The Spook Diaries - Part 1

The first walks

So her jabs are all done, and she's free ... well, free to be taken out by us, on a lead. Way more training needed before she gets off that lead. But we're getting there.

We're still working with training techniques from Victoria Stilwell's Positively site. Dani watched (and I listed whilst gaming) to a TV series called "It's me or the dog" or something like that and we both loved the way Victoria worked with problem dogs to make them better partners and family members. Spook's not a problem dog, she's far from it. But that makes no odds, the training methods are still valid and are working very well for us.

She's nearly 13 weeks old. She'll sit, go down, get up, give either paw, talk, leave things, and more. She'll wait whilst we fill her food bowl and won't go for it until we give her permission. She's awesome. There's more work to do of course, and some of it (getting her to stop being so bitey with Dani) is proving harder than others, but she's really clever and is learning fast. And wants to!

Anyway, the first walk.

Perhaps appropriately, but purely coincidentally, her first actual outside world - meaning not our garden - was in an ex-graveyard. Spook, in a graveyard. Ha! This was a Friday evening a couple of weeks back whilst we were dropping the kids off to Cubs and Scouts and was the perfect opportunity for her maiden trip.

Since then she's been out with Dani on the school run, daily. Dani and I have taken her out ourselves frequently. It's taught us a few things. One, bad one, is that we never really noticed just how filthy our streets are. Yeah, we'd seen and always see, litter. But when you've got a pup who's trying to eat everything you really see litter. Wow we (humans) are disgusting. There's just so much and so, at least for now, walking her is hard work. Walk, run, stop to try to eat that bit of chewing gum, or silver paper, or tin, or whatever, then rinse and repeat. Every 10 steps, or less.

Litter, there is no - not one - excuse for it.

Anyway, I digress.

Besides the above, walking Spook is a joy and Dani and I are loving it. It's already starting to achieve things we hoped it would. Improvements in fitness & health, and through that mental health too.

She (Spook) has also since been to a party where she met loads of people and two dogs, one smaller, one way bigger. She's met others too - Bear and Cassie at Dani's folks' was exciting! Two gigantic Rottweilers and our Spook! Manic!

And the end result ...

Yeah. That speaks for itself!

More tales to come, I'm sure.

All photos are ours (Dani and me)