doglets | Entries tagged with seren

I awake to a wet nose gently scanning my face for signs of life. Seren is resting her chin on the bed.
"Christ" I mutter

“Brilliant” says Seren

“Seren it’s 5am”

“It’s brilliant” says Seren “5 am is brilliant, ima tell Frodi, Frodi, it’s 5 am. 5 AM. Fro, FRO....5am”

“Fuggin puppy bass gerroff” grumbles Frodi

“Go back to your basket there’s a good girl” I suggest gently

“K...love you”

“Love you too, now go to bed”

“Love you like biscuits”

“Yeah”

“Human do kiss kiss”

“Seren...”

“Brilliant, your other eye is open now, ima sniff it, Frodi look, human eyes are open”

“SEREN...” I get a slobbery dog kiss which is like being slapped with a fish

“Doing kiss kiss”

“Yes, so you are and that’s really sweet” I’ve met her eyes now and instead of go to your bed out comes...”you can come on the bed if you’re really still”

With one leap she is on the bed then shimmies on her belly, back legs stretched out behind her, until her nose is a cm from mine, gazing at me
“Brilliant...Frodi, FRODI look, I’m on the bed!!”

“Seren”

“Doing stillness” she says, but concentrating intently on being still makes her quiver.

“Fugs going on” mutters hippy

“Brilliant, hippy is awake, ima sniff hippys eye, Frodi, FRODI”

“Fer barks sake” cranks Frodi “Can’t an old dog get some barking peace”

I put my head under the pillow to blank out the noise of cranky border collie. A minute later, I feel... monitored. I open my eyes to Seren head, also under my pillow

“Brilliant” she says

Seren wasn’t an easy puppy to love, she seemed really angry at being a dog. A bad tempered wasp of a dog, the anti-puppy. Baby Seren only related to Frodi who isn’t the best role model, we humans were just the food people. Seren seemed constantly cross, quick to temper, nippy, grumbly and tetchy.
We’ve always let our new dogs sleep on our bed until they find their own sleeping spot in the house. Seren declined, glaring at us from Frodi’s basket or chose to sleep in the bathroom. She would perform tricks for only food. No treat, no somersault.

Ten months, several kilos later, Seren is the most affectionate, lovable rubbery lump of playful dogness. Seren loves being alive, loves being a dog and everything is just BRILLIANT. She has decided she does want to sleep on our bed, does want to be turned upside down for tummy rubs and will do tricks for love....(well almost)

Frodi sighed, his breakfast bowl, still empty. Seren as usual was late. Usual cacophony as Seren launched downstairs bouncing off every step. “Kerpow, blam, blam,woooooooooo”

Frodi tutted but then stopped mid-tut. Instead of the impatient, surly, bumble bee demanding twice her body weight in food, a vision of pure loveliness sashayed in to the kitchen. Seren had a hypnotic aura that just needed something, if only Frodi could remember what....

“Clang” shouted Seren as she clanged her bowl

“Well Hello ” smoozed Frodi “Nice Clanging Serena”

Seren flopped into a sit and splayed her back legs in front of her, Frodi swooned. I looked down and screamed “OMG, Hippy, 999, the puppy’s dying, blood everywhere!"

“Neckled it” said Seren looking back up at her audience “Sat on bambles?”

Last time Seren had a sore wotsit it was due to an unfortunate prickly flange on the learning curve.

Frodi had gone deaf (er), was doing flirty wags, ears fully upright, with a gormless smirk.

“Oh” I said dismayed “Frodi, you dirty old...don't lech at the puppy”

Seren is oblivious to her new sultry allure. Seren thinks poor smitten Frodi just wants to play as he traipses longingly after her. Radiant siren Seren, ships will flounder on rocks and next doors usually mellow, silent bulldog has been yelling how much for a paw job over the fence.

And the rest of the world hasn’t been good to Seren. I have to remind myself that for all the hundreds of people we pass without incident, the anti-dog ones are the minority. But Seren is only absorbing the bad times. She has a wilful personality and can be demanding, but a lot of her behaviour is now coming from fear and a series of bad incidents

On a walk, a man came rushing out of his house, one of those front doors that go directly onto the pavement. He narrowly missed us, started yelling in my face and glaring at Seren, who fear-barked back at him. The more he got in my face about my fkin rottweiler, the more Seren reacted.

