http://www.thefocc.com/xoops/ The UK and Global Corso Community Fri, 18 May 2012 06:02:42 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss/ Corso Diaries weBLog en http://thefocc.com/xoops/images/logo.gif http://www.thefocc.com/xoops/ 144 80 http://www.thefocc.com/xoops/modules/weblog/details.php?blog_id=186 So far, things are going well in our family with Lisa learning many new things.She has now learnt another command, which is up. She associates this with when she is sitting or laying down and when given the command she will stand up. Normally I will say "up" when its time for her walk and have to put her collar and windbreaker on.Lisa will still bark at cats if I am in the next room and not able to tell her off in the middle of the act but if we are on a walk she has progressed to just leaving them alone. I've noticed she is very sensitive to the feelings of all of us in the house. If I feel down she will be quiet and sit near me. If I feel happy she will bound around the house and give me constant tail wagging! She is still getting used to new experiences we introduce her to but so far she has done really well. If we go anywhere and its possible to take her with us, we will do it as its nice to see her experiencing new things.She had a lovely day at the Suffolk show where she met her mum and spent some time with her. It was lovely for me to take her to the show because she really enjoyed her walk and even played with another corso. I loved it that she met so many different people and learnt many new things. She went for many walks with a lovely volpino too!She is much more enthusiastic to go on walks now that we keep it short, she gets about 20 minutes in the morning, afternoon and evening and seems to enjoy that.We have added a spoon of greek yogurt into her meals and it's done her wonders with her tummy. she had an upset tummy last week but a friend recommended greek yogurt, and later on during the day she was back to normal with no other mishaps.She has an amazing presence in our house. Before our house was empty and lonely. Now it feels alive and so busy with her here! The little things remind you not to take her for granted. She will come over to say hello even though I have just walked into the kitchen to make a cup of tea. If she's been asleep for a few hours she will run up to us and greet us like it's been ages that we haven't seen each other.The most important thing is that she is on the alert even if she hears our neighbours walking about in their garden. She is definitely the best alarm system we've had.Thank you to everyone who made it possible that we could have her here. Wed, 02 May 2012 19:21:44 +0000 http://www.thefocc.com/xoops/modules/weblog/details.php?blog_id=186 http://www.thefocc.com/xoops/modules/weblog/details.php?blog_id=184 Its the equivalent of man flu, but with ear infections. Mine are the worst. No other dogs ears will ever be as bad. Momma jojo taught me well, it is all about ME!I had a routine visit to the vets for my leg giving way. I was over excited on my birthday, chasing my frisbee, then went lame on it. I'm OK, just waiting for MRI scan to check whats going on there. Two days later, I had to keep mom and dad awake with my ear scratching. They kept it in turns on Friday night sitting with me to stop me from clawing off my own ears. Mom joked that I must have mistaken my ears for small furry animals I'd given them such a hard time. Quandry. Pets at home drops or vets? Momma has now invested in jojos tip for ears, but chose vets. I like pete the vet, he has a way with big dogs. I was soo happy I even farted in the surgery, much to moms embarrassment. He recommended drops, as it was much the skin as my ears. I am normally reallllllllllyyyyyyy good with having my ears cleaned, its fuss at the end of the day isn't it.... So when mom got me home, and read the label, administer 5-10 drops. I think I got to 4 drops in the less bad ear before I yelped. Mom has been calling me a softy, cos I wont let her near! Been back tonight though, and elbow and ear looking a lot better, inflammation down so it may just have been the way I was leaping-I'm not known for doing things by halves. Jojo would have cringed at my mischievousness though today. We have a huge Aloe plant in the front room, that daddy has protected the ends with corks, so I dont get scratched. He seems to think I might play with it for some reason. Mom realised I had been quiet for a while. I was picking off the corks, and lining them up on the floor. I thought it was funny that I then ran off with the biggest one, and didnt want to give it back. Have been told that if want to go out with other dogs going to have to behave, and have been practising with Mabel the rottie. I really love her, but mom thinks it could be unrequited!May see some of you in April, I promise to behave xNubi Mon, 05 Mar 2012 20:02:37 +0000 http://www.thefocc.com/xoops/modules/weblog/details.php?blog_id=184 http://www.thefocc.com/xoops/modules/weblog/details.php?blog_id=183 I'm very happy to say that Lisa is doing so well. We take her everywhere with us and she has never let us down. It really does show how important socialisation is, she has never growled or barked at another dog or human. When someone has stroked her who she doesn't know she has