Archie is now in his 2nd week with us, I have decided to rename him a “Slumberdoodle” as he does like to sleep, most of the day, but not so good at night.
Pupdate 17th June 2017
Archie had his first set of injections on 12th June 2017 and we decided that today would be his first trip out in the outside World away from our home. We decided to take a picnic and take Archie to Burrator Reservoir, which is about a 30 minute drive from our home. It was like packing up for a Worldwide expedition, what with blankets, crate, towels, collapsible food bowl, food, water, lead and our picnic.
We moved the crate on the back seat and this seemed to do the trick as he was quite settled for the journey there and back.
We decided to pick a quiet spot at Burrator up on the top and parked in the wooded bit, as it was a very hot and sunny day, so it was nice and shady. Archie got out of his crate when I attached his lead and we decided to go for his first ever proper walk. I was expecting him to refuse to move or pull on the lead, but he was absolutely brilliant. We walked up through the forest passing a couple of sheep, which at first he promptly sat down and stared at them, but was certainly not bothered by them, or them him and he stopped and sniffed the air as this was certainly different than he had seen before.
He was very willing to trot alongside us, and then he had his first wee outside of our back garden, and then a bit further on he then did a poo (I know, but we were pleased!!).
We had a good little walk down along the grass until the Reservoir came into view and what a beautiful backdrop it made.
It was back to the car and to find a nice shady grassy bit, to sit and have our picnic.
I took Archie’s food and water and he sat and has lunch whilst we sat on the picnic rug and enjoyed our rolls. Archie then promptly fell asleep and we enjoyed the rest of our picnic in peace and tranquility.
When he woke it was back in the car and homeward bound and hopefully Archie had enjoyed his first day out.
We got back to the garden and as it was so hot, I filled the little plastic boat that we have with water so Archie could have a little cool off. However as I said in my previous post, he is not so keen on getting his paws wet and does not like going to the toilet on the wet grass, and this was confounded when he was a bit reluctant to get in the boat, but I popped him in and he got his paws wet, and then promptly got out, sat down in the shade and was obviously worried by his wet paws that he started to lick all four very vigourously to try and dry them. So much for taking him to the beach then, as it appears he is going to be a landlubber!!!
Crate Pupdate 18th June 2017
Result at last as Archie held his bladder and slept all through the night going to bed about 11.30 p.m and woke at 7.30 a.m. His crate is still on the landing so he can still hear us, but not see us, but this is a breakthrough- hurrah!!! long may it last.
Pupdate 19th June 2017
I purchased a second hand 4 way dog tunnel that I saw advertised before Archie arrived as I thought it might be good fun for to play with in the garden.
So this evening when it got a bit cooler as it had been an extremely hot day I thought I would see if Archie liked it. Well as Simon Cowell would say “He didn’t like it, he absolutely loved it”. I untied the 2 straps that keep it neatly folded when not in use and before it had sprung open into position, Archie was at it. I thought he might have been a bit wary of something new and quite large, but no, he seemed to instantly know what he had to do and went running through the tunnels without any aids. He then got over excited and decided to jump on top of it as it curled up over him, but he absolutely loved it. When he calmed down again he was running through the 4 tunnels like a dog possessed and then my Son (Adrian) had some treats in his hand and directed him calmly through the tunnels going different ways, and I have to say Archie was brilliant. It was probably the best £10 I have spent on him and he had great fun, and so did we watching him and look forward to him enjoying it on a regular basis.
I am now thinking of putting up some jumps and some weaving poles up in the garden in readiness for Crufts Agility 2018!!!
Pupdate 20th June 2017
I went and collected dear old Henry to come over and “put up” with Archie again this morning as they really seem to love each other. Archie was so excited to see him and desperately wanted to play but Henry is a sedate very old gentleman of the doggy World but is so tolerant of a young pup. At one point Archie was biting and holding on to his tail, as Henry walked sedately around the garden with what looked like a limpet attached to his tail and just put up with it. I didn’t manage to catch this on camera but I did manage to capture a lovely photo of them both., which was so sweet so just had to upload it.
Archie tried out Headbanging
During the evening Archie was having his mad 5 minutes and was running around the house like a mad thing, picked up one of his toys on one of his circuits, continued running straight in to the closed patio doors which spun him round. He naturally squealed and came running out to me, but apart from snuggling into me for sympathy he was okay. I assume next time he starts running around like a mad thing he will check if the doors are actually open!!!!
Pupdate 21st June 2017
Whew!!! it is hot, hot, hot and it is not only me who is not coping with this extremely hot weather but little Archie too, and no doubt all our 4 legged friends. As I said previously Archie does not like water, so trying to keep him cool has been difficult and with his very thick furry puppy coat he doesn’t even want to go outside. However I have found a solution which he does quite like and that is to wet a towel with cold water, wring it out so it doesn’t drip and then drape it over him. He doesn’t mind this, and will keep it over him for quite a long while and it appears to have done the trick and it keeps him cool.
It was also a first today, as I left Archie home alone – only for about 10 minutes but it is a start. He is a bit of a whimp when either I or Steve are out of sight as he does to fret a bit. We do leave him in a room on his own and only go back when he has stopped whining, and he is getting better. I left him alone today with his Kong with some marmite spread around the inside which appeared to have kept him busy whilst I was out and it was all quiet when I returned.
Please keep coming back for regular Pupdates on Archie’s progress
Archie arrived on the 8th June 2017 and you can read about his first week here Clumberdoodle Puppy Archie
Jane Paramore says
Loving the story so far!
Karen says
Hi Jane
Glad you are enjoying Archie’s progress. He is looking forward to meeting Biscuit which will no doubt make another interesting post.
Karen
HI – Are you able to post an update on Archie? We are getting a puppy almost identical to Archie and it’s interesting to see how he’s grown up?
Many thanks
Hi Sally
Thank you for your comment and glad that you found one of the posts relating to Archie on his holiday in Mawgan Porth. If you are interested in reading all about Archie from the time we saw him with his Mum and other siblings up until recently then if you go into my website you will see the top headings where you will see “My love of dogs”. if you click on this you will see a drop down menu you will see “Archie the Clumberdoodle” where you can read all about him and detailing him progress