Number58

Harry and his pals were invited to an Open Garden event on Sunday.  In total there nine Guide Dogs attending – one working dog, two retired and six pups. It was a lovely summer’s day and they all had a fabulous time, especially as there was a stream in the garden so they could paddle if they got too hot.

Harry is always delighted to meet up with both Price and Summer, who he has known since they were tiny pups. Although they are not in any way related, Summer is starting to look a an awful lot like Harry, and apart from the obvious, it seems the only real difference at the moment is in size, but she’s catching him up fast.

Usually, the only time all three of them are together in the same place is at puppy class, where they always have to be on their best behaviour, so Sunday afternoon was a real treat.

After a quick hello it didn’t take them long to get down to the serious business of playing. Less than 20 seconds actually.

Over the course of our holiday Harry grew more and more confident about being on the beach. By the end of the week he was truly comfortable with the sand and didn’t even mind the sea so much.

In fact, he was no longer running away from the waves and even dared to step into them one or twice, but only for a short time and only if it was really necessary.

Of course, retrieving a particularly interesting piece of seaweed from the waves was considered totally necessary…………

I want it! I want it!…………

Now if I can just reach it…………

Ah ha! Got it!

Harry has always been one very laid back pup, so the idea of chilling out while on holiday came naturally to him. His favourite pastime (apart from hurling himself round the beach like a mad dog) was to just lie in the sun and take in all the new sights, sounds and smells around him.

His favourite spot was down by the estuary, where he could just lie on the grass and watch. Once he got himself settled it was difficult to get him away again and he would lie there for ages fascinated by the boats bobbing around on the water.

One particular evening the tide was fully out, so we took Harry down on to the sand for a stroll. Harry was beside himself with excitement – here were the things that floated on the water, right in front of his nose. Each one was given a thorough inspection, and any attached seaweed was duly pulled off the exposed hull.

Harry undertook this task so seriously, and with such gusto, that he could probably get a job in a boat yard.

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Harry is now 25 weeks old and this last week has been a very different one for Harry – he’s been on holiday for the very first time.

While we were away, we used the change of scene to make some alterations in Harry’s routine. The first of these changes was in his sleeping arrangements. Up until now Harry has been sleeping in an indoor kennel, although during the previous week the door was left open overnight to give him the freedom to move around the kitchen overnight. Now the problem we had is that Harry’s kennel is quite large and it would have taken up an awful lot of room in the boot of the car, this would have meant leaving some of our ‘stuff’ behind.  Not an ideal situation. So we had no choice – Harry would have to sleep in his new ‘big dog’s bed’.

We were expecting quite a disturbed first night, a strange bed in a strange house, but no – Harry was a real star and took to it like a duck to water. After about two minutes he was fast asleep and we didn’t get a squeak out of him until 7.30 the next morning. Of course, this may have had something to do with him being shattered after the excitement of his first run on a beach.

The other major change for Harry was in his feeding routine – down from three meals a day to two. This bit was easy while we were away, we just made sure he went somewhere new and exciting at lunch time so he didn’t even notice he was missing a meal.

Now we’re back home things are different. Once we’ve finished our lunch, he immediately moves to where his food is prepared and sits expectantly. A short time later, when he realises nothing is happening, he’ll throw us a dirty look. A few more minutes and he gives a whimper – just to remind us he’s there and still waiting. After a few more minutes he wanders over to his bed, throws himself down with a huge sigh, and then sulks. We’re hoping it won’t be long before he gets used to the new regime.

Harry had an absolute ball on holiday and it would be hard to pick just one highlight from the whole week. He loved all his runs on the beach and the cliff top walks. He especially loved his nightly trips to the local pub where everyone made such a fuss of him. But for Harry, probably the best bit was the time he spent just pottering around on the beach with his best friend.

After the first initial shock of walking on sand Harry became more and more confident on the beach and started to think of it as his own personal playground. He was quite happy to spend a leisurely afternoon or evening mooching around, investigating every piece of flotsam and jetsam that could be found.

Everything had to be sniffed at and prodded with his paws and then put in his mouth for further examination. Shells and pebbles were always examined thoroughly and tested for crunchability, but seaweed was definitely his favourite, especially the long stringy bits which he loved to carry round. On one occasion though, Harry’s natural curiosity did get him into trouble. The scuttling crab than ran right in front of him didn’t take too kindly to being picked up – Harry dropped it with amazing speed and a look of total horror on his face. We’re still not quite sure who got the biggest shock – Harry or the poor crab.

Occasionally pieces of driftwood would be tested out and crunched, but sometimes they were just too big – even for Harry.

Harry’s been on his first holiday. We took him to the coast for a week so we could all have a much needed break.

The first day we took him down to the beach he wasn’t so sure about the sand, it was all soft and kept moving under his feet, but he soon got used to it. The sea however, was a different matter. Every time he tried to sniff it and investigate, the waves would rush up the sand and slap him on the nose, so he decided it was best avoided.

Then at the weekend his best friend came to visit. The two of them love to splash around in muddy puddles together, but Harry was still a bit wary of the sea – so off they went to a huge pool left by the outgoing tide. It was there that Harry had his first lesson in deep sea paddling – from an expert.

Now that Harry is a little older and there’s little or no risk of puddles in the house, he has been granted the privilege of being allowed upstairs – but by invitation only. We had some work to do in the bedroom so Harry was invited up to join us. We took one of the small padded mats he used as a very small puppy and a bone for him to chew and settled him down in the corner of the room.

Within 5 minutes he had relocated both the pad and bone to the top of the stairs, although why he bothered taking the bone is a mystery – all he was interested in was taking the cover off the pad. But he certainly enjoyed being at the top of the world. It’s something Harry has aspired to for a long time.