Behind the closed door...

When I adopted Caesar I thought that owning a dog was all about; nice walks, fun training sessions, cuddles and companionship.  I'm not going to say it wasn't about these things.  Because I'd say these things account for around 50% of our relationship.  The rest is based around; compromise, sacrifice and forgiveness.  And these things must come from both of us.  Let me explain:

It's 3am and I'm at work tomorrow.  Caesar has just thrown up on the carpet.  I know why he's thrown up.  It's because yesterday, when I was at work, he broke down a door and ate a lot of sweets.  Sweets that I know he shouldn't have eaten.  He's been wearing a smile on his face ever since.  I know when the corners of his mouth turn up into a smile-like shape he is feeling sick and I've been waiting for this moment since 10pm.  Waiting to fall into a deep sleep.  I can't.

Caesar shouldn't even be upstairs. When I first got him, those were the rules; no coming upstairs, no going on the furniture and certainly no sleeping in the bed.  Those things changed when I realised the battle I had with Caesar.  People say 'pick your battles' and I totally agree.  It seemed important to Caesar to be close to us.  He wasn't content with sitting at our feet, he wanted to be sitting on our laps or cuddled under our arms.  At first, we would sit on the floor to give him this closeness and he was content with that.  But more for our own sake than his, it eventually became easier to allow him to come up on the sofa for a cuddle.  He began coming to bed when we realised how difficult he found sleeping alone.  He would cry and whine in the night and, although we thought he would grow out of it, it actually got worse as he got to know us more.  So here we are at 3am, Caesar and I, upstairs, in the bedroom and he's just, politely (I suppose), jumped off the bed and puked on the carpet.

From not coming upstairs to not coming in bed to sleeping by my side every night....feelings change...

It's not nice throwing up at 3am.  I, as you probably will too, know this.  So I can't feel cross with Caesar.  I'd like to say he has learnt his lesson, but know that his innate behaviour forces him to go looking for food.  He will eat foods that are poisonous to him and, what's more, if there's no one about, he will carry on eating them until they have gone.  Just read 'Saving Caesar: What about GDV?' to find out what happened the last time Caesar got hold of unlimited amounts of food.

So am I angry with Caesar?  No.  I'm angry with myself.  Clearly I'm not clever enough to outsmart him.  Immediately I'm thinking of a plan B.... Although this time it's more like a plan Z.  I've run out of letters now.  But I will keep trying.  This relationship is about compromise.  If I don't do my job properly, he lets me know by eating the contents of my kitchen and then throwing up.  Harmony is only achieved when I put in enough stops and he stops himself enough; I have no doubt that Caesar could break a door down if he needed to.

 Caesar looking like butter wouldn't melt in his mouth...

So last week the balance of our lives was upset when Damien was suddenly called away to France.  And all hell broke loose in our house.  I was trying to make things easy for Damien by acting as if everything was fine.  But, the longer he was gone, the less alright everything began to get.  Every day, my sister, who was staying with me, would return to the house at lunch time not knowing what she would find.  By the end of the first day, the baby gate which was supposed to prevent Caesar from coming downstairs had been broken off the wall.  And, on the third day she returned to find that the gate holding Caesar back from the dining room had been pulled over and the dining room door was ajar.

What's this???

If I had to choose a word to describe how the dining room looked it would be 'disastrous' but I don't really feel that even this does the state of the room justice.  Suffice to say that, when I returned from work that evening, I took one look into the room before shutting the door and saying, half to the dog and half to myself, "I can't cope with this now..."  It wasn't until later that I was able to bring myself to evaluate the damage.

Summary of the damage:
1 x Christmas present eaten (box of chocolates wrapped for a friend) - I found the wrappers in the garden a couple of days later...
1 x Christmas ornament broken (by trampling???)
1 x coolbox (belonging to said friend), opened and chewed around the rim
1 x coat pocket missing - chewed from the inside...
1 x poo in the corner (!!!) - embarrassingly didn't find this until days later!!
1 x rucsac missing handles and inner pockets
1 x upturned mug (thankfully not broken but nice sachet of hot drink MIA...)
1 x box upturned with contents all over the floor
Various papers of unknown origin chewed up and spat out...

Had I realised that he had eaten a whole box of chocolates including the wrappers at the time, I would have rushed him to the vet.  However, as it happened, I didn't realise that there was anything edible in the dining room until much after the incident when wrappers started appearing in piles in the garden...By which time, of course, they'd already been through his system!  That taught me to check next time.  Though, I must admit, I was a little glad that I'd missed that little bit of drama!

