Picture of Harry

Hi. My name is Harry, I'm a Guide Dog Puppy in Training and this is my Blog.

Atherton Appeal

Harry supported Guide Dogs' appeal to equip the brand new training school for the North of England at Atherton. He was keen to help as he was to be one of the first puppies to train at the new school.

Harry was at the launch of the appeal on 7th October 2008 where he got to meet the Press. One of the newspaper articles can be seen here.

April 30, 2008

Weekly update – 15 weeks

Today Harry turned 15 weeks old.

Harry’s weight has gone up again, now he weighs 17.3 kg and that feels really heavy, but his tail hasn’t grown this week and has stayed at 12 inches (30 cm). His obedience is still excellent, especially his ‘sit’ and ‘down’, although as we ‘re off to Guide Dog puppy class early next week no doubt he’ll forget everything we’ve ever taught him.

Enjoying the sun

We’ve been working on the ‘stand’ command recently as Harry’s now at the age where he needs to be groomed much more regularly. Especially after he’s been rolling in the mud, which is now high on his list of favourite things to do. The ‘stand’ is really important as it makes grooming so much easier and it’s coming along fine, but as soon as he sees the brush he lies down and rolls over – he absolutely loves his tummy being brushed and would be quite happy if it was to be brushed all day.

Harry’s mouth continues to give him a bit of discomfort and yesterday, despite the fact that he’s lost none of his baby teeth yet, the first two adult teeth finally pushed through and made an appearance. He likes nothing better than to crunch on ice cubes, or if his mouth is actually bleeding we give him a piece of chilled cucumber to munch on. A treat that he’s rather partial to, so we always make him earn it.

We think the highlight this week, by a long way, was when Harry met Harry, but Harry would disagree. For him, the best bit of the week was finally being allowed off the lead to go on his first free run, definitely the best bit. By a mile.

King of the castle

April 29, 2008

When Harry met Harry

This morning we took Harry for a free run so he could burn off some of his excess energy, as he was off to meet his sponsors in the afternoon. It seems Harry knew today was a special day, because he found the biggest, dirtiest and muddy puddle on the nature reserve and splashed right through the middle of it. Then because it was such great fun, he did it again. And again.

We spent the next two hours brushing the mud out of his now black fur. Finally with his coat back to its natural colour and his face freshly washed, we set off to meet some of the wonderful people who raised the money to sponsor him.

Harry and the gang

Harry had a fabulous afternoon and loved all the fuss. He was so excited to meet lots of new people and to see working Guide Dog Daisy and his pal retired Guide Dog Alma, who were also there. Best of all though, he got to meet Harry, the lovely gentleman who he is named after.

So, Harry would like to introduce Harry…………

When Harry met Harry

April 28, 2008

Caught in the act

There is a part of our garden that is forbidden to puppies. It’s not just that it’s planted with the less robust plants, but it also contains a couple which are poisonous to dogs. This area has always been off limits to Harry and is protected by a small fence, but now that Harry is practising for the Olympics, he has started to take great delight in vaulting over the barrier to explore this forbidden land.

On Saturday he was caught in the act. Not only had he trampled on some delicate specimens, and snapped them clean off at the base, but he was just about to decapitate the first shoot on our prized clematis. When challenged he was all, What? Is this not allowed?

Is this not allowed?

A trip to the garden centre for a higher barrier is now on the calendar.

April 25, 2008

London 2012

Harry is an agile pup and very light on his feet, so most of the time we don’t hear him when he’s moving around. We’ve bought him a new tag for his collar, one that makes more of a tinkling noise against his Guide Dog tag when he’s being boisterous. This gives us the early warning signal we need when he’s not in the same room as us. He hasn’t yet figured out how we know when he’s up to no good and always looks totally stunned to be caught in the act.

Harry’s agility is quite astounding and he now has his sights set firmly on joining the gymnastic squad for the London 2012 Olympic Games. His speciality will be The Vault.

Pommel horse

April 24, 2008

Freedom!

