What shall we RANT about today?

There's lots of things to RANT about today....................................…



Firstly I had to get up at 7am to go for my morning walk because Ann had 'stuff' to do and potentially she could have been out from 9am till 2.30pm (and that would have been the longest that she's ever left me for). I don't normally go out till about 8am so I was still asleep when Ann woke me up this morning! I could RANT forever about my early get up time!



Apparently I needed to be tired out, so we went up to Braidburn Valley Park so that I could do some swimming. I'm getting really good at swimming now. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, swimming. Unfortunately I'm also getting braver so I think nothing of paddling across the burn if I see another little doggie on the other side that I want to play with. I go back to Ann eventually; just not as quickly as she would like me to! I could RANT forever about not being allowed to play at the other side of the burn!



Ann came home after about two and a half hours to discover I'd chewed some of the skirting board. Why do I do that? I never do inappropriate chewing when Ann is in the house? Ann could RANT forever about my chewing!



Anyway Ann went out again just before 1pm and said, 'Trixie, I'm just nipping out to do a 'meet & greet', I'll be back at 2.30pm at the latest and then we'll go for another big walk.' Half an hour later Ann came back and said, 'Trixie, the visitors aren't arriving until 3pm (the M&G was just across the road) so we'll go out for an hour now, then I can check the visitors in at 3pm & then go straight to my next 'meet & greet' at 4pm. Ann could RANT forever about visitors who never respond to messages and think that they are the only people in the whole world who are arriving in Edinburgh on a Bank Holiday weekend!



So that is what we did. ….........We went for my walk through the field at the Royal Edinburgh Hospital and along the fabulous walkway they have there. I was off my lead for most of the time. I love it there because there's lots of trees. And do you know what lives in trees?.......................... Squirrels. Yay! I LOVE chasing squirrels! There's also a few 'homeless people & people with mental health issues' that hang out in the grounds of the hospital and I love them all. I go zooming up to them and 'jump up' at them because I'm so happy to see them. When I jump at people, Ann always shouts,'Trixie NO'. My 'jumping up' is the thing that is stressing Ann out the most about my behaviour at the moment. Ann could RANT forever about my jumping up!



To be honest, I think I am getting better. And if we meet 'doggie' people, Ann can usually just ask them to ignore me until I'm sitting nicely. The people that we meet in the grounds of the Royal Ed hospital LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, me. They don't mind me jumping up at them. Even the hospital staff that we meet absolutely love me. Today I jumped up at a couple of staff having a cigarette break and they didn't mind. Even though I put my muddy paws all over one of them. ............But Ann did!



…...................The problem arises when I meet people who don't like dogs and think I'm a really scary badly behaved pup which I am at times. These people try and kick me away or scream at me. All of which makes me even more hyper. If they just stood still I'd probably ignore them. Ann could RANT forever about the damage these people do to my training when they ignore what Ann is saying to them!



Please, please, please, general members of the public – if a dog owner asks you not to make a fuss of a dog until it has all four paws on the ground and is sitting/standing/lying nicely, please, please, please respect that!



…....................Oh and if any of you dog owning BLIPPERS have any 'handy hints' on how to solve the 'jumping up' problem, we'd be very grateful. Xxx



#Lifewithapuppyisnoteasy



PS – A couple of months ago Ann was stressing over my toilet training but heyho................... I haven't had any little accidents in the house since the 3rd July?!!!!!



PPS – I'm still only 9 months old...................... A puppy doesn't stop being a puppy until it's 2 years old. Guess I've still got a lot to learn then?????????????????????????


PPS - Ann was 'headhunted' today...………………. OK that might be a slight exaggeration! One of her people who she was 'meeting & greeting', (who live abroad & own a property in town), asked her if she'd be interested in doing 'meet & greets' for them.  Absolutely!  Especially as it means more treats for me!!!!!