Number58

Harry fell in love this week – with a beautiful Collie-Retriever cross called Lacey.

Never one to miss an opportunity and with Valentine’s Day firmly in mind, Harry flirted shamelessly with her under the table in the hotel.

Lacey didn’t seem to mind at all.

Harry flirting with Lacey

Harry has always been very sound sensitive and very inquisitive, so every strange noise always has to be fully investigated.

Sometimes his curiosity can get him into difficult situations. This time he was so desperate to find out where the strange quacking noise was coming from that he insisted on trying to climb over the wall to see what it was.

The duck got such a fright when he saw Harry hanging down the wall staring at him, that he immediately stopped quacking.

Harry hanging over a wall

Following the trauma of our visit to the dentist we decided to treat Harry (and ourselves) to a few days in the Lake District.

Harry always enjoys walking somewhere new, there are new smells to be sniffed and new places to pose for photographs.

And as usual, Harry found the perfect spot to pose for the camera.

Harry posing by the tarn in front of snow topped mountains

Harry enjoyed taking a different toy down to the beach everyday to play with. Mostly he like to carry them along the shore and then drop them in  the water, but when it came to the frisbee he really didn’t get the concept of it flying – he tried to bury it instead.

Trying to bury his frisbee

Harry celebrated New Year’s Day in the best possible way – by being a really giddy pup on the beach.

Giddy pup on the beach

Happy New Year!

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 had a bit of a love-hate relationship with the water while we were on holiday. He was desperate to play in it, but it was so cold that he didn’t really want to go in.

A couple of ducks swimming around on Grassmere soon changed his mind, he was so curious about them that he just had to follow them into the water.

Harry set off tentatively at first, trying to creep up on the ducks but they were far too quick for him. Once he was actually in the water the cold didn’t seem to bother him, and after wading in he stood perfectly still just looking around wondering where they’d gone. Harry just couldn’t believe they’d left and didn’t want to stay and play with him.

One of Harry’s new experiences on holiday was meeting the local inhabitants. One of the walks we did involved going through two fields both of which were populated with sheep.  He’s seen them before, but never so close.

His first reaction was amazement, they looked like dogs but they weren’t behaving like dogs and they were eating grass! We gave him a few minutes to figure it all out, but he decided they weren’t really worth bothering with. He did, however, take great interest in the smelly deposits they’d left behind. Given Harry’s predilection to such tasty morsels we walked purposefully on, not giving him the chance to sample such delights.

The walk also involved passing through a kissing gate and climbing over a couple of stiles set in the stone walls, another first for Harry. He managed them all really well, but when we approached the last stile, a particularly high one, Harry thought he would show us how it was done and launched himself at it.

Unfortunately, it was higher than even he could manage in one jump and he missed, grazing his tummy in the process. He shook himself off, looked up at the stile in disgust, and then climbed very carefully up the steps. He stopped at the top to have a good look round and he was all  I missed? Me? Never. I meant to do that. Honest!

All week Harry was fascinated as we walked by the boats and was desperate to see what they were all about. Earlier in the week we had travelled across Lake Windermere on the car ferry which Harry had really enjoyed, and now every time we walked into Bowness past the piers, he would stand and watch them coming in and out.

Finally on Saturday the weather cleared up and the waves on the lake subsided enough for us to consider a boat trip. As we stood on the pier waiting, Harry just couldn’t believe his luck – at last a boat was coming and he wasn’t being asked to walk past and on into town.

We had been warned that some dogs get upset and distressed by the vibration of the boat’s engine so we were fully prepared to do the return journey by bus, but we shouldn’t have worried. Harry took to the boat like a duck to water and after introducing himself to all the passengers on the upper deck, he spent the rest of the journey with his nose literally hanging over the edge, determined not to miss a thing.