Winter Wonderland?

It’s Christmassssssssssssssssssss, well actually NO it’s NOT – It’s November but if Shopping Centres, supermarkets and high streets insist on Christmas decorations and festive music, IN MID-NOVEMBER, then I guess there’s no escape.

Usually I wouldn’t mind as I love Christmas, I’d see the above as the perfect excuse for me to blast out Buble’s Christmas Album and tap along – this year though it’s different. 

It’s like I’m in some poorly budgeted Christmas family-comedy themed movie, yes I’m currently taking a supporting role in…. The Dog That Cancelled Christmas.

Guess who the main star is everybody!

Harry is fine in the house, in terms of understand his toilet is OUTSIDE! And to be fair, 90% of the time is calm inside, but that leaves the 10% of the Harry goes mental – racing round, barking, trying to eat anything he can see (human flesh included), barking etc etc.

As I say, I love Christmas – getting the tree out and decorating it, making our room look all grotto-like, warm and welcoming. Having Harry around however is make me seriously question doing any of that this year, I can picture it now – he’ll be trying to play with the bulbils (if I’ve totally spelt that wrong and you have no idea what I mean, those round colourful things which hang from the tree…). 

He’ll no doubt chew the tinsel and be weirdly mesmerised by the fairy lights… as for the pop-up Santa we’ve got, he’ll probably try and hump that, especially if it smells like apple (Don’t ask!)… SMUT!

How can we enjoy Christmas and our little grotto if Harry the evil elf-dog is hell bent on humping Santa and destroying the tree? I’ve no idea what will happen when all the family are round and buried in a sea of wrapping paper come Christmas Day!

I guess there’s plenty of time to think about that, a more pressing issue though is the Snow which is bound to fall sooner rather than later – it’s getting terribly cold out there and another outbreak of the white stuff is set to fall according to the weather forecasters.

I reckon he’ll be good at getting us out if it gets quite deep to be fair, open the front door and attach him to the lead, it’ll be clear within seconds!

The other day I picked up December’s copy of Your Dog, the magazine I referenced a few blogs back.

Being the December issue, naturally it’s Christmas themed and inside, it has a list of things to do with your dog over the festive period as well as some great ideas for Christmas presents for your pet. Basically a cracker full of dog treats!

Last year it snowed heavily on Boxing Day and it basically caused chaos for about a week afterwards, I’ve been thinking about how much worse it would have been had Harry been around. 

I’ve also been thinking about the whispers of imminent snowfall and, inspired by Your Dog’s lists – I’ve decided to compile my own list of practical essentials for a Puppy Owner to cope through the Christmas period and combat the Snow, chilling wind and temperatures and storms.

Please note, many items on this list are listed through sarcasm and probably don’t even exist – if they do, er well Merry Christmas I guess?

1

.  High-visibility Dog-Lead/Jacket
For those of us who walk our dogs in dark conditions around areas with exceptionally poor lighting and dogs with black/dark coats – not being able to see where your dog is properly is a hazard!

2Attachable Snow-Plow
Ideal for clearing paths and driveways – just attach to the front of the dog and let them loose. Note, item 1 would be required to ensure you don’t lose them in the snow!

3Body-warming outfits
I’m not talking a thick coat and a wooly hat, I’m talking some sort of onesie type under top/bottoms which heats up when it senses you are freezing. Perfect to stop you going in the opposite direction of frosty the snow-man, especially when your dog is too busy chasing the remaining leafs on their walks.

4Endless supply of socks
Because the above will never happen, can someone PLEASE keep topping up my sock drawer to prevent me having to put the washing on every other day. Thanks

5A cup of tea awaiting your return from a walk
Or with the recent weather, should that not be treck across the antartic? Either way, a nice warm cup of tea awaiting the return of a dog walker from a loved one who has stayed inside, this avoiding dog walking duty, wouldn’t go a miss!

6 Magic Shield, Ala Harry Potter, to protect the Grotto!
Alright, I’m going too far now I know

I’m sure some other random thing will cross my mind to add to the list at some point. As ever, if you have any tips/ suggestions – please let me know! That’s it for this week, I’ve got a Christmas decoration box to fetch out and a defence strategy to plan – Harry must not hump Santa, or Rudolph, the horny little devil!

