

I'm sure I'm not imagining it but spending a day with Daisy seems to have 'calmed' Grace down. Today she is nipping less intensively and she just seems more chilled generally. Still very 'puppy' of course, bounding around and playing.

The routine is beginning to work wonders now. She clears her food, goes straight outside after waking to the 'loo'.

Another new human today my Dad is coming over. That should be fun. The local kids want to come and see her too. So we are easlily up to the 10 new people a week the vet recommended.

Nip Ankle Biting in The Bud

noreply@blogger.com (Reasonable Robinson) — Sun, 24 May 2009 06:17:00 +0000

What a great image from getthebubbles. Grace is doing this alot at the moment and no amount of 'NO's' seemed to do the trick. As novice puppy owners we were at a loss as to what to do. Luckily for us a neighbour visited the Chelsea Flower show yesterday and bought us a book called 'The Fast Track Puppy Survival Kit' It's a small book written by Lyn Fleet and Helen Roberts (isbn 0-9546845-0-8) and packed with useful tips. Their phone is (UK) +44 (0)151 734 2166

The key tip was to 'associate' the nipping with being rejected. So when Grace nips I now cry out in (almost) mock pain and then put her in another room. This lets her know that it is not acceptable. The results should pay off over the next week or so we hope!

Read more:
How To Cope With Puppies That Bite

Puppy Trains Owner To Care For Her

noreply@blogger.com (Reasonable Robinson) — Fri, 22 May 2009 05:26:00 +0000

Well a few days in now and the initial 'OMG!' is settling down to 'Aw my dog! 'Grace seems much more at home now and we have a had sleeps through from 10.00 pm to 6.00pm. She knows to go to the loo outside, and we have only had a couple of minor accidents in the house.

An indispensible book for a novice puppy owners is Puppies for Dummies. The main nugget for us has been 'Routine' This has really given sense and sanity to the arrival of Grace. The routine is based around 4 meal times. starting with a 7.00 a.m breakfast and ending with a 7.00pm tea time. The loo visits then naturally fit after these.

She's training us well too!. We can now spot when a loo visit is imminent. She snuffles the floor and sometime heads for the back door. Usually we guide her there after a meal anyway.

Another good tip from the vet is to have an 'eating time window'. Food goes down at meal time, and is removed say 15 minutes later. If Grace hasn't eaten everythig then tough love says she has to wait until next meal time. This has really settled into a routine and she gobbles all her food now!

The two kittens next door come to the end of the garden to say 'hello' to her everyday. They aren't phased at all by Grace. (unlike our two Siamese who are becoming more confident and still run away.

Toys toys toys. Yep we've been to Pets At Home and bought some fun things and guess what. Maximum fun comes from a 5" plastic plant pot found in the garden! The shape makes it challenging to control, she makes it roll around, their are edges to carry it with and she can stick her head in it too. Fantastic.

More socialising for the next few days, Being carried of course until injections over the next few weeks.

My first dog in 53 years and I am the proudest owner in the universe!

Grace gets used to home

noreply@blogger.com (Reasonable Robinson) — Tue, 19 May 2009 06:49:00 +0000

As expected being on her own for her first night was not something she liked. We were advised to 'tough it out' as she wimpered and howled. Easier said than done. We have close neighbours either side and she really made a racket so about 2.00 a.m. we caved in. She was fine for 1/2 an hour then went to sleep until 6.00 a.m.

Last night it was a similar procedure although I went to her after 5 minutes. I'm pretty sure it was partly due to a 'poop' call! So now its making sure she has her last meal early evening in order to avoid this. She was quiet from 2.50 a.m. through to 7.00 a.m.

I've found it amazing just how quickly she is learning that her toilet is 'outside'. Sure we've have a couple of accidents (number 1s only!)Now I've learned that she makes a soft whimper when she 'needs to go'. Now that would be good wouldn't it, competition for Cesar...The Poop Whimperer.

We also found she liked roast chicken (a very small amount as a treat because her puppy food is so important due to its vitamins etc)

Two days in she also knows her toys and fetches them to play. How good is that. She is a little star. She romps outside and some plants are getting a chewing in the process. The cats are getting more comfortable with her too.

Because we have been getting up separately we need to make sure that we tell each other what she has eaten so that she isn't over fed.

Grace arrived home today

noreply@blogger.com (Reasonable Robinson) — Sun, 17 May 2009 15:53:00 +0000

Our labrador Grace arrived home for the first time today. Her pedigree name is Emma's Gaurdian Angel. This is a day of firsts. I have never had a pet dog before. My partner has and she is much more 'in the know' than me. I wonder who is training who. There's certainly alot for us all to learn.

First things today. Get to know each other. Get to know 'no'. Get to know lots of cuddles and praise. Get to know where to go to the loo. Siamese cats Harvey and Willy are interested, puzzled, and phased. Grace thinks they are fun to play with.

Its tempting to Anthromorphise and whilst our Grace is definitely 'child-like' we can't treat her 'as if' she is a child. She will need our 'pack leadership' to guide her and keep her safe. She needs to be become 'dog'and the best dog she can be not a part-time human.

So does Grace have a soul I wonder? Scientists are begining to think they do

So, here we ar at the start of a friendship. The start of adventures.