Come!

I must say, after the first glass of bubbly last night, I almost forgot to worry about Archie on his own… and after the second one, I definitely didn’t worry. But we didn't stay long - just a one bottle visit. And nice finger food.

It turned out a lovely sunny evening and he could have been left outside in his play pen with his crate - then we could have enjoyed a second bottle stayed longer. He seemed fine when we got back, but who knows - he may have been howling for an hour and a half. I don’t think so, he’s pretty good at just waiting.

Having said that, he start crying at 2:30 am last night. This is not usual, so I knew he needed out. Though he was ready for a play when he’d finished, I put him back in bed without a word, and he settled down again.

Today I’ve been doing outdoor jobs in between showers and watching tennis in Paris (rain stopped play there too). I got at the pallet with the crow bar, and moved some of the firewood nets from the front woodshed to the back one. I am also still Archie proofing - he can lean on the wire frames I have in front of the woodshed and nibble at the lovely bright orange nets and pretty blue ties.

In between showers, the sun comes out really hot. We went out to the grass - he was on his lead. He went crazy. Running round and round with me in the middle like a circus ringmaster. He loves the grass of course - pity we haven’t been out on it much, partly because it’s been wet, and when it wasn’t wet, people have been putting washing up. Still, only a couple more days and he'll have more grass than he's ever seen in his life on the Meadows. And other dogs. And lots of smells. I can't wait.

He’s quite advanced for his age - I think he’s going through an early teenage stage. We've been practising ‘Leave’ eg when he grabs hold of my cardigan or sleeve. He can ‘Leave’ quite well, and I always click and reward. However, he kept this up for maybe 10 times, just moving round and biting a different part - even the back. He always obeyed the command ‘Leave’ and got a (tiny) reward. Till I twigged on to his game...

This is him, flying out of the kitchen door to ‘Archie, Come!’ He likes that game.