always been calm.I have added many more things to Lisa's food diet. We finally sourced a good reliable RMB supplier called Natural Instinct. Lisa's teeth are as healthy as ever. We are also very happy that her eyes do not water as much any more and her coat is very sleek and shiny. The scab on her nose has healed up completely as has the scab that was underneath her chin.I am also relieved to say that she is not a fussy eater and now she will happy take slices of carrots from me as a treat. When she first came to us she would spit it out onto the floor! But now she enjoys broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, peas and many other vegetables.We kept on looking for ways to slow her down when she was eating because of big breeds being prone to bloat, but we have found that the best way to do this is to buy a crate cover (black) from P@H and its covers the whole crate nicely. leaving only the door of the crate uncovered. So it looks like a cave from her position. Lisa has felt secure enough to eat her food much slowly now and (I think!) that she takes her time to eat. Although she can demolish an entire turkey back in 10-15 minutes! She loves lamb necks as a treat but does not get them everyday as a meal replacement because they are rather expensive.We used to feed Lisa a small quantity of pasta with her food once or twice a week but since doing a bit of research about pasta we have found that they cause a bit of gas in dogs so we have since replaced this with rice in her diet and give her much smaller frequent meals now. Wed, 29 Feb 2012 21:43:20 +0000 http://www.thefocc.com/xoops/modules/weblog/details.php?blog_id=183 http://www.thefocc.com/xoops/modules/weblog/details.php?blog_id=182 Lisa went to the salon today to have her nails clipped! Well first we bought a clipper for her, I started to clip her nails bit by bit. But soon realised because her nails had not been clipped for a while they were *very* hard and I could not do it all by myself incase I hurt her. I took her to the salon and she was very well behaved.She did not react to her nails being clipped but because they were so rigid there was a loud noise every time the clippers went through her nails and she was breathing very fast. However the staff at the salon fell in love with her and said she was a gentle giant :)Lisa was a bit naughty today and kept on sulking after she was told off a few times but she soon got over it and was back to her normal self! Sometimes I think she sulks more then my 2 year old nephew!!! Fri, 17 Feb 2012 20:41:26 +0000 http://www.thefocc.com/xoops/modules/weblog/details.php?blog_id=182 http://www.thefocc.com/xoops/modules/weblog/details.php?blog_id=181 It's been a while since I wrote another day in lisa's diary so I thought I'd write one today!I spent two nights away from Lisa and she spent the weekend with my partner. I was very worried and upset as it's the first time I've spent a day without her but I worried for nothing, I am glad to say that she was completely fine upon my return! Although I must admit that since I am the one who feeds her morning and evening I did prepare her tubs of food in advance with labels to say what day she should have which and at what times! I did call many times and spoke to Lisa on the speakerphone but I was told that she kept on wondering where my voice was coming from and all I kept on getting were very curious looks!When she saw me coming through the fire door, she jumped over a chair to get to me! And we were all like "wow"!! If we take her out in the car my partner will have to pick her up and put her in the back as she will not jump in or out or walk up stairs but the first sign of a cat and she will act like a ninja! And after this I'm very proud to say that she has started to feel safe enough in our house to let us know when she wants something; she will put her paw on you everytime you stop stroking her as if to say "why must you stop now... please don't!" even though Lisa is 7 years old she still has so much stamina and agility! She has also started standing by the garden door and will wag her tail looking towards the door if she needs to go out!As Lisa is still a newbie where it concerns the barf diet, recently we have taken to feeding her chicken wings by hand, that is we hold on to a bit of the wing and she takes her time with chewing. She will chew bit by bit off and it's been doing her teeth some good too. But with other RMBs such as ribs, necks etc we have given them to her whole as she has proved that she can chew her way through them successfully without causing us to worry.Her joint aid is going really well and although very expensive it has definitely been worth it. Her coat has a glossy sheen to it and I no longer hear her joints creaking when she gets up or walks. Another product that has been working really well for us is "Dentastix" when we took her to the vets they said that her oral hygiene was really good and we wanted to maintain this so we have been giving her the RMBs as required in the BARF diet but also a dentastix each day and also inspecting her mouth once a day - I am glad to say that her teeth are in good condition as are her gums, there's been no build up of plaque or tartar so far. RMBs and denstastix are doing a good job!Lisa's progress from the start up to now concerning food and her owners:1) Begging for food when first coming into our family 2) Progressing to sitting down looking at us when we are eating. 