OSCAR COMES HOME

So yesterday, Sunday the 25th of August 2013 we set off to County Louth to collect Oscar.  You can imagine how excited I was all the way there!  Of course being the semi-final of the all Ireland in Dublin there were diversions on the road which made the journey about an hour longer than it should have been and so delaying my actually getting to meet Oscar for the first time!

Oscar (on left) and his brother

When we got there Paul (the breeder) and his wife and two young daughters were in their large back garden with Oscar and his brother playing together with another of their dogs, a very pretty brindle whippet.

He came bounding over to us and we got to pet him for the first time.  His puppy coat is a soft as velvet and his black muzzle even softer.  Naturally I fell in love there and then.  And even though he may not admit it, I know Sean did too.  He is so gorgeous it would be hard not to love him (Oscar I mean.  Well Sean too but that's another story!).

Ike

I was looking forward, with trepidation, to meeting Oscar's father, Ike as it would give me an idea of the eventual size of Oscar (breed standards are one thing but seeing an animal in the flesh is best to me).  But although I was dying to see him I had admitted to Sean on the drive down that I was a little nervous too ~ he is after all a muscle bound beefcake who weighs in around 10 stone!

It is weird really, I have had dogs practically all of my life but I still remain, not afraid as such, more unsure perhaps and especially with a large dog of course.

Paul went off to get Ike from his kennel and moments later this tank of a dog strolled over to us on his lead.  He IS big but thankfully very gentle.  Maybe a little stand-offish but that is part of the make up of a Bullmastiff.  Still he came to us, lead by Paul, and we petted him ~ it was actually like he "allowed" us to pet him which was quite funny.

The great thing about finding Paul and Aisling (Oscar's breeders) is that we could see not only Oscar's father, mother and indeed grandmother but also learn even more about the breed and how Bullmastiffs fit in with a family with young children.  They have had Bullmastiffs for many years and long before they had their girls and so the children grew up with their Bullmastiffs always in their lives and Oscar has had the benefit of 14 weeks from birth in their company.  Having very young grandchildren this aspect of the breed (and Oscar) is of paramount importance to us.

Oscar ~ what's not to love!

After a few hours with Paul, Aisling and their girls it was time for us to take Oscar home.  For the first part of the journey we decided that it would be best to let him sit on the back seat beside me and we thought just putting him in his cage would be too frightening for him for his first long journey and indeed the first time being separated from his family.

Taking up half the back seat!

I put the big thick fleece we had bought for him earlier in the day on the back seat and put Oscar in.  For the first 10 minutes of the journey he just lay across the rug.  Five minutes later he moved closer to me and put his head on my knee.  Five minutes and lots of assuring sounds (from me) and pets, he was sitting right beside me with his velvety, chubby face pressed up against mine.  (Awww time).

Obviously as Oscar was loose in the car Sean could not go very fast just in case of having to brake suddenly.  We very quickly realised the journey would be much too long for a puppy at that speed and so we pulled over and put him with his rug, teddy, and a slipper from his former home into the cage.

Not particularly thrilled at being put in his cage!

Outside Emmyvale (about half way home) we found a place to park safely and take Oscar out of the cage on his lead to let him do his toilet.  He did a wee but nothing else, despite waiting for ages!  Nearer home, just before Strabane, he kicked up a noisy fuss.  I guessed what was up with him ~ toilet break.  We had to drive for about another mile until we found a suitable place to stop.  So, armed with kitchen paper to pick up what was coming, we took him out and within seconds he had the business done.  We picked it up (yuck ~ no matter how much you love them this is one of the "yuck" times), binned it and were on our way for the last 15 minutes of our journey.  What impressed us about this is that Oscar could so easily have done his business in the cage but even at his young age he didn't want to.

Posing for the camera

Once home, fed and watered Oscar very quickly made himself at home.  No fussing, no fretting.  Of course after he had settled down one of the first things I did was get busy with my camera and put photos on twitter and facebook ~ Oscar had arrived!

OSCAR:
"Today was a very strange day.  It started off pretty much as any other day did: being fed, watered, and then playing with my brother and my breeders children.  Then in the afternoon a man and woman arrived and chatted a long time with Paul and Aisling and the girls.  Then they all went in for coffee (I tried that once and have no idea why humans like it!).

Later, the man and woman (called Sean and Catherine) came out of the house and Aisling took me to clip my nails just to show Sean and Catherine how she does it.  I don't really mind having my nails clipped because Aisling does it every week and is very quick and soon lets me loose to play again.

After a while Sean and Catherine took me to their car ~ which is the same as one of the cars at my home so I was familiar with  it.  Catherine sat in the back seat and I was placed in beside her on a big comfy rug.  Then the door slammed and the car started and I realised I was going away alone!  I had to lie for a while thinking about this because I was confused about why these strange people were taking me away.

Catherine kept chatting to me.  Humans can't bark so it was hard for me to understand but somehow her voice relaxed me and I crept a little bit nearer to her.  She kept tickling my ears and petting me and saying 'Oscar'.  I have no idea what that word means but she seemed to like it because she kept saying it.  I moved closer and cuddled up to her and she kept petting me which made me feel happy.

"I am feeling a bit confused here."

After a long time they stopped the car and I got out to do the pee pee I had been holding in because I didn't want to wet my new rug.  After I did my pee pee I was put in a cage at the back of the car!  I couldn't understand that and wasn't very happy because Catherine didn't get in so I had no-one to cuddle up to.  But she put a rather strange blue furry thing in and I cuddled up to that.  I think she called it Oscar's teddy.

Ages later I wakened up and REALLY needed to go poo poo.  I tried to tell Sean and Catherine by yelling at them but they might be deaf because they ignored me for another while.  Eventually I think they understood what I was saying because they stopped the car and let me out to do my poo poo.  I might have a lot of training to do with these two!  

We stopped again but this time it was very dark and Sean carried me up lots of steps and we went into a house and they kept saying "We're home Oscar" ... I am begining to realise that Oscar might just be my new name!.  I must be a clever boy after all!

Home and dog tired!

I felt very tired and was happy to get into my comfy den.  I wonder what tomorrow will bring?"