Sun & Rain

It’s been a while since I did a Blue update. As he has just passed his half year on this Earth, I thought a quick photo update was required. Recently the weather has been reminiscent of April, with the sun and showers. Blue doesn’t seem to care too much about the weather, he actually seems to have more ‘mental’ moments in the rain.

When he was much younger, I documented right here, that he had a bit of a commando nutter streak in him. He’d forgo the freshly cut and level lawn, opting instead to crash and bound his way through the undergrowth, weeds and deadwood at the edges of the garden. Well, as the Spring farmland crops have shot skywards, he has rekindled his talent for conquering tall fauna and flora.

Blue goes absolutely mental, running akin to a springbok in the tall grass and crops effortlessly. I tried to keep up with him in the tall wet grass during a downpour, and it was bloody hard work. He bounds through the green stuff with gusto, eventually landing, literally, at my feet exhausted, but always ready for more of the same with little encouragement.

Whether it’s rain or sun, he seems to thoroughly enjoy himself.

Crashed out in the wet grass

Soaked. The top of Blue’s snout is drenched

On a sunnier day, Blue mid flight whilst ‘going nuts’

Having a rest amongst the wheat crop

How crop circles are made

Sunny stroll down a driveway that forms part of a public right of way

Blue is out of shot, but a beautiful English countryside scene nonetheless

Gis a drink… I even carried with me a bottle of water and a small dish for the little fella

Blue + New Teeth

Blue has finally departed with his puppy teeth. I was genuinely surprised by the size of his upper teeth, they are comically enormous. Although much larger than the outgoing nashers, these are thankfully not as sharp.

Blue has grown quite a bit, I reckon he is around 12 KG’s, I’ll know for sure soon, as he’s off to the vet for a routine check up in a few days. His coat is a little longer and suits him well. I’m not sure whether it’ll need trimming at the dog groomers, I presume so.

His increased size has enabled him to run faster and jump higher. On that note, he has recently taught himself a new trick… When he is having a ‘mad moment’, running flat out in figure of eights like a nutter, he’ll flop down in tall grass. Tongue lolloping. After a minute or so, he mentally sets his target, explodes out of the grass, running like the wind, launching himself at said target.
The target is me, well the center of my chest to be exact. The upshot is that I end up with a wriggling lump of excited dog in my arms.

I think it’s great, and Blue seems to thoroughly enjoy it.

Bluebells

I took Blue for yet another 6 mile-er today, in a vain attempt to burn off some of his energy. Walking past a copse I spotted a carpet of bluebells. Blue wasn’t too bothered though, he was more interested in eating soil and chewing his stick.

Bluelistic Missile

Even after a long way into a walk, Blue occasionally goes ‘a bit mental’ running around like a nutter really enjoying himself.

I know it sounds like I’m trying to stop his fun with the rogue plastic he found, but I’m always cautious of discarded packaging on farmland, not knowing what sort of chemicals could have been stored in the bag. Plus, the more I shout at him (positive or negative), the more speed he gets up and the more fun he seems to have!

It’s a shame I can’t really let him off the lead so he can really enjoy himself. He’s just too young and not completely trained. I’d love to take him to the beach when he’s a little bit older.

Big paws & farmers muck

Crazy Blue

Blue does have his ‘mad moments’, when he gets all over excited and just wants to play for hours. After going for another monsterous walk across the fields, he still had the energy to play like mad when he got back. Maybe it’s the fair Spring weather that we’ve been blessed with recently. Something’s definitely in the air, as signaled by his more concerted efforts to try to hump one of his cuddly toys. I should stop him, but it’s hilariously funny.

The ‘innocent’ look

Slurry-Hunting

One happy dog

He was a right handful on a recent walk. He discovered an interest in the muck that the farmer was spreading on the fields. He got his nose down and looked like a mental Hoover for half of the walk, skipping from on area to another in a sweeping pattern.

I tried my best to distract him, and to guide a path around the muck, but it was no good. I sat him down at one point and had a stern word with him about the emerging bad habit of burying his nose in farmers slurry… he just gave me that innocent ‘I’m sorry’ look and continued his muck-sweeping with even more zeal.

He seemed pretty pleased with himself by all acounts, and seemed to be having so much fun, I couldn’t really tell him off.

