Number58

Today Harry turned 13 weeks old.

Harry now weighs 13.7 kg so we’re thankful that he’s walking well on the lead and doesn’t need to be carried home when he’s had enough. It seems that most of his growing this last week has been focused on his tail which now measures 11½ inches (29 cm) and his ears, of course.

His favourite pastime at the moment is to dig for stones, then spend hours chewing on them. He knows to leave them in the garden when he comes in, but he’s getting really sneaky and has started to hide them under his tongue, so even when we check his mouth we don’t find them. After a while there’s this crunch, crunch, crunch followed by a thud as the stone hits the floor. Harry’s all, hey – look what I’ve brought in, aren’t I clever?

It wouldn’t be so bad if he didn’t leave them lying everywhere because they can REALLY hurt when you stand on one.

The stone chewing is all about the fact that Harry is now teething. His ‘big’ teeth are pushing through in a few places in his mouth and it really does look sore. He doesn’t complain though, and it certainly hasn’t put him off his food. He’s got all sorts of special toys designed for teething pups, but is he interested? No. He’d much rather have an unhygienic, covered in crud, scruffy stone from the garden.

Harry’s favourite bit of the week has to be last Friday when he got to visit Guide Dog puppy Cindy. After playing together for ages, or maybe that should read after Harry tormented her for ages, he thought he would lay claim to her favourite toy. There’s really nothing quite like another dog’s toys to keep a pup happy.

It seems there’s another puppy here at Number 58 and it lives in the gas fire in the front room. It’s only his reflection in the glass, but it keeps sneaking up on him when he least expects it. Yesterday it appeared again, just as he was settling down for a snooze, and he wasn’t happy – it was disturbing his nap time. After much posturing and harrumphing, Harry decided this new stranger had to be investigated.

Cautiously he made his way forward, then he moved to the left and it moved left too, so he moved to the right and it followed him. A head on approach was required, only he hadn’t bargained on the glass being so hard and bumped his nose.

Over the weekend it became obvious that we are guilty of letting Harry watch too much TV. Way too much. In particular, reality TV. Especially on Saturday nights.

Now he wants to audition for the part of Oliver.

Harry’s perfect way to spend the afternoon is now out and about on his lead, preferably in the sunshine, followed by a long nap. There’s just so much to see – people and those funny little people in pushchairs, bicycles, traffic, other dogs, lamp posts, waste bins, litter, and best of all leaves.

Harry is mesmerised by leaves. Leaves that flutter past his nose in the breeze and tease him. He just has to stop and watch their progress, aching to chase them. You can almost hear him thinking ‘if only’……….

Harry continues to thrive and sometimes it seems as though he’s growing before our very eyes. His ears, however, are on a different schedule to everything else and are growing at an astounding rate. When he’s drinking they dangle in his water bowl and leave two perfectly parallel trails of water across the kitchen floor, then yesterday he managed to accidentally bite one. They may be getting in his way, but we think they’re rather fetching.

Today Harry turned 12 weeks old.

Harry’s tail has grown another ½ inch and now measures a stately 10 inches (25.5 cm). His weight has increased by 1.6 kg this week to 12.4 kg, and when he’s being carried that can feel like 12.4 tons.

Harry’s toilet training continues to improve and any accidents in the house now are entirely our fault. Sometimes we just don’t seem able to get to the back door fast enough.

We have no idea why, but travelling in the car has suddenly gone from the bottom of Harry’s list to the top. He is now so keen to get into the car that he tries to jump, not waiting to be lifted in. Yesterday he tried to jump in, even before the tailgate was opened, and ended up falling over backwards in a tangled heap of legs, with a squawk and a very indignant look on his face.

Over the last week Harry’s been to lots of shops and cafes and went on his first visit to the local Girl Guide Unit, which he loved. Harry also seems to be thinking about things a bit more this week. Instead of taking the shortest route and trying to squeeze through a gap between the table and a chair to get a toy, now he’ll go the long way round, because it’s easier. Harry also spends a lot of time looking wistfully at the stairs wishing he was big enough and brave enough to climb them.

Harry is still one very laid back puppy, though. He went on a sleepover at the weekend and when we collected him, instead of rushing up to greet us, he was all, Oh right, it’s just you. Now, where did I leave that toy?

Harry’s best bit this week? It’s got to be that brand new, big wide world he’s now allowed to explore. Even if it’s only on the end of a lead.

Fred is Harry’s best friend. In the first few weeks at Number 58, when Harry was sleepy, he would snuggle up to Fred for a snooze. Fred was always available and never complained.

Now that Harry is bigger than Fred, things have changed. Fred is still a loyal companion but now he’s also expected to play, after all, he has that all important extra – a tail!

We’re changing Fred’s name to ‘Poor Fred’.

Harry loves visitors, especially his pals Guide Dog pups Hadley and Goldie. While they both sit in eager anticipation of the small treat they’re about to get, Harry has absolutely no idea why he’s sat there. He just wants to join in.

Yesterday was definitely the warmest day of the year so far, so while some of us took advantage to do a bit of gardening, Harry decided the best thing he could do was just watch. We were hoping he might help do some weeding by pulling up the grass and moss between the cobbles, but frankly he just couldn’t be bothered.

Those of you reading this who know us personally will know that our previous Guide Dog puppy, Alfie, was not what you would call small. Alfie was a big dog with a big personality, and his size caused us the odd problem, usually when he wanted to go in a different direction to the one we were taking. We’ve tried hard not to make comparisons between the two, but there is one that we can’t help but make.

The photographs below were taken at EXACTLY the same age, to the very day.

That’s Alfie is on the left and Harry on the right.

Are we worried about how big Harry is going get? We’ll get back to you on that one.