Rudolph, not Harry.

P.S for those who think Harry has changed from the photos of the Blonde dog, That's my Jaz (R.I.P) who adored Christmas! All I want for Christmas eh, stop it - I'll cry! 

Back To School – The Fear Factor

First of all, let’s start this week’s blog with a quick “hurrah” as following on from “Night Terrors”, I’m delighted to report that with a newly decked out cage, complete with new bed and pillow with our scent on, Harry is sleeping like a log.

High-Fives all round (Or should that be High Paws)

This week I’m having a bit of a mental battle with myself when it comes to young Harry. I’ve been reading more forums and magazine articles about dog training and I don’t know if we’ve left it too late to get Harry into shape.

Since day one of Harry entering our lives, we’ve tried to teach him simple commands “Sit” “Stay” “Lie Down” etc, the success rate of him listening and obeying commands is about 20% - at six months old, surely it must be higher.

Then again, Puppies are like Babies – it takes time. Most articles I’ve read say Pups should be understanding the simple commands as soon as they leave their mothers at 7-8 weeks – we didn’t get Harry until he was 13 weeks old, but still he should have absorbed them by now.   

The biggest problem we have at the moment is “Recall” AKA getting the dog to come back when he’s loose. He LOVES an escape, not to get away from us obviously – it’s to explore, but he is prone to darting off at lightening pace down the farm fields towards the main road! It takes a crack squad of at least four to get hold of him and back in a controlled environment! “Harry Come” to him is “Harry keep running pal”.

Around the other dogs he’s OK, he sniffs around like you do but is generally well behaved, other than stealing treats and not chilling out! He has a BIG problem with that when the other dogs are around, when they aren’t he WILL take a nap 80% of the time, it’s driving me insane – especially when there’s something on TV or your trying to get some work done.

I can hear you screaming now “He’s a puppy, it happens” – I know, I know… but you haven’t met him, this is not normal puppy behaviour.

Enquiries have been made about Puppy Training, but that’s my next worry… what if he doesn’t respond? Especially when you consider puppy training is group based, which means other dogs… and other owners who want to out-do you!!

It’s going to be like school, which fills me with fear.

With the farm dogs and family, Harry is OK – he knows them and is fine around them, but when we take him for walks and he see’s other Dog’s and other people, that can have interesting results! One dog or One person is manageable with a tightened grip on the lead and some fuss, but multiple dogs and multiple people at once, in a crowded environment whilst your trying to listen and make a breakthrough… all I can say is ARRRRHHHHHHHGGGGG HELP ME.

That’s it for this week, if you’re reading and you have tips on getting him a little wiser and calmer ahead of School, imagine it like private pre-school, then please let me know! Oh also the Collar camera DID arrive, once again I didn’t think it through – yup, I got endless shots of his fur and, after he’d shook it off, the sky as it lay out in the garden getting slowly buried!

P.S. I saw this on facebook earlier too, maybe a topic for next week – that’s SO going to happen!

Night Terrors

 “Lie Down Harry” is quite an apt name for this blog this week, as for the last few nights our Harry will do anything but “Lie Down” when it comes to bed time.

The problem first started on Saturday evening where there were typically LOADS of fireworks flying around (despite the fact it wasn’t bonfire night). 



We put Harry to bed around 11pm as he was shattered (a rarity in itself) but no sooner had we got upstairs and into bed ourselves, he was howling. 

Fair enough, maybe he needed another wee, so I let him out and eventually put him back to bed, but again no sooner had my head hit my own pillow – Harry was off again.

A walk around the block, two or three more let outs later and it was still the same – so for the first time since the first couple of nights we had him, I caved in and Harry came upstairs and slept in our room. Did he make a sound? No he slept like a baby.

As I say, we did put it down to fireworks but on Sunday there were none and it was a repeat performance, although to be fair – the first time he barked he did need a wee as he hadn’t been out. 

He settled down for about twenty minutes but again would not stop barking until he was allowed upstairs – and yes once again he slept like a dream.


Last night was a similar story, barking about twenty minutes or so after being put to bed. Yet I’m starting to think that it has nothing to do at all with fireworks, as he’s not really that phased by them – last night was the busiest night for fireworks and he slept all the way through.


