Hilda is growing fast and has been going to puppy classes at the local scout hut. I have been thinking for a few weeks that I should be writing down some of her adventures and escapades, last nights training class is a good place to start...
Last night was week 4 of the puppy class, Hilda is thoroughly enjoying them, and the brains teamed up with the appetite and subbornness and caused the whole class to laugh and for me to want a big hole to open up and swallow me whole.
The room is a nice big hall and the guy that runs the sessions keeps treats and other supplies on a table halfway down one wall. It was Hilda and my turn to do the walking on a loose lead, as we passed then table and trainer he gently placed the tub of treats he had had in his hand on the table. I didn't hear it but Hilda did. She slammed the brakes on, turned round and sat in front of the trainer waiting for her treat. The trainer moved to the other side of the room, I got her attention back to me and we set off again for another lap of the hall. However the next time we passed the table she slammed the brakes on and sat staring expectantly because she knew there was food up there and was pretty certain that she deserved all of it. Cue much laughter from the other puppy owners and a desire not to be there from me.
She made up for it by being one of the best at recall, recall with distractions (it wasn't food), sit and health-checks.
Saturday, 14 February 2015
Wednesday, 28 January 2015
Four and Six Months
January 2015. It's hard to believe that it's been 6 months since I said goodbye to Holly, the house and my life felt very odd and empty without her around. But then a little fuzzy dynamo burst into the scene and moved straight into that empty space. Hilda is now 4 months old and it's very hard to imagine life without her.
She is growing up very fast and lost the first of her needle-sharp puppy teeth on the 2nd January. She is now onto the molars so the end of teething is in sight! Teething is probably one of the few aspects of puppyhood that I would gladly fast-forward through.
At Christmas there were lots of new people (mostly relatives) to meet and she loved meeting them all almost as much as she enjoyed getting cuddles and fuss from them. She was mostly good with Christmas Trees. She didn't pull them over or chew them. She very carefully picked the decorations and ornaments off them and then carried them round trying her best to evade capture and having them taken off her. She didn't damage a single one, unless you class a coating of dog slobber as damage, but she is a gundog after all.
We have started puppy classes. She is doing very well at them and enjoys going, but they do wear her out. The class is held in a scout hut 1 mile from where we live so we walk there and she has a little little run in the park on the way. The class is an hour long and then we catch the bus back home again. By the time we get home she has just enough energy to eat her supper and crawl onto the sofa before falling asleep.
I have plenty of plans for places to take her and things for us to do once the weather is slightly warmer and (hopefully) drier. By that time she will be old enough to be able to have a day out without me needing to worry about getting back to the car so she can have an afternoon nap.
She is growing up very fast and lost the first of her needle-sharp puppy teeth on the 2nd January. She is now onto the molars so the end of teething is in sight! Teething is probably one of the few aspects of puppyhood that I would gladly fast-forward through.
At Christmas there were lots of new people (mostly relatives) to meet and she loved meeting them all almost as much as she enjoyed getting cuddles and fuss from them. She was mostly good with Christmas Trees. She didn't pull them over or chew them. She very carefully picked the decorations and ornaments off them and then carried them round trying her best to evade capture and having them taken off her. She didn't damage a single one, unless you class a coating of dog slobber as damage, but she is a gundog after all.
We have started puppy classes. She is doing very well at them and enjoys going, but they do wear her out. The class is held in a scout hut 1 mile from where we live so we walk there and she has a little little run in the park on the way. The class is an hour long and then we catch the bus back home again. By the time we get home she has just enough energy to eat her supper and crawl onto the sofa before falling asleep.
I have plenty of plans for places to take her and things for us to do once the weather is slightly warmer and (hopefully) drier. By that time she will be old enough to be able to have a day out without me needing to worry about getting back to the car so she can have an afternoon nap.
Hilda loved the snow.
In the end I had to take her out into the garden on her lead otherwise she wouldn't come back inside.
She enjoyed singing Christmas Carols
She is getting on well with the cats
I entered a competition for her and she won a bag of puppy food.
Here is is next to her prize demonstrating where the prize should go!
