Long time coming but not long now till you can be freewheeling down the road. No more relying on others independence once again.
And Pereg is a pretty girl not sure I have seen a picture of her before.

I was just thinking that it all probably sounds so insignificant or really nothing to bother about to everyone here, but this first started for me at the beginning of July and for most of that time I could not even get across the road to the macolet - and you can all see how close the macolet is from the end of my ramp.

It will be a while yet until I can take Pereg out as I am not prepared to risk damaging The Silver Monster by driving straight off the pavement onto the road, so will wait until they put some sort of mini ramp across from the pavement to the road. It would have been so much easier had they given me the dropped kerb that was promised, but then these things are promised but never carried out. Now it would involve far too much work for them to do that but a mini ramp from the pavement to the road at the end of the ramp will do me just fine.

I am just so proud of Pereg and how good she was - and the Aravim were so nice when I asked them to please ignore her and she would settle, which she did. Trying to explain that although she is not very big but has a big dog's bark but will not bite, to people who are either frightened of or do not like dogs can be a bit difficult, but all was well. Except I was supposed to change her collar and harness and wash this set but I forgot!

I am not exactly sure what has been put down. When my ramp/path was built a concrete lorry [one with a non-stop turning mixer] arrived and a huge hose thingy poured out the concrete for the ramp/path and for a path in front of my bungalow to the side where I had The Shack built for my scooter.

Today one of the JCBs kept turning up with a load of ready mixed something and tipped it out and the Aravim spread and flattened it. It seems darker than normal concrete and also more solid. And it is 15cm deep as against the 10cm of the concrete of my ramp. All done properly with stones and sand rolled with the heavy double roller, then iron grill stuff, and then the concrete or whatever it is laid on top.

The wooden edging boards and the metal spikes holding them in place will be removed when - well, when they come and remove them!, but already it is solid enough to walk on so whatever they have put down, and I think it is a mixture of concrete and tarmac, is as solid as I could hope for.

I really cannot explain how free I feel now after only a few days in the last two months being able to get over to the macolet. And once I can get The Silver Monster out and take Pereg for a long gallop around the Moshav, that will be absolutely wonderful for both of us.

Thank you all for having put up with my moans for the last couple of months and for celebrating with me now that the end is almost here.

There is nothing like Dogsey for understanding and friendship, and I treasure the day I discovered it.

Malka xx

She is just abour 44cm [~17"[ at the shoulder [if I have measured in the right place] and weighed 16.6kg [~36.6lb] in April. She weighed 17kg at the beginning of April 2011 when she developed epilepsy, her weight shot up to 20.8kg five months later, and it took a lot of hard work to get her weight down.

16.6kg means she can gain a bit without me worrying, although I prefer to keep her weight down. I had been aiming for 18kg so was surprised and pleased at her weight in April. But she is chunky and heavy for her size, being deep chested and with a slightly longer back which only shows when she is laying down..

And she is such a happy dog and has been so good today. Still no treats though as she is still on a diet whatever she weighs. I would rather give her extra food than give her treats.

Same height as Rory then! Though twice his weight
I'd say he's tall for the breed but I've never seen any in person to compare with

She looks good now though, great job on the weight, Pereg!

Erin, she weighed 13kg on 9 September 2009 when she was spayed - maybe just over 9 months old, and yet she was a tiny pup when I adopted her at 6-7 weeks old.

Even at her current weight, when I can feel [but not see] all her ribs and spine, she is far from underweight. She can gain a kg or so but I prefer her to be as light as possible as she is chunky and heavy for her size. At the moment her medication suits her weight. If she gained too much I might have to increase it and I really do not want to as she is on a fairly high dose for her weight as it is.

Swings and roundabouts. Swings and roundabouts.

Must be hard having the usual dog worries with epilepsy on top of that
She's not obese and looks happy and healthy so I suppose thats the main thing

Wow! She's tiny! I imagined her bigger! I'm just going to try to put up a picture of my old Lenny who she reminds me of a bit. X

Oh Catrin, Pereg is not tiny. Mind you, compared with Little One who only weighed 5½kg yes, Pereg is big. Bigger than her dam, who I saw at the Shelter when I went to pick Pereg up, but she is still in the small/medium class as far as her weight goes.

Erin, Pereg is now far from obese but yes, it is extremely difficult to cope with her when she has a full blown Grand Mal seizure, especially me being a permanent chair user, but you know what? I cope. Just as everyone else with an epi dog copes. And somehow I wonder if the closeness Pereg and I have is because of her epilepsy. Would she be the same Pereg who is so close to me if she was not epi?

Of course I wish she was not, but she and I are far closer than any other dogs who have shared my life.She is just special somehow.

Malka I am so pleased to read that you have an escape route at last , what a nightmare all this must have been for you and Pereg .xx

Morning after the day before Update!

Whatever they put down yesterday has lightened a bit in colour but is definitely not just normal concrete - much stronger. Anyhow, it is rock solid so I took Xanadu up, turned round on the pavement and drove down with no problem whatsoever.

I then decided to try with Tontoo, who really does not like steep slopes [he only has one small motor which is in his front wheel] but as long as I went up on his top speed [all of 4mph] he got up and came back down again.

As of yet I am not going to even think of trying The Silver Monster until there is some sort of edge from kerb to road so I can drive him straight onto the road. But I now have freedom to go across to the macolet whenever I want, and will be able to go to the big shopping centre with Tontoo in David's boot - and will be able to buzz around the huge supermarket, ditto huge homeware store, and wherever I want, with David walking Pereg around just a phone call away in case of an emergency. All the stores, big and small, are around a very large [free] parking area and there are lots of places just outside it where David can take Pereg while I go shopping!

So at the moment everything is fine as far as my ramp/path is concerned. They still have to clear the steps and all the stuff tipped into my front yard but none of that is important compared to the fact that after two months I am able to actually get out whenever I want!