Hi Lexi,
Another update for you as it’s been nearly a month since the last one.
Rio continues to grow bigger by the week; he’s a real handful at times and when he wants to sit on your head you don’t really have much choice 🙂 He’s becoming more obedient each week, although as he’s still a puppy he still has his moments. He still cannot be trusted in certain rooms and will get anything he knows he shouldn’t have. As I sit and type this he has just brought me my glove that was drying on the radiator.
He seems to sense the things are there then makes a sly beeline for them. He also now has his adult teeth and is chewing everything he can get his paws on. We’re having to put most things we pride out of reach as he’s reaching places that previously he couldn’t get to. Yesterday Tina got home to find he’d managed to get a felt tip marker from a pot on a window ledge and proceeded to chew it leaving a lovely stain on the hall carpet. And on Monday night he decided that the wicker basket in the study was too big and he would rather chew it so it was half the size, leaving the bits down the hallway.
Last week Tina was working on stopping him from going upstairs as there have been a couple of occasions where he has come up during the night, whining and barking at the bedroom doors. A little bit of work and he’s now pretty good and stays at the bottom of the stairs looking up at you with ‘I want to come up but I won’t’ look.
Tina has been watching ‘The Dog Whisperer’ and seems to be able to use the techniques on Rio with good effect. Me, on the other hand gives up after a few failed attempts saying he just won’t do what I’m trying to get him to do. The next thing we need to work on is jumping up at people as he has just started doing that recently.
We’ve taken Rio out to some new places that are nearby. He loved being taken down the Thrapston Lakes and after some initial hesitation actually went in the lake, if only up to his ankles. He also got very muddy and I’d forgotten the mess that can make indoors when you get back home. He seems quite relaxed off the lead, but I do tend to avoid other dogs as he still thinks every other dog wants to play.
Rio’s now attended three obedience classes and although has not progressed out of the beginners lessons he has been doing really well and it shouldn’t be long before he is moved up. The only problem I have is stopping him from digging up the sand in the training area, Rio is definitely a digger!
And talking of digging, our garden is now looking like the Somme, with holes everywhere. Thankfully since the snow has been here he’s not really done much digging due to the hard ground. The snow was interesting for him; he was very wary at first but now loves it and had great fun chasing snowballs even though he couldn’t work out where they had gone when they landed on the ground.
And so to the latest video. This one was shot over recent weeks and shows him at the lakes and meeting the snow for the first time. Enjoy
Until next time, best wishes for now.
Graham (and Tina) and Rio