Wednesday, 19 November 2014
Meet Hilda
Please say hello to Hilda, her proper posh name is Brunhilda Ad Lib.
She is settling in well and is counting down the days until her vaccinations are complete and she can go for walks. In the mean time I take her for a carry every day so that she can meet people, see things and smell the sniffs so that when she can go out its already fairly familiar.
She is settling in well and is counting down the days until her vaccinations are complete and she can go for walks. In the mean time I take her for a carry every day so that she can meet people, see things and smell the sniffs so that when she can go out its already fairly familiar.
She has already decided that she loves my parents Aga
Wednesday, 29 October 2014
Squishy Puppy Cuddles
Last weekend I went to meet the puppies, what a fantastic squishy wriggly bunch they are!
There are still a couple of people to choose their pup which should be done by next weekend so I will then know which one is mine, I do know that it will be a little girl.
And then at the end of next week she will be coming home, its exciting and thrilling and a little bit daunting all at the same time. It was 12.5 years ago that Holly was a puppy, I have been racking my brain trying to remember all the things we used to do and all the basic training games we used to play.
I am sure it is a bit like riding a bike, once puppy is home it will all come back to me.
Yes she does have a name, but you will have to wait until she arrives home before it gets announced.
There are still a couple of people to choose their pup which should be done by next weekend so I will then know which one is mine, I do know that it will be a little girl.
And then at the end of next week she will be coming home, its exciting and thrilling and a little bit daunting all at the same time. It was 12.5 years ago that Holly was a puppy, I have been racking my brain trying to remember all the things we used to do and all the basic training games we used to play.
I am sure it is a bit like riding a bike, once puppy is home it will all come back to me.
Yes she does have a name, but you will have to wait until she arrives home before it gets announced.
Monday, 6 October 2014
Lists
A quick update on the not-so-short lists.
The boys list is somewhere around 12 so only an increase of 1 or 2.
The little girls list has rocketed from one to 10!
Hey ho, I can only hope that when I get to meet the pups, and choose or get chosen by one, that a suitable name will be instantly obvious.
Wednesday, 24 September 2014
The great debate
The photos and updates of the puppies continue to arrive and they really are gorgeous.
So working on the theory that there may be a puppy joining the menagerie in the late autumn I have started to check that I have all the non-perishable things I might need. Bedding & towels I have a plentiful supply of, the dog-gate and crate were returned by littlest sister when they moved house (they had borrowed them when they got a puppy a couple of years ago). And I have more pet toys than I know what to do with.
Last week I was passing a pet supply shop and just called in for a walk round. I gave in to temptation and bought an adjustable collar, just in case. My theory was that I liked it and it was a well made one that would do from coming home to at least half-grown if not almost fully grown. Plus I have no idea if I would be passing that shop again in the near future (it was 4 or more years since I last passed by it) and as they only had one in stock I had better buy it now.
Of course the big debate is, assuming that there is a new addition, what would it be called? I have always had great problems naming pets. Mono and Fluffy were easy, they came with their names and as they had had them for 8 years I thought it best to keep them. Holly took almost a week to come up with a name that I liked and Linus the best part of a month! Olaf was the quickest at 3 days.
So with the knowledge of past problems I have been thinking about potential names and making a shortlist, only its more of a long-list.
Sometime in the first few days after being asked about being on the reserve list a girls name popped into my head and eventually made it onto the piece of paper that I am using to keep track of potential names on. So far that is the only girls name to make it to the shortlist. For boys the list is currently at 11, there are four 'favourites' from the boys list but I regularly change my mind about the favourites. What I think will happen is that whatever I think I have chosen, as and when a new addition is due to come home, I will change my mind when I have spent some time with it.
So working on the theory that there may be a puppy joining the menagerie in the late autumn I have started to check that I have all the non-perishable things I might need. Bedding & towels I have a plentiful supply of, the dog-gate and crate were returned by littlest sister when they moved house (they had borrowed them when they got a puppy a couple of years ago). And I have more pet toys than I know what to do with.
