Longer walks & lots of photos

After my last blog update Molly decided we weren't going to go to the country park but instead we'd go to a field we like. We go down a long country path & then the field we come out into is the biggest field I've ever seen! I was allowed to play with a poodle - we had lots of fun chasing each other around while Molly chatted to her owner.

Then we went to the vets. We had to wait a while before it was my turn.

While we were waiting a man came out of one of the consulting rooms in tears. I could tell he was sad so I said hello to him & then when he sat down I laid on the floor next to Molly, watched him closely & cried a bit too.

Then Molly had to take some tablets but she accidentally dropped them on the floor. I immediately ran over to investigate what she'd dropped & see if they were edible which scared Molly. She quickly said "leave it", so I did. She was really impressed!

Seeing the vet went smoothly - I was very well behaved & she said physically I'm fine. She had a few ideas for Molly to try if I don't bounce back soon.

The vet said told Molly she thinks I've stopped growing. So now Molly is letting me use the stairs freely (more on that later) & is no longer putting time restrictions on my walks!

On Wednesday afternoon a friend of Molly's called round to see if she wanted anything from the shops. When she knocked at the door I barked & barked & barked at her! But once she came in I got lots of fuss.

After that Molly lay down on the sofa for a rest so I snuggled up with her & we both slept solidly for an hour & a half.

That evening we went for a 50min walk round the village & neighbouring village.

On Wednesday night Molly let me sleep in her bedroom. I was very fidgety til about 1.30am & then decided it was time to get up at 5.50am. Molly ignored me though so I went back to sleep for couple of hours.

When we got up Molly said we were going to have a quieter day & put the TV on. Luckily she soon got bored.

We went to a local nature reserve for a walk. We had to call in at the visitor centre there so Molly could buy a map but they didn't let dogs in so we had to wait at the door & Molly asked someone else to pop in & get a map for her. There were lots of people & dogs around so I did a lot of barking. The circular walk we did took about an hour & there was loads to explore. Molly had to take some tablets again while we were out so she decided to do it as we were walking along. Just as she took the lid off her tablet pot I saw a bird so ran after it & reached the end of my extendable lead. This jerked Molly forward so she accidentally dropped/threw her tablet pot & the contents in the nettles at the side of the path, oops! I did a good recall away from a bird later though. Here are some photos.

Talking of nettles, Molly wonders how long it'll be before I discover that sniffing at & marking nettles isn't a good idea. I wonder what she means.

After that Molly went out shopping & left me at home. Since my trip to the groomers last week I don't like being alone so that made me sad. I started chewing the bottom of an armchair again while Molly was out, oops! She's put Tabasco sauce on it now though so it tastes horrible!

Yesterday evening Molly drove us to the neighbouring village where we sometimes walk round the fields. But yesterday we did a much longer walk through the fields to another village, through there & then back through a park, through someone's garden (Molly isn't quite sure where she went wrong there!) & along the side of a main road. It took us about an hour & a quarter. Just into the walk we met another dog. Molly let me say hello but they were going the same route as us so we stopped at a bench & I did some "sit"s & "down"s to distract me & earn some food until they'd got a significant distance ahead. Talking of food, Molly wouldn't let me eat a dead bluetit I found but I did manage to wolf an egg down before she caught me! I got a bit confused when Molly wanted me to walk a certain way around a tree I'd been investigating which resulted in her having to walk around it & through some thorns surrounding it to untangle my lead. Oops! Here are a couple of photos.

I slept really well last night (in Molly's room but I didn't fidget or change my position much) after such a busy day!

This morning I did a couple of things which made Molly think that I'm getting my spark back. Firstly, when she was sorting some washing out, I took 3 tea towels, one at a time, and just abandoned them on the living room floor before settling to chew my mouse.

After that I went upstairs to explore on my own. Previously I've been too clingy to go up without Molly. A short while later Molly spotted me lurking half way down the stairs with a cushion that I'd stolen off the sofa in her bedroom. I knew I wasn't supposed to have it (all of the cushions downstairs have disappeared since Molly & her family realised I liked attacking them) so hid behind the bannisters for a bit...

 ...before running down the remainder of the stairs & dodging past Molly so she couldn't take my cushion away. Then I lay down to have a good chew on it.

This morning Molly took me to the vets to buy something to help me settle better when I'm at home alone & be less nervous when other people visit. While we were there I noticed that the reception desk smelled of other dogs so I marked it!

Then we went to a local riverside park where we had an hour's walk in the sun. It was much hotter than both of us were expecting! We met lots of other people & dogs, some of whom I was allowed to say hello to. And of course Molly took photos of me!