It's a little bit of a sore subject how many of the items got into the dining room though, that being said, I was fairly convinced that Caesar wouldn't be getting into there in a hurry with a large cage barring entry and a high door handle.  However, Caesar proves time and time again that Caesar does as Caesar pleases.  And, though these items had been months in the dining room, it seems that something as simple as Damien leaving for the week can cause a major change in Caesar's behaviour.

So; compromise, sacrifice and forgiveness.

Compromise; maybe you can come to bed if you find it so difficult to be alone.

Sacrifice:  I'll give up a nights sleep to be by your side when you're sick.

Forgiveness:  I'll forgive you for throwing up on my carpet and eating my sweets if you can forgive me for leaving them where you could get to them.

Caesar - King of the Head Collar

They're not cheap.  In fact, I nearly fainted when I realised how much a medium sized head collar could set you back.  But, is there such a thing as value for money in the head collar world or do you simply get what you pay for?  Here's the low down on the four head collars that we've tried:

• Halti
• Dogmatic
• Gentle lead - Full Halter
• Canny Collar

Halti

Caesar came with a Halti.  It's a shame I didn't know this as I bought one before I even got him.  The reason for this was that I knew he needed a head collar.  Possibly 2 was a little excessive.  I knew that he needed a head collar because I'd once attempted to walk him on a collar and lead - never again.

Benefits:

In all, the Halti fit snugly on his face and didn't look to be in any danger of falling off.  It had the extra safety precaution of the clip onto the collar.  This meant that, should he manage to free himself of the head collar, he was still attached to the lead (a bonus point that not all head collars offer).  Although this has never been too much of an issue with Caesar, I do have a friend whose dog has a larger neck than head and this means that He can slip move things over his head.  The Halti would not prevent this entirely, but would make it more difficult should he attempt to do this.

Being the sensitive soul that he is (in more ways that one), Caesar becomes very sore on his neck from wearing a collar.  One strength of the Halti was that it had a padded nose band so that it did not irritate the skin on his nose.

Halti's, unlike many other head collars are available from major retailers such as Pets At Home so it is sometimes possible to try before you buy.  This means no expensive return postage problems.  

Another bonus for larger dog breed owners, like myself, is that Halti do not charge extra for larger sized dogs.  This differs from some of the other head collars that can add up to £4 extra onto larger dog head collars.

Drawbacks:

The fact that the Halti simply slips over the nose means that there aren't a lot of points to hold the collar in place.  Therefore, when Caesar decided to ignore it's existence and pull anyway, it slipped up into his eye. Caesar learned to walk reasonably well on the Halti.  However, when seeing another dog, he would ignore it and pull hard causing the band to move into his eyes.  This caused higher levels of stress on walks.  

The Halti, like many other head collars does require you to have an idea of the size of your dogs head.  However, these sizes are defined by breed.  The problem occurs when, like many of us, your dog cannot be defined by one breed.  It's hard for me to decide whether Caesar's head is larger than a Staffordshire Bull Terrier and if his face could be described as 'Labrador sized'.  Every time I have had to buy a head collar for Caesar that requires sizing by breed, I have always got it wrong and had to return it.

Also from a picky dog walker point of view, I was never keen on the look of the Halti, despite the option of buying it in 4 different colours.  For me, it didn't look particularly friendly and I felt the black band and halter looked somewhat unfriendly.

Dog biscuit sized review:  Cheaply priced and widely available but not well fixed to the dogs face.  Could fix low level pulling problems but for persistent pullers (such as Caesar) it rides up into the eyes causing stress.

The Dogmatic

Attending dog classes saw the end of the Halti era.  And, my new dog trainer recommended something a little more sturdy.  She gave the choice of two: Canny collars and Dogmatics.  Seeing the colourful and friendly looking Dogmatic, I decided to buy it despite it being the most expensive head collar on the list.  At almost £20, it wasn't exactly a bargain but I was immediately drawn to it.  The Dogmatic comes in several different colours and some of these come with fun puppy designs.  I decided it was exactly what I needed to make my oversized squealing, lunging Staffy cross look a little more friendly!

Benefits:

Let's get my own obsession with Caesar looking friendly out of the way first.  In my humble opinion, you can't get a friendlier looking head collar.  Not only are Dogmatics colourful, they are decorated with small friendly looking puppy faces.  You can also get a range of leather dogmatic collars which come in plain different colours.  Pretty nifty really.

