Number58

Although Harry has a new cushion pad for the bottom of his bed he’s showing great reluctance to change. He just loves the one that’s in there now, so as long as he doesn’t start to chew at the small hole in it, we’re just going to leave it in there for a while longer.

In fact, since the weather turned colder he’s also stashed his spare cushion in there – the very small one he used when he first came to Number 58. It makes for a very warm and cosy den, one which he’s very partial to, and one which he doesn’t like to leave first thing in the morning. Harry has never been an early riser, but on these chilly mornings it’s proving very difficult to get him to leave his bed. Instead of greeting us at the kitchen door, he now just lies there thumping his tail with pleasure.

As far as Harry is concerned he’s had a brilliant week this week. He’s done lots of trips out to shops, supermarkets, cafes and the pet shop and travelled by bus, train and car. His fitness levels are returning to normal and he has much more stamina than he did last week, so he’s been able to manage a couple of much longer free runs on the moors and in the woods.

Harry’s also been on a weekend away. This was a great treat for Harry as it meant a couple of trips to the beach. Harry loves the beach – his nose starts to twitch with pleasure as soon as we’re within striking distance of the sea. By the time we’re parking the car he’s almost delirious with excitement, and trying to walk the last few yards down to the beach on the lead is almost more than he can bear.

Harry had a marvellous time playing in the waves, even if the water was freezing cold, but his favourite thing to do on the beach is digging. And when there’s already a huge hole there, that someone else started, well he just has to lend a hand. Or should that be paw?

Harry has had a much more interesting week this week as things have returned to normal after his operation. Once his stitches came out on Saturday morning it was all systems go and he couldn’t wait to out free running again, and although his general fitness level is not quite what it was, it doesn’t seem to slow him down – he just sleeps a lot more when he gets back home.

Harry’s fur has started to grow back in again, but he still has quite a bald patch where they took a biopsy of his skin to investigate the cause of the red patch around his neck. The good news is that the results have come back negative for all of the ominous things it might have been, but the bad news is that the vet can’t say for certain exactly what’s causing it. The best guess is a mild form of dermatitis which he’ll probably grow out of – it’s the equivalent of suffering from a bad case of teenage spots!

On top of all the prodding and poking that Harry’s endured recently, he’s also had to suffer further a further assault on one of his paws. A lump appeared last week, which then became raw and sore, so the vet has been prodding and poking that too. The verdict is that it’s another teenage ailment and it’ll disappear as fast as it appeared.

Harry’s also had a visit from his supervisor this week, who came to check on his progress. After observing Harry in his home environment, they went for a ride on the bus together. Harry, of course, thought it was a great opportunity to show off and behaved perfectly, apart from trying eat a bus ticket which had been discarded on the floor of the bus.

Harry’s best bit of the week was when Blaze came to visit. He really loved having her around, despite the fact that she kicked him out and took possession of his bed. He was distraught when she left and cried by the front door for a full twenty minutes.

Harry would probably deny it, but he’s already putty in her paws. There’s going to be a time, in the not so distant future, when she’s going to run rings around him.

Tomorrow is the 16th October and that means Harry will have reached the grand old age of 9 months. He’s very different from the cute little pup that turned up at just 6 weeks old, and although he’s still cute, he’s starting to behave much more like the mature dog he’ll eventually turn out to be.

Harry has always been pretty intelligent and learns quickly, especially when a treat is on offer, so teaching him the various commands for his obedience training was never particularly difficult. Like all Labradors, Harry is seriously food orientated and when it comes to meal times he always lets us know, even if we’re just 5 minutes late with his dinner.

We actually gave up mentioning the word dinner a long time ago, because the mere mention of the word sent him running, faster than the speed of light, into the kitchen so he could sit and wait in a very focused manner beside his bowl. Recently we have run out of different words to use, so we have now started to spell the words out. What we hadn’t bargained on though, was a pup that could spell. Yesterday we spelled out the word D-I-N-N-E-R and couldn’t believe it when Harry shot out the room and headed straight for his bowl.

Despite the fact that he still has stitches, he insists on lying in his favourite position – doing his frog impersonation. If he ever decides to go swimming (instead of just paddling) we’re pretty sure he’ll be doing the breaststroke and not the doggy paddle.

Harry’s week has been fairly boring. He’s been quite restricted on what he’s been allowed to do, and much to his disgust he hasn’t been allowed to jump in the car, on to a bus or even a train. Although he has been out to the local shops, the library and a Pilates class, he much prefers to go further afield so he can travel in the car or on public transport. The only good thing about this week, as far as Harry is concerned, has been the relatively good weather – it means he’s been able to spend lots of time lying in his favourite spot in the sun.

Harry has had a busy, but very different week this week.  In addition to his regular trips to town, the supermarket, the barbers and a few journeys on public transport, he’s also been on a trip to visit some friends who were staying in the area.

