Buddy 'Two Jags' Johnston

***Disclaimer****
I am too tired to proof read this blog entry, so please accept all typos with affection. Much love x

I've not updated the blog for 6 days. I don't know you've coped, I really don't. But you'll no doubt be breathing a sigh of relief that this update is here. Easy soldier, it's going to be alright now.

Here's a gratuitous puppy shot if you need a fix

So the good news is that Buddy has had his second injections - everybody give a whoop whoop! He's still not really allowed out anywhere that other dogs might have done the dirty, so he's still confined to the garden but the end is in sight. Yay. Did Buddy take his inoculations like a big dog? More like a big blouse if I'm honest. The vet advised me to wait for quite some time before taking to have him micro-chipped as that's a even bigger needle. Well, I think that's what she said. I just about collapsed in a heap on the floor at the sight if the smaller needle, so methinks Scott will need to take him to be chipped when the time comes.

What else has been happening? Well, we went to puppy club again on Sunday and Buddy got on a lot better this time, partly because he's got over his sickness in the car- and yes, I think that deserves another round of applause. He's still slevering like a loon, but he's stopped chucking up in my six month old car and for Buddy, I am truly grateful.

We were happy to see our pal Twiglet at puppy club again, she and our boy interacted with each other very well.Twiglet looked less than impressed when Buddy stepped over her but apart from that, they got on great guns. Buddy's bag of purchases from Wizard Of Paws this week included two rawhides - the good quality ones, none of your cheap rubbish for the pup - and a fabby carpet shampoo that takes all traces of doggy do and puppy pee out of the carpet. I'm told it's also very effective on red wine, thanks to Gill Buchanan for that top tip. although, to be fair, wine is very rarely spilled in this house as it's never in the glass long enough. Hic.

Accidents on the carpet have definitely lessened and we're starting to become more in tune with Buddy's bladder. What has my life come to when I'm in tune with the peeing rhythms of a dog? Do I need to get more? Possibly.

And so came the snow. Mountains of the bloody stuff. So much so that I took the children out of school at lunchtime for fear of not being able to get the car out of the drive if I waited until hometime. On his early morning poop and pee expedition, Buddy got to grips with snow. Once he stopped being scared of it. After his puppy-fright wore off, he became more curious than a cat with a death wish. And then cometh the kanagroo-type leaping which is highly amusing and probably quite aerobic too. For the dog I mean. Not me. I wasn't leaping in the garden. It's bad enough that my neighbours witness me in my pink flannel pyjamas, Emu boots and coat standing in the garden without adding leaping to the mix. *Shudders* That would be a stage too far. If they were able to get past the vision of loveliness that was me in the garden, then my neighbours would have treated to the sight of Buddy's own interpretation of a Winter Olympics gymnastic programme.


So, we're now 16 days into our life with Buddy. How is it? Honestly? Bloody hard work. Seriously exhausting. They say that a puppy is as much work as a newborn. Uh-uh my friend, I disagree wholeheartedly. It's more work. With a newborn, you are encouraged to 'sleep when they sleep', people are falling over themselves to help you and no-one minds if you look like a bag of spanners - in fact they expect you to look like a bag of spanners. No such luck with a puppy. Oh no. And you are sleep deprived becasue of the night time crying. you pick up a lot of poo and clean up many litres of wee. You've got too feed them little and often although one saving grace is that you don't need to get your baps out to feed a dog - I'll give you that one. But everything else? Sheesh, it's no walk in the park. But I do believe that in the near future, it will be a walk in the park. Quite literally. And although I'm looking forward to taking Bud out into the big wide world, there's a part of me that will miss just having him as the little, housebound pup. He's getting bigger all the time and although we don't necessarily notice as we see him all the time, I can't help but be surprised when I look at him and realise how much his legs have stretched and how he can easily get up the stairs and jump on the sofa (both of which we're trying to discourage).

I shall try and not leave it so long before I post again - I'm sure you find the days long and arduous without my observations on That Buddy Puppy...