Day 10 -
26th September
The new memory card for the camera arrived today, nice and early, so I have been able to take a couple of photos. I will need to compare theses with earlier ones as I am trying to work out whether he has grown. Watching him playing with my neighbours this afternoon, I was convinced that he is longer legged. Part of me wants him to grow so we can go for walks. There are so many really attractive areas through Milton Keynes. The other half of me wants him to stay a puppy for ever. I suppose the worst of both worlds would be a fully grown dog with puppy mentality.
I took him for a walk today. I carried him up to the end of our road and back. He was quite calm, probably a bit frightened by the new environment, but didn't struggle to get down. The bonus for him was meeting our neighbour Charlotte's dad so a bit of fuss from a familiar face.
His afternoon and evening were busy with lots of visitors. Other neighbours, who are very doggie people came round to meet him. Very thoughtfully, they brought a little puppy chew treat, so he got food as well as lots of fuss. He'll be their friend for life. They stayed for quite a while, Grant rolling around on the floor with Lewi made his day (I'm not saying whether that his referred to Grant or Lewi). No sooner had they gone than my daughter in law Endang arrived. Now there is an interesting case. She has a pathological fear of dogs. In Indonesia, where she grew up, dogs were things to be avoided generally. She has been won over by Lewi's charms. She is also the only person I know who he will allow the brush him for more than a minute or so without making a fuss he even rolled over for her. I have included a photo as proof.
OK back to the usual topic of inputs and outputs. He didn't have so much of an appetite today, mind you I must say, the tin of food I opened did not smell as appetising as yesterday's. Having said that, it was only the wet food that he ate again, leaving all the dry. I do try to time meals for periods when he is calmer and will concentrate on eating rather than wondering what is happening elsewhere. I have enforced quite a strict routine on mealtimes, the kitchen gate is shut and I stay in the kitchen with him when it's meal time, but I don't want to make too big a thing of it, we don't want eating disorders later on.
One puddle today! Mind you I am to blame for that, he'd just woken up from an after lunchtime nap and wandered semi dreamily into the kitchen for a drink, I was busy at the sink and didn't think so with the garden door shut, what's a poor puppy to do. I discovered it too late to make a learning opportunity out of it.
He is getting even better at night. That hardly seems possible. Tonight I put him to bed, we had the usual avoidance games when he realised bed time was imminent but in the cage he went, light out, not a single whimper, not even when I was doing a last tidy round before going up to bed myself, and again not even a few minutes later when I came down again for another glass of water. This morning, there wasn't a sound until he heard me get up and start moving around, OK then we had a little call to remind me that he was there. I find this very encouraging. I think it shows the bond growing as he now trusts me to come back. He was OK today, as well, when I popped out for a quarter of an hour to the local shop for supplies, I leave him in the kitchen with the crate door open then.
I have been promised that the repair man will fix my hob on Monday, which will make life easier. I'm not very good at estimating the temperature of his milk in the microwave, on the hob, I just dip my finger in to check it's not getting too hot. I must say I do like the smell of his milky meals.
Off to bed now, we have a busy day tomorrow, to Simon's for me to finish the work on the MG and Lewi to play in his crate. In the afternoon, I'm going to football for a couple of hours and he's staying at home to be made a fuss of and looked after by Charlotte.