The entire head collar is bulkier than the others and has metal fastenings which allow it to be maneuverable in some ways, but this also stops it from moving about on Caesar's face.  It works in a simple but effective way and, besides the Halti which was introduced at the rescue centre, I have seen the most dramatic affect after the introduction of this collar.  

Overall it feels more robust but has padding to ensure the comfort of the dog.  It feels secure and well fitted to the dog's face and somewhat adjustable for the size of your dogs head.  Caesar has tried in every way possible to remove his Dogmatic but never one has he succeeded.  The head collar seems to stay firmly in place once fitted correctly and offers a sense of security for the owner.  And, having owned one for a year, it has proved fairly resilient to Caesar's constant attempts to yank at it and pull it off his face.  It's true the Dogmatic has been through a lot.  Namely; sea water, claggy mud piles and sand.  It has been scratched, bashed off the floor and bitten but still stands strong.

Perhaps most importantly for me, the Dogmatic gives me a sense of control.  With the lead fixing point under the chin, I can turn Caesar's face away when necessary.  This has proved useful when walking past another dog as it can help me ensure that Caesar cannot lunge in their direction.

Drawbacks

Although probably my favourite of the head collars, I have to admit that the Dogmatic is Caesar's least favoured headwear.  And, having owned and worn it during walks for over a year, he still has to be chased around the house in order to get it on and, once it's in place, he spends a great deal of his time trying to get it back off again.

To be fair on the head collar, Caesar has worn it for the majority of walks for over a year and it has remained fairly in tact. As you can probably tell, he's not particularly well behaved while walking on the lead so he does require something quite resilient.  After almost eighteen months of constant wear, it is beginning to show some signs of fraying around the chin.

A minor point but one that has got me into trouble before now is the lead fixing position of this head collar.  Because the lead is fixed under the chin, the front most part of the dogs body, an excitable dog (like Caesar) can swing their back end around freely.  This is not a huge problem for most people but I have had unhappy grandparent related coffee table, tea spilling incidents and also knee bumping incidents when trying to control Caesar on the head collar.  At one point, I adopted a double ended lead/body harness approach to try to counter this but found it not to be too much of a problem for most of the time.  The lead fixing point can also mean that, if Caesar stops and I continue to walk, the bottom band of the head collar and metal fixing ring can get stuck in his mouth as they rise up in front of his face.

The final drawback of this head collar is not my own but feedback from another dog owner.  I happily recommended this head collar in the early days of buying it for Caesar and another owner bought one accordingly.  However, she found it impossible to find a size for her dog that fit properly.  One size was too large around her face and another was too small.  There was no happy medium.  Because of the way the head collar fits, I can see how this could be the case.  And, admittedly, when I bought Caesar's, I had to send it back (and pay for packaging to do so) in order to get the next size down.

Dog biscuit sized review:  Good for me but Caesar hates it.  Sizing can be difficult and this can incur additional return postage costs which add to this already pricey head collar.  However, I feel in control of Caesar at all times which is important with a reactive dog.

Gentle Lead - Full Halter

I have a tiny bit of a confession with this one.  I bought it by accident!  My friend was telling me how well her Gentle Leader was working so I decided to investigate.  Unfortunately, I cut off the word "leader" and simply used the word 'lead'.  This brings about completely different results.  And turns a Halti like lead into something that looks more like a piece of rope with some fastenings.  

Benefits

I have to be honest and say that, of all of the head collars, this is by far my least favourite.  However, the Gentle Lead does come in nice bright colours and only one size.  This means that you cannot possibly get the sizing for your dog wrong (a bonus for someone who always does this)!  It is also, by far, the cheapest of the head collars.  Coming in at under £7.  Perhaps I should have seen this as a clue when buying it!  I can't deny, however, it does look quite nice when it's on.  Caesar seems the least phased by this head collar, probably because of it's lightweight look and feel.

Drawbacks

Out of all of the head collars, I feel as if I have the least control with this one.  Fitting it was difficult and the instructions was a complicated diagram with a list of parts which was extremely hard to understand.  I managed to fit it by process of elimination in the end.  I don't feel particularly in control of Caesar having used this head collar and the rope feels flimsy and insufficient for larger breeds.  In addition, the thin rope hurt my hands when Caesar pulled continuously.

Dog biscuit sized review:  It's a nice colour and doesn't require sizing.  However, personally, I don't trust this head collar and ceased using it within a week of buying. I have to admit that this wasn't due to any particular incident; I just did not feel that it was robust enough for Caesar.