Harry had a huge adventure today – his first free run. It took us an absolute age to get him the 50 yards or so down the lane to the open field, there were just too many interesting things to smell on the way. Every blade of grass had to be investigated, every stinging nettle sniffed and every rock and pebble had to be checked out. Then there it was, a wide open space for him to run about in.

Harry’s a cautious little chap, and it took him a while to realise that he was allowed to stray more than 6 inches away from us. When he did, he only wandered a short distance before he came hurtling back, bouncing like a spring lamb, with those ears flying, eager to get back to the humans and a place of safety.

If only it was always going to be this easy.

Flying ears

April 23, 2008

Weekly update – 14 weeks

Today Harry turned 14 weeks old.

Harry’s tail is now 12 inches long (30 cm) and his weight, well that’s now an impressive 15.9 kg. That’s a weight gain of 2.2 kg, which just doesn’t seem possible, when you consider we’ve only fed him 2.9 kg of food this week.

Posing by the deck

Harry’s obedience is excellent at the moment, he does perfect ‘sits’ and he always comes when called, even when he’s busy digging for stones. Harry has even perfected his ‘down’ and will do this on voice command only, without the need for the hand signal. We’re currently working on ‘wait’, but he’s an impatient little soul and can’t always wait to get his treat.

It’s been a busy week, apart from the regular visits to the shops, trips to town, lunch in a busy restaurant and another Pilates class, he’s also met the postman, the lollipop lady, a policeman and two horses with riders – which really fascinated him.

The highlight for Harry this week was his play-date with Price, who at 7 weeks old is exactly half his age. Despite the difference in size they had a great afternoon full of fun and play, and more play, followed by even more play. Which is exactly what puppies do best except, perhaps, for sleeping.

Harry and Price

April 22, 2008

New kid

There’s a new kid on the block, a cute little fellow by the name of Price. Harry loves visiting other Guide Dog puppies but up until now they have all been older than him. Much, much older. He’s always been able to play the baby, but this time the tables were turned, this time Harry was the big boy, a role he was not entirely sure about.

Harry and Price

Harry wasn’t entirely sure either, when Price decided to investigate his undercarriage.

Price investigates

What’s scary for us though, is that only 7 weeks ago Harry was the same size as Price, and we’re wondering just how big will he be in another 7 weeks?

Uncle Harry

April 21, 2008

Bird Watcher

Harry continues to be much more aware of his surroundings and in particular, things going on above his head. In previous weeks, when an aeroplane has gone by overhead he’s heard the noise, but been unable to locate where the sound was coming from. It’s been the same story with birds, previously he could hear them but not see them.

Now he’s figured out that he needs to look up, and the birds fascinate him. He even managed to stop chewing on his chewy stick for a few moments just to watch them.

Bird watching

But just look at those ears, they keep getting longer and longer. They make him look so grown up.

April 18, 2008

Obsessed

Harry’s obsession with stone crunching continues and now he’s found a new source – the gravel bed. Earlier today he was caught red handed with his stash and looking very guilty. 

Guilty looking pup

In attempt to cure him of this fixation we introduced Harry to ice cubes. The first one was viewed with great suspicion, was tossed and chased around the kitchen floor, before finally being carried into his kennel for a further detailed examination

First ice cube

After deciding that it posed no threat, it was duly crunched with relish, quickly followed by a second, and a third. All the gravel has now been swept back where it belongs and we’re hopeful it’ll stay there. At least until tomorrow.

April 17, 2008

Thwarted

Harry has long had the urge to go mountaineering. Up until now he has resisted the temptation to make another attempt at going upstairs, perhaps because he remembers the indignity of needing to be rescued the last time he tried.

Now that he’s bigger and much more confident, he’s made a few sneaky attempts to get to those forbidden treasures that lie upstairs, so we’ve dusted off the stair-gate and thwarted his attempts. Do we feel bad? Well, yes, because he gave us such a reproachful look and now spends a lot of time gazing wistfully at the stairs.

Gazing up the stairs