Category Archives: Chico

Cheeks Versus the Walmart toy

I picked Mr. Cheeks up a toy whilst out in the States; Walmart has a funky section for pets, then again it has a funky section for everything usually!

Here’s some footage of him in the garden, complete with guest commentary by Mum.

When Chico met Blue

Our walk up the park was pretty eventuful today in terms of puppy socialising; Chico has an over-eager screaming fit every time he is approached by an aggressive dog that’s off of it’s lead.

He often ends up in my arms because I have to hoist him up using his harness and away from the protagonist so that he doesn’t do anything too aggressive; I find it quite amusing when these huge dogs come bounding over all brave and then run away when Cheeks gets medieval on their hineys.  Y’dig?  This all contrasts to how he is with bitches however, he’s all sweet and friendly.

So, I was quite intrigued to know how Chico would react when I arranged to meet my sister Lorraine who was walking her dog ‘Blue’.  Blue is a pitbull cross and a mountain of dog; people who take him at face value are clearly very wary of him, although he’s a gentle giant.

Having my Flip camcorder handy I decided to film the moment that they both met (awwwwww!) and you can see that Blue is an absolute angel in how he tolerates the impetuous nature of Mr. Cheeks.

Rock on Tommy!

 

Cheeks goes for his first swim

I took Chico up to Beddington Park today for a nice long walk; I love going up there because it’s huge, green and luscious with lots of intricate streams and ponds to mooch around.

Cheeks didn’t hesitate when he came up to the first stretch of water; I managed to catch it on video! OK….so it’s more of a paddle, but he has absolutely no fear of the water at all.

Chico loses his marbles

Chico turned 8 months old this week, the last 4 weeks or so saw quite an adult change in his behaviour.

Cheeks had been showing increasing signs of sexual dominance and was slightly more  aggressive than he had been; he’s normally has a very playful and affectionate temperament contrary to what you’d expect of a Parsons Terrier (Jack Russell Cross).

I called up the RSPCA centre that he was registered to and asked if they could re-assess their ‘unique’ personal policy of not castrating him until he was a year old; they stuck firm to this which lead me to seek out a new vets.  I am lucky to have a friend who is a vetinary nurse and her opinion was that this was 6 months too late, the internet also offered me a good deal of advice.

Ray recommend his local vets, and we booked him in for Thursday this week.  I felt tremendously guilty making such a prolific decision in his life, however I mused that I would rather do that and ‘calm’ him down than see him bite someone.  There is also the huge factor that castration prevents testicular cancer.

The vets carried out the operation and also removed two baby canine teeth that were also giving him a little trouble  which went some way to explain the slight increase in aggression and Chico’s need to gnaw almost constantly on his chewy toys.

I arrived home from the darts around Midnight to find mums door closed, felt it best not to disturb him because she had text me throughout the evening giving an account of how distressed he was with the lampshade contraption around his head.

Around 4:30am – 5am I was woken up by him, Mum said he had been crying and scratching at my door; so in he came, got up on my bed and practically pleaded with me to remove the lampshade.  So I did.  It turned out to be a good decision because he hasn’t licked or bitten any of the area that he shouldn’t.

I won’t ever forget how he squashed himself into me after I’d taken the lampshade off; shaking with relief and utterly happy.  The last few days have shown an almost immediate return to his normal character, a little more sleepy and sluggish perhaps but definitely on the mend. 🙂

So he now has a new vets, I also got a Tesco ‘Pet Plan’ for him to make sure he always gets the care he deserves.

Mr. Cheeks goes to the vets.

Chico had a visit to the vets yesterday because of a sore eye; we’d tried bathing his eye over the last few days but felt it was best he went for a check because it wasn’t clearing up.

It’s awful seeing an animal behaving differently due to an ailment or discomfort; over the past few days Chico would rub his eye using a paw and rest his face against me, pretty much asking me to bathe his eye.

Mum gave me a run down of his time at the vets; apparently he caused utter mayhem.

Those who have met Cheeks will know how he gets exceptionally excited to meet people and other dogs; wimpering and scampering to say hello.

Its a good thing Mum took him. Turns out he had conjunctivitis in his sore eye; the yellow dye put in by the vet showed no damage and the problem was probably caused by dust from DIY or dirt outside.

Poor little guy has eye drops for that, ear drops for a mild ear infection, worming tablets and flea treatment.

Given all the medication he’s taking; I might have to rename him Charlie Sheen?!?

As you can see from the picture below, he was very comfy laying on my legs as is often his custom; no comments about my funky candy cane PJ bottoms!!!

As of this morning, his eye is already clearing up nicely, he was running around the front room with his tennis ball like a loon and tried to bite my bike gloves on the way out!

Definitely back to his normal self 🙂

Chico’s first Christmas

Chico is 5 months old this week; and this is his first Christmas!

Mum gave him his first presents this morning too; managed to get them on film.  I love the way he throws the wrapping aside once he gets to the contents!!!

Merry Christmas to one and all 🙂