 

After that Molly insisted that we went to a couple of shops. She bought some chicken feet for me in the pet shop but hasn't let me have any of them yet. And then she had a look in a charity shop. I accidentally scared a little boy by barking at him - I just wanted to play! While Molly was looking at books I lay down on the floor because I was tired after our walk.

When we got home Molly popped out to the local shop for a paper & left me alone for a few minutes. When she got back & I realised she wasn't going anywhere I was able to relax & get some much needed sleep.

Molly is now leaving the stairgate open when she's around so I can go up & down the stairs as I like. I usually just use them when she does though. Most of the doors off of the landing upstairs are shut though because the other bedrooms haven't been dog-proofed so I'm only allowed in Molly's room & the bathroom at the moment. I currently follow Molly closely & have taken to lying on the bath mat whenever she goes into the bathroom.

 Molly loves this photo she took of me relaxing in her bedroom.

I'm happy to go up the stairs but find coming down them harder. If Molly rattles the box of my fish treats at the bottom of the stairs then I can get down them but if not then I don't think I can, so tend to stand at the top or part way down until Molly tempts me down or I get bored/worry I'm missing something downstairs.

I've just had all my rope toys confiscated because I was chewing them so much that they were coming apart & I was eating the bits. Humph!

Here are a few photos of me resting on the sofas

And finally some photos of me snuggling with Molly

Rain & loneliness

On Sunday evening Molly decided to break some of my fish treats up because she thought I was probably having too much due to the pieces being so large. So she hit them with a hammer! Unfortunately I was only given a few small bits there & then, despite doing my best hungry puppy look!

On Monday morning Molly weighed me & I'm still 8.6kg.

It's been raining a lot over the last few days. Despite that Molly decided I needed to go out for a walk on Monday morning to burn off some energy. I got all excited as she got ready to take me out but then once we got out the front door I realised it was raining, so rather than tugging Molly away from the house like I usually do, instead I turned back to face the front door & sat down in the hope that Molly would let me back inside. She didn't but once we actually got out in the rain I was content. We walked round the village for about 35mins & we covered some streets & paths I'd not been down before so there was lots to investigate & smell.

When we got home I wanted to dry my wet beard so ran round the house rubbing my face on the carpets. That makes Molly laugh.

In the afternoon Molly's friend Jan visited & when the rain stopped we all went for a walk to the playing fields. Jan took lots of photos of me so once he's sent them to Molly she'll share the best ones on here.

Some of my favourite toys are plastic flight balls that I enjoy batting & chasing round. But I chewed one up so now they've all been taken away. Humph!

When Molly went up to bed the night before last I barked & cried because I felt lonely, which is unusual for me. I soon fell asleep though. I was better last night because I was sleepier when Molly went upstairs.

We had an early morning walk round the village yesterday before Molly had to go out for a couple of hours. She left me with a stuffed Kong but it had been in the freezer overnight so I couldn't get much food out of it. I enjoyed it a few hours later (once the food had warmed up & softened a bit) when Molly was home though.

Yesterday Molly & me had a few training sessions to try to teach me a new command but I still don't really understand what she wants me to do. Molly said it's still early days though (& remembers how long it took to teach me other commands) so we'll persevere. I don't mind because I get food as a reward!

In the evening a neighbour called round. I initially got really excited barking, jumping up & mouthing but then flopped on Molly's lap.

After that we went for a walk round the fields on the edge of the village. Then Molly went out to a friend's house for tea. When she came back she tried to get me used to being upstairs (in limited rooms) in case I was too anxious to be by myself at any point during the day while she needed to be up there, or overnight. I was very jumpy though & am still reluctant to do the stairs (which Molly thinks I could now do ocassionally) so we didn't make much progress.

This morning I woke Molly up by crying at the bottom of the stairs because I was lonely again.

I'm still not myself so Molly contacted the grooming salon yesterday & asked them if anything happened to frighten me when I was there on Thursday. They said nothing happened but Molly isn't sure that they'd say if it had. Apparently I'm going to have a check up at the vets this morning to reassure Molly that this change in behaviour isn't due to me being ill or in pain. We'll report back.

Here are a few photos of me from the last few days. You can see how I've been calmer & more clingy/cuddly than normal. Apologies for the inaccurate colours in some, I am black, not grey.

We must go now because we're going to go for a walk at the local country park before my vet trip.

Keeping busy

On Thursday morning Molly took me on a walk round the local streets during which we stopped to chat to a nice neighbour, I met another dog & Molly caught me just in time to stop me running over to a person crossing the field.

Then I went for my first proper groom! Molly was really impressed with my new look but noticed I've not been myself since then. She knows I'm not ill but I've been unusually calm/reserved (although I have still been having mad moments!) so something isn't right. They told Molly that everything had been fine so we won't be going back there. Molly is taking good care of me & I seem to be getting my spark back.