In the park, an off-lead bouncy staffy ran up gleefully but unexpectedly behind her, sniffed and pawed her back, totally spooking her out. Seren turned and growled. The owner was yelling over “it’s ok he’s friendly, he’s only playing” The first rule of dog-park life is that both sides have to agree on-lead and at distance to the “only playing”. It’s not fair or helpful to let an off lead dog run, however cheerfully, at a dog who has no escape. Seren wet herself, then tried again to defend herself, so this was a clumsy struggle of me clinging desperately to her lead and trying to politely keep the other dog away. The owner offered to put her dog back in the car because he wasn’t giving up trying to get Seren to play and apparently wasn’t good on a lead....

But the damage was done, Seren was now edgy and feared. I half dragged her back to our car with the staffy still trotting behind us. He was a friendly, happy soul and in another dimension I might have happily let Seren play with him.

Seren’s relationship with other dogs and people is tense. Walks, now, are us playing the Pink Panther, tip toeing along, hiding behind lamp posts and diving up alleys. This isn't good for either of us.

Current Mood: frustrated

We started puppy class with enthusiasm but it hasn’t worked out well. Seren is the massive lummox that no one wanted to sit next to. The majority of her classmates are tiny, weeny, fragile things that were frighteningly expensive. A lot of the class intend to breed from their beloved ~~investment~~ acquisition. Between exercises the fragile little dudes are picked up and rocked like babies whilst their owners glower at Seren. Seren could probably fit half the class in her mouth and still have room to chew her kong.

Seren can do all the things, all the commands, but the minute there is nothing to do she barks and lunges at the prey. It doesn’t really matter if a 2 kg pug-poo doesn’t do what you tell it, just pick it up and bend it into an approximation of a Sit or Down. Recall on a long line is like landing a reluctant fish for the small dog owners. If Seren doesn't do long line recall, it's me that falls over if I try to prompt her with a tug..

Week one we just had a sense of people avoiding us, by week five people just aren’t hiding their disdain for us and our barky frightened puppy.

Last week was truly awful, with people giving us an obvious wide berth and filthy looks. Seren ended up so confused and wired, she threw up all the way home. She’s got typical big puppy travel sickness at the best of times. Seren is now so disruptive in class, I just don’t think there is any going back.

Current Mood: sad

Frodi went out for a three hour walk with Glyn and moaned the entire 8 miles about the Alien Baby.
“Humans worship it. They think it’s trying to communicate with them” outraged Frodi “And then Glyn, mate, they told me to get in a Sit, Me! With my bones! Get in a sit before I could have my supper. Oh no, not supper, din-dins. Set an example they said”
“Who’s a good boy they said. I’m not a good boy, I’m a border collie, bordering on a nervous breakdown. A single Dad at my age! Alien doesn’t fit in the metal box anymore, though to be fair I have commandeered it. Very hi-tech, all mod cons, water, biscuit, scientifically tested chew, ergonomic cushion and expertly frequency tuned squeaker. Not like when I was a pup, it was chew the 17th century furniture or nowt”

“Papa Frodi, can you babysit Seren?” I asked “I’ll be ten minutes tops”
Frodi glared.
“Seems a shame to crate her when I’ll only be gone twenty minutes”
Frodi looked away
“Mama” said Seren and sucked Frodi’s ear, which she can now reach without standing on her back legs.
“Please, it’s just half an hour” I smiled at him reassuringly “Company, helps with your separation anxiety”
“I need to be separated from anxiety” said Frodi “Clues in the name”
“You’ve got way more intelligent since Kato...” I drifted off
“Papa Frodi” I said soothingly “I was really impressed with how you baby sat for that few minutes”
“Hour and a half” corrected Frodi “If I had eyebrows I would raise them”
“I’m sure it would have been the whole skirting board if you hadn’t been here with little baby Seren” I said not meeting his eyes, struggling to put my coat on as there was 12kg of puppy hanging off the sleeve.
“I’ll be no more than half an hour” I lied, limping towards the front door.
“Most of that half hour will be taken up trying to detach the alien from your ankle” smirked Frodi

Frodi isn’t as delighted as we expected with his new companion. “Look” we said “We’ve brought you a new wife” Frodi looked offended as we presented him with an 8 week old baby.
Some deep canine instinct overrides his urge to clock it one and affirm the boundaries. Frodi barks at the alien baby but Seren just looks thrilled and chews even harder on his ear. He keeps checking the back end, this is where the gauge for discipline permissions is kept. Puppies come with some sort of forcefield that prevents adult dogs being too heavy pawed when trying to regulate their behaviour. “Soon” he mutters and skulks back to his basket, his tail heavy, with the energized puppy attached to it.
Seren has doubled in size since we got her 5 weeks ago (now 12kg). We bought a crate for the alien baby to eat in and if we have to go out for any reason. Frodi spends more time in the crate than Seren does.