Having Harry upstairs with us isn’t really a problem for me, but Em says she gets sore eyes and a sore throat in a morning which could be allergies. To be fair, the first few nights he was up here when he came into our lives I was the same – I also believe that a Dog should have their own, separate, sleeping space so that when they’re older they can cope with being left alone.


I’ve therefore read a few online forums and advice pages as well as buying and reading a Dog’s magazine “Dog’s Life”. One main theme about my recurring night terror is the fact that, like babies, puppies will cry and howl when they want attention – what you shouldn’t do is consistently go to them and give attention, after the first “let out for a wee” time anyway.


Now I’ll be honest, I’m extremely guilty of not being able to ignore Harry’s cries. I worry that he’ll wake up others and make the other dogs upset or that he’ll mess in his cage, and that’s NOT what I want to see first thing in a morning!! So yes, I’d much rather give in and bring him upstairs to us.


Fortunately other people on the forums that I’ve found have done the same, so I don’t feel as guilty about what could potentially mess up his development – yet I do know that it can’t continue for much longer, both for Harry’s development, Em’s potential health and also my sanity!


Our room is quite a busy place with stuff and even though Harry has his own bed up here, he doesn’t lie still in it, he likes to wonder and has a few spots. My worry if he remains inside all night with us is that he’ll find something to chew (like clothes/ paperwork etc) or worse, have a toilet based accident. This means that for the last three nights, I’ve only had pockets of sleep as everything I hear Harry move, I shoot up watching him!


To be fair, I shouldn’t have too much fear about the toilet thing as he is good as gold inside – he’ll bark at the door when he wants to go out, but having no formal training just leaves that ounce of doubt in my mind.


What I needed was a solution to my sanity problem, so this morning I have rigorously tidied up our room removing anything that he might take a chewing fancy too and putting clothes etc out of his reach.


I know that’s giving in too and so read more about the issue, basically I googled “My border collie puppy won’t settle at night, what can I do” and went from there. Personally it’s each to their own on advice, but I’m more than happy to try and follow a few of the tips and techniques that people have shared.


The first is food and water. Harry currently can access food and water whenever he wants, both in and out of his cage. Some owners say that this can act as a distraction for your dog, they wake up in the middle of the night and smell food so they eat it and have a drink afterwards, meaning that sooner rather than later they’ll need the toilet. The advice is to remove it and also to take away food and water bowls from the dogs immediate surroundings at least two hours before you would put them to bed, this is said to help settle a dogs digestive system and can lead to a better night’s sleep. I’ve already removed the bowls from his cage and tonight, will ensure I remove his other bowls around 9pm as he usually goes to bed around 11pm.

The second tip I’ve found is about surroundings and smells. Dogs, especially puppies, at some stage will suffer from separation anxiety. Basically no matter where they are, if they are alone they are unlikely to settle and will cry out for you. It’s like when you have a nightmare as a kid and all you want is a cuddle from a loved one (and for them to check the bogey man isn’t under your bed, or that there are no monsters in your wardrobe – cheers for that Monsters Inc). If you create a warm and welcoming surrounding for your dog’s cage, they are more likely to settle. I’m not talking making a replica of your bedroom and photos of you hanging in their cage, I mean put in blankets that have your smell/ scent on it – that way they are tricked (in a nice way) into thinking you are close by and will snuggle up/in to it to feel closer to you. Also add in a favourite toy, something such as a ball or chewy bone, to help them settle


One person had used a hot water bottle (filled with warm tap water and NOT BOILING water) and cuddled it to replicate both the scent of them and the body-warmth. I would try the same thing, but knowing Harry he’d just chew it!  


The third and final tip is common sense really, play time. A well exercised dog is a tired dog and so owners should take the time to tire out their pups just before bed. We do and we don’t do this. We do in the sense that he has a run around the living room chasing his ball around 9.30pm whilst one of us puts the kettle to work, but we don’t do it right before bed – simply because Harry flops and goes to sleep whilst we’re watching TV. Tonight though, he will be having a short run before bed – just to see what happens.


