More New games …

Oh my woof, life is so exciting! On Tuesday evening my Personal Trainer (Amanda from Happy Buddies) came to see me. We went for a walk to see how I behaved with other people and other dogs. When we got to Bay Pond I was allowed on the long line too. It was wonderful! Of course, when we met other people I was impeccably behaved. Would you believe it, all the way up Bay Pond walk we didn’t meet a single dog! Unbelievable! But they really good thing was that Amanda showed Alex and Richard that I can be trusted on the long line and that they don’t even have to hold the end of it. Oh my woof, I had a great time! We walked all down Green Lane and still didn’t meet any other dogs but when we got into Dewlands we did. I was very well behaved, had a sniff and followed the 3 second rule and walked on. Everything was fine. Because Amanda was there I decided that I wouldn’t play the lie down and refuse to move game and I wouldn’t play the pull on the lead like life depends on it game (I don’t want her getting the wrong impression). I think I got away with it and she was left wondering what on earth Alex and Richard are on about – that’s a new game in itself!

Amanda also taught me a new trick – paw. It is quite simple really, although I have a feeling like most of these things that seem simple, there’s going to be a catch. All I have to do is let them pick my paw up and I get a treat. How cool is that? Not exactly strenuous even for a dog! I did think I overheard Amanda saying something about me having to offer my paw for a treat, but I’m not sure my human speak is that good and I may have that wrong – after all, that doesn’t sound like nearly as much fun! After Amanda left I was quite tired – I had walked about 6 miles in one day – so I decided that the only sensible thing to do would be to lie down in the lounge and push out a few ?s. So that’s what I did. When Alex and Richard went to bed, I was quite happy to go too – it had been a long and exciting day, but I was definitely tired!

Wednesday morning began well. After a few laps of the kitchen and garden Alex got a delivery of something he was expecting. It turned out it wasn’t for me which was a bit disappointing, but he seemed quite pleased. It was some kind of booklet thing for an “Annual Show”? No … me neither, but we both know it is best not to ask sometimes! Anyway, once the whatever it was had been delivered it was on with my lead (after a game of jump and nip, of course) and off down the road. It only transpired we were off to visit Fran and Iain! I love going to Fran and Iain’s house. They always look after me so well and, whilst Alex was doing something with Iain, Fran took me for a lovely walk all round The Green and up into Hilly Fields. In fact, when we got back from our walk I was pretty darned tired. I lay down on the floor and started to inspect the inside of my eyelids for a few minutes! I have a game at Fran and Iain’s of trying to chew their rugs. It isn’t going down too well, so I may have to revise it. Alex has now put a rug down at home so that he can try and teach me not to do it. Can I learn not to do something? I am not sure.

We left Fran and Iain to return home for a while and, as we got to the pub, I decided a game of lie down and refuse to move was in order, so that’s what I did. It went quite well for about 10 minutes or so, but Alex started to ignore me and look at his phone – how rude! So I got up and walked to the other side of the car park and started the game again. After about 5 minutes Alex was taking no notice at all of me, so I decided to abandon the game for a while. I dragged my feet all the way up the High Street though and just past the barbers I decided on one last go at lie down and refuse to move. Although I feigned interest in a stick I had found, the reality was that I just wanted to see how far I could push it. It transpired not that much. Within seconds Alex was ignoring me and the game didn’t seem half as much fun anymore. I stuck it out for a few minutes, but then I got up and we walked back home. When we got home I decided to push out a few ?s whilst Alex did some ‘work’.

In the afternoon I decided that I wanted to go for another walk. I duly informed Alex of this by removing everything from the side table and shaking it about a bit. He got the message. It turned out that he wanted to go for a walk anyway because we were going to go and see Bren and Cathy afterwards and he was worried that if I had too much energy I might knock into Bren’s knee. So, after a game of ‘you won’t get that harness on me without a battle’ we departed for a walk. I knew it was going to be good because Alex was carrying the long line. Off we went, down towards the White Hart – I was pulling like hell because I wanted to get there but that just made Alex walk even slower and he kept on stopping too which was frustrating. He is so much better behaved when I don’t pull on the lead … hmm, maybe there’s a lesson there somewhere! We got to Bay Pond and he swapped my lead over. Oh my woof, what fun! We had a great time. The only downside was when we met another small dog that wasn’t on a lead (Alex had drawn me in on the long line). We had a gentle sniff and I followed the 3 second rule religiously but the little blighter didn’t seem to know the 3 second rule. He ran after me barking and biting my legs. I was not impressed!

A little later on we were in Green Lane and we met another dog that wasn’t on a lead. This time it was quite a big dog (bigger than me) and he didn’t know about the 3 second rule either. I followed the rule but he just walked after me and kept trying to irritate me. In the end, I have to admit, he did irritate me and I jumped up and down and barked as loud as I could. Eventually his owner grabbed him and said to Alex, “You’ve got a lively one there”. Alex didn’t say anything (which is quite good for him at anytime!) but he wasn’t very happy I could see. Anyway, incident over, we carried on our walk and I thoroughly enjoyed it. When we got home Alex went indoors to pick up a couple of things he was taking to Cathy and then we went round to their house. He hadn’t even got to the gate and Alex turned round and tried to go home again. I was not happy about this at all! We walked back home, Alex went indoors, picked up one of his booklet things and then we went back again. What was all that about?

We went in to see Bren and Cathy and I tried to behave, I really did. Alex was very worried about me knocking into Bren, but I didn’t. Cathy had a box of tissues next to her on the floor and it was just too tempting! I ripped them up and had a great time until I was stopped. Then I tried to chew their rugs. Nope, that wasn’t on either. Then I tried to chew the draft excluder in their patio doors – that wasn’t allowed either. I did wander into the conservatory and there was nothing in there I could damage so I was left alone for a minute, but that was a bit boring, so I went back into the lounge to try and find something to chew. Cathy gave me some cheese which was nice, but I did get a bit bored and Alex decided we should go home. We went via Bren’s greenhouse just to take the lids of the tomato propagators and then went home.

In the evening Alex and Richard had to go to the ‘Gardeners’ Club’ whatever that is. The good news was that that meant that Zena and Simon came down to look after me! After about half an hour of loving and games, I settled down and pushed out a few ?s. Zena was a bit worried about my lack of activity, but she needn’t have been because when Richard and Alex came home I decided it was time for my latest new game. It was good that Zena and Simon were so kind to look after me because Richard and Alex realised on their way home that all of the other potential sitters for me were at the Gardeners’ Club meeting! Woofing of gardens, this brings me nicely to my latest game. I pretend to need to go out into the garden for a wee and then I grab a couple of plant pots and bring them inside where I turn them into colanders or just shred them entirely. Even though I am not supposed to do this, Alex couldn’t resist playing with me and a pot!

This morning, however, he has decided that today is the day he is going to have to sort out the greenhouse. Apparently this has something to do with making sure that I can’t get at any of the plant pots and other things that I am not supposed to play with. I don’t really see why this should be necessary, but he thinks so. Sometimes there is just no accounting for the actions of a human! Good news though – we’re off for a walk first. No long lining this morning (but he thinks I don’t know that he’s arranged for Zena to come round this afternoon and we’re all going out on a long line walk!), but it will be nice to get out and have a good sniff. With that, I’m off, so must paws … ?