A canine addition to the family

After my epic Christmas preparations (I didn't even mention that we hosted that year, with 10 of us staying for 3 nights), I was a bit tired from all that crafting, and then we decided to  'gift' ourselves a puppy that following January. Sydney arrived in our family at the end of January 2012 and I thought I knew what we were in for. I had definitely underestimated the impact on our life!

Who would have thought such a small animal - one that fitted in a cat basket for his first set of innoculations - would cause such trouble!

Looking back, I can actually barely remember what my problem was. Yes, he peed on the floor - he was a puppy in toilet training.  Yes, he whined at night when he was locked in the kitchen alone. And then bashed the kitchen door when he woke in the morning at 5am - not necessarily needing the toilet, but feeling lonely, awake and wanting company. We resolved that by letting him sleep with us instead and finally we got a full nights sleep again.   Yes, he wanted to play tug endlessly and the evenings were exhausting with all the attention he wanted. It took us a while to get the balance and timing of his walks right to counter the excess evening energy.

We were afraid of letting him off lead in case he never came back, and confused with the various advice about how to get his recall right or walk to heel or not jump up at people, so lack of consistency has probably meant he hasn't learnt these things as quickly or as well as he would have if we'd got it right from the start.

He still pulls on the lead a bit, although not as badly as he used to.  He still jumps up at anyone he meets who will let him (i.e. almost everyone, as they all want to say hello too and catch his paws and he comes to meet them).  His recall when there is nothing else around is great, but rubbish if there is another dog that wants to play.   He doesn't have a bad bone in his body, but he doesn't have enough fear - he just charges on in - and he is a big boy.

He is a pedigree English Pointer, a breed we chose because they are friendly, large and energetic - but in theory, more trainable than a Boxer dog which is Greg's favourite breed.   And he is adorable.  We're still going to dog training every week, but we're getting there and he is a much better behaved dog now, at nearly 2 years old, and we have a routine that works for us.

But that's why crafts took a back seat for a few months.