26 Kg and growing

Solar now weighs 26 kilograms, and remains slim and trim.

The bout of illness seems to be in the past, although we heard this week his brother "Ash" lost nearly 5 kilo's over a two week period, as far as we know, none of his sisters were affected, so it remains no more than a coincidence.

Solar continues to do well at puppy training, where he has only one session remaining this year.
The training has helped, us o find ways of working with Solar, although he picks and chooses which commands he does follow, and sometimes at lightening speed, at other times you would not need a second hand on your stopwatch...

Solar has continued yo meet and greet many dogs in the local park, he has good social skills around other dogs, sometimes very much in their face looking for a reaction to play, being gentle to submissive dogs, and accepting when told to back off and give them some space, all with intervention from us.

Yesterday in the park he met Beau, an 11th month old German Shepherd, she was only interested in her ball, but the Weimaraner he meet at Natural Instincts wanted her own space and warned him off, he was comfortable with both.

Solar is beginning to realise that sofa's are no longer an obstacle, the ease in which he ascends them has surprised us all. It is a game at the moment, so we are trying to ignore and distract.

Our biggest challenge remains road walking and traffic; Solar wants to lunge and chase every car he sees, we are working on it, but as he is getting bigger and stronger it is becoming a harder challenge. We have decided to invest in a "Dogmatic" head collar. Which we will review in a future blog.

Watching television is now becoming a challenge, random images or sounds sends Solar charging across the room to bark at the TV, however now he is taller when he puts his paws on the screen, the television teeters on the point of falling over.

Like many German Shepherd pups, Solar likes to dig and rake, not fussy if it is in the garden or the lounge carpet, he certainly keeps you on your toes.

Solar enjoyed a runaround in the park this morning, and the hard frost meant he did not get too muddy....

Sue got Solar a new outfit for Christmas,
though I think it might not fit after he has had his lunchtime turkey.

Growing or not growing;

This week based on episodes previously encountered at our Vet's, we have made further enquiries into possible other practices.

There was more than one to choose from, and our main concern was a vet that understood and accepted raw feeding of dogs. So we have signed Solar up with a new practice, the only down side is the emergency vet is based a couple of miles away, but then anyone who has ever visited Reading town Centre will know the challenges crossing town during the daytime, a journey that should be less than 10 minutes could end up being significantly longer.

We are very pleased to report that Solar has just began eating his raw food from Natural Instincts once more. A mixture of "Puppy" and "Working Dog Puppy"

To err on the side of caution we purchased ZooLac Propaste for any times when an upset tummy needs a little assistance.

The vets comment recently about Solar being out of proportion, has astounded everyone that it has been repeated to, only having had one Shepherd before our comparison of Solar against "Blue" would certainly make Solar much smaller on an age by age basis, but in fairness Blue was always referred to as a big dog, weighing in at 50kg as a fully grown adult German Shepherd.

Checking on various web sites, Solar is average for weight and wither (height to the top of the shoulder blades), and in direct comparison to his siblings.

However after any gastro illness in a puppy, it is important to restore the lost nutrients and fuel used to aid growing. Solar's breeder was astounded by the Vet's question, "did you see the Mother and Father" we did see the mother but not the father in person, but the images we see he is an impressive dog.

Before the recent episode we discussed how much food to give Solar and discussed with the breeder, Michelle, how gave sound advice

• If you can see their ribs; they are underfed
• If you cant see their ribs but can feel them, they are within a good range
• If you can neither see or feel their ribs, they are overweight

Charts offered by food suppliers are normally based on averages, you should know what your dog needs and gets.

Before we collected Solar, he had acquired a nickname of "Dora the explorer" as he always seemed keen to explore beyond the permitted boundaries.

"Dora" became "Houdini" yesterday, we drove to pick up some of the Zoolac Propaste, from Camberley, Sue went into the shop, while I stayed in the car park opposite

Solar was being very vocal, so I thought I would get him out of the car, and play in the car park, while Sue was in the shop.

As I lifted Solar out, and set him down, his clasp came off his collar, he was free. A look of surprise on his fast was replaced with the site of him running off towards the shop. A couple heard my shouting "Solar" as he got to them he thought oh where am I? and at the sound of my call he came back across the car park very excited, just as I touched his collar, he went off in the same direction once more, and with a slightly higher pitched recall, he came back across the car park, where this time I was able to secure his lead to his collar. Breathing a sigh of relief and a wave of acknowledgement across the car park to let them know Solar and I were now fine and attached.

While we waited for Sue to return, we played a game of tug with his free "Amazon toy" remember this 

We greeted Sue as she returned, oblivious to the drama, saying 

"I knew you had him out of the car, I could hear him barking, now I know why it was so clear".

Sue ironically had done off lead, puppy recall on Friday night, and clever Solar knew what to do then and more importantly today. 

Our major concern is Solar is obsessed with trying to chase cars, so we are more concerned how easily he became detached, so have agreed to put a carabiner on his lead while out near traffic or in the car.

Puppy Training

After missing a week, Solar returned after his enforced lay off, and picked up from where he left off.

Solar and Sue are forming a real bond and working very well as a team, at the moment Sue is saying her fingers feel very sore because Solar's teeth are razor sharp and are not fussy or delicate when it comes to taking treats.

Finally 

A quick play in the park on Saturday morning

See also more pictures on his Random Gallery in the menu at the top of this blog