Visitors

This week Klara's had a bit of an upset stomach.  With a bit of advice from the breeder we seem to have overcome the problem now.  Luckily she was still her usual boisterous self and kept eating and drinking well.

It's been a big weekend of visitors.  Saturday my mum, sister, and 3 nieces came to visit.  We've been battling Klara nipping and biting all the time and I was worried how she'd go with three little girls squealing and darting around.  Much to my amazement she was an angel.  She ran around with them and rolled in the grass without any overexcited biting.  The couple of hours with the kids tired her out.

Sunday my brother and his wife came up from Melbourne, bringing Zac, their miniature Schnauzer.  This was Klara's first doggie visitor.  She bounded up to Zac with rather a lot of enthusiasm and he barked at her.  She came rushing to the back door crying like a baby!  We tried not to make a fuss and just stood outside chatting while they sorted things out between them.  Zac isn't much bigger than Klara so he was a good practice for her.  And, he's an older dog so not boisterous at all.

The baby magpies in the nest near out back door are incredibly noisy at the moment.  It won't be long until they're flying.  Today they were perching on the edge of the nest.

Spring weather

It's been increasingly warm as we get into our first month of Spring.  The weather forecast says it will reach high twenties on Sunday.  We've even been walking around in tshirts and bare feet!  We've been out in the garden on the weekend, preparing a bed for a herb garden.  Klara was very helpful in this process, digging her way to China.  The veggie tubs are growing well too.

Mick and I went for a walk up the hills behind where we live on Sunday.  It's such a beautiful time of year with wildflowers appearing everywhere.  We are definitely appreciating our home through fresh eyes.

The other night we had a FaceTime chat with Barry and Carol.  It was just after dinner so "turbo time" for Klara.  She was jumping and nipping to get out attention so after they'd said hello to her.... she looked at the ipad screen with her head cocked to one side.... we put her outside the back door while we finished our chat.  Ten minutes later we went to get her and she had decided it was bedtime and gone in her kennel to sleep.  She didn't want to come out!  She reluctantly crept out and went straight to her laundry bed.  Not a peep til morning.

Mick went out yesterday to sweep Klara's diggings off the path.  She went mad over the broom!  It's probably not the smartest thing to make the broom a fun game but she just loved it.

 

Klara - first week

Wow, what a week!  We're exhausted!!  How can one little puppy cause such chaos?   Actually..... she's been very, very good.

She's only made any noise at all on two nights.  The first was when our neighbour went out at night and left their dog outside.  It yelped without a break for the entire time they were out.  Klara didn't like that at all and she yelled herself a bit when we put her to bed.  One other night she cried for about 5 or 10 minutes and that was it.  Since then she goes to bed in the laundry without a peep and we hear nothing all night. 

After the first day or two we came to the conclusion that it would be better to have her compound at the back of the house on the paving rather than at the side of the house on the grass.  She didn't like being unable to see the back door and she wouldn't go in the kennel there.  Mick moved the run, put a kennel in it and before he even had it sorted properly she had gone in the kennel and was asleep.  She loves it!  The new area for her run encloses an old aviary that has a dirt floor.  Mick removed the wire from one wall so it gives her somewhere to play in the grass that's been growing there and we hoped she might use it for her toilet.  After the first couple of days of practice with closing her in her run she now happily goes in there without a peep.  She even goes in there to play by herself during the day and it's fine if we leave the house.  What a relief to know she doesn't mind being left home when we are out.  It's important to us that our dog doesn't suffer separation anxiety.

She has tested our patience in the evenings, turning into turbo puppy.   She runs around like an absolute lunatic, nipping and jumping and grabbing everything in her reach.   She tosses her toys in all directions and skids about the room and slides beneath the sofa to scratch at the fabric underneath it.  Now we're putting her to bed earlier as we suspect some of the craziness may be to keep herself awake when she is getting tired.  We'll see what happens.

Here's some photos of her first week exploring her new home.  Yes..... she likes sticks.

 

Meet Klara

A big day for us Friday.   We left home just after 7.30am for the almost 3 1/2 hr drive to collect our new puppy.  A couple of days ago we received a phone call from one of our first choice labrador breeders saying they had changed their mind about which colour pup to keep from their litter.  We did some quick rearranging of our week and took the day off to drive to Mansfield to collect her.  We had lunch in a nice cafe/provender before our meeting with the breeder.   Mansfield brings back memories of ski trips long ago!

The breeder had a lovely property and a fabulous set up for her breeding dogs.  Every one of them looked so wonderfully happy and healthy.  They had four pups running around the garden behind the house - waiting to be collected by their new owners.  They were so confident and bursting with good health.  We knew this was a good choice.

After a chat and going through the folder of information provided by the breeder it was time to head off home again.  The sweet little girl, who we named Klara, looked so confused as we drove out the driveway.  She was very still and quiet to be suddenly removed from her siblings.  The journey home went well with only a few whimpers.  Other than that she slept most of the way.  It was well after 5pm when we reached home.  Klara discovered her bed quickly and took herself for a nap there.  We put her to bed in the laundry at 8.30pm when she was tired once again and much to our amazement she passed her first night without a peep.

We have had beautiful weather lately and it's been lovely sitting out having a morning cup of coffee in the sun.  We watch our resident magpie who is now busy feeding her youngsters.  The nest is so high that we can't see the babies unless they peek out to take food from their mum.  It is such a lovely time of year.  The drive to Mansfield yesterday was stunning.  We got talking about how the countryside rivals that in England.  It's only that in England it looks picturesque for most of the year but here we get just a few short months.  Soon it will be dry, dry, dry.