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That is my life between the hours of midnight and 2am, people. Our Bud loves nothing more than a damned good whinge at that time and let me tell you, I'm soooo over it now. Thanks to Gill Buchanan's sage advice, we are no longer getting up to settle him when he starts, we just roll over, throw a pillow over our heads and try to get back to sleep until Puppy Power realises he ain't getting jack. It's getting easier because his tantrums aren't as long now. But they're still long enough to make me wish that he had a battery compartment that I could flip open and remove the batteries for the night. Or maybe a mute button...yeah, that could work. A mute button for bumptious puppies - quick, get someone at JML onto it. Just think, you could soon see Puppy Mute Buttons on little plastic racks in Asda next to Ped-Eggs and Slankets. Remember people - you heard it here first.
So week two of our puppy foundation course. How did we get on? Well, due to the Gods conspiring against me and throwing everything from temperamental ovens, appointments running late and the phone ringing off the hook, we were late. And just for the craic, Buddy picked today - the day when my stress levels were hitting previously unsurpassed heights - to roll in a muddy puddle. A bath was not only a good idea, it was a necessity. Showering/bathing the puppy whilst you've got totties boiling, trying to pull a washing in, mark homework and organise a Girls Brigade uniform is not recommended. Do not try it at home. The bath was nearly as minging as the pup, I was quite astounded at the amount of muck that a nearly 13 week old dog can retain in it's coat - he must have increased his own body weight by at least 50%. I still haven't been up to clean up following Emergency-Bath-Gate, I'm not looking forward to that. Of course, I have provided photographic evidence of the utterly bogging state of the pup.
Anyhoo, I digress. Off to puppy training we went and arrived with a very over-excited puppy who was both still indignant and hyper after his bath. He was not for settling at all tonight and had to be taken out for several toilet trips - yet still managed to lay a cable on the floor inside Wizard Of Paws (apologies again to everyone in the room at the time - it was a real hummer).
Tonight we learned how to teach our hounds to stay and also how to handle the beasts. To give you a rough idea, you slip two fingers (steady now) under the dog's collar and then place your arm/hand underneath the dog, close to the back legs (personally, I try to steer clear of the general winkie area, if ya get my drift). Did the dogs like it? Not really. In fact, Buddy did go a tad on the loco side. He no likey. However, you persevere until the dog calms down enough to stand nicely with your fingers still holding onto the collar. I'll let you know when Buddy and I achieve this - it ain't gonna be any time soon. The whole point of the exercise isn't just to wind your dog to the high heavens, it's to let your dog get used to being handled at places like the vet or by a groomer. I've to practice it for five minutes a day with Buddy - I think I'll need to get some gardening gloves to protect my hands for those training sessions.
It's getting late and I must be off to my scratcher soon, mainly because I'll be spending the wee small hours listening to Buddy Boy Bongo sing his heart out (unless by some miracle he decides to give a by tonight - fingers crossed!)
Oh! One more thing! Buddy has a new favourite website! Okay, I love it too. It's Dog Judo - I know, it's beyond weird. Fopr some unknown reason, I'm having problems posting links into my blog entries, but I've popped a link into Buddy's Favourites and if you're a cut and paste kinda person, you can do cut and paste this: http://www.dogjudo.com/ Let me point out that no actual dogs are used for judo purposes, it's just a very clever website (but don't let Rexley and Roy hear me say that). I love it, especially Ep 12, Elastic Bands. It's brilliant, enjoy.
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