Gaspare latest

I thought I would let you know how Gaspare is doing as it's been almost a month since we got him.

He is a lovely, lovely dog and has made himself completely at home. A loonie gentle giant with great long legs and a tendency to squeeze himself into very small spaces. This holds true for snuggling between us on the two seater couch, where he folds his body into a ridiculous position and looks about the size of a cat as he rests his head on Alan's lap. But it also holds true for little gaps under fences that we thought were too small for him to get under. (How wrong can you be!) The lure of the woods is too stong for him to resist sometimes, but he comes back within a few minutes and stands and barks at the back gate if we haven't seen him disappear.

He is scared of thunder and gunshots and hides under the bed or behind your legs at both. He loves his sorelline (little sisters) and plays a lot with Maia in particular as she is of a more athletic disposition than ZsaZsa, who prefers a snooze to a work out any time.

He has been to the vet twice so far, first for his blood and urine tests to see if he is still anaemic and has any other symptoms resulting from his horrible life before rescue. Happily the urine test is good but he is still anaemic, although that is improving. Still on tablets though.

His second visit was because his mouth had a large blood blister thing and he seemed quite down. The vet said it looked as though he had been stung. 'Is he interested in insects and little creatures?' he asked me. The words Pope and Catholic sprung to mind as dear Gassi spends the majority of his time outdoors on a never ending quest for the elusive lizards, snails, bees and so on. If it wriggles or moves he wants to catch it. Anyway, a cortisone injection and a drip soon put him right!

He has learned to sit now (in response to English) and sits up very straight like a soldier, although the effect is slightly spoiled by his front legs sliding forward on the floor. He knows his name most of the time, but once in the woods when the scents are too interesting, he forgets. I will have to watch this once the hunting season starts.

He now weighs 23.3  kilos, which is improving. I would like to see him put on more as he still looks on the scrawny side to me. He was 19 kilos when Daria and Ale got him to foster in Milan, a weight that doesn't bear thinking about. Even worse is that that weight of 19 kilos was after a few weeks in the rescue centre. God knows what he had gone through before that. This probably explains his hoovering of food. He sits while I put the bowl down and the – whoosh – it's all gone. He is so active that he works it all off again though. No chance of his ever being overweight!

He is with me in the office as I write this, crashed out on a chair. Dreaming. Nice dreams I hope.