Number58

It’s been a long time since Harry played in the river as the water has been so cold, so today he was making the most of the opportunity. When it came time to go home he just didn’t want to know and stood there with a very stubborn look on his face, daring us to go in and get him.

We didn’t.

Harry standing in the river

One of the things that Harry will learn when he goes to training school is how to navigate around roadworks. With that in mind, whenever we know of roadworks locally, we always try to take him to have a look.

When he was younger Harry was always fascinated by the sandbags draped over the base of the roadworks signs and insisted on stopping to have a good sniff, but now he just strolls through as if he did this sort of thing every day of the week.

Harry striding through the roadworks

This week Harry has been shopping in three different towns and also had two trips to Leeds. He’s also done a couple of new things, one of which was a trip to the opticians, which he thought was marvellous. There was loads of room for him to lie down and he managed to get a great vantage point where he could watch everything that was going on.

Harry quite at home in the optician's office

He had a thoroughly enjoyable time while he was waiting. Having turned on the charm with the assistants, they made such a fuss of him that he seemed quite prepared to spend the whole morning there.

Harry has also been on a free run his his good pal Blaze, they had a fine time time running around, rolling in the mud and splashing around in the stream together. Afterwards, despite all the fun and games, they both managed to walk on their leads down the road together in a sensible fashion.

The other new experience Harry had this week was a trip to jail. Not that he’d done anything wrong – we just had the opportunity to visit an old prison cell with him as part of an exhibition. He couldn’t wait to get through the door, but once he actually got in the cell he was pretty nonplussed. There wasn’t much to see inside for an inquisitive pup and there was certainly nothing much to play with.

Harry at the prison cell door

Now that the weather has turned a little bit warmer we have started grooming Harry outside. He has never really objected to being groomed, probably because he gets a reward at the end for staying still while he gets fussed over, but now he just can’t wait for the whole process to begin.

And the reason?  It’s because we ask him to jump on to our garden bench to make it easier for us. It’s the only time, and the only place that he is allowed to jump on the “furniture”. And he just loves to stand there like The King of the Castle, surveying his kingdom.

Harry standing on the bench - King of the Castle

On Friday we took Harry into town to an exhibition at the old nineteenth century magistrates court, now an arts and resource centre known as The Courthouse. We had coffee in the cafe, then had a wander around looking at the exhibits.

Jail cell windows in The Courthouse

One of the attendants suggested that we might like to take Harry upstairs where we could see one of the original jail cells.  Harry, being the inquisitive pup that he is, marched straight in to the open cell, did a full inspection of the hard wooden bed, checked out the primitive toilet in the corner and decided he wasn’t particularly impressed. His expression said it all – Where were all his creature comforts? Where was his nice soft bed, his toys, his bowl?

Harry definitely didn’t want to hang around – prison was just so boring.

Harry inside the cell

Usually when Harry comes in after a free run he is still in a state of high excitement, the adrenalin is pumping and he cannot stay still, not even for a millisecond. For the sake of our sanity we have learned (the hard way) to distract him and give him something else to focus on. Our tried and tested method is to give him a treat pushed inside a bouncy rubber Kong® toy.

Harry has to work hard to get the treat out and it usually takes him five to ten minutes during which time he calms down to the point where his eyes start to close. He then takes himself off to bed and falls straight asleep.

Recently he discovered that if he threw the toy in the air, when it landed and bounced, the treat would fall out and he would get his reward much quicker. It all became to easy for him. So we increased size of the treat making it even more difficult, but we hadn’t bargained with Harry’s sense of ingenuity.

Today when we gave him his treat filled Kong® he ran straight out the kitchen, then we heard a loud THUD, THUD, THUD.  Running into the hall we found Harry halfway up the stairs watching the toy bounce down the stairs, promptly spilling out his treat when it hit the bottom.

Now, it seems, we need to go back to the drawing board and think of something else to calm him down after a run. That, and vacuum the muddy footprints off the stairs.

Harry halfway up the stairs

Harry went with us on a trip to the optician today.

Within a minute of our arrival he obviously felt totally at home and positioned himself where he could see everything that was going on. Instead of lying neatly next to a chair like a good Guide Dog pup should, he spread-eagled himself on the carpet – a trick he normally does at home when chewing a bone or munching on a chew stick.

He was so relaxed we half expected him to try on a pair of specs for size.

Harry spread-eagled in the optician's office

At the start of this week Harry was still on holiday in the Lake District and still frolicking around in the snow at every available opportunity. Every morning was the same – he just couldn’t wait to get outside and play in the snow.

Harry in the snow

Once we got home Harry settled back into his routine of training walks interspersed with free runs.  Apart from his regular trips, which he always enjoys, Harry has visited the Town Hall this week. He found the whole experience rather boring and couldn’t wait to get back on the train to go home.

During the first few days back the weather was still really cold, which meant that Harry could continue to indulge himself in a spot of slow roasting in front of the fire. Harry loves the fire and is mesmerised by the flames, his favourite trick is to lie with his head on the hearth and push his nose as close as he can to the actual fire, prompting us to switch it off a few times as we were so worried he might blister his nose or singe his fur.

Harry roasting by the fire

Fortunately the weather has now warmed up and the need for the fire has gone (at least for now). This has left Harry a bit nonplussed about why he can no longer cook himself, while we’re just relieved that we won’t have a pup with bald bits.

Harry also had a visit from his Guide Dog Supervisor this week who came to check on his progress. She was pleased to see that his confidence is increasing in busy traffic situations, something which has caused him to be a little uncertain at times, especially when it’s raining or dark. Of course Harry knew it was an important day so he was in full “show-off” mode.

Harry’s highlight of the week has to be the time he spent with working Guide Dog Lacey. He fell totally in love with her and we’re sure that if he could, he would go straight back to the hotel and start flirting like mad again.

Harry looking adoringly at Lacey

The Local Council have proposed some new parking restrictions on our street which may affect us, so today we went to the Town Hall to have a look at the plans.

Harry found the whole experience rather boring and decided the best part about the trip was the train journey home, where there was something really interesting under the seat.

Turns out he’d much rather examine a used rail ticket than do his Civic Duty.

Harry burrowing under the seat on the train

One of the many things a Guide Dog puppy has to do is experience different types of stairs, from concrete and wooden stairs right through to indoor carpeted stairs. One of the most difficult to find are the open-tread staircases, we’ve discovered that these are mostly found inside people’s homes, but occasionally they can be located outside.

So when we came across this set of open stairs in an outdoor location we made the most of the opportunity and took Harry up and down them on a number of occasions.

Harry going up open-tread stairs

Despite the fact that they were particularly steep, Harry didn’t bat an eyelid and was so comfortable going up and down that he even managed to stop and pose for the camera on the way down.

Harry coming down open-tread stairs and posing for the camera