3) Then moving on to sitting in the kitchen when we are in another room eating.4) Now she will walk into her crate (with the door open) and play with one of her bones when she sees us dishing out food onto plates! Once we've finished and cleaned up we will normally call her and she will come back to us.It just goes to show that they can learn new things no matter what age they are with the right motivation and treatment. One of the good things about having a corso in the family is that it opens your eyes and has made me so interested in this breed even more then I was when I first found out about the corso.We will be trimming her nails soon as they have grown a bit too long so hopefully her next entry will be about how this goes! Mon, 13 Feb 2012 00:13:40 +0000 http://www.thefocc.com/xoops/modules/weblog/details.php?blog_id=181 http://www.thefocc.com/xoops/modules/weblog/details.php?blog_id=180 Lisa spent the day snoozing at home! She can get through a whole banana in one sitting now as she completely adores them. She loves other fruit like apples. And she can now sit without expecting a treat!!! We also taught her how to "HI5" someone! she is now learning "down" and is getting even better at it all the time.I am going to buy her apple cider vinegar next week and see if it benefits her. Her joint supplement is working really well, she has been taking it for a while now.Lisa's favourite RMB's is the Turkey Neck. She absolutely adores it and due to the sheer volume of meat on it, she will get 2-3 turkey necks per week, consisting of 1 turkey neck per dinner.For her breakfast she usually gets any combinations of pasta, eggs, rice, peas, spinach, carrots, chicken/beef/lamb/fish mince along with her vitamins!All in all she is doing really well and is becoming more and more confident...although she still gets a kick out of barking at cats on the tv! She is very playful on her walks now and we are starting to see a different Lisa who loves to play, run, jump and even race around everywhere when given the choice to do so. Tue, 07 Feb 2012 21:56:34 +0000 http://www.thefocc.com/xoops/modules/weblog/details.php?blog_id=180 http://www.thefocc.com/xoops/modules/weblog/details.php?blog_id=177 Today the snow hit Gloucester! We took Lisa out for a walk and it was snowing heavily. At first she was reluctant to go on a walk because of the cold but she soon got very enthusiastic and was speeding up during our walk! Lisa has now learnt how to pee in one place! Before she was walking and peeing at the same time but now she does it in one place and she also defecates in one place and not whilst walking, which makes it so much easier to clean up!Today was an educational day for her as we went through her training of learning how to sit. We did the first few goes with a few treats then carried on with just affection. She was reluctant but did sit finally. We repeated this for a while longer then gave her a break.A few hours after we repeated this training with her and then moved on to training her to lay down. She's doing very well each day and makes progress nicely however slow it is, the pleasure for both owner and dog is there.Lisa is demonstrating her happiness more and more these days, there isn't a day that goes by where she doesn't have one of her wild runs around the house or extreme tail wagging! My friend came over today and played with lisa and her ball, we stuffed her kong with a few dried treats and this seemed to interest her a lot.The best thing about Lisa is the way how she focuses on her family. Her eyes are always on me, until the last minute she falls asleep to have a little nap. This is a friendship of the highest level, one that is pure and loyal. Sat, 04 Feb 2012 17:56:11 +0000 http://www.thefocc.com/xoops/modules/weblog/details.php?blog_id=177 http://www.thefocc.com/xoops/modules/weblog/details.php?blog_id=176 Lisa went on her walk today and was a really good girl. She had a few dogs barking at her whilst we waited outside Tesco but she didn't react, she just sat there really chilled out! Its great walking her during busy and quiet times because during the busy times (as in during the day) she gets to meet lots of people and experience different stimulating things such as cars going past, bycicles and people in general. Today she made a new friend, two women who walked past and decided to say hello! Many of the locals know our Lisa now as she's such a friendly and gentle girl!I'm very proud to say that she has also started to master the command "sit" although she will only obey this command if she can see that we have a treat waiting for her so now we are trying to just reward her with lots of affection but without the treat. During her first walk with us she didn't know she was supposed to stop before being allowed to cross road by us, but now we have this underway, as we make her stop then wait then cross when it's clear. So now she will no longer walk forward on the lead if we approach the end of a road, rather she will slow down if I slow down then if I raise my palm and say stop she will stop. Although these days we take a while longer to cross because she