I’ll let you know what happens next week, and if his barking at night continues, I’ll put a camera in place to see if there’s anything I’m missing.


Talking of cameras, I STILL haven’t received his collar camera which I ordered ages a go. It has however been shipped from abroad (ALWAYS check where the seller is based kids!) and should arrive on November 14^th, So I’m looking forward to seeing life through Harrys eyes.I did conduct an experiment a week or so ago with a hidden camera in the mail catcher downstairs, I have uploaded the clips to YouTube but keep forgetting to put them in here – so as a little extra, have a little look at what Harry get’s up to below!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hE96fm7Cyiw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWdUS-msY8E

That’s about it for this week, although before I go I just want to encourage you to share your stories and tips if you are dog owners as I’m thinking of doing a YouTube Vlog in addition to this – I like video editing etc but never really have an excuse to film anything so help me out.


One thing I haven’t really done is share this blog too much other than on Facebook, Twitter and occasionally Instagram. It’s been getting a nice number of views but I’d love it to get a few more and get some feedback from dog owners, so if you know anyone please share the link and/or don’t be afraid to leave me a comment. I’ve also posted (well I’m going post once it’s done – ah blogging perspective kills my brain) the link in some puppy/ dog forums so if you are reading from there, hello and thank you!

Actually whilst I’ve got your attention, it’s not the end after all – I let Harry out for a run five minutes ago an popped back up to write what I thought would be the end of the blog (above). I’ve just been back downstairs and after going into town today especially to buy him a comfortable foam bed for his cage (along with other things for inside), he’s only gone and dragged it out of his cage onto the garden and chewed it! 

Other than not leaving his cage open, is there anything I can do to make him understand that his cage is his bed and that he shouldn’t destroy it on the garden? Please help!

Thanks again for reading, and if you have done, leaving feedback - a new blog will be posted here next Tuesday!  

Changing Seasons

Autumn is my favourite season of the four, I find it picturesque and somewhat relaxing – the crunching of the leaves beneath your feet as you walk and the brisk and refreshing air which is cold, but not freezing.

Then again whilst the scenery and fresh air is all well and good, there are a couple of things which let Autumn down, Halloween and Bonfire Night. Actually thinking about it now, having Harry in our lives is going to make me despite Autumn!

I was out taking his lordship for a walk the other morning and wasn’t really thinking about the season and how it affects Harry. 

He was ignoring the spread of brown and orange leaves and trotting along browsing treebook (the social network for dogs), until a gust of wind blew up a solitary leaf (think the silver and gold tokens in The Crystal Maze/ Crystal Dome) – Harry spotted this and darted after it. That’d be fine if he was on a free run in the garden, but for anyone who’s actually following this properly, he was on the lead and almost pulled my shoulder out of its socket – think an amateur water-ski person.  

So that’s reason one to hate Autumn, reason two is Halloween which is just around the corner. When I was in my teenage years (god I feel OLD writing that!) “trick or treat”-ing wasn’t massive – alright we’d go around for the free mini-mars bars and think we we’re going to get rich collecting 5ps, but it was nothing special. 

A few might dab in some ketchup or an old cut up white bed sheet (to be a ghost, come on use your imagination!), one lad even had a scream mask (he was Six Foot Six aged 14 so it WAS quite intimidated, well until he spoke as his voice hadn’t broke!) – but again it wasn’t on the scale it is nowadays.

All the supermarkets deck out the isles with decorations, spooky treats and more such as pumpkins, fake blood and spiders webs – in fact according to a new supermarket study, Halloween is now the third biggest event behind Christmas and Easter, overtaking Valentines – Romance is officially dead.

Anyway I digress, with the UK now all American over Halloween, I fear that all the local kids will ignore the COMPLETE LACK of Halloween themed decorations and band on the door, thus causing Harry to go MENTAL – both barking/ jumping up and, more importantly, letting the little cherubs know someone’s home.

Reason three to dislike autumn has to be bonfire night, which I’ve always hated. When you think about it, it’s actually a legal day for arsonists to set things on fire (providing the stick it in a pile and put some old rags with a drawn on face on top!). Fireworks I’ll grant you are pretty but, aside from the constant dangers, are a nightmare if you are a dog owner.

