Eve of Neos First Holiday

We're off for a short break tomorrow, up to the Norfolk coast with Neo. We've rented a bungalow on a campsite in Eccles for four nights. Its his first trip away from home not to mention the drive which will be his first long car journey since I picked him up from Colchester. He does ok in the car now although I wouldn't go as far as saying he enjoys it, 'tolerates' is probably closer to the truth but hes certainly not distressed by it so fingers crossed all will go well. We're visiting my mum on the way up, she lives about an hours drive from where we're staying. My mum is not what you'd call a 'dog person' so Neo is quite honoured to be visiting her home, I don't envisage any problems though as he is such a good boy in the house, hes almost 7 months now and the worst hes done is chewed the bottom of the garden shed door. Mum has met him before but he was slightly smaller then! so mum be warned hes grown!
Its like taking a child on holiday (I'm guessing), hes got his own bag and I've had to write a list of stuff to take so I don't forget.
Everything has been washed for the trip, the car, the dog and his toys. As you can see from the photos hes a little concerned about me torturing his toys, he sat under them for a full 5 mins!!
Am hoping my next post will be full of praise for him and news of a successful break, fingers crossed.

Shoes all in one piece

His new toy



Wow, its been almost four weeks since I last added to my blog, have been pretty lazy! We completed our final puppy class this evening, moving up to play with the big boys next week! Hes done so well, a real star. Haven't quite mastered the 'stand and stay' but is certainly best in the class for his 'sit stay' and 'down stay' and the best thing is he really seems to enjoy the classes so we'll now be working towards the Bronze Citizenship award.

He went in the water for the first time on Saturday. There were a couple of Labs playing in the water and he stood watching for a while, then the front paws went in, and out again! then he got brave and stood with all four feet in the water and finally to a leap in to belly height, that's as far as it went but not bad for a first go. I was really pleased that it hadn't really bothered him, I didn't think he'd take to it so easily as he can be a little wimpy at times! We're taking him for a holiday to the Norfolk coast at the end of the month and I'm looking forward to seeing how he takes to the sea.

Another mile stone, hes progressed from being shut in the kitchen overnight to now having the run of the kitchen and hall. Not bad for only 6 months, his bed is under the stairs right next to a shoe rack and not one shoe has ever been touched! We've been so lucky with him, the only things hes had a chew at are the wooden handle of a basket and the base of the garden shed and even these were only fleeting moments that haven't been repeated. Following the advice in the puppy books has really paid off, right from day one whenever he started on something he shouldn't have he was told 'no' and given a chew toy. I was really sceptical about this working but it has proved to be good advice!

Unfortunately for me he was never taught the difference between an occupied flower pot and an empty one, he's always been given plastic flower pots to play with, there are four or five scattered around the garden so when I came back from the garden centre with some new plants I never gave another thought to leaving them at the front of the raised bed ready for planting the next day................

............two out of the three plants didn't survive! Lesson learnt!!