Was woken up by Mr Ted at 7:30 this morning with him whining. I knew there was something wrong - the sounds he was making weren't just attention-seeking. When I came down to him he'd been a little sick in his bed so it was cleaned up and bed changed without fuss.
So then a very frosty early morning 10 minute walk and toilet. A couple of hours rest and then breakfast. 2min toilet break and then straight to bed for a couple of hours sleep.
In the afternoon we had another lovely 40min walk around the village. Teddy is a lovely dog to share a walk with. Just SO happy to be out and about, scenting, seeing, listening. He's bright as a button. We've encountered all sorts of stimuli including bird scarer bangs, heavy traffic, noisy motorbikes, kids playing football, other dogs running about etc. His obedience in the form of 'Sit' and 'Heel' commands excellent for an 11mth pet dog.
He's VERY keen on cats... Don't actually know what he'd do if he caught one but he's not so gamey that I don't think he could be trained to accept them. Birds on the other hand... Well, let's just say it's a good thing my little family of hedge sparrows have a quick take-off speed... Well he IS a gundog!
We spent the rest of the afternoon working on getting him enjoying being handled with more TTouch. As he's quite mouthy I've been working on relaxing his muzzle area and he is LOVING this. I now have absolutely no qualms about bending down over him, next to him, putting my face next to his etc. He was even nibbling my ear this afternoon! He's actually got a very soft, sensitive mouth with excellent bite inhibition... When he is CALM.
That's such a critical point with this dog. If you wind him up with lots of fast movement, noise, activity, then he loses impulse control. He's a working breed - it isn't rocket science.
He's a wee bit jittery on night walks but confident, calm handling and a 'Walk On' command, that's all he needs
He's a wee bit jittery on night walks but confident, calm handling and a 'Walk On' command, that's all he needs
Hoping that he will give me a bit more of a lie-in tomorrow...
Oh, and I promised ya'll some pics, didn't I?
Simply beautiful, isn't he?