Canny Collar

The Canny Collar is the latest addition to Caesar's head collar collection.  After I could see the Dogmatic head collar coming to the end of it's life, I decided to experiment with a different type.  Being a fan of the Dogmatic, I thought the Canny Collar, which works differently, might be a useful tool in aiding me to mix and match.  Perhaps, I mused, this might help me to train Caesar to walk on the lead better - he wouldn't get too used to one type and find ways to pull.

Benefits

The Canny Collar looks smart and does not make too much of an impact on the dogs face.  It is a simple band that fastens over the nose which makes it easy to put on (once you get the hang of it).  At the time that I purchased mine, black was cheaper and so I chose black, not wanting to pay more for a different colour.  I've since noticed that you can choose any colour on the Canny Collar website without paying the extra.  In addition, the website itself has a measuring guide for dogs to help you choose the right size, rather than referring to specific breeds.

I like the Canny Collar as it works in a completely different way to the other collars.  It fastens at the back of the dogs head with two small rings and is built into a collar for extra reassurance.  If, unlike Caesar, your dog can come off the lead, the nose loop can simply be removed and fastened onto the collar using two clips which come with the Canny Collar.

Caesar doesn't mind this collar too much and it isn't very difficult to get him to put it on.  He also doesn't seem too distressed by wearing it during a walk.  The positive side of having a head collar that fastens behind the head, is that the head does not jerk to the side if you or the dog tugs on the lead.  And this works hugely in the favour of this head collar.  On one walk, using a front fastening head collar, Caesar stepped onto the road when a car was coming.  Panicking, I jerked the lead back instinctively and he gave a yelp as it jerked his neck to one side.  This could not happen with Canny Collar as the mechanism pulls the dogs head downwards and not sideways.

Drawbacks
I found fitting the Canny Collar very difficult and, having had it for around a month, I still think there's a possibility that it could be a size too big - Caesar keeps slipping the band off his nose.  At first this was fine but, when done at the crucial moment, for example when holding 2 dogs and a 3 bags of shopping, it can be a real problem.

Out of all the head collars, I feel that this has the least impact in terms of pulling.  While it feels sturdy and I'm sure that it will stay on in some form, preventing Caesar from running away, he finds it fairly easy to resist and can pull with some force when on it.  In it's defense, I have to say that it is still a great improvement on lead and collar walking as it does not allow him to pull with as much force.  However, when he is determined to get somewhere, he can get a good pull on this head collar without causing himself too much discomfort.  

Dog biscuit sized review: Well thought out design means that the dogs head is not jerked - this is possibly why it is one of Caesar's favoured head collars.  The other reason, of course, could be that it allows him to pull more than most of the other collars.  

Summary
As I hope you have seen, each head collar has benefits and draw backs and it's up to you to decide what the most important factors are for you.  Each of the head collars described, has both good and bad reviews on it's website and this is largely down to individual preferences by both dogs and owners.  I hope the review helps you to select one that suits both yourself and your dog.

Have you tried one of these head collars or perhaps a different kind again?  I'd love to hear your comments.

Rescue Advent Calendar

There's still time to enter your rescue dogs into the Saving Caesar rescue advent calendar.  If you would like to see your own rescue dog and their story appear behind one of the windows of the online advent calendar, fill out the form and send it back.  You can write as much or as little as you like about your rescue.  There is no charge for entering and no personal details are collected (first name only required).

Click to submit your dog's details

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Bedroom Break-ins

It's a well known fact that Caesar can break into our bedroom.  I sort of turn a blind eye to it.  Admittedly, this is partly because I don't really know what to do about it.  He breaks in during the day and curls up on our bed.  Although this is a little irritating, at least it means that he isn't demolishing the rest of the house - well most of the time anyway.

Caesar's favourite place to be - under the covers in our bed!

So, with great guilt, I have to admit that I haven't done much in the way of stopping this behaviour.  I don't love the fact that my bed is being slept on all day by an often sweaty and sometimes muddy/sandy villain in the shape of a Staffordshire Bull Terrier.  However, I've learnt to choose my battles with Caesar and decided that this wasn't one worth fighting.  Partly because the rest of the house was more likely going to suffer if he wasn't lazily lying about on the bed.

This, in my opinion, was all very well and good...until a few weeks ago.  It was a school night and I'd gone to bed as usual, Caesar by my side.  I'd drifted off into my usual sleep and being abruptly woken by Damien, as usual, taking Caesar to the toilet and then putting him downstairs for the night.  It didn't take me long to drift off again and I was having the most interesting dream about buying a new mirror for the bedroom when....'BANG!'

