New training tactics & beds

Yesterday morning Molly took me to a nature reserve in a neighbouring county to meet up with some of her friends for a walk.

That was exciting because I'd never been there before so there were lots of new sights & smells to explore & because it's half term there were lots of children & dogs around for me to watch & bark at. Molly wouldn't let me play with them though.

During my exploring I got burrs stuck in my beard, oops! Molly kept trying to remove them but when she did it pulled on my lip, ouch! They seem to have worked their way out now but Molly still needs to give my beard a wash & see if she can get a brush though it. She's been putting it off though because I don't make it easy for her, hehe!

One of Molly's friends that we met up with yesterday is very knowledgeable about dogs so she gave Molly some advice on how to manage my excitement around other dogs & practise my recall with the long lead. So Molly is feeling more positive about those things now.

After our adventure yesterday Molly dropped me back at home & popped into town. I slept most of the time she was out. When she came back a delivery man brought the weekly supermarket delivery so Molly shut me behind the stair gates to keep me out the way. I didn't like that because I just wanted to play.

This morning I weighed 8.6kg again (for the 3rd week in a row) so that supports the theory that I've stopped growing now.

Molly hasn't felt very well today & has kept blowing her nose which makes me jump every time! We've only had one walk today but that's ok with me because I've been tired after yesterday.

We went to the playing fields to practise my recall with the long lead. Molly is much better at handling the long lead now she's been shown how to do it so I enjoyed having more freedom. I did get a bit silly trying to bite the lead though! Every time Molly asked me to "leave it" I did, then went straight back to biting it again!

Molly recently bought some liver paste which I LOVE! She brought it with us to the park today so I showed her how good I can be at listening to her when I know she's got that in her pocket! I did some really good recalls away from birds & other people (including a man on a ride on lawnmower) but wasn't so good at recalling away from other dogs. Molly said we'll get there though.

At the end of our walk Molly let me say hello to two other dogs we met. One wasn't very keen on me but I enjoyed playing with the other.

The other thing Molly is now trying is stopping & continually feeding me while big distractions (such as dogs & particularly interesting people & children) that I'd usually bark & lunge at pass us. I like this! She didn't manage it when we passed our first dog on the way to the park today because she was busy picking up one of my poos but she tried it when we passed a man & a child with a football. Molly said I was good - she knows I'll do anything for food!

Just before we got home we met one of Molly's friends & they stopped for a chat. I was really excited & kept trying to jump up. Molly said we need to work on how I greet people because not everyone likes my wet & muddy paws on their trousers. Molly doesn't mind it though because she loves me.

A couple of Molly's friends have called round briefly to see her today. I did some very impressive barking to try to warn Molly & scare them off before Molly let me know they were friends. Then I just wanted to play with them.

I still don't like being left at home alone but I'm getting better at not being so clingy when Molly is around. Today I even chose to sleep downstairs for a while when Molly was upstairs in her bedroom.

I couldn't convince Molly to share any of her food with me this evening, despite my best attempts. I'm very well trained & never mug her for food, I just sit & stare at her in the hope that she'll give me some.

It never works though :( Molly says you mustn't feel sorry for me because she gives me plenty of food & in fact I'd just had my dinner before she had hers tonight!

Apologies for the poor quality of this photo, it was quite dark, but Molly wanted to show you what she woke up to this morning. I got bored while she had a lie in so entertained myself by shredding a tissue. Molly knows what I'm like with tissues so usually keeps them all out of my way, but she missed one!

This evening I had lots of fun trying to kill my bed & then chewing the labels on it. Molly just let me get on with it because I don't sleep in it much so she said if I destroy it then she's not going to replace it!

Talking of beds, Molly said I don't seem to understand the idea of sleeping in them. I don't know what she means!

I was especially annoying when Molly went into the garden tonight to close the greenhouse door & kept trying to bite her ankles. Molly has no idea where that came from, unless I was just being a bit silly due to only having one walk today.

And here are a a few more photos:

Thanks for reading.