He's into adolescent mode.

The pretty flower in better times.

Maybe 9am on a Monday is when all the grumpy old men are walking their dogs at my favourite iron age fort. There were certainly lots of them about the last time AF took the dog for a walk there. AF came away feeling quite dispirited after all the adverse comments about him. He came a very poor second at discipline when compared to an 8 month old whippet and AF was severely criticized for running after the dog instead of waiting for him to come back to her. There was more.

So sorry there has not been a blog since that disastrous walk but AF and PL have been busy trying to make the dog a better, gooder dog.

Has it worked?

Well he is getting better at coming back to the whistle but jumping up at people is still a bit of a problem. He also continues to:-

• dig great big holes in the garden
• roll in horse, cow, fox or badger poo when the opportunity arises.
• eat his own poo even though we wash his mouth out when we smell his breath.
• race through swampy ground until he has transferred the mud to his tummy and legs.

He is also having a great time destroying all his toys.

The sad remains of the dog's toys.

The cockerel went first, then the red pulley, followed by the pink ring, three tennis balls, the pretty flower and last of all his pheasant. There is nothing left of the green pulley with the hot dog in the middle. Absolute slaughter. He won't get any more until Christmas.

The dog got lost the other day. PL had him out for his afternoon walk when the dog saw, (but PL didn't), his doggy friend. The dog took off and disappeared from sight. PL rang AF to go round one way whilst PL set off looking for him the other, hoping to cut him off at the pass. Not too long after a sad, repentant (?) dog was brought back by a friendly dog owner so all was well. We are walking him much more on the lead now until this phase is out of his system. It could be a long time!!

He had his first successful experience of going into kennells. Only for a day, but he won over the hearts of the people who looked after him. We have always been cautious of putting our rescue dogs into kennels fearing that they would feel abandoned all over again. No such problems with our super confident dog. He bounced in and bounced out again after a lovely day.

PL likes to pick fresh raspberries from the garden for his breakfast. He has learnt to be quick or the dog gets there first. The dog likes to pick and eat, without washing, both raspberries and strawberries. The mulberries are ripening at the moment so he will be fighting off the blackbirds (and me) to get his share.

That's all for now folks!