It’s not too bad if it’s just ONE DAY/NIGHT, you know like it’s supposed to be, but it’s not – it never bloody is! Mind you “remember, remember the 5^th of November and three weeks either side of it” doesn’t have the same ring does it!

Jaz, my old dog now sleeping in doggy heaven, was petrified of fireworks. She was the calmest dog on earth but as soon as a firework exploded in the sky, she’d dart of to the darkest and quietest place she could find – usually under my desk. She wouldn’t move for ages, she’d lie there, often through the night, shaking. I was telling Em some stories the other day and she was telling me her Bessy was the same.

So far Harry has been OK, although last night he went out for a wee and heard one explode – he was howling for ages, so we’ll have to keep an eye on him and see how he goes. Maybe it’s a female thing – knowing Harry he probably just wants to chase them!

It’s half term this week and so I’ve got the week off which means I’m at home and in sole charge of Harry. I decided a few days ago to try and use the time to my advantage and try and take some authority and train him. I ordered a dog whistle and a clicker from Amazon and a seller called CLIX. 

I haven’t used the whistle yet, to be honest I feel a little silly in using it, the clicker however is having some positive effect, especially when he’s on his mad half-hour! The trouble is you have to reward with a treat – I don’t know what is too much or make him become self-reliant on treats, that’s just negative surely? He’d just get to the stage of “well I ain’t doing that unless you give me a treat” – it’d be a stand-off!

I’m still waiting on the delivery of his collar-cam, although yesterday I did make a mock up video of him jumping in one of the living room chairs – mainly out of boredom. This morning I’ve also tidied up his area downstairs to attempt to stop the chewing of carpet and blankets (and to make it a bit warmer for him) – after I’d finished, I had some errands to do up here and so left him downstairs for a bit. I “hid” a camera in the mail-catcher basket to record what he did, if anything – I’m to go through the footage soon and maybe repeat the process for a few days, if anything interesting pops up I’ll share it with you next week.

That’s it for this week, he’s nodding at the moment on my feet as he has been for most of the afternoon to be fair. Before I do sign off though, I want to leave you with a bit of advice about Autumn, especially for anyone who likes collecting leaves. Whether it be for school projects or scrap books – if other dogs are like Harry, there’s a 90% change the leaves you collect have dog wee on!

Until next time…

PS An added footnote, I thought I’d finished so nipped to the loo, when I came back Harry had moved from the end of the bed to my pillow to read the blog! I hope it doesn’t get a woof review, sorry paw joke! 

Doctor Harry Will See You Now

I’ve always said that Dogs have a stronger instinct than other animals, for example there have been many stories from across the years about various dogs instinct, whether it be saving a life, finding an air-loom or even discovering lost property.

Over the last few days I think that me and Em have started to see Harry’s instincts come to life a little more, I’ve been struck down by the worst thing imaginable – yup, I’ve got man flu!

To be honest I’m surprised he’s come anywhere near me over the past few days, I’m a grumpy git most of the time but when I’m infected by man flu, grumpy git becomes uber grumpy bastard!

Despite this, he has sensed I’ve been ill and in his usual way has turned into Doctor Harry – not allowing me to sleep all day, which with man flu isn’t recommended, not leaving my side when he’s inside and prescribing me with a dose of licking my face!

During the worst of the man flu, I couldn’t really manage a grunt of “lie down harry”, but to his credit, he sensed he was being annoying and just lied down at my feet and allowed me the prescribed half-hour shut eye. Bless.

He is usually a star at night, he is settled into a nice routine of coming into our room and chilling either on our bed, on the floor or if he’s really tired, on his own bed which Em brought him a week or so ago. He’ll then go downstairs and out for a call of nature before slumping in his cage, or hotel, for the evening – barking only once he’s heard us awake the next morning.

Last night though, it took him ages to go downstairs and after doing his business (twice) he wouldn’t settle. Thinking back now, I was coughing a lot so I wonder now if he was doing his attention grabbing bark just to come up here and do a bit of doctor patient observation.

It’s not just Illness that he observes, he is good at knowing when someone is coming, before the rest of us even realise. He’ll just stop whatever it is he’s doing, sit up sharp and just stare – eventually he’ll turn around and look at us and then keep glancing back and forth, within two minutes, a family member turns up! Scary.