He’s starting to make some new doggy friends whilst out and about. I have to say, he is really well behaved around other dogs, small and large. Although he did give a 14 stone Irish Wolfhound a wide berth, which I thought was wise, the thing was seriously big.

The conversations with other dog owners are all similar, keywords include; puppy, age, cute, lovely lad, what breed… etc. The most common outcome of all these conversations is “woah, look at the size of his paws”, followed by a had signal that suggests Blue’s got a long way to grow.
Personally I don’t think he’ll get too big, just be one of those dogs that has comedy big paws! I don’t really care about his size anyway, if he turns out to be huge, then so be it, won’t make a blind bit of difference to me.

Get orrf my land

Having been away on business recently, I took Blue out for another trek across the local fields yesterday. We went a bit further than before but came to a dead end, so ended up straying from the public right of way, walking alongside some traditional hedgerows trying to navigate in a large square. Blue was being his usual self, carrying large clumps of hey/manure mixture whilst exploring every little thing that caught his eye. Mind you, I don’t think he’d be too good as a coursing dog, a rabbit popped out of the hedgerow pretty close to him and he didn’t even spot it.

Nearing the end of the walk, now obviously not on any kind of assigned path, an ominous looking 4×4 was slowly heading our way across the field. I was pretty sure that this was going to be a ‘get orrf my land’ moment. The window rolled down and I was politely informed that we were trespassing. I knew I was, but there was little I could do, as we were hedgerowed & barb-wired in, so I acted the innocent, apologised and made our way to the nearest exit.

As you can see, Blue is getting a nice shape to him. He’s growing at an astonishing pace, and is unbelievably energetic. He is relentless in his want to play. Even after one lengthy walk this morning he still had boundless energy, so I consulted an old OS map and headed off across the fields again. I returned to the ‘dead end’, but this time I knew where to go without trespassing. We found some great bridleways and footpaths. I think I’m going to invest in a lower scale map & explore the area via the myriad of public footpaths that wind around the countryside. It’s amazing how many of them there are.
Blue definitely needs the exercise to burn off his energy, I need it to burn off the excesses of ten days in the US.

Field Trip

Well, I’ve just got back from my first ever walk with Blue. His ‘heeling’ skills are a little rough around the edges, he tends to shoot off in any direction, similar to an inflated balloon that is released without tying a knot.

Sporting his new beefier collar I took him over into the local fields, which is all new territory to him. Carrying a huge chunk of manure seemed to please him somewhat, against my objections.

He found it quite amusing that I had to get on my hands and knees to slide under a barbed wire fence to take a short cut. He decided that getting my jacket caught wasn’t enough of a punishment, so he proceeded to jump around on my head with his muddy paws.

At least I now have half an hour of peace as he’s currently crashed out beside me on the sofa.

High Five

Blue’s paws are pretty big. Looks like he’s got some growing to do. He is just over 4.5 Kgs now, I reckon he’ll be 10-12Kgs when fully grown. We shall wait and see.

His claws are still extremely sharp, they can go through skin pretty easily when he’s playing. As of next week, he can be taken out for walks, which should wear them down significantly.

Shot taken 14th February 2009

Charged with wanton destruction

Looks can be deceptive. Does this look like the face of a serial chewer?

Victims to date include… a pair of Adidas, a rucksack, travel bag, beanie hat, MacBook Pro, any drawstrings on a hoodie (whilst being worn), my face, a food tray, several blankets, the coffee table, draft excluder on the front door, dried flowers, mobile phone, slippers, socks, my ear, shoe laces, a snowboard, my big toe, a packet of cigarettes, a world atlas, a Swiss watch, the carpet, the back of my head whilst sleeping and my finger – after wagging it at him whilst telling him off for chewing something.

Guilty as charged.
(The list would be far more extensive if I hadn’t moved most stuff out of range)

Shot taken 13th february 2009

R & R

Blue getting some well deserved kip after a prolonged play session.
The amount of energy the little guy has is astonishing. It won’t be long before all his jabs have kicked in and he can be taken on some well deserved lengthy walks, which will hopefully tire the ‘lil bugger out! Another advantage is that his claws will get smoothed down, they are currently razor sharp, as my hands will attest.

This photo shows him mid-dream… he seems to be ‘suckling’ whilst fast asleep. Eventually he stops, leaving his tongue poking out!

Upper shot taken 1st February 2009
Lower shot taken 26th January 2009