Bite me

23rd March

For anyone who read the stuff about Joyce McKinney, Andy has done a bit more research. He was interested to know if there was any evidence that it was actually our cottage she rented –and he found this piece which actually includes a picture of it!

So yesterday Andy went to London again. Dart and I were up early to drive him to Exeter to catch his 5.50am train. Dart hasn’t been a huge fan of the car, but he’s even less of a fan of being left alone so we thought we’d try him out. A little whimper when we hit the A30 – not exactly speedy, it was the Defender after all, but faster than he’s been before. He fell to sleep and stayed that way until I got home – result!

Despite that small victory, I think Dart has the terrible twos or something. He’s a super pup in so many ways, affectionate, great with his collar and lead, not greedy, much better at night and huge improvement in the car. But he’s started with these crazy episodes where he won’t stop ‘play’ biting and gets in to quite a frenzy. The usual techniques of stopping play, standing still, a loud ‘ouch’, firm ‘no’ etc aren’t having any impact. Yesterday I ended up putting him in his crate for a time-out because he just wouldn’t stop going at me –it’s annoying, but mainly it hurts! It seems to be the only thing that will stop him.

These episodes also seem to be ending up with a wee on the floor, and I think it’s a defiant wee, not a genuine accident. And the last couple of days he’s being selectively deaf with recall and just generally obtuse. Puppies, who’d have them hey?!

On the bright side, met up with my lovely friend Heather today – she was on her way down to Cornwall so I drove out to see her as she was passing. Heather recommended a great little place – it’s actually a service station, but definitely a cut above the usual fare. If you happen to find yourself on the A30 between Exeter and Okehampton, the Hog & Hedge (dog friendly) is well worth a visit (and let me know, maybe I could join you for a cuppa!) Was so good to see Heather, the time flew by too quickly so I hope I’ll see her again soon.

Really looking forward to the next couple of days as our bestie Leah is coming to stay – happy weekend all!