Most of my walks this week have been with Molly's dad. We have lots of fun together & because he often takes me to a local wood in the evenings when it's quiet (& hence empty of other dogs) I've been able to have a few off-lead walks. Well, runs would probably be a better word! I've also had a couple of walks with Molly's mum & a couple with her younger brother when he was home at the weekend. But most excitingly, I've been out with Molly twice! Last week her mum drove us to a local park where Molly sat on a bench while I had a good run around. I did some recall practise between Molly & her mum - & sometimes her mum hid between a tree to try to trick me!
Molly's mum tried to take me on a walk while Molly stayed sat on the bench but I was very reluctant to leave her & kept looking back to see where she was.
I found some holes to explore though which distrated me.
I cried when Molly's mum nipped off to the toilet because I wasn't allowed to follow her.
Yesterday Molly & her dad took me to the local reservoir where Molly managed a bit more walking - I think she's getting better! I chose to ignore Molly recalling me on a couple of ocassions, but she couldn't stay upset for long because I'm so cute!
When Molly's dad lay down for a rest I assumed that was an invitation to play!
I don't know how clear this photo will be at this size but this is Molly's dad rescuing me after I got my long lead tangled up!
I don't like being brushed but Molly & her dad keep insisting on doing it. On one of my walks with Molly's dad I got my coat full of sticky leaves, sticky balls & burrs. That evening it took them over an hour to get all the plant pieces out of my fur! Molly has discovered though that liver paste makes me a bit more co-operative so I've had huge amounts of that this week, yum yum! Molly also filed my nails but I didn't mind that too much. I wasn't allowed to chew the nail file though, humph!
Molly gave me a segment of a clementine so her Mum could see what a fuss I make when I'm presented with one, but that time I just wolfed it down! Talking of food - Molly went out one day & returned with a really exciting bag of treats for me. It contained pizzles, chicken feet, tripe sticks & a stick of black pudding! I was given a piece of tripe to try when she returned & that was yummy but didn't last me as long as she expected. And I had a chicken foot to distract me when the supermarket delivery man brought the shopping but I demolished it within a couple of minutes! The rest of the treats are in a tin in my cupboard & I hope I'll be allowed them soon. Molly also bought me a new toy on that trip out. I like chewing it but it's made by a durable brand so Molly hopes it'll last.
I enjoyed drinking from the hosepipe again. I'm very picky with what receptacles I drink from & Molly doesn't understand my logic or how my preferences change at different times. One night I nipped downstairs & outside for a wee & while I was out there I realised I was thirsty. So I returned to Molly's bedroom upstairs for a drink from the bowl there (passing & ignoring 2 other water bowls on the way!) & then went back down to the garden again! That made Molly laugh.
Once again I fell asleep snuggled up to the base of Molly's office chair.
And when her parents went away for the night I took advantage of their comfy bed.
Usually I wake up around 7am & doze til about 8am at the latest but yesterday I slept in til 10am & today til 9.30am. Molly has been enjoying being able to lie-in too.
Me & Molly have been continuing some of my training around the house. We're still doing recall practise but without distractions I find that very easy & run to Molly every time she calls me, no matter where in the house I am. We're also continuing to work on "up" & "off". I'm doing well with the hand signals & learning the word "up" but am not doing so well with the word "off". Molly says we'll get there. I'm so enthusiastic with "up" that I keep jumping up onto Molly's bed before she says the word. I don't get food when I do that though.
I've had a few new toys recently. I ran off with part of one of the panda costumes again & Molly's mum felt guilty for taking it off me so traded it for a pretend magpie! I had great fun with that for a bit. Sorry for the blurry photo.
But then I started chewing pieces off the magpie so I wasn't allowed to play with it any more. Instead Molly's mum found me another knitted mouse (which is green)! Molly said we couldn't call it "Mouse" because I already have a mouse (which is blue) but I did some play growling with this one so Molly said it's called "Lion"! We know the first photo below is blurry but I wanted to show you how I tried to chew both of them at once.
About about 4 weeks previously Molly had tried to teach me the name of "Mouse". We'd stopped this training when she became poorly & hadn't revisited it since. But getting Lion made me remember how during those training sessions Molly would give me food when she said "Mouse" & I touched Mouse. So I started touching Lion & looking at Molly for food. She was very impressed at my memory!
Despite having plenty of toys I like to create my own entertainment by playing with other things I find around the house & garden. I also do this when I don't think I'm getting enough attention because running around with/chewing on something I shouldn't always attacts someone's attention, hehe! So this week I've run off with/chewed multiple slippers, shoes, socks & underpants. On one ocassion Molly caught me about to run downstairs with one of her Dad's shoes so she called "Toto come" in the hope that I'd either return to her with the shoe or leave it at the top of the stairs. I did respond to her call but not before I'd dropped the shoe down the stairs! I also stole Molly's boot on two ocassions when the door to the downstairs bathroom was left open accidentally (all shoes have been shut in there since the family discovered that I can't resist them!). The first time Molly's mum caught me trying to take it into the garden through the dog flap. I couldn't make it fit!
But a couple of days later I discovered that the downstairs bathroom door was open & so was the back door!
In the garden I also enjoyed running around with & chewing a big broom & exploring in the plants behind the pond. Can you see me?!
I got very excited when I discovered a pigeon in the passage! I cornered it & attempted to catch it but wasn't successful & it flew out unharmed. I then chased it up the garden until it flew away. Spoilsport! After it disappeared I returned to where I'd first spotted it in the passage in the hope that it'd be there again but it wasn't.
Molly's dad has been continuing to do some work in the bathroom upstairs but I've been shut out a lot because apparently the paint isn't good for me to drink! He keeps leaving pieces of sandpaper lying around on the landing though so I've had lots of fun chewing them!
I also had great fun trying to kill a cushion in the living room. It had been there for weeks & I'd paid it no attention but one day I spotted it & decided I needed to attack it! Then today I suddenly realised that one of Molly's mum's pillows had feathers in it so that needed to die! Unfortunately Molly caught me before I ripped it open. Humph!
Today Molly's mum got some giant knitting needles & a giant ball of yarn out & did some knitting! It was very odd. I showed really good self control by just sniffing the ball of yarn & watching, I didn't pounce on the yarn at all. Afterwards I was quite wary of the giant needles & ran away from them looking scared. But Molly enticed me back with food & I soon learned they were nothing to worry about.
Molly & her mum left the ball of yarn unattended on the floor. What a silly thing to do! Molly's mum returned to find me creating this piece of artwork.
I refused to "leave it" when she asked me to but dropped it when I heard Molly coming downstairs to help. I was then shut out of the room while Molly's mum tidied up.
Yesterday Molly was in her bedroom when she heard me make the strangest bark/squeak she'd ever heard so she came into her parents' bedroom to see what was happening. There was something called a mirror on the floor. It hadn't been there last time I'd looked! I'd encountered mirrors before but not recently so I had to have a good look & tried to play with the other dog I could see.
Then I had a rest but kept my eye on the dog in the mirror.
After that I relaxed, turned away from the mirror & fell asleep so Molly left me to it. A little while later she heard me making quite a racket - barking & growling at the dog in the mirror. I wouldn't calm down so she turned the mirror round which made the dog disappear. I was confused!
In other news, Molly decided to have another go at measuring me this week. Last time she tried I was too wiggly. She thought I'd be about 14 inches tall at the shoulder but actually I'm 16 inches! Apparently I'm quite big for a miniature schanuzer but we don't care. My weight was stable at 8.9kg again so Molly is going to weigh me less frequently from now.
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