Big baby having teddy cuddles!

I woke up with such a jump that I felt dizzy.  Then another 'BANG' and then a squeak as the door opened.  Then a scuttling of claws on laminated floor and a sudden impact to the legs.  "Ouch!"

I sleep on the side of the bed that is not next to the door and so, for no other reason aside from this (honestly), I decided to wake Damien up.  Grumpily, he dragged himself out of bed and took Caesar outside again.  This happened another twice during the night.

After a night of disrupted sleep, I realised that I am never going to make a good or patient mother.  "GET OUT!" I screeched at him as he broke in for the third time.  The next few weeks only got worse!

Now, at the first sign of noise, I have taught myself to respond with a quick and loud "NO!" I'm sure that sometimes I even do this before I wake up!  I often find myself yelling at all times of night and morning as Caesar can strike at just about any time.  Last night, there were 3 separate night time raids followed by a huge amount of outside bedroom wailing!

I'm sure our neighbour absolutely loves us....and our delinquent dog....

There's still a few slots available in the Rescue Dogs Advent Calendar.  If you would like to submit your dog, follow the link at the top of the page "2013 Advent Calendar".  

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The perfect house guest...??

Caesar doesn't get invited around to other people's houses too much.  I'm not surprised really.  Last time we were guest's in anyone's house other than my parents he weed all over the floor out of pure excitement at being there.  It's not that he's too badly behaved at other houses, at least he doesn't mean to be anyway, it's more that he is extremely interested in everything that they have.  If he were a person, this would be an endearing quality.  The type of person who comes round and compliments your furniture, asks for a tour of your beautiful home and shows a LOT of interest in what you're cooking.  As a dog, I can't deny, it is slightly irritating.

Luckily, for my parents at least, he is now used to their house and so has learnt how to behave there....most of the time anyway.  He saunters in, gives everyone a fuss and then sits waiting to have his head collar removed.  Once he is head collar free, he then moves into the kitchen with my dad.  He does this because that is where the food is.  If he is called away from the kitchen area, he will generally come but then makes it his soul mission to get back to the kitchen again.  He particularly likes my parents' automatically opening bin which is essentially the magic gateway to leftover food.

At home, Caesar is not allowed on the furniture.  At least, not the sofas anyway.  He comes to bed most nights with me so the bedrooms have slightly different rules.  Generally, he understands this.  Occasionally, he will come for a hug on the rocking chair but only when invited.  Once we leave, of course, the rules are redundant and I frequently catch him sitting on the leather sofa.  In fact, there is a huge chunk missing from said sofa where he tried to dig a hole....

'Maybe, if I stare hard enough, he'll drop some....'

At my parents' house, the rules are no longer in play either.  And, for some reason, he feels that he is welcome to sit, lie or otherwise make himself comfortable on any of their sofas.  The problem is, where as my sofa was less than £200 and bought from Macro, their sofa or should I say 'suite' is from a proper sofa catalogue where you can order sofas that have a guarantee and come with which you can buy special cleaning equipment.  I'm guessing the guarantee is void if a large dog attempts to dig a hole in your new Richmond suite....   Perhaps that's worth checking.

Caesar is treated like a VIP at my parents' house.  I'm surprised he wants to go home.  He get's left over food (a good chunk of pork last night), to lie on the settee (actually meant my dad having to sit on the floor) and cuddled and fussed all of the time.  No wonder he cries in the car all the way home!!

How does your dog act at other people's houses?  Angel or anarchist?  Let me know with a comment.

Breaking News!

Making new friends is never easy.  This is particularly true if you are a 23kg Staffy crossbreed who lacks social awareness.  Luckily, a year ago Caesar and I found two great friends, following a rather eventful hour of attempting to do agility.  Amazingly, for once Caesar's irritating screeching had caught the right person's attention.  Emma and her dog Tango found us after the session and Emma offered to help me to socialise the noisy dog.  We've never looked back since.

Caesar and Tango on one of their first walks together.
It took Caesar 3 walks to stop barking and jumping
towards Tango.

