This page last updated
02.04.2023
Yuki-the-Dog died six months ago. Now it's time for a replacement. Not as far as I'm concerned, but Oana definitely needs a creature.
Having thought about the situation, it was clear that a puppy might outlive us, and that the chance of his/her outliving our ability to care for him was reasonably large. We therefore decided that a puppy from a breeder was a Bad Idea, particularly while there are plenty of grown dogs looking for a home. Also, a Yuki-style dog, with a weight approaching 50 Kilos, would probably be e bit much for the over-80's.
The first thing to do, of course, is browse the web for dogs' homes. We found many. Oana immediately selected the dog of her desires. The home would have nothing to do with us: they were based in Brittany, and were not impressed by the idea that someone would come and take a dog to the other end of the country, where they couldn't check on his welfare.
Then we found a home just up the road. They published a list of available dogs. Oana selected the dog of her desires - large, muscular, fierce-looking. She had to fill up a form with details like age (of Oana), how long every day she intended to walk the dog, whether we had a garden, if so how big, etc. Then they said "Are you stupid?".
Oana was not particularly pleased about this, but she looked again at the list, discussed the choice with the home, and eventually they agreed "Olaf would be suitable". So Olaf moved in.
He's already five years old, and had been in the dogs' home for a year of so. His previous owner had thrown him out, because he was supposed to be a hunting dog, but refused to go hunting. Whether from laziness or as a matter of principle, I cannot say. However, he doesn't seem to be particularly lazy. I'm naturally attracted to a dog who treats other creatures as things to be left in peace.
Unfortunately, his scruples don't seem to extend to the neighbourhood cats.
Compared to Oana's other dogs, this one is small: a 20-Kilo dog, who ought to be easy to hold on the lead and carry around if necessary (more about that later). It's hard to say what sort of a dog he is - at least for me, who can divide dogs into about three classes: "Sheep dogs", "Silly little dogs", and "Other". This one is certainly "Other". More exactly, probably some sort of spaniel.
There's a photo album of him, which I shall probably extend as time goes by, so you can decide for yourself.
He soon got used to us, and, ignoring the offer of dog-baskets, dog-blankets, etc., made himself at home on a corner of one of the couches.
He may not be a hunting dog, but he's curious. The other dogs Oana had were mostly content, when taken for a walk, to trot along beside the walker. This one has to explore everything. If he finds a hole in the garden fence, he's gone.He comes back - he obviously likes it here - but in the first instance, he's gone. As far as I know, the holes in the fence are now all blocked, but just in case, we've attached a Tracker to his collar - a sort of mobile phone for dogs, with GPS.
I have an app on my phone which shows where he is. It also goes ping and displays a message "Olaf has left the security area", when he gets out of the garden. There is also a pager function: from my phone I can page him - his collar says buzz buzz - which, much to my surprise, he seems to understand as "Please come home", which he actually does. I have to recharge him once every three days, but otherwise, the thing works perfectly.
For those who may be interested, the tracker is described here , where you can also buy it. No, they aren't paying me, and I have no idea whether it works everywhere. it just helps us find our dog. Apparently they also make versions for small children and errant elderly relations, a similar but not identical problem (elderly relations don't escape through holes in the fence.
In our house there are two different opinions about dog-walking:
Oana thinks he ought to walk docilely beside her, which he obviously doesn't do. So a walk is a permanent tug-of-war between dog and woman. He pulls as far as he can, she hangs on and tells him not to, which has no effect.
I, on the other hand, follow the biblical principle "Cast thy dog upon the waters (or under the bushes): for thou shalt find him after many days".
More exactly, we walk into the woods, I let him loose, and he goes off into the bushes like a rocket. I follow him on the tracker, note that it says "Olaf is 1 Km from you" and probably - it doesn't tell me this - 50 metres above of below me.It doesn't seem to worry him. He follows my track, more or less, and for a 7 Km human walk, he's probably done 25 Km, and is just as fresh at the end as when he started. When you look at him (picture right), he's obviously constructed for this type of activity: extra-long legs, small body, no thick coat to carry around.
This dog likes running. Having noticed this, and that he never seems to get tired from his morning walk, I dug my old bicycle dog-walker out of retirement. I originally bought this device for one of Oana's previous dogs, but never had any success, because he never showed any enthusiasm. Olaf was delighted. I just have to attach him, and off we go. On the flat, I don't even have to peddle (just say "Mush!").
We proceed though Pignans at a normal bicycle speed without my doing anything except staying upright. Once off the main road, I let him loose and we race each other. I let him win.
He's usually so busy trying to keep ahead that he doesn't worry in the slightest about other dogs, smells by the roadside, or even stopping to mark his territory the way dogs usually do.
We have a standard route of about 8 Km, which we cover in half an hour. If I get tired, I just re-attach the power source, and proceed with the help of the 1 dp (dog-power) motor.
The picture was taken at the end of a run, which is why he's standing more or less still and not pulling towards the gate.
