There's been a few of you who have asked about Mavis recently, so I thought a quick Saturday post all about our lovely wayward terrier would be the order of the day.
For those of you who don't know Mavis's story you can catch up Here and then her second 'rescue' after she went missing last year Here ....... and then a funny incident Here
Physically she's doing well these days. She will never be back to the condition we got her to after her first 'rescue' but she is lithe and healthy. She only weighs in at 5.7kgs which is light, but not too skinny for her lightweight bone structure. She is best friends with Ginger and they are usually to be found curled up somewhere together ....
... here Ginger is the beauty between two Jack Russelly thorns.
And 'thorny' is how I would describe the relationship between these two .
At times they can be great together, eager to see the same things and be with us, but now that Mavis feels a little more confident in herself she challenges Rosy's idea of her own leadership time and time again. With little Charley here to act as mediator and break up these confrontations, pushing her sweet little body between the aggressors and immediately diffusing situations, things worked out, since we so sadly lost Charley at the start of this year there is no one that they will accept as mediator so things escalate into full blown doggy fights which we deal with as and when they happen and have managing techniques to keep them as infrequent as possible.
I have tried doing extra training with Mavis but she cowers and retreats to her scared ways with any formal training, so I am gradually and almost imperceptibly teaching her things without her realising.
For instance as the only dog out of the three that must always wear a lead when we are out of the house, she tends to get her long extending lead wrapped around things, in fact she's a master at making a 16ft lead end up tying her directly to the clothesline pole so she can't move!!
So I taught her 'round'. While we are out walking if she takes a different path to me and ends up on the other side of a pole or tree if I say "round" she will back track her steps and end up on my side of the offending object, she can even weave a double 'round' if I say it again. As this is one command the other dogs don't know I think she is a clever little darling for learning it.
It's little things like this that make life easier for us and make her feel special ... because she always gets praise for doing it right.
Mavis even did her own blog post this time last year HERE, it's got one of my favorite photos of her in it looking up at me with those gorgeous eyes of hers, so I'll link to it again.
How can you not praise a dog that looks at you with eyes like these :-)
She brings madness and chaos to our lives, but when she curls up in the crook of your arm while you are watching television, or takes to bed with whatever dog or cat will allow her to cuddle in with them, you know that all is right in Mavis's world, and if it's alright in her world .... it's alright in ours.
Have a good weekend.
Sue xx