That afternoon I made Molly laugh when we did some training together. No matter whether she said "sit" or "down", I threw myself enthusiastically on the floor (my version of "down") & waited for a reward! I also ate a yummy snail I brought in from the garden, stole Molly's slippers off the washstand (she didn't know I was big enough to reach the things she put on there to keep them out of my reach!) & started some new training with Molly (we'll report back if/when we achieve anything). That evening her dad took me on a walk to the playing fields where I tried to chase a cat but I was on my extendable lead so couldn't catch it, humph!

Molly had to spend Friday morning at hospital so her dad looked after and walked me. When Molly got back I slept on her lap, which isn't something I often do - I'm too independent to be cuddly.

After that we went for a walk round the fields at the edge of the village.

Yesterday morning Molly's dad did some exciting jobs in the garden but shut me inside the house, apparently so I didn't get hurt. I wasn't happy - I wanted to play with the hosepipe & the lawnmower but instead had to make do with watching them out the window. Then Molly took me on a walk to the playing fields & we also visited her mum at work. We encountered lots of 'distractions' but Molly felt much more relaxed with it all because I was on the extendable lead. Some of the things we met were other dogs (some friendly, some nervous & some grumpy!), adults, children playing football & children playing on space hoppers (which I really wanted to play with so I barked at them & did a play bow!).

That afternoon Molly's older brother & his family came round. For some reason I was initially apprehensive of Kiara (who I love & usually play very enthusiastically with), but Molly isn't sure if that's because I hadn't seen her for a while, was tired &/or was just a bit out of sorts. I soon warmed to her though & we had some nice cuddles.

Yesterday evening Molly's dad took my crate down! I haven't used it for a long time now because I went off it & can be trusted not to cause any damage when I'm alone. I still use a crate for travelling in the car though.

This afternoon Molly took me for an enjoyable walk in the woods. We mainly kept away from other people (it was quite busy there today, especially with families) but I did say hello to a couple of dogs. And then we went to visit Molly's nan. I was tired after our walk though so I spent most of the time we were there sleeping.

When we got home we had lots of fun playing together & I even gave Molly two play bows during our game. I don't do them very often & when I do they're usually to other dogs or children.

This evening we went on a walk to the playing fields again. I had lots of adventures - I tried to eat a dead bird (Molly had to physically pull me away because I was so determined), I decided that my recall command meant finish chasing a bird & then return to Molly and I got so excited when I saw other dogs that I pulled the lead out of Molly's hand & shot off across the field to join them, but unfortunately another dog owner caught me. What a lot of excitement in one walk!

And here are a few more photos:

 ^ I was helping Molly take a photo of me!

 ^ Showing off my new haircut

^ More cuddles

A transformation

Before

After

Being a dog & a bath

On Monday evening me & Molly did a bit of training in the garden. I did "down" more reluctantly that time & wasn't very good at finding my food when Molly threw pieces of it in the grass. If I didn't see it land then I usually couldn't find it!

Later that day Molly's dad took me out for a walk round the village & I did lots of "doggy" things that he hadn't seen me do before - I was very interested in & insisted on following a scent (he suspected of a bitch on heat), I barked at & chased a rabbit & I killed & tried to eat a mouse. I thought it was a very successful walk apart from me not being allowed to eat the whole mouse!

Yesterday Molly had to go to the hospital again but because she wasn't allowed to drive (she is now though) & her mum had to work, me & her dad gave her a lift there & then went off on an adventure. We had a good walk, explored some new countryside, ate lunch, had a rest/sleep & visited Molly's younger brother & his colleagues at work. So that was all very exciting! That evening me & Molly did some more training together but I can't remember exactly what we did. I did get rewarded with food though! Ooh & that morning my favourite postman returned so he gave me lots of fuss.

This morning when the weekly Tesco delivery came I was shut behind the stairgates so I didn't get in the way. But the delivery man fell in love with me so gave me lots of attention. Then Molly & her mum took me to a park we'd never been to before. There were lots of other dogs around but because Molly had me on the new (extending) lead she could relax more. I did almost pull her over though when I ran after some birds, hehe! I also found a pond that Molly & her mum didn't realise was there & got covered in mud & leaves. Here are a few photos from our walk. Look how scruffy I am!

Then Molly had to get a few things in town. Her mum needed to pop into a shop first so Molly waited with me outside & we did some training to distract me from passers by. I was very good even in an unfamiliar environment. When Molly's mum returned we went back to the car & had a rest while Molly did her shopping. We all had a quiet afternoon.

