Number58

Normally this post would be full of the things Harry’s has done throughout the last week, but today is New Year’s Eve and we have been reminiscing about some of the things that Harry has achieved throughout 2008.

When he first arrived with us back in March, Harry had a problem sleeping through the night – we did too, courtesy of all the wailing he did, but after a while he settled into routine and we all managed to get a decent night’s sleep.

Harry after a rough night

Our next challenge was to get Harry comfortable travelling in the car, something that proved very difficult until his good pal, and older Guide Dog pup Goldie, helped us out. She showed Harry how to travel without squawking and deafening everyone in the car. Goldie was also on hand when Harry started travelling by train during May. In fact, Harry learned an awful lot from Goldie before she went off to do her advanced training.

Harry and Goldie on the train

As a result Harry now travels exceedingly well on all sorts of public transport and really enjoys going into town on the bus or train to go shopping.

Harry also now has good social skills, he knows how to sit quietly, tucked under the table in a cafe or restaurant and can even be relied on to lie still for a whole hour when he attends Pilates classes. He even enjoys his occasional visits to the Girl Guide meetings.

2008 hasn’t all been work for Harry though, he’s enjoyed some great holidays – in June he had his first trip to the beach  Harry loves the sea, his nose positively twitches in pleasure as we approach the coast, and playing on the beach is his number one pleasure in life. Harry still remembers to behave like a good Guide Dog pup, even when he’s on holiday and always comes back when called.

Harry at the beach

July saw Harry go to the Guide Dog Gala Day where he won a rosette and a few weeks later he won another when he managed to gain his Kennel Club Good Citizen Bronze Award. Harry’s obedience has always been excellent but we were very proud of him when he achieved this award at such a young age.

Harry had another holiday, this time in the Lake District. He learnt such a lot from all the working Guide Dogs he met at the hotel – he even became much more patient when shopping,  something he has learned to enjoy, although if he had his choice he’d probably never set foot in another shoe shop in his life – like most men he just finds it so boring.

Harry in a department store

Later in the year Harry was invited to attend the launch of the Atherton Appeal, where he got to meet the Press and had his photograph taken. He enjoyed it so much and behaved so well, that he was invited back to the foundation stone laying ceremony.

The end of the year saw Harry meet Santa and his reindeer for the first time at a Christmas Market. After that initial meeting they became great friends, which was probably just as well, because everywhere we went after that, it seemed as though Santa was there too.

All told, Harry has had a very good year and would like to raise a glass of champagne to 2009 and the new challenges it will bring him.

Champagne Harry

Harry loves his trips to the beach, he really enjoys exploring every nook and cranny, and investigating every piece of seaweed and driftwood that may litter the shore.

One of the great things about Alnmouth, is that the beach looks different every day. Every time the tide goes out it leaves behind a different landscape, so every day Harry has somewhere new to explore.

Harry exploring the beach

The North Sea at this time of year is too cold even for Harry, although the pools left behind by the tide are great for paddling and finding treasure.

Harry the intrepid explorer

Harry can find all sorts in these pools, shells, pebbles, seaweed – but his favourite piece of treasure so far, has been a stray crab leg. Fortunately for him, it wasn’t still attached to a crab at the time.

As far as Harry was concerned Christmas was all a bit of a blur of new toys and other people’s houses, but all his patience and good behaviour paid off when he was rewarded with another visit to Alnmouth – his favourite place.

The beach is always quiet at this time of year, December is much too cold for most holiday makers, especially when there’s an easterly wind blowing. But it didn’t seem to bother Harry, he just enjoyed watching the surf and having the beach all to himself.

Harry on the beach

Harry didn’t much care about who had left them under the tree, all he knew was that he had new toys and he got to take them along, no matter which house we visited.

But one of his new toys really got the better of him – he just couldn’t figure out how to get the chewy bit off the rope.

Harry and his new toy

Merry Christmas!

Harry is much too busy playing with his Christmas presents to stop for photographs, but he did agree to having this one taken – posing in the hat he stole from Santa last night.

Harry wearing Santa's hat

Harry’s week started off in the best possible way, at least as far as he was concerned, with a visit from his favourite pal Blaze. He got to spend the whole day with her and that meant only one thing – lots of play, especially tug!

Harry and Blaze playing tug

As Harry has got older his nose has slowly changed in colour from black to brown, but suddenly this week we’ve noticed it’s started to go very pale in the middle, almost pink. He also seems to have been stretching a lot which was always a sign of him growing – we’re going to have to take him to the vets soon for another weigh-in to see just how much he’s grown.

The rest of the Harry’s week has been full of Christmas cheer and  he’s coped really well with all the comings and goings, he even managed to sleep through what turned out to be a noisy night in the pub.

He was a little perlexed when we put up the Christmas decorations, but after a cursory sniff at the tree he has ignored it, probably because there were no Bonios hanging from the branches. Harry has been getting lots of fuss this week while we’ve been out shopping as everyone has been in a cheery festive mood, he has even received his own personalised Christmas card.

And to make sure that he gets left some lovely presents, Harry has generously left the reindeer a few of his favourite biscuits right next to his card  – just to make sure that Santa knows who they’re  from.

Harry's Christmas card and biscuits for the reindeer

Harry doesn’t have the foggiest idea what Christmas is all about, but he does know there’s something afoot and now there’s something which looks like a tree that has appeared in the front room.

It may look as though he’s sat waiting patiently for the big fella in the red suit to turn up, but in reality he’s hoping if he sits long enough for the camera he might just get a treat.

Harry sitting by the Christmas tree

We’ve been having a few problems with the gas boiler here at Number 58, as a result there has been no central heating for a couple of days. It’s not exactly freezing, but we’ve needed to put the fire on a few times, although  I really don’t know why we bothered. We’re getting no benefit from it at all, because you-know-who has claimed the best spot in the house.

Harry has turned into a couch potato (well he would be, if he was allowed on the couch) and no amount of cajoling can drag him away from his new favourite spot.

Harry lying in front of the fire

When we considered that he’d finally roasted himself long enough and turned it off, he gave us such a look of disgust and then took himself off to bed – in a strop.

Yesterday Harry’s pal Blaze came to stay for the day and Harry was really keen to share his favourite toy of the moment – a rope tug toy.

Harry offers Blaze his tug toy

Now that Blaze is a bit bigger, a game of tug seems to be a little bit more even and can last a bit  longer. In fact, they played tug for hours, neither one of them wanted to be the first to give up.

Harry and Blaze playing tug

Eventually though, tiredness was the victor and they both crashed out, totally exhausted on the kitchen floor.

Harry and Blaze crash on the kitchen floor

They weren’t the only ones that were tired, we were shattered just from watching them.

Harry’s blog has suffered a bit recently, not just from the lack of photographs, but from a problem we’ve been having with the site. Hopefully it’s all back to normal now.

The other thing that’s more or less back to normal, now that our cold symptoms are receding, is Harry’s routine. He was so delighted to go for a really long free run in the rain, that he found the muddiest puddle and pushed his nose right into it.  Just because he could.

Muddy pup