Until Emma moved around an hour away from here, we had walked almost weekly but over the past months it had been difficult with holidays and Fly Ball season in full swing for Emma and Tango.  So, Emma suggested we visited her in her new house one night after work and, reluctantly, I agreed.  It wasn't that I didn't want to visit Emma and I really looked forward to seeing her new house, my worry was that, now that she had moved in with her partner, there were four dogs living under their roof.  Caesar struggles to manage one dog.  I expressed my concerns to Emma who tried to calm them with promises of long walks and crates and treats.  I tried to feel better but I couldn't help but worry.  What if Caesar did something to one of her partner's dogs?  'Hi, my name is Sian and that's my dog Caesar, the one that is mauling your pet...'

When I pulled up outside Emma's house, an hour after setting off, I already felt stressed.  I don't love driving at the best of times and after my recent breakdown meltdown, I didn't feel particularly confident.  "Give me the lead," she said.  "You're stressed and Caesar will feel the tension."  Seeing me stall for a second, she repeated calmly;  "It's fine.  Give me the lead."  I didn't feel fine.  I felt like saying; 'Nice to see you Emma, lovely house but I'm off home now,'  however, I'd come this far so I steadied my hand and passed the olive green lead to my friend.  I would trust Emma to the end of the earth with Caesar.  She knows him inside out and back to front.  Perhaps, in hindsight, she knew more about him than I did.  The person I didn't trust, was myself.  If Caesar did something, I would freeze, I knew it.  I liked to be in control, that was things didn't happen and I didn't have to react to them.  "I'll let Tango in first," Emma was saying, getting Tango from the car, "Caesar can follow him in."  Tango was exhausted, he'd been at 'daycare' all day where he has plenty of time to swim and play but comes home and wants to relax.  Tonight, he would have no such joy as his boisterous Staffy friend wanted nothing more than to play.  As soon as Caesar saw Tango his tail started to wag and he let out a few token barks.  As we entered the house, and to my complete mortification, Emma glanced over her shoulder at me and said "I'm going to drop the lead now."  I didn't think this was a good idea and said as much.  Emma looked at me reassuringly, "it's fine." she said, "he'll be fine.  And if he's not, we will pick the lead back up."  Caesar bounced into the front room, three of the four dogs were there, including Tango, who was certainly not in the mood for his antics.  Tonight, I would find out the truth about Caesar's reaction to dogs.

Tango was in no mood for Caesar's antics after a day of swimming and playing.

Jumping, barking and playing, Caesar was having a whale of a time.  I stood, hands on hips, shaking my head in disbelief.  Emma was smiling too.  He sniffing and jumping on all of the dogs.  Yes, he was boiserous and, at times, silly, but the reason behind his noises was confirmed; he wanted to play.  All of this time, all of this crazy behaviour and the bottom line was that he only wanted to play.  Unfortunately, the other dogs didn't and, at times did have to tell him this quite firmly.  Caesar didn't appear to understand that they didn't want to play with him so pushed them to the limit at times but when he eventually did get the point, he backed away barking and howling confused by their reaction.  I was amazed to see that Emma and her partner were more concerned that their dogs hurting Caesar.  "You're joking aren't you?" I laughed.  I let out a sigh that I'd been holding in for 18 months.  There was nothing malicious about Caesar at all.

After only half an hour at Emma's house,
Caesar (left) goes for a walk with four other dogs!

Fifteen minutes after we'd first entered the house, Caesar was in the garden with four other dogs.  I watched in amazement as he found his feet with them.  "He just wants to play," Emma told me, confirming my thoughts.  I nodded.  The walk that followed was the best we've ever had.  Emma lives near a forest that is rarely used and suggested we allow Caesar off for a run, now we were certain that he was only being friendly.  "OK." I agreed, a little more enthusiastically.  Caesar ran around in the forest and surrounding fields for almost an hour and a half.  He found a new friend; Zac, who possibly didn't like being chased as much as Caesar thought he did.  Caesar liked him so much that he would not let him out of his sight, everywhere Zac went, Caesar followed over enthusiastically.  He also found time to follow Pebbles and Phoenix, paying the least attention to his old friend Tango.  I felt sad about this but concluded that, after a full day of swimming and playing, Tango was probably glad that his over-enthusiastic friend had turned his focus onto someone else for a change.  

That can't be Caesar!  Is it?

After our ninety minute walk, we sat and enjoyed a pizza while chatting about our success.  Zac even began to lick Caesar in a show of affection, though he didn't like it when Caesar tried to sniff him back.  It was ten o'clock before I knew it and, with an ongoing feeling of elation at our success, I popped Caesar in the car and, thanking Emma, set off for home.  Caesar was silent for the whole trip and only woke up when we pulled up outside the familiar townhouse that we call 'home'.  Making new friends is tiring work!

Did he just say 'pizza'?