Hi All! Thought I'd better scribble something just to let you know that I AM still involved in Dylan's upbringing, though admittedly Susan is doing most of the work. After years of committed dog non-ownership, on Thursday I found myself accompanying Susan to Puppy School in Eastbourne, who'd have thought such a thing would ever happen? We arrived a tad late (I was tired, and grumpy, sorry Suzie) feeling a bit intrusive as it was week three for the other paricipants and we were newbies. The lady running the course was very down to earth, literally so as when she addressed us she knelt on the floor at one end of the room, which was a vet's waiting room. All us trainee dog-owners sat around the edge of the room on chairs, nervously holding back our excited pooches and hoping that our's would not be the first to do something embarrassing. The class was well worthwhile and we received several useful pieces of advice, particularly how to hold Dylan under control when he gets aggressive. During the class there was a socialisation period during which the puppies were given free reign to frolic round the floor together. For some time Dylan was struggling to hold his own against a young Staffordshire terrier pup, it was a bit like someone being outclassed in a wrestling match so eventually our teacher requested that 'Hulk Hogan' be removed by his owner to give poor Dylan a chance to run around without being pinned to the mat every five minutes. Free of his oppressor Dylan took off down the room at pace, then hit a slippery patch and lost his footing. Everything went into slow motion as most of the room watched Dylan gliding on his side, straight through a puddle of pee recently deposited at the end of the room by one of his larger classmates. An audible 'ohhh noooo' escaped the lips of myself and several other owners in unison;as we watched, Dylan righted himself, steered into a turn and raced back towards the trainer. At this point it became clear that our teacher had not witnessed Dylan's 'canine mop' impression, before we had time to warn her she had opened her arms to welcome the damp welsh rocket into her embrace. I shouldn't admit it but I have to say that the look of distaste she gave when Dylan made contact was the funniest thing I had seen all day, I really couldn't stop myself laughing. To her credit, after quickly shaking Dylan out of her lap the trainer recovered her poise and took it in her stride, I would imagine it wasn't the first time she has been sponged by a smelly dog! I know, I know, I shouldn't laugh. Sorry!
To get uptodate, I had a fabulous time at a party hosted by great friends last night (you know who you are, marvellous cocktails and super band). Why I am I mentioning this on a 'dog blog' ? Well, much to my suprise I awoke with only the barest smidgeon of a hangover, and much to Susan's suprise agreed to drive down to the beach with Dylan first thing in the morning. Okay, I admit the presence of a beach-side cafe and the promise of a fry-up were additional incentives not to be sniffed at. Fortifed by an 'english breakfast we gave the young scamp a run out on the beach, it was a lovely bracing morning, plenty of white horses and only hardy surfers out on the water (nutters). We forgot the camera but we have some mobile phone pictures which I hope we will include soon with this blog entry. There should also be some images of his lordship sunning it in the garden when the sun belatedly decided to come out AFTER our return from the beach. Cheers all, Kevx.
P.S. from Susan:Here's the photos. I've also been trying for days to get some pictures of Dylan with a familiar object as I keep being asked how tall he is - here is my attempt to measure him up against the milk carton for scale. As ever Dylan had other ideas ...
No comments:
Post a Comment