Sick Senna

This week has not been a very nice one for Senna, or at least the start and the middle of it was not very nice, though it got better towards the end. Senna has had a really bad case of diahorrea. It started on Sunday night, when I thought something was a bit odd when she didn't want to touch her dinner. It got even more strange when I took her out in the evening and she tried to barge through the door before me. This is something she never does otherwise. Poor girl, she barely made it outside. Then she needed to be taken out in the m-iddle of the night as well, almost every night the whole week. Our poor little girl was ill! But it is amazing how good she was about telling us that she really needed out. In the middle of the night she would cry and jump at the gate to wake us up, and not once did she do anything inside, clever Senna!

Tuomo took her to the vet on Tuesday since she hadn't got any better by then. She'd also thrown up in the car a few times, so we figured that she needed medical care by now. We got some tablets to give her and she did seem to get a little bit better but then it all got worse again. So on Friday it was back to the vet again and this time we got some antibiotics. By then she had lost weight and looked very thin indeed. It was horrible, all we wanted to do was to give her lots and lots of food, but of course we couldn't, since it would have just made everything a lot worse. So now she's been on a strict diet of overcooked rice and small amounts of raw mince for a few days. And combined with the antibiotics it seems to have helped, thankfully! The diahorrea is now gone and we have started to incorporate small amounts of her normal food into the rice and mince mix. She seems really hungry all the time right now, but we still have to be careful not to give her too big portions. All through the week she's been very alert and in good spirit, though a bit drained at times.

By the end of the week we were all ready to spend some relaxing time in Mykyrä, so on Friday night we headed out to the summer house. It was so nice to be back there. Senna was already a bit better by now. She seems to have got more attentive lately. She used to be happy minding her own business in the summer house and when we went to the sauna in the evening she used to go to bed in our bedroom and stay there on her own. Not so this time:) We now had a black shadow following us around everywhere:) So we brought her basket down to the sauna with us and there she slept (well, not inside the sauna, but in the room next to it:) while we were playing cards in-between trips to the sauna, very nice and cosy!

On Saturday Tuomo's parents arrived with four (!) lobsters for dinner! Senna was introduced to one of them and I she seemed to think it was a funny looking thing and didn't quite know what to make of it:) Thankfully its claws where safely clamped shut with some plastic band! Anyway, we had a lovely meal in the sun.

The weather improved on Sunday and Tuomo took Senna for a little walk in the forest. While she was busy sniffing in a bush he took the opportunity to hide behind a tree. It was not long before she noticed that she was alone in the forest! Panic! After a while, and after a few squeaks from Tuomo she finally found him behind the tree trunk. Happiness! That will teach her to be more attentive in the future, since being all alone in the big forest is not so much fun:)

We also tried out sausage tracking:) I dragged a piece of sausage on the ground and then we put Senna's nose to the trail. She didn't quite understand what she was supposed to do, there was a delicious smell but no sausage, very strange:) But next time she will probably pick up quicker.

Now, at the time of writing she's in her basket sleeping. After two days in the summer house she's pretty tired, there are far more important things to do than sleep in the country side, like going swimming for the first time!! Tuomo went for a dip after the sauna and when he called Senna to him she jumped (well, fell more like it:) into the water and went under...for a while, before the autopilot kicked in and she realised she knew how to swim:) Splash splash:) It was only a dip and up, but at least we know she knows how to swim now, and so does she:) Unfortunately I wasn't quick enough to catch it on camera:(

Training

This week has not really been very eventfull but I wanted to add some new pictures so I decided to update the blog anyhow. In short Senna's started to spend more and more time awake at the day care (eventhough this week's pictures seem to contradict that statement, but I couldn't help myself, she was sooo cute:) and now she's not the only puppy there anymore. A new addition, in the shape of a Chinese crested pup has arrived, a few weeks older than Senna, but ooow so much tinier:) And very cute as well.

Senna's training is going well. We usually spend some time every night (when she isn't too tired from day care that is;) practising tricks and commands as well as adding new ones. Now she knows sit, lie down, different contact exercises, give the paw, stay, come and no. Sometimes when we're outside I try to sneak away from her when she's sniffing at a particularly interesting smell, to see how attentive she really is. I turn and start running towards our house, and nowadays she's quick to follow. The first few times I did it, to see if she would follow, she seemed very surprised at my nerve and had a "what do you think you're playing at, running away from ME??" look on her face when she finally caught up:)

She also knows not to barge through open doors first (including car doors) but to wait for her turn, and we're also trying to teach her to search for stuff. I have hidden goodies in her basket a few times while she watches me but the first few times she seemed very confused:) "Hmmm I can smell something veeery nice here, but...it's nowhere to be seen. Strange":) A friend lent me her Dogspinny (activity toy) but Senna thought that was a hard nut to crack, at least the first time. We might try tonight again and see if she's figured it out.

Today we gave Senna her second bath. She willingly walked into the shower and sat down, since I was in there with her and shampooing and rinsing her was a piece of cake, no protesting whatsoever. Good girl. She might even have enjoyed it, at least she didn't mind. So we now have a clean-smelling and veeery shiny jet black little girl. We're also keeping up with the claw cutting. Although not a favourite pastime of Senna's she accepts it (just and just..). Actually today she came running towards me with the clippers in her mouth (still on the table since last time) so there seems to be no hard feelings towards them at least (or maybe she was actually trying to bite them into pieces:).