Molly originally intended to have me hand stripped rather than clipped so my coat would stay waterproof & wouldn't fade but she's recently accepted that she just doesn't have the time & energy for that so I'm going to be clipped instead. I'm very scruffy at the moment but am booked in for a groom tomorrow morning. However the groomers said that I mustn't have any matts in my fur. Molly & her family have neglected brushing me a bit recently because I'm so wriggly & she's been poorly so I had got a few matts which needed getting out before tomorrow. Molly's dad thought they'd be easier to get out when I was wet so they made me have a bath! Hmph! I kept trying to climb out of the bath so we all got very wet. Then they gave me a really good brush & comb which got most of the matts out. They had to cut a couple out of my beard but it's not noticeable. To try to dry myself I did lots of running around the carpeted rooms rubbing my face along the floor which everyone else found very funny. It worked though! Molly insisted on trying to photograph it but didn't have much luck due to my speed, so here's her best attempt.

And here's a random photo of me sitting on Molly's foot. I'm quite independent & not very cuddly so this kind of thing doesn't happen often.

Tonight Molly's dad left the front door open when he went outside to put something in his car so I followed him. I ignored multiple attempts at calling me back inside but finally responded when I realised there was food on offer! Luckily I hadn't gone further than the end of the lawn but they know they'll have to be careful in future.

I've just heard Molly's mum opening a box in the kitchen which sounds like the box my food is kept in so I must go & investigate!

Sympathy, new leads & pet shop

Molly has been rubbish at taking photos over the last few days so apologies for the lack of them in this blog post.

On Friday evening after Molly went up to bed she got upset (over something unimportant, she doesn't want anyone to worry). I could hear her from downstairs so whined at the stairgate until her younger brother took me upstairs to let me check she was ok.

On Saturday morning Molly & her dad took me for a walk at the local country park. They tried me out on a long lead rather than letting me off lead because I don't recall away from other dogs. That worked relatively well but Molly found the length of the lead made it quite difficult to handle. Her dad suggested making it shorter but then I would have had less freedom so she didn't want to do that.

Yesterday morning we went to a local pet shop. I had a walk outside first to give me chance to go to the toilet but I didn't do a poo until we got inside the shop. Oops! It was in front of 3 members of staff too. I think Molly was a bit embarrassed. I also tried to mark various places because I could smell that other dogs had been there. Molly kept a close eye on me & caught me in time to stop me on every occasion but she found it a bit stressful. I am a teenager though! While we were there Molly bought an extendable lead (to try instead of the long lead until we've improved my recall away from other dogs) & booked me in for a (much needed!) groom later this week.

Later in the day I was able to meet & play with two other dogs - one outside our house & one on a walk with Molly's parents. That was good fun. The former was another bouncy puppy & the latter was another miniature schnauzer!

Yesterday evening I had a short training session with Molly in order to distract me while her dad was gathering up the long lead - I just wanted to play with & chew it. We didn't do anything new, just some practising of "sit" & "down". I didn't get muddled between the two commands at all this time. Previously when Molly said "down" I'd reluctantly flop but now I throw myself down really enthusiastically. Perhaps the more enthusiastically I do it, the more likely I am to get a reward! As a result of this Molly kept getting fits of the giggles which made it hard for her to tell me what to do next! Also if she just stands there with a treat in her hand I sit & then lie down in the hope that one of those positions is what she wants me to do. She says I make her laugh.

This morning we had another early walk. We just went round the pavements locally for about 20mins. Molly had planned to let me off lead in a little local field but there was an elderly gardener there & I was very bouncy so she didn't. Hmph! I made her laugh again when I did some snuffling in a patch of stickyweed & got it stuck to my nose. I then tried to get it off by rubbing my face on the ground where the grass had just been cut but that just resulted in grass sticking to my nose. I did some good sitting at the kerb before we crossed the road (I'd mastered this before Molly went into hospital but forgot it while she was away because the rest of her family didn't practise it with me) but was quite vocal when we saw other people.

Then Molly & her mum had to go out so I was left at home on my own for a few hours. I didn't mind too much though. The same friendly neighbour that visited me on Friday came over again & kept me company for a bit. He promised me one of my fish treats but Molly had forgotten to leave them out & he couldn't find them so I wasn't able to have one. I pulled a small shoe filled some plants called sempervivums off a bench in the garden & had lots of fun chewing it. And there's a mat in the garden too which I've also been chewing.

In the doghouse

This morning Molly took me to a big pet shop. Before we went in she let me have a run around outside for about 10mins to make sure I didn't need the toilet. I didn't do a poo then but once we got inside the shop I did one on the floor - in full view of 3 members of staff! Molly then had to clean it up as lots of customers walked past. Oops!