Last week I was passing a pet supply shop and just called in for a walk round. I gave in to temptation and bought an adjustable collar, just in case. My theory was that I liked it and it was a well made one that would do from coming home to at least half-grown if not almost fully grown. Plus I have no idea if I would be passing that shop again in the near future (it was 4 or more years since I last passed by it) and as they only had one in stock I had better buy it now.
Of course the big debate is, assuming that there is a new addition, what would it be called? I have always had great problems naming pets. Mono and Fluffy were easy, they came with their names and as they had had them for 8 years I thought it best to keep them. Holly took almost a week to come up with a name that I liked and Linus the best part of a month! Olaf was the quickest at 3 days.
So with the knowledge of past problems I have been thinking about potential names and making a shortlist, only its more of a long-list.
Sometime in the first few days after being asked about being on the reserve list a girls name popped into my head and eventually made it onto the piece of paper that I am using to keep track of potential names on. So far that is the only girls name to make it to the shortlist. For boys the list is currently at 11, there are four 'favourites' from the boys list but I regularly change my mind about the favourites. What I think will happen is that whatever I think I have chosen, as and when a new addition is due to come home, I will change my mind when I have spent some time with it.
Monday, 15 September 2014
Roller-coaster of a Weekend
After pacing up and down on Thursday last week news of the puppies arrived at lunchtime. There was good news and devastating news.
The good news was that there were twelve healthy good-sized puppies, a nice mix of 7 girls and 5 boys.
The devastating news was that the breeder had lost Mum. She had managed to give them one feed but they were sorry for the lack of photos and updates but they were now bottle feeding every two hours.
Two weeks into a new job in the run up to the start of an academic year is not the time to ask for "this afternoon and tomorrow off" plus I had no idea if I would be a help or a hindrance. The last time I bottle fed anything was a good 5 plus years ago and my experience is mostly pet-lambs and the odd almost weaned kitten.
After what felt like a lifetime (3 days) of not really having the opportunity to spend any time online and when I did manage to read the updates it was through my phone so I could see that there were attachments but I could not view them, I had the chance today to re-read everything on a computer.
Some wonderful people did what I could not and dropped everything and went to provide assistance. A foster mum (a hairy godmother) has also been located, loaned, transported and has taken the pups on. Queue one deep sigh of relief. As worried as I had been about the pups I think I was more concerned for their breeder and her other half. I know how heart-breaking it is to loose a dog, or any much loved pet, but could not imagine how much harder it must be to loose one in these circumstances. To know they have support and help makes me feel much happier especially as I still had no idea what sensible and practical assistance I could have offered.
To finish on a positive note, the photos that have been sent show a dozen gorgeous chubby puppies eating, snoozing and snuggling with each other and their hairy godmother.
The good news was that there were twelve healthy good-sized puppies, a nice mix of 7 girls and 5 boys.
The devastating news was that the breeder had lost Mum. She had managed to give them one feed but they were sorry for the lack of photos and updates but they were now bottle feeding every two hours.
Two weeks into a new job in the run up to the start of an academic year is not the time to ask for "this afternoon and tomorrow off" plus I had no idea if I would be a help or a hindrance. The last time I bottle fed anything was a good 5 plus years ago and my experience is mostly pet-lambs and the odd almost weaned kitten.
After what felt like a lifetime (3 days) of not really having the opportunity to spend any time online and when I did manage to read the updates it was through my phone so I could see that there were attachments but I could not view them, I had the chance today to re-read everything on a computer.
Some wonderful people did what I could not and dropped everything and went to provide assistance. A foster mum (a hairy godmother) has also been located, loaned, transported and has taken the pups on. Queue one deep sigh of relief. As worried as I had been about the pups I think I was more concerned for their breeder and her other half. I know how heart-breaking it is to loose a dog, or any much loved pet, but could not imagine how much harder it must be to loose one in these circumstances. To know they have support and help makes me feel much happier especially as I still had no idea what sensible and practical assistance I could have offered.
To finish on a positive note, the photos that have been sent show a dozen gorgeous chubby puppies eating, snoozing and snuggling with each other and their hairy godmother.
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