The foul deed is done…
Poor Fred… driven mad by five females including Sophie in a very ‘hot-to-trot’ season, he was getting overly aggressive with the other males in the pack and on one occasion with me. Fuelled by testosterone the fights between the males were getting out of hand as I suspected they would. But Fred just didn’t know when to stop or back down which left me no alternative but to take him down to the vet to be neutered and on Friday I made arrangements for him to be seen on Monday morning.
Strangely though, he must have known that something bad was about to happen because on Sunday evening, he climbed up onto my lap, something which for him is very unusual. Normally the only time he wants this is if he’s a bit under the weather, which he quite clearly wasn’t. All that evening he followed me around like a shadow.
So it was that on Monday morning I loaded him into the car for the 25 minute drive down to Santa Fe to the surgery. I had to lift him into the car because he certainly wasn’t about to volunteer. I had some other things to do in Granada so I arranged to pick him up at 5pm.
I was at the surgery promptly at 5pm and the vet showed me into one of the consulting rooms and then went off to the holding cages that they use for recoveries. He brought a still groggy Fred through to the consulting room… Fred was not a happy chap! He totally ignored me, just didn’t want to know and who could blame him. After I paid the bill I took Fred outside and he perked up a little then found a convenient tree and proceeded to water it. He must have been storing it up all day, because having watered the tree, he moved on to a lamp-post, then a bollard and finally one of the tyres of a parked car. I had to help him into the car, this time because he was obviously feeling a bit sore. It has to be said that I’m not sure that I’d be even able to walk after what he went through; the very thought of it makes me cringe…
So now a week later, he seems to have forgotten all about the experience. His favourite place in the house is on my lap, it’s noticeable that he has calmed down a lot. Ironically Sophie finished her season on Monday so whether Fred has indeed turned over a new leaf after his op or whether its due to the absence of bitch-in-heat pheromones remains to be seen.
Harmony has returned after two weeks or so of bedlam; I still get frustrated with them of course when they appear to be ganging up together for a ‘lets wind Dad up’ session. They know me so well that they are the experts at that game…
Sat / Sun / Mon Raining and just 13C (It's actually warmer in Pompey than here...)
What a change in the weather, cold and wet, could almost be England... The dogs hate getting wet so taking them for 'walkies' becomes a trial for both them and me. time to think about casting off the summerweight duvet and digging out the arctic version,
Anyway, couple of pics... one relevant to the weather and the other more relevant to the overall blog...
See you later...