In order for us to get to the place they were staying we had to cross a ford, so we parked the car and decided to walk across. We thought Harry might be a little concerned about walking through running water, but not at all. Although he desperately wanted to play in the river, he managed to contain the urge to jump in, and trotted straight across.

His trip to the Guide Dog Training Centre in Bolton on Tuesday was also a new experience for Harry. He absolutely loved every minute, and really enjoyed meeting a few of the Guide Dog Trainers, some of who he’ll meet up with again when he moves on to the next stage of his training. Harry was delighted to have his photograph taken with them by the Press. He really can be such a poser sometimes.

His best bit of the day, and probably his whole week, was when he bumped into his pal Cindy. Harry used to play with Cindy when he was a very small pup, and just for a moment he didn’t recognise her – she looked so grown up and was wearing her training harness. When Harry suddenly realised who she was, he just couldn’t sit still and wriggled around until he finally managed to say hello, Cindy seemed pretty pleased to see him too.

Next week is definitely going to seem pretty boring in comparison.

Harry’s been back to the vet this week – the redness on his neck still hasn’t cleared up despite taking antibiotics for 10 days. It doesn’t seem to bother him, but we need to get to the bottom of it, so the vet is going to do some further investigation in the next couple of weeks.

As well as supervising all the workmen that have been in and out of Number 58 this week, Harry has still managed to find time to squeeze in his regular outings. He’s had free runs, been out to lunch, on the train a few times, had a trip to the supermarket and on a shopping expedition.

Harry has always had a thing about leather. He just loves it. If anyone is wearing leather shoes he’ll edge along furtively towards them so he can rest his chin on their shoes, and if given the chance, he’ll fall fast asleep on them while breathing in the scent. With this in mind we thought he’d really enjoy a visit to the handbag section of a department store. But no, just like most men, he was totally bored by the whole experience.

Harry’s week has been a mixture of highs and lows. He thoroughly enjoyed the beginning of the week while we still on holiday, but now we’re back home he’s sulking at the normality of it all. He just can’t understand why we’re not going to the beach everyday.

Harry’s not the only one that’s not happy about being home. On our return from holiday we found we had a disaster on our hands. When the Number 58 computer was switched on all it could manage was a black screen with a few words of gobbledegook on it. Technoman (a.k.a.Steve) spent a long time trying to sort it out, only to announce hours later, that it had gone phut and was now officially kaput.  My beautiful computer with over 6,500 photographs and every piece of music we’ve ever owned is dead. The hard drive has been fried.

The good news is, that for some reason, I insisted that Technoman do a complete back-up the morning we left for holiday. (He was later heard chuntering that didn’t he have enough to do already?)  So, now we have a new computer, but it’s strange, very stange, and seems to work in mysterious ways. Fortunately everything has been recovered via the back-up, but things are not where I left them, photos are not in the correct folders and documents are all over the place. Don’t even mention my e-mail address book – it’s yet to be located. Every 15 seconds or so I’ve been asking Technoman “What’s this?” “Where’s that?” “How do I do. this?”. He’s so fed up that he’s run off to Leeds with Harry. Who knows if they’ll ever come back?

Ok. Rant over. Thank you for your patience. But if you’ve been wondering why Harry’s blog had gone quiet and then suddenly there’s 4 posts, well it’s something to do with having to buy a new computer. So, back to Harry.

Harry’s week away wasn’t all fun and games on the beach. He’s been to lots of new places and had a lot of new experiences in a busy market town, and since we’ve been back home he’s also been in to the city again. This week has also seen him trying to cock his leg when he needs to pee, instead of squatting. The first time he did it we couldn’t stop giggling, it seemed to happen by accident. Harry was on a free run – there was a patch of really tall grass and it was obviously tickling him as he squatted, so his right leg went up in the air. Trouble is he tried to raise it while still squatting, and almost fell in the process. He jumped back up, looked around indignantly and was all “who pushed me”? The second time, he didn’t attempt to do it from a squatting position, he just cocked his leg, but was so obviously fascinated by the whole process that he tried to turn around to watch. The end result was just the same and over he went again, as indignant as ever.

Harry’s highlight of the week could be any one of his adventures from his holiday. Most likely he would choose one of his romps through the sand dunes, although we probably wouldn’t agree – after his rolling episode we got very nervous in those dunes.

Harry’s week has been full of excitement, from meeting the new pup Burley to going on holiday to the beach, and at times it’s all been a bit too much so he’s had to take an afternoon nap. Harry’s very particular about where he takes his naps, and if there’s a patch of sunlight somewhere, anywhere, he’ll find it. It might only be the size of a postage stamp, but he’ll claim it as his own.

