Skip to main content

Bailey - The Newest Addition to Our Family

Bailey
I've written plenty about our Dog Oscar and our two cats Casper and Gizzy (both no longer with us) so I thought it wouldn't be out of place to introduce my readers to our newest family member, Bailey (pictured).

Sorry the photos a little dark. I didn't have any pictures to hand so I just snapped a photo of him sitting at the opposite end of the couch as I write this. He's resting after a busy late morning walk in some fairly hot weather. Fortunately we kept to the shady trees in the park and had plenty of water to hand for both Bailey and Oscar - who came along.

Bailey is an English Golden Cocker Spaniel and a rescue dog. He's about six years old. At present we're only his foster family - as his previous family wanted him gone as soon as possible. I can understand why, because so far he's a bit of a handful. He really doesn't like being by himself and even gets a little concerned if you go into another room without him. Plus he's very hard to get settled at night.

However in the four days we've been looking after him he is showing signs of improvement. He's not pacing as much and will even settle down for a snooze on the couch on his own accord if I'm busy. He also doesn't immediately jump up to follow me if I stand up from sitting on the couch anymore. He'll at least stay where he is if I don't leave the room.

He's supposedly not house trained but in four days we've only had one 'accident' in the house which I put down to him not being trained how to ask to go outside. Something he hasn't needed to do because we have a special magnetically closing curtain mesh that keeps the flies out but lets both dogs go in and out as they please. Bailey was quick to learn how that worked.

If it's cold at night we shut the door. Oscar knows how to ask to go out but Bailey seems to just accept that the door is shut and he can't get out. He doesn't make any indication that he wants to get out. Hence he somehow, sneakily decided the spare room was the place to 'go'. Aside from that he's gone out every time and hasn't had any overnight accidents thus far.

Oscar and Molly
Oscar has been the most put out by Bailey. I thought Oscar would love having another dog around because he's very sociable with other dogs at the park. I've seen him off the leash down at our local park 'working the room' with eight to ten other dogs. Making sure he made an effort to play chasey (his favorite game) with all of them. Other owners actually commented on how sociable he was.

Turns out Oscar at the park is very different to Oscar at home. He's not bossy or aggressive to Bailey most of the time except when Bailey crosses a line - such as eating out of Oscar's food bowl or trying to get up onto Oscar's couch while Oscar is on it.

Oscar's biggest problem (along with ours) is that Bailey starts humping things when he gets excited (and yes Bailey has been 'fixed' in that department). We're slowly discouraging that behavior but Oscar is apparently an attractive little dog.

Oscar is also a very playful dog that likes to bark, run around and generally go crazy. Unfortunately that gets Bailey excited in all kinds of inappropriate ways and Oscar has to do what he can to take cover - usually hiding under something Bailey can't get under or disappearing into our bedroom where Bailey isn't allowed to go.

It's a very different story taking them both for a walk to the park though. Oscar will act a lot more like 'Park Oscar' and make genuine efforts to get Bailey to play chasey with him. However the park's all new to Bailey so Oscar isn't quite so interesting to him just yet whilst he's exploring.

Usually when Oscar comes home from a walk he plays chasey with me in the back garden. When we got home from Sunday night's walk, our first with the two dogs, Oscar managed to get Bailey to chase him in the fastest game of chasey I've seen him play in a while.

Oscar's quick but can't out run bigger dogs like Bailey. His advantage is he can turn much sharper and run under things much lower... and he knows it. He gave Bailey a good work out before retiring to relative safety to avoid being humped!

Bailey's other issue is Thunderstorms. As it happened I was writing this post and a thunderstorm passed overhead. I'd heard he didn't like storms but wasn't quite expecting him to totally freak out, run around and bark persistently at every clap of thunder. Strangely enough he wanted to be outside so he could run around and bark but I wasn't having any of that.

Bailey models his 'Thunder Shirt'
after the storm.
I put on his 'Thunder Shirt' and for half an hour, as the storm passed over, I did my best to get him to sit still and calm down. It kind of worked but occasionally I let him run around just so he could spend some time reacting as he wanted to.

I don't know what the Thunder shirt was supposed to do but maybe without it he would've been even more freaked out.

After the storm passed over I let him run around the backyard which seemed to help him wind down.

Personally I've never met a dog that spooked by a storm.

So to finish this post off, Oscar who was very sick yesterday and unable to hold down his food (I think he drank too much creek water the day before) was feeling much better today.

He spent his evening goading Bailey into games of chasey and making sure Bailey stayed away from any food he got given - as well a stealing a treat Bailey was given (which Bailey had buried in our hallway despite not being able to dig a hole or cover his treat up with dirt - he still went through the motions).

There's some hope that Oscar and Bailey will eventually get along. Certainly would be great if they can.

Buy Gifts and Apparel featuring art by TET.