Also when we are out at football he’ll stay at the farm and run around the front lawn, we can see him chasing himself around or playing with a toy from the end of the drive, as soon as he hears the car he stops, sits and waits. If you dare walk past him without going to give him some fuss, you will get barked out, loudly – he loves his attention!

Being bunged up with man flu I’m struggling to recall his other acts of instincts, no doubt Em will tell me loads when she gets home from work! 

As much as I enjoy writing, I do find it tough sometimes to explain what goes on in his head and describe what the little cherub has been upto. I’ve ordered a collar camera which should be here soon, it clips onto his collar and basically gives you a “dogs eye view” – I’m also going to rig up some secret cameras too so we can all see what Harry gets up to. 

Hopefully somewhere in the footage will be some gems to share with you all, and if I’ve still got man flu, I promise not to share any footage of him licking my face!

Must Dash, he’s been downstairs for half an hour and usually I’d be inclined to leave him until he shouted “next patient please” (or woof) but Em shared this thing on facebook the other day which is SO true it has me scared.  

Silence is golden, unless you have a puppy – then silence is suspicious, VERY VERY suspicious. With Doctor Harry, there’s never been a truer quote!   

Harryisums

Dogs in my opinion are the most intelligent animals on the planet. I’m not saying they’d be victorious on University Challenge or Pointless, mind you if they COULD speak they’d give it a fair shot, I just think they all have certain traits and quirks which makes them almost human!

I guess that’s why growing up I always looked at Jaz like a sister rather than a pet, I know Em looked at her Bessy (also a border collie like Harry) in the same way. Jaz was very good at sensing moods, for example after I’d come home from football on a Saturday afternoon, she’d know the result by the way I’d put the key in the door and then act accordingly – win and she’d bound towards me for maximum fuss, draw she’d sort of lurk half way and wait to be called, lose and she’d retreat to her bed and keep her head down. Following Mansfield Town, she did a LOT of this!

Harry is growing up fast and is starting to develop his own traits, something we’re calling Harryisums – moments where he just stops looks round like he hasn’t got a clue what’s going on!

I think my favourite has to be when he’s playing with his toys – he’s like a spoilt kid in a sweet shop and just wants every single one, at once! Let’s say for example he has a tennis ball, a rope and a football. If you kick the football he’ll charge off after it but as soon as you make the slightest of movements towards the tennis ball, he’s there grabbing it – whilst simultaneously keeping a firm grip on the football. You then make a dash for the rope and he’s there, a paw on the football, tennis ball in mouth and then dives on the rope!

He’ll then stand guarding all three but giving you the stare of death almost saying “well throw one then mate”. Well I would Harry but you need to give me one of them first pal!

When he comes inside he’s got a tennis ball he likes playing with, he’ll sit on the bed with the tennis ball right under his nose and barks constantly until you pick it up and show it him. You then put it down and the same happens again – he looks at the ball like “oh yeah”. Goldfish. Castle, what Castle?

On the subject of being like a child, sometimes you see Dads walking around with their offspring on their shoulders. 

Harry likes doing that too, not walking around on my shoulders obviously, that’d be beyond daft, but if I’m sitting on a chair or on the edge of the bed, he’ll jump up onto my shoulders, a paw on each and wrestle me down with consistent licking.  

Looking on the Brightside, it’s not just me he “attacks” – in a morning he’s taken quite a fancy to Ems hairbrush. He’ll be fast asleep on the bed, although he’ll open one eye to check Laura Tobin’s GMB weather report, and Em will sneak away like a ninja to do her hair before work. No matter how quiet Em is, Harry is up like a shot trying to get the hairbrush – something we both find strange as when we last tried brushing him, well let’s just say it took a search party to get him back.

He might have his moments at being outrageously silly, but he can be quiet bright too. We both have our ways of trying to get him to respond, mainly at night when he’d been fast asleep at our feet for hours and needs to go to bed in his cage (which is more like a five star hotel room with the way Em has arranged it!).

