February 6, 2013

My First Holiday Part 1

I was almost ten months old, when my bipeds started talking about going away for a long weekend. I thought this probably meant that I was going to the kennels, as I’d stayed there overnight a few times. It was very nice at the kennels and I was always pleased to see the people there, but I preferred being with my bipeds.

I heard them talking about a fun dog show, especially for large breeds. That sounded like it could be lots of fun. Why would they want to go to something like that without me? I heard them making phone calls and making arrangements to stay away.

June 6, 2012

My First Walk

I kept hearing my bipeds talking about when they could take me for my first walk. I didn’t really understand what this was, but they were obviously looking forward to it. They carried me wherever we went. When we went to puppy training classes, one of my bipeds carried me to the car and then from the car into the hall. We went to see the vet a couple of times and I didn’t even get onto the floor there!

I had a vaccination at nine weeks old and a second one at eleven weeks old. I heard the biped that went with me for my second vaccination talking to the vet about when I could start walking. She said that she didn’t know how much longer she was going to be able to carry me as I was growing so fast. It seemed very odd to me because I could walk perfectly well already – when I was allowed to! He laughed and said he could understand it was a bit of a challenge to carry me about. He said that the next few days were very important and each day after that helped a little more. He then said that thirteen weeks was the ideal, but not to worry if she couldn’t quite manage the whole time. He showed her a chart with something called percentages on it – it looked very dull indeed, but she was interested. I heard her explain later that it showed how effective the vaccinations became as the days passed.

May 2, 2012

My First Rucksack

I was proudly wearing my rucksack on a long walk recently, when one of my bipeds told me how clever I was and I remembered the day my first rucksack arrived. I always keep an eye on what arrives in the post. There isn’t often anything of interest, but you never know your luck – occasionally there’s something nice.

It didn’t smell like a particularly interesting parcel when the female biped started unwrapping it, but she was pleased about it. She pulled it out of its packing and I still didn’t have any idea what it was. She undid some straps on it and opened some zips to look inside. She then went to the cupboard where the treats are kept – now she had my full attention! She put a selection of treats inside one of the pockets on the rucksack. She let me sniff the rucksack and gave me a treat. I was right, she was quite excited about this thing. She put it down on a chair and left it, which was a little puzzling.

April 4, 2012

The First Makeover I Did

I was about thirteen weeks old and I was in the kitchen. There was never anything interesting left in my reach. I always had a toy and a chew but they never left any of their things where I could play with them.

I had been working on how to open the doors. They all had a handle, set at their waist height, that pushed down. I could easily reach them now and I had already opened a door that opened away from me. The kitchen door opened inwards and that made it a little more difficult. I had to pull the door towards me before my paw slipped off the handle. I decided to give it a try. Success!

I left the kitchen and decided to go and investigate the bathroom as I had never been in there. My first impression of the bathroom was that it was a very dull room. I then noticed a wicker basket and decided to have a look inside it. I lifted the lid and discovered there were clothes inside. I spread those around the floor. I then had a little nibble at the basket and it was satisfyingly crunchy and it came apart quite easily. It took me no time at all to break it into small pieces and spread it over the floor with the clothes.

The room was looking far more interesting now but I felt I could still improve it. I opened the cupboard to see if there was anything interesting inside. There was a roll of cotton wool. I shredded that and spread it around like snow. A couple of boxes of tissues were soon spread around in tiny pieces. Then I found a bumper pack of toilet rolls. I had seen the puppy in the advertisements unrolling those and having fun. I unrolled one and draped it about. It looked quite nice, but I decided to shred and scatter the rest of them.

My way was more fun than this!

It was starting to look quite artistic now, I thought. I heard one of the bipeds go into the kitchen. She soon came looking for me. She walked into the bathroom. She seemed very surprised.

She said, “How could you do all that in ten minutes?” Then she started laughing.

I heard the male biped ask her what was so funny.

She replied, “Clowie’s been busy in the bathroom.”

He said, “I don’t see what’s funny about that.”

She said, between giggles, “It’s difficult to explain, come and see.”

He came to the bathroom and he was just as surprised. He muttered something about it being amazing what I could achieve in ten minutes and then he started laughing as well.

That very same evening he put a hook next to the kitchen door and they put a cord round the handle. I could no longer open the door. I think they were worried about me working too hard! I have since done a few other makeovers in the house and garden, but I’ll tell you about those another time.

See you next Wednesday!