Barking, being fickle & my harness

Molly says I can be quite a noisy dog at times. I don't bark for no reason - although sometimes Molly thinks I do because she can't always hear the sounds I bark at! I bark to warn Molly when I hear things, such as our neighbours talking in their garden or someone walking past outside. I do warning barks more & at quieter sounds when Molly is home alone because I know I need to protect her.

I also bark to try to let Molly know when I'm frustrated. Sometimes I get frustrated when she doesn't give me my food quickly enough at dinner time but usually I get frustrated when I can't/am not allowed to play with a person or a dog or think I'm missing something exciting! I hate it when I can hear or see someone from the family outside the front door but can't get to them to join in. Humph!

I bark when people I love leave the house without me. It's not because I'm home alone because I'll still do it even if other people are in the house, but sometimes I just want to be with that specific person. After Molly's younger brother walked me one evening he then went out for 20mins. Molly was upstairs & I knew she was there but I wanted her brother so sat at the front door & barked in the hope that he'd hear me & come home. Molly distracted me with food but as soon as she put the food away I returned to the front door & lay there til her brother returned.

Molly said I'm quite fickle because my favourite person in the family depends on who walks me most! Molly isn't able to walk me much at the moment so she's not really my favourite any longer, much to her disappointment. I know that if I'm not around her though I won't miss anything because she's currently quite boring. Whereas if I hang around her younger brother or dad they might take me out for a walk!

After a particularly late walk with Molly's brother at the weekend I slept so soundly that I didn't jump on Molly to wake her up til gone 8.30am! She loved the lie in as I usually try to persuade her to get up nearer to 7am!

Molly has been trying to do some extra training with me when she's well enough as she hopes that'll improve our bond. She finds it very frustrating though because I really struggle & take a long time to learn anything new. Molly doesn't know if that's due to me or her & tries her best to be patient. She never gets cross at me but she loses heart.

Training sessions make me really tired because I have to think hard.

One morning I took a food reward from Molly's hand a bit too enthusiastically & hurt her. She said "Oww! Careful" & although I didn't understand those words I could tell from her tone of voice that I'd hurt her so I gave her an apology lick to say sorry. That made her smile.

On Monday Molly had a few things delivered so each time someone came to the door she distracted me with one of my interactive food puzzle toys in the kitchen. Initially I didn't touch the puzzle & just barked at the kitchen door but I soon realised that Molly would take the food up as soon as she'd finished at the door so I started to bark for shorter periods & begin trying to get the food out of the puzzle sooner.

After each delivery Molly refilled the puzzle & put it out of my reach ready for the next time but I didn't understand why I had to wait for it, so I stood up at the kitchen counters, gazed wistfully at it & even gave Molly lots of licks in the hope that she'd let me have it. I also got really excited when Molly washed it up but unfortunately I didn't get to use it that time.

I got rewarded with some food after Molly removed some sticky balls & burrs from my coat, so I might cooperate better next time. Molly said my coat is getting more matted & it's still a few weeks til my appt at the groomer so she might have to try to get some of them out.

This photo shows how scruffy I am at the moment!

We both like the scruffy look but it makes grooming much harder for Molly & it takes longer & hurts me more :(

Molly weighed me this morning & I was a bit heavier than last time. I'm not fat though so Molly is just going to keep an eye on my weight & depending how things go she may need to cut down my food a little bit. I hope not!

When Molly picked me up to weigh me this morning I accidentally scratched her because the weighing scales were near the drawer that my harness lives in & I was scared she was going to put that on me, so I tried to escape. I love my walks & I'm fine once my harness is on but I'm a nightmare to put it on. Molly has no idea why because it fits fine & I've never (as far as she knows) had any bad experiences with it but I'm not just being awkward, I'm genuinely frightened of having it put on, so much so that I won't even venture near it for food! Molly even changed the harness (when I outgrew the last one) & I was fine with the new one for a couple of days but then became scared of it again. If anything gives me the idea that I might be going out then I make myself scarce & don't let anyone catch me because I know the harness is coming. So I have to be caught & have my harness put on before the person taking me out gathers anything else for the walk, puts their shoes on, brushes their teeth, goes to the toilet... or I run away. Molly's mum has had to abandon plans to walk me a few times because she can't catch me if I don't want to be caught.

Molly doesn't use the word "walk" before she's caught me/put my harness on because I know what that signifies so she talks about going "out" instead. But I'm cleverer than she realises & have now worked out what that means too. So after she asked her dad if he would take me "out" one eve I wouldn't let anyone near me! To get round this Molly's dad distracted me with a really fun rough & tumble play session, before picking me up to put my harness on.

Talking of walks, some new people took me out for a walk a few days ago. I think I've mentioned my little friend Libby before, well, 2 of her teenage brothers volunteered to take me out. I was very well behaved for them & had a good time. Molly loves how confident I am. Once I knew they were friends (by how Molly & her family treated them) I happily trotted off for a walk with them, despite having never met them before.

I also had fun socialising with some other visitors to the house but one wasn't too pleased when I was very persistent in licking her feet, hehe!

Molly is also very impressed by my confidence with loud noises. When Molly's dad did some drilling in her bedroom Molly wondered if I'd be scared but after sitting & watching for a few seconds I went over to get a closer look even while the noisy drill was in action. Nothing fazes me. Well I say nothing, but some balloons on a lamppost made me a bit nervous the other day when the wind caught them & made them move unexpectedly!

I made Molly laugh when I took my blanket from her bedroom (after I'd been playing with it with her younger brother), carried it downstairs, upstairs, downstairs again & then out into the garden! I don't usually do things like that.

I made her laugh again when I tried to chew the wheel of her office chair but I quickly decided that there was nothing to be gained there - much to Molly's relief!

I like to sleep on Molly's bedroom floor but have been venturing a bit futher under the bed over the last week. Molly felt the need to take some photos to show you.

I think I must have mentioned previously how much I love being in the garden. I've had lots of fun getting up to mischief this week.

I love playing with & chewing brushes.

And this WAS one of Molly's mum's favourite plants. Oops!

I was going to tell you about a really good adventure I had with Molly but she said this update is long enough so we'll be back with a post about that soon. Thanks for reading.