He’ll slowly go downstairs and, if he hasn’t flopped back to sleep mode, will go out on the garden for a wee. As soon as the air hits him, cute tired harry becomes Harry the whippet, storming around the garden thinking its playtime! He’ll do a wee and then starts roaming around – we’ll either try rustling his treat bag which IS working at the moment* or opening the door to the stairs and heading back up, but sitting half way to catch him and put him to bed. He won’t even come in if he can see us sitting there anymore, and on the rare occasions he DOES come in, as soon as you reach for his collar, he’s off and it’s game over!

Sometimes words aren’t enough to describe properly about Harry’s moments. So we’re going to put up some secret cameras, including what actually happens in the life of Harry!

*I just hope the dog social networking site “lamppostbook” doesn’t share this blog and Harry somehow cottons on!

In The Life of PawFace - Introducing Harry

Dogs V Cats is an old battle and preference which has stemmed generations, a bit like Tea V Coffee or White Bread V Wholemeal. For me, I’m certainly on “team dog” and with every day that unfolds, find myself wondering what on earth goes through the mind of mine. 

Rather than drive myself insane by talking to myself about it, I thought I’d blog about it and maybe see if other dog owners think or see the same patterns of behaviour from their four-legged companions. 

I’m currently on dog number three in my life, Harry – a pure Border Collie puppy who is around six months old. To be honest, I was apprehensive about welcoming him into our (myself and my partner Em) lives, I adored my previous dog Jaz, a Labrador Golden Retriever Cross with a hint of Collie in her (her mum got about a bit!), I was GUTTED when we (myself and my dad) had to have her put to sleep due to ill health in September 2012.

Jaz <3 R.I.P

I could write a book about her alone, but in a nutshell she was my childhood best friend and got me through a LOT of dog-poo (metaphorically) – more like a loving sister than a pet. I vowed the day she fell asleep, with my eyes being the last she saw, that I would never get another dog.

So why am I here writing about Dog number three Harry? Em saw him for sale on Facebook (apparently it’s the new way to get a puppy!) and sent me a picture of him saying “please?” – I didn’t realise she was joking*, and neither did she when I replied “ok”! 

Wires had been crossed and before we knew it, cash had been exchanged and we had a new addition to our lives. 

That was back in June and now as we canter into October, we have embraced this dog into our lives and he is very much part of the family, currently the annoying baby whose FAR TO BLOODY HYPER! 

Dog One for me was called Lady, inventive I know. I was too young to remember her and I think we sold her or gave her away after she ate my brother’s braces. Dog Two, my Jaz, we had from a puppy and again, I was young during her pup stages so can’t really remember how she was – which means now, our Harry is something I haven’t experienced properly. Not Fun.

He IS getting a lot calmer than what he was when he first arrived, however he LOVES chewing mail and so you have to be like Usain Bolt when Postman Pat arrives! He spends most of his time (or at least has done until the rain started pouring) outside, either on our back garden or on the large front garden of the Farm – yep you guessed it, he LOVES digging. I swear down he’s either plotting his escape or communicating with Australians.   

Socks aren’t safe either, he’s lying at the bottom of my feet as I type gnawing away! Although he doesn’t chew them as frequently anymore!

For all of his annoyances, his eyes suck you in and you can’t help but love him! Don’t tell anyone though. I’d openly admit it if he was chilled a little more – basically if he left my socks alone, didn’t chew our mail, dig to the middle of the earth or wee inside when he gets overly excited! 

What I (we, but someone doesn’t want to admit to that yet) need is some help. This is why I’m writing this, to reach out to other dog owners to get their advice and hear their stories. 

We’ve ordered a mail catcher and staged a sock intervention, the wee situation isn’t too frequent but with rain (which equals soft soil and easier access to Oz) upon us, he’s going to be spending more time indoors. So if you have any tips or advice on that, please get in touch.

He’s now realised that I’m writing about him and is attacking me by licking my face! He is a clever lad and has “cottoned on” to a few of our attempts to be the boss – but that’s another blog for another night, along with how he interacts with other dogs, enjoys recreating “The Great Escape” and much more.

Welcome, to the life of Harry. Oh and for the record, it’s Tea and Wholemeal! 

*She wasn’t joking and neither was I, it just seemed more interesting to put that – hey ho.