walk my dog more

Caught a nasty virus last week and haven’t set foot outside the house until thursday when I roused enough energy to take my 3 year old to the Cinema. I came home and fell asleep again. This weekend we’ve been packing boxes and I’ve been fighting yet another virus. Poor pup. At least the kids walked him.

I look forward to school starting again and getting back into our routines. yah for boring routines puppy dog.

Hubby and I took the woof for a walk tonight – a rare occurrance. He only comes home at weekends usually and somehow we never quite get to going out with the dog together. Usually he takes the dog to the park and wears him out.

I don’t let the dog off the extendalead often. For various reasons I can’t run after him if he escapes and I obviously don’t have the confidence in him that I should. Hubby took him off the lead tonight in the dark and I spent 15 minutes doing recall knowing that if the woof should take off that hubby would chase him. I needn’t have worried. He was wonderful and very responsive to hugs and doggie treats. All my treating for walking to heal and waiting on command etc is paying off. He trusts me to pay out if he is obedient. Now I just have to stop him reacting so badly to being left at home alone for more than an hour. I’m starting to seriously think that a second woof would be appropriate. He really suffers badly from seperation anxiety. He’ll pee, poop, and bark when he’s left. He gets a good walk before being left, a special toy etc. We used to keep him crated when we went out, on the advice of a dog trainer but he’d pee in his crate, scraping his bedding to one corner and using the other corner as a toilet. I felt it was cruel to keep him so confined even though he seemed to enjoy the protection of his crate. Now he has the run of the kitchen but nowhere else because as soon as he had the extra space he started occassonally soiling. He is a lovely wonderful companion in every other respect and extremely tolerant of children. He looks so unhappy when you come home and find he’s let himself down. I feel like, by not providing with enough stimulation, or enough confidence to be left, that i’m setting him up to this unhappy failure. I’m sure he’s just lonely. I provide him with toys, stuffed kong and hidden treats etc. He doesn’t chew furniture or empty the bin and viszlas are known for needing companionship. He’s only left once or twice a week but it’s no good if I can’t go out without having to mop when I get home.

Because we are rural there are no doggie classes but as soon as we get to the city I’m off to the classes. The socialising will be good for both of us and if it doesn’t cure the problem then maybe it’s time to think about a girlfriend for him, perhaps a retired breeding bitch or similar type of rescue. We have a great new big house and wonderfully enclosed garden and we’re a 10 minute walk away from the area where Tolkien wrote his books, down in Sarehole Mill, Birmingham. Funnily, where we live now was also inspiration for one of his books; Farmer Giles of Ham. Fab book. Sarehole Mill is a great area of protected parkland, walks and fords right in the heart of the city. Dog walking should be a doddle.

We’ve been walking more and more and I’m really pleased for both of us. I feel better and the mutt is far more satisfied. I’ve been taking him on reasonably long walks every playschool day that I’m not taking driving lessons but I’ve always been limited by the need to rest before I set out again to collect the little one from playschool. Today I arranged to have my older son collect his little sister from school so I could take the dog on a big walk. We did it. We walked along the old river valley bed which was a walk that took 90 minutes and has left me with sore hips but I feel happy. Also great was that his manners were much better. He only got over excited when he met one dog instead of all of them. That dog is one he sometimes plays with off the lead but we can’t let them off the lead along the valley bed because of sheep farming and farmers with big guns. I use a 12 ft retractor lead to make the most of the countryside safely.

Happy dog.

I took the dog for a few good walks this week. Earlier in the week I found a potential dog walking partner, which is great except for the fact that it looks like we’re moving away now. She takes her dog on a great circuit every day, a circuit which I may not be able to manage all the time because I still have to be cautious with my energy levels, but if I can do it twice a week and take my usual shorter walk on the other days I’ll be very pleased with the progress. I’m sure the dog will too. He loves walking with other woofs.

Yep, that’s what he’d say if he could speak. He gets walked at least twice a day but he only gets walked by me two or three times a week. It’s sad really because he clearly loves not just walking but walking with me. I’ve been pestering him-indoors to get up 30 mins earlier every other day to do some exercise and I think I should stop being such a hypocrite and get out of my pit as well. If i got up before the kids I could go out with the pup and not even take a child with me. That sounds worth getting up at 6.30 for(but I doubt I will).