Oscar will live in our home in beautiful County Donegal on the north west coast of Ireland after we collect him from his birth home in County Louth (we promise not to hold it against him that he is not a Donegal boy!).
We have many of the things here already that Oscar will need (even though he doesn't know what he needs!).
We have doggy beds, toys, feeding bowls, cage, and so forth but given that Oscar will grow much taller than our EBTs he needs to feed at a higher level than floor level. (This is something I only learned that taller dogs need via the internet ~ previously we have been mum & dad to a Bouvier des Flandres, Elsa, who had to make do with feeding bowls on the floor since back then we knew no different (that said Elsa lived a long & happy life with us low floor feeding and indeed went on to be one of the first, if not the first Irish Champion Bouvier).
Back to Oscar. I had intended to get a carpenter friend to make a "table" at a suitable height for Oscar. This basically is a stand with slots for a feeding and water bowls. Luckily I mentioned this to Paul (Oscar's first dad & breeder) and he told me not to bother saying Oscar will very quickly outgrow any table I had made. Paul said that instead buy an adjustable stand from our local pet shop. I had never heard of such a thing.
But I went to a local pet shop, sure they too would have no idea of such a thing. I was wrong. The owner brought me a box with said item. Thank you Paul, Oscar's breeder for informing me of such an item.
I have been washing all our dog towels in non bio soap too to make sure we have fresh towels for Oscar. Alf (RIP) used to be bathed every Friday night by Sean and he loved it totally. I was a little worried about bathing the mass that is a Bullmastiff and mentioned this to Paul in the course of one of our lengthy chats with Paul (Oscar's breeder). He said we could wash Oscar outside if we wished using bowls with water and soap on a sponge (Oscar won't be reduced to al fresco washing ~ we have a big bath, big enough even for a fully grown Bullmastiff). Paul went on to say that bathing too often was not a good option for dogs as it might make them itchy. That made my antenna go up and I asked why and he said it dries out their skin and makes them itch,.
I was back into memories of Alf then of course and mentioned how we used to bathe Alf every Friday night to ease his itching. After lots of chat about skin conditions in dogs and allergies (and our taking our first ever English Bull Terrier to the Animal Hospital in Ballsbridge, Dublin) I told Paul we only fed our dearly departed Alf chicken (and I being totally against factory farming would only buy free range chickens which of course are way more expensive), Paul informed me that chicken actually makes dogs itch MORE.
That information left me gutted. To think that we had bathed Alf & fed him chicken and we were only continuing Alf's condition You can imagine how bad I felt.
Moving on, I was impressed with Paul's knowledge and his willingness to impart it. Added to that the fact that he has had Bullmastiffs for over twenty years and is passionate about them. We had found the person we trusted to sell us a pup bred with care.
So the date is set, next Sunday after Paul returns from a week of dog shows. Already I am wondering just how early we can leave home to get to Louth to see Oscar. I am not sure Paul would appreciate our landing at 6 am which is right about when I would prefer such is my excitement to see our new boy! I guess I will have to hold off until lunchtime. Or maybe just before lunchtime. Or just after breakfast. I will be back to 6 am at this rate.
In the meantime I am enjoying listening to a couple dog trainers I found on youtube. Both teach using the clicker and positive reinforcement methods and I really like them. It is so long now since I had to train a dog and to be honest, Alf was so smart there was very little training needed ~ he just seemed to pick everything up immediately, I so I am very rusty in such matters.
I had never heard of clicker training before but it strikes me as a great aid to training this little clicker. The pet shop actually had one. Literally one. The owner said there was a fashion for them some time back but it had died off so he hadn't restocked them but luckily there was that one left just for me.
Training is of paramount importance of course for all dogs both for their own safety and the safety of anyone who comes into contact with them. But facing the eventual bulk of a heavily muscled up to ten stone Bullmastiff, early training is probably even more important. Certainly to me anyway. And learning these new methods is passing the time while we await the arrival of Oscar!
Here are links to the trainers I like TAB289 and The Amazing Dog Training Man
This was really interesting to read. We keep talking about getting a dog but it would be a little Shih Tzu if we did.
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