Popular posts from this blog

Skateboard Trick Tips: Two Ways to Ollie North (Ollie One foot)

You have to be quick to see my Ollie Norths! Ollie One Foots, otherwise known as the Ollie North, is one of those skateboard tricks you learn and then tend not to do very much as more interesting trick challenges grab your attention. However it does look really cool if you learn how to kick your front foot well past the nose of your skateboard. Still shot from Braille Skateboarding's Ollie North tutorial. I was inspired to make my video below, showing two different techniques to achieve a successful Ollie One Foot, when I not only saw that Braille Skateboarding's Tutorial used a different method to the one I had learned but also, when I looked at various other video tutorials, I discovered yet another technique, with no one using the method I had originally learned. Braille's method is to simply Ollie and drag your front foot past the front of your board. The second method I came across in several video tutorials is to Ollie, drag your front foot and tap your

How to Transfer Any Line Art to Your Griptape - Easy Skateboard Griptape Art Tutorial

Dog Star Griptape Art by TET Griptape art is once again gaining popularity amongst modern skateboarders. For those of us who have tried to create our own griptape art, using paint pens, you'll know reproducing your design onto the grip, without making any mistakes is incredibly challenging. Mostly because you just have to go for it and draw the design freehand, with paint pens, directly onto the griptape. You can make the odd mistake here or there but if you get the proportions of the design completely wrong, it can be very difficult to fix. Often you just have to live with the mistake. To address the problem I've come up with an easy way anyone can transfer a line art design to their griptape, removing almost all the anxiety of getting the proportions wrong. In fact, you could do this with any line art design, even if you have no drawing skill at all. Watch the video below to see my technique in action and/or skip past the video where I highlight the basic steps to get your de

Course Review: YouTube for Bosses - Sunny Lenarduzzi. How to grow your YouTube Channel into a Business

YouTube for Bosses Free Mug...  or the most expensive mug  you'll ever buy? I've been subscribed to  Sunny Lenarduzzi's YouTube channel for a few years, learning a lot on how to grow a following on sites like YouTube and Instagram. If you have any interest in growing your own YouTube channel I'd highly recommend watching some of Sunny's videos on the subject.  Definitely explore her 2019 back catalogue for the most useful information. This year she's been on a bit of a 'being authentic' pivot that, personally, doesn't resonate all that much with me (but probably speaks volumes to anyone with similar experience). I'm not saying she shouldn't or isn't being authentic, it's just I didn't subscribe to hear stories about her life journey. To get back on track, Sunny runs a successful online business with her flagship course, YouTube for Bosses , a stand alone paid course that does act as something of a gateway to further paid (but opt

Embarrassing Yourself with Doof Doof Music

Ever since Spinal Tap popularized the notion of turning an amp up to eleven audio systems have been rising to the challenge of louder, more awesome sound. In particular, car audio systems have embraced the notion of the bigger the noise the better the sound must surely be. What I'd like to know is, if these sound systems are so good, why do they make all music sound the same... Doof, Doof, Doof? You've all heard them. Pimped up cars, with audio systems seemingly worth more than gold, volume blasting way past eleven. Sound waves booming long before you make a positive visual on the car... Doof, Doof, Doof. It has to be the audio system right? Surely all these people can't be playing the same tune? Doof, Doof, Doof. Could it be that the more money spent on a car sound system the less musical range it will actually play? Maybe these people can't afford to buy music after purchasing the audio system so they all play the same demo track? Doof, doof, doof. In my own car I hav

One Week on Light n' Easy #lightneasy

My partner, Enigma, and I recently decided to try Light n' Easy to replace all our daily meals in an effort to eat healthier (and not have to think at all about cooking evening meals). Enigma is about to embark on her third week of their full menu but I caved after one and opted just to get the dinners.

The Braille Skateboarding App - How it Changed My Mind on Switch Skating

My Profile on the Braille Skateboarding App. Braille Skateboarding launched it's new Skateboarding App worldwide on November 23rd, 2020. About a month prior to that they did a 'soft launch' via email for anyone living in Australia. I'm guessing this was to give the app a final test in the real world before launching it proper. Rather than explain what it is, watch Aaron Kyro, founder of Braille Skateboarding, run you through the app in the launch video below.  In a nutshell the app is virtually everything Braille has to offer accessed right from your phone, from tutorials to the Braille Army Community. The app is free but you can unlock more features if you upgrade to a paid membership. Braille App Trick List. One of the apps unique free features is keeping track of the tricks you've learned and giving you an overall score so you have some way to measure your progression. There is an extensive list of tricks, covering all types of skateboarding, categorized by diff

The Lego Man - He's got all that!

Who would have thought that owning one of the worlds largest, private Lego collections could take you so far. Tom Lucieer of Angaston, South Australia, not only has met the Queen (of England) but is a frequent guest of her majesty and family when they are in Australia. He's also met Prince Charles, Lady Diana and Camila Parker-Bowles. Not only that, he grew up with TV Vet, Dr Harry, and is a friend of the Irwin family (yes, that's Steve Irwin's family). Tom will happily tell you all this as part of the guided tour of his collection, which, aside from Lego, includes much railway memorabilia and colourful anecdotes about days gone by, his achievements and more. Frequently he will finish each particular monologue with the phrase, "Have you got that?", just to check that he hasn't confused you because, as he points out, his display and the stories behind it are a lot to take in at once. In the photo you can see Tom holding a special award, which I think is for bei