Big walk vs heel work

The big walk where he spends 1h to 2h off the leash is the bad influence in his life.

He gets over excited and jumps, runs, growls, throws himself in the river and bumps into us as he runs, full body impact - very painful I must confess.

Mr C is walking him now on the big walk as the last time I went with him he did the full body impact 4 times on my left leg and as a result I could not walk without pain for almost 2 weeks, which was not good as Mr C and I were getting married and I could not limp down the aisle and had loads of stuff to finalize.

On the wedding day we left Bobby all day in the garden in a house we bought and Mr C built, we got his nice cosy bed inside, his teddies and bones, I know he did not enjoy but we had no option as leaving him all day inside the house was a recipe for disaster. It was a very good day with just 1 shower and when we got home he was in his bed, dry and warm.

Mr C has been concentrating on the heel work now more than the big walk without leash, because Bobby also did the full body impact "trick"on him and Mr C saw first hand what I mentioned.

Other than the walk Bobby is a very good dog. With all the commotion in the house because of the wedding, Bobby coped very well all the comings and going of new people and children, yes, children, so I think we are still in the right path, we just need to tackle the big walk well.

Settling in

I think Booby is settling in and he also likes pistachios.

I think he is happy, the best place in the world for him to be is near Mr C, he is not aggressive about him any more nor possessive (I challenge that everyday, by hugging Mr C whenever I want), actually he's been pretty good.

My mother has arrived last Monday for a visit and Bobby has been really great, he deals with her as if she has been here all her life, which is good and I told her the rules with the dog as they were explained by Wolfwood and everything is going great.

Yesterday we went for the big walk (as always) and it really brings out his dominant side, he finishes the walk behaving in a very cheeky way both with me and other dogs, but he eventually calms down and gets back to behaving.

His heel work is much better, today we had a long walk in the neighbourhood for him to enjoy the pleasures of strolling down a street with no purpose and for no reason, just because...

He is still the best dog in the world, it has been a bit of work, but he does make up for it with his innocent look while one ear is up and the other down, makes up for it with his tail wagging when he hears our voices, he makes up for it when we are playing and he "shakes hands", he makes up for it when we are playing and he opens his mouth to mouth our hands and we say no biting and he starts licking or sniffing our hands, he makes up for it by being him.

Cheese?!?!

Sorry for the lack of posts this week but we've been running around all day long. However, the work with Bobbie is being done everyday and he is improving a lot. He does not bark when the door bell rings and is more polite to our guests, so all is well.

Mr C and I every now and then try some new foods with him and he does not salmon nor cod, he also does not fancy lamb dog food so when it is lamb he sort of eats less, but surprise... he LOVES cheese. Which makes him the perfect dog for this family as both Mr C and I love cheese. So at treat time (training) I also use a bit of cheese.

He's not sure if he likes his dentasticks, but I keep on trying as they are good for his teeth, and some days he just chews it all in one go, other days he just leaves it around the house. Some days he eats better then others but he is still putting on weight and his coat is getting very shiny - which is good.

Wolfwood day out

Today Mr C and I took Bobby to the Wolfwood day out. He behaved very well and we were very proud of him. We saw Steve and Kirsty and many others, there were even people who would introduce themselves to us as they have walked Bobby while he was at Wolfwood.

There was also some contest of tricks and obedience and prettiest dog, but Bobby was not enrolled in any as we were just happy to see him being very good to everybody :)

Bobby paid a lot of attention to the sheep there were in display, sort of -"ok let me get these all in the corner over there, and I'll be with you in a minute", which was funny. But Mr C and I laughed to tears when he saw the alpacas, he looked properly confused and unsure of what to make of them.

In the whole Bobby was very good,

very polite to all people and other dogs and remained always very calm and relaxed. Mr C and I had a very good time as well, he found an old plant sprayer and I found some other precious stuff that we got and brought home.

Bobby, the puppy

Bobby is really a great dog. He behaves like a puppy most of the time and that is funny.

I'm not sure if he likes the dentasticks or not sometimes he eats them right in front of me, sometimes he just leaves them around the house and I need to call him and give it to him again for him to eat it.

When we take him to the park and we throw the yellow ring he will run after it, he will growl at it and he will catch it, will bring it close to us and chew on it, we are still teaching him to bring back the ring for us to throw again.

Today he was good (no barking and no growling) with a visitor but I ended up locking him in his cage as he was very unsettled and even the leave command was not doing the trick and I decided to protect him and make him settle by taking him to his cage, closing the door and putting a blanket to block the cage door.

Needless to say he settled down very well and was back to being a nice and playful puppy as soon as the cage door was opened.

Tomorrow Mr C and I are taking Bobby to the Wolfwood meeting.

The walk, the park and the carpet

Mr C and I have been taking Bobby to the park for the big walk everyday and, of course, Bobby loves it, for a dog who had to be convinced to going into the car he now flies in, really, we open the door and he flies in, I didn't know dogs could fly but Bobby does.

He is learning to play with the frisbee ring and although he brings it back (70% of the times) he does not give it to us yet, but i think he'll get there.

he also started doing something very unexpected, he started peeing on the dinning room carpet (yes I know... charming), today was the second day in a row, so I already go to the spay that you put on the floor to prevent him from doing it. I hope it works...

The heel work

Yesterday I took Bobby on a walk with Mr C's sister, he needs a lot of heel work as he still pulls a lot, in the end she invited us into her back garden so that Bobby didn't have to wait to get to the car to have some water.

Bobby was very good with her and her husband but as soon as their kid entered the picture, Bobby decided to play and growl which made me call him to me and i kept him there until the kid was back at home safe and sound. I had a warning that this might happen as while the kid was in the garden Bobby's body posture was one of a dog herding the sheep, i did told him to leave but for some reason it did not work. But nothing happen so life is good.

And Bobby is back to being a really good dog.

Today we went for a walk again and for the heel work again. In the middle of the walk i've left him off the leash so that he could have a good run as only Bobby knows how to. He actually found the smelliest and dirtiest bog to jump into, after 30 seconds Bobby was totally black and awfully smelly. After a while I got him back on the lead, got him to do more heel work and lead him to nice stream that runs nearby for him to clean up, I ended up with a not so black dog but very smelly still. I called Mr C to ask him to help me give a shower to Bobby today as the smell is really bad.

He still has a long way to go with the heel work, but at least he knows already that he is not supposed to be pulling the lead as when I stop and I ask him what is wrong with the picture he does walk back and heels.

Apart from the pulling during the walk Bobby is a fantastic and really fun dog to have around us.