Busy busy busy!

Wow, today was full on! So much happened. First, we all went to a big park for a walk. I'm not allowed to get too much exercise (because I'm growing so fast at the moment and too much exercise might damage my joints), so we walked into the woods first...



...and then returned to a grass area pretty quickly afterwards.



I loved running around free.



Later I saw in the photos that my face looks pretty funny when I run.












See what I mean? I don't usually look like this:



Or this:



Or even this! Actually, in this photo, you can see very clearly how much my nose has changed colour. There's hardly any pink left, now.
(Compare it to this one Kati took just over a month ago.)



When we got back from Stanmer Park, our neighbours were just about to go out.



Seeing as there were three different sizes of dogs present, my photographer (Kati) decided to line us all up.



And here is the result! (She had to clone Miles out of the photo, though.)



After which, Cerberus went back into his house... only to surprise Zebedee moments later with an impromptu flying exit!



A little later on, it was time to go to my second puppy party at the vet's. Our people were asked to handle us again.



It got quite boring pretty quickly so I just laid down and watched others.



Kath (the behaviourist) used me again to demonstrate something.



This time it was to show that our people should do some short handling exercises during our walks, too. Just casually call us back and then have a look at our ears and such. I guess it'd be handy if we had grass or something stuck in our ears or somewhere else and they'd be able to take things off our fur without us freaking out or anything.



Do you remember The Gorgeous Golden Labrador from last week? Well, I do. She wasn't paying much attention to me, I thought, so I adopted a new method. Since subtle doesn't work with her, I thought I'd draw her attention to me - quite literally - with the help of her lead.



Surely she can't ignore me now.



There! Yes! She noticed me!



But hang on a minute, now she's pulling her own lead away from me! No! I didn't mean to start a game of tug-of-war....!



I meant, just... get... closer... to... me, OK?



And then... she did... and when she did, I got very shy all of a sudden!



Isn't she lovely, though? Her name is Ellie.



Anyway... Kath told our people a lot of things about us. Like that we aren't really deaf if we don't seem to hear some things they say to us. Oh, no... she revealed our secret! Still, I guess it's good that she told them, as I sure wouldn't want to be shouted at just because an ignorant person didn't understand that we can hear very, very well indeed - we just choose to act as we didn't when we feel like doing something else than what our people ask us to. I much prefer that my people do something else instead of shouting; like, offer me yummy treats for doing what they want me to do.

We did some socialising again at the party... all of us getting to know each other a little better.



Ellie is my favourite, though.

Puppy party

Do you know what a puppy party is? Neither did I. Well, I'll tell you: it's a party for puppies! Haha.



The puppy party was held at my vet's, and there were about seven of us puppies there. A dog behaviourist explained to our people some of our behaviour, and how to look after us. In the meantime we were getting used to seeing a lot of other puppies!



I was the shyest of them all, along with another little puppy who has adult dogs in her house. See her there on her own in the corner, way away from everyone else?



The dog behaviourist explained that it's quite common for puppies who have adult dogs in their homes not to know how to react to other puppies all of a sudden. They know how to interact with adult dogs, but have forgotten how to play with puppies.

Our people were shown how to handle us in a manner that makes us feel calm and relaxed.



They were taught how to check our ears and eyes for any problems, and also our paws and teeth. And then all of a sudden they put some gunge in our mouths!



That was a bit weird.



It did taste nice, though, whatever it was. Apparently this is called brushing teeth. I'm not sure about this at all. It felt so strange.



We had some more time to get used to each other while the behaviourist explained all kinds of doggie behaviours - like how we shake our head after we have played with someone and switch onto doing something else. It was quite funny 'cause I hadn't realised I was doing it, but now that they mentioned it, I saw that I, and all the other puppies do it, too! There was this flapping of ears every now and then in the room as someone switched from play mode to calm mode.



This Golden Retriever girl was probably the most lively of all of us. She seemed really interesting, but I was too shy to get close to her, so I just watched her from a distance.



The behaviourist asked me to demonstrate with her how to teach 'sit' to a puppy.



Our people were taught not to give us a treat if we try and reach up for it.



They were told only to give us the treat when all our four paws are on the ground. Boring, eh?



I knew all this already, so I was more interested in watching others learn.



(Actually I was hoping that I would get some of their treats...)



After a while I plucked up the courage to go and say hello to some of the others. (I'm told that people are more subtle in their ways when they go and say hello to new people.)



And after I'd done that, I felt confident enough to go to the Golden Retriever.



She was sooo cute!



And it seemed that she liked me, too!



Well, that's what I thought - but then, I turned my back, and see what she was doing! Flirting with other puppies! Shocking behaviour, don't you think?



Well, never mind. It was fun, all the same. And I can't wait to go again next week. I'm sure I will be much more confident next time.