A MORNING IN THE LIFE OF AN ENERGETIC BORDER COLLIE PUPPY!

Today was a TRICKY day.  Buddy has decided he no longer likes his crate (argh) so evenings are a nightmare trying to get him in and days have been a total no go.  So he’s been coming EVERYWHERE with me!

Thank god he likes his crate in the car and can have a good old snooze in there.

So this is pretty much how the day panned out this week – not an unusual day by far…

6am Up and feed cats, get breakfast, some training with Buddy.  Attempt some crate training with him whilst playing some super fun absolute dogs games.

7am Get showered and ready, pop back in and out of kitchen to re-assure Buddy and calm him down several times when barking at birds out the window or random noises outside or on TV.  Eventually he settles with a chew.

7.30am Get bits ready for school run and get prepared in case I need to do some work in the car. Oh Buddy’s whining – stop! It’s toilet break time.  Try and supervise as Buddy likes to bark at every noise going in the garden.  Really good boy always does a wee and poop on command.

7.45am Buddy comes in and finds a pack of matches, queue Jack chasing him to get them.  I tell Jack not to worry – realise there are matches and mud from Jacks shoes absolutely everywhere! On my ‘just’ clean floor! Oh well it never stays clean for long so why am I even bothered anymore 🙄

8.00am I manage to find a toy that I know Buddy will swap for the matches and manage to get him in the kitchen and get his harness on.  Just in time to get out the door and take Jack to school.

8.10am Thinking in the car thank god Jack is old enough to get himself ready in the morning, how do people do toddlers and puppies at the same time? They must work magic or drink far more than I do.

8.25am Kiss Jack goodbye.  Totally chucking it down.  Totally not going for a walk yet.  We park up a bit away from school.  Came prepared! Hot choc in a flask, got some volunteer work to do on phone and a few social media posts to sort for a client so will do that now.  Buddy starts snoring in the back.  Result!

9.30am Still belting it down – still not walking.  Decide to do some high energy training games at home to tire the fella out.

9.45am Arrive home it’s stopped raining and sun is out.   Potter about and get breakfast dishes done and a load of washing on while Buddy runs in and out of the garden to expel some energy after being calm for so long.  Queue barking at birds.  Oh my life why did I get a Puppy!

10.15am Shut Buddy in house while I open garage door.  He’s scared of the garage and jumps and nips me when I go near it so we are going to do some training in the form of playing and distractions of yummy treats around the door so I can figure out what he doesn’t like.  Is it the garage? Is it the door? Or both? Buddy barking his head off in the house.  Hates it when I come out without him.  I scatter feed chicken and kibble near the garage door.  Release the beast!

He goes near the garage no problem and even inside to get the food.  Doesn’t stay long though.  I got the tunnel out already so we practice some agility through it, both ends.  He is totally loving the tunnel and even taking his toys back and forth without cue bless him! Great confidence builder.  Also a massive bucket filler as is ANY training with Buddy.

Think we will do a bit of scatter and aeroplane (slow) feeding, time to calm down and look at garage again. Hmm so he will go in and out no problem really, soon as I so much as put my hand near the door he goes crazy regardless of how much food I have.  Door flings open in wind and emits a loud squeak.  Well that could be it! He cannot STAND squeaks.  We had this with the log burner.  Wonder if it’s that.  Okay lots more work needed on the door then.  Will try that another day.

11.15am Going to do some hoovering and see if Buddy will take a pigs ear in a rolly ball while I do it.  Result he’s into it!  Hoover we go.  Awesome he’s doing so well at ignoring the hoover.  Just two months ago he would bark, lunge and nip at the noise and movement.  So it can be done I re-assure myself!

11.30am feeling hungry, going to get my lunch on and calm the pooch so he’ll settle down.

12.00pm Pooch has settled I’ve eaten and there is some ironing to catch up on then I have to pop out to a meeting.  God I hope he goes in his crate!

Want to know how the afternoon panned out and whether I made it to my meeting?  Check out the following weeks blog here!