hasn't fully mastered the command "sit" yet but is making steady progress as we always ensure she has sat down before we cross the road. we try to keep her training short and with lots of fun.since bringing Lisa home we have started to notice a different side to her, she is much more playful - she will run around the house and wag her tail very energetically. she has also started to jump up onto people but we correct her the moment she starts. Fri, 03 Feb 2012 17:40:00 +0000 http://www.thefocc.com/xoops/modules/weblog/details.php?blog_id=176 http://www.thefocc.com/xoops/modules/weblog/details.php?blog_id=174 Mom has gone and got herself a high powered job which means she doesnt get online much, so I had a word in her shell like at weekend, and said sort it out mom, I will never be famous for the right reasons if people dont get to see my diaries.....Thank goodness 2011 is over. I had a shadow hanging over my firsts of everything with new owners. I have now been home for over a year, and it is nearly my 3rd birthday. I havent done anything which warrants putting me to sleep for over three months, but after my last event, I don't want to upset them again. We've started to do some off leash work again, which we all thought would never happen. No muzzle, no dogmatic, and definitely no livestock! My second attempt was fantastic, I ran round and round in circles, finally landing at my moms feet when I could run no more. Now the initial burst is out of my system, i come straight away. I cause lots of problems with my branch habit. I love carrying sticks, then ripping them to pieces, but have recently taken to those still attached to trees. It is funny to watch, but not so funny for mom when I hit her in shins with trees! I am on a glucosamine supplement for my shoulder, and it doesnt give way as much now. I am much more of a pet now than I have been before. We all know our limits, and if I am grumpy, I stay in my crate. The rest of the time, I sit as close, sometimes on top of, my dad. Mom sometimes gets a look in but dad has spent loads of time with me recently because of work. I have heard that I am going to be treated to my own cushion for the front room, as well as my crate bed, as i prefer to be where the action is. I look forward to that. Mom and dad are planning Skye again, which I adored. The Stein Inn is dog friendly, and I even had an admirer in the form of a rhodesian ridgback. The humans wouldnt let me too close to her though, as I still have other plans where dogs are concerned. Other than Mable. My rottie neighbour is 7, and we love each other. Mom laughs at me, as I stop, and wait when I see her, or trot to try and keep up. Shes normally off lead, and is very calm. I still have the occasional grump with other dogs, but dont go straight into kill mode any more, which is a massive relief to the humans. I am 3 in Feb, and will be on to share birthday treats with you. I may be allowed to events this year, but dont be alarmed if I have dogmatic or muzzle on. It isnt for the wrong reasons, its very much for the right ones. I have lived another year, and have a fab life of riley, so dont mind the occasional forfeit!Boleyns AnubisPS Check out Facebook if you can-I have some fantastic poses on there Tue, 31 Jan 2012 14:19:41 +0000 http://www.thefocc.com/xoops/modules/weblog/details.php?blog_id=174 http://www.thefocc.com/xoops/modules/weblog/details.php?blog_id=173 I'm back. I now weigh in at 57kg, the vet told mum today. I have had my second injection into my poorly shoulder, and should be well enough to cause Skye some havoc when I go in. Where do I begin?! I was extremely naughty, which, if my collar hadn't snapped, probably woudn't have happened. I am told that I am on my ninth life, though don't quite understand! Mom and dad got a nasty man in, and haven't been as much fun since. I am only allowed leash walks, and want to run, but I am generally a good boy. I am corrected if my ears raise at other animals, by a water spray, which is awful! If I decide to carry on, I get a (water) bomb. Needless to say, I don't generally go that far!The leash walks threw up a problem, my front leg kept giving way. It seems I was fine throwing myself around fields when the weight didnt touch the ground much, but not very good walking. I was giving sleeping drugs, and had an xray, which showed a bit of cartilage causing me problems in my right shoulder. I have had my second injection today, and it seems to be working. Its actually quite good, as mummy gives me treats after, even though it doesnt hurt! My new favourite toy is a pepparami on rope, it tastes fab. I can't say that I am entirely a reformed character, yet, but I am working on it. I had to laugh at mum today though-I decided to have a poo right in front of the local councillor and his terrier(off leash-silly man). Mom didnt know whether to correct me and keep me away from his dog, or pick up the pooh-it was funny to watch Anyway, Im going to scotland in two weeks, and will definitely put some pics of me on when I get back. The humans keep taking me to the pub to socialise, and I am wreaking havoc as everyone wants to fuss me. Lets hope the scots are the same.See you soonNubi xxxx Mon, 24 Oct 2011 13:32:35 +0000 http://www.thefocc.com/xoops/modules/weblog/details.php?blog_id=173