Harry’s also been out and about in a strange town visiting lots of shops, pubs, restaurants, and teashops, all of which were new to him. They were full of lots of new and interesting smells, but he behaved exceptionally well in all of them, despite all the attention he received. On one particular visit to a tearoom we sat in the corner where no-one could see him, so he inched his way across the floor until he was in view. He then lay there fluttering his eyelashes at the ladies on the next table, until eventually they noticed him, at which point he stretched out, turned his head to show off his best side, and was all ‘Oh aren’t I gorgeous, but of course you can’t stroke me, because I’m a Guide Dog Puppy in training!’ Harry can be such a diva sometimes.

Harry simply adores the beach and his highlight of the week had to be the very large stick he found, not the one he carried round for a while, but the one he couldn’t quite manage to pick up. Harry thought it was the biggest stick he’d ever seen, maybe even the biggest stick in the whole world!

Harry’s had a great week this week, as well as all his usual trips out he’s been on a free run with his little pal Grover (who just about managed to keep up with Harry’s long legs) and he’s been back to the big city again.

Harry was very calm and focused while we were in Leeds, he didn’t get too distracted by all the loud noises and heavy traffic, so we stayed longer than last time. He did get a bit of a fright though – we stopped and asked him to relieve himself at the side of the road, then just as he started, an ambulance went past and turned on it’s flashing lights and siren. Poor Harry completely forgot what he was supposed to be doing and looked around, aghast at the strange and very loud noise. Needless to say, we had to stop for toilet duty again about 10 minutes later, once Harry had recovered his composure.

Apart from that one little incident, Harry had a great time in the city. He loved the fact that it was busy and walked around wagging his tail and showing off, so that people would admire him!

Harry’s been to the vet again today, this time for a rash on his neck. It’s been there a while and at first we though it had been caused by his collar rubbing when it got wet, but it hasn’t got any better. Harry started to scratch it yesterday so we thought it best to let the vet have a look.  He gave him an injection of an anti-inflammatory to take away Harry’s urge to scratch, and he has tablets to take for the next 10 days.

Harry’s Supervisor has also given us a different collar for him to try and help stop any rubbing. It’s a very posh leather one, instead of the fabric snap-lock one that most Guide Dog puppies have.  Although it fits him like a glove, when we compared it to his first baby collar, which was also leather, we got quite a shock.

It’s hard to believe Harry’s neck was ever that small, so while we were at the vet’s today we weighed him. He’s now 33.7 kg – is there no end to his growth and weight gain?

Harry has had a relatively routine week this week, it has mostly been been his regular trips out and a few free runs, although he did have a visit from his Supervisor on Monday and Puppy Class on Tuesday.

Puppy Class is a time of both great excitement and frustration for Harry, he loves to go and see all his pals but he gets really frustrated that he’s not allowed to play with them. It takes a while for him to realise that he’s there to work not play. Harry has now moved up to the ‘Big Pups Class’ where a lot more is expected of the pups, so it took all of his concentration to stay focused and do as he was asked. The class this week included lots of obedience work off the lead, but Harry was a star and handled himself very well indeed, completing all the exercises without any fuss.

Now that Harry’s growth rate has slowed he seems to sleep much less through the day and so it takes much more to keep him occupied. Quite often Harry is happy to amuse himself provided he has toys to play with so we had an outing to the pet shop at the weekend to stock up with some new toys. Harry loves these trips to the pet shop as there are always some new and interesting tasty treats at the check out, which he always gets to sample. Then, when we get home there is always something exciting that appears out of the bag, although on this trip Harry couldn’t wait and tried to empty the contents of the bag while we were still in the car park. Patience is not one of his strong points.

Although Harry loved the new toys he got this week, they were all over shadowed by the bone he was given. No doubt, come December, he’ll be writing to the man in the red suit to ask for another.

Now 31 weeks old, Harry should have had his kennel cough vaccination during the last week but as we’re still waiting for the final test result from the vet, it has had to be delayed. Hopefully the result should be back and he’ll get his vaccination sometime over the next couple of days.

This week has been much more work orientated for Harry.  He’s had his usual trips to the supermarket, coffee shops and restaurants, and even spent quite a lengthy spell (for him) in a clothes shop. Harry’s also been on a visit to a local hospice for their summer event where he naturally charmed everybody.

Harry also worked very hard for his Good Citizen Bronze Award and we’re very proud of him. We’d done a lot of practice at home, especially on the extended ‘stay’ command, but puppies can be very unpredictable, especially at the age Harry is now. Fortunately when it came to exam time he didn’t forget any of his obedience training and did all his tasks perfectly.

Harry’s has loved watching the Olympic horse riding events on TV this week, but his best bit has to be the visit he had from Grover, they had great fun playing together and Grover loved tormenting Harry from under the kitchen chairs, but after a while Harry was exhausted so he tried to take a quick nap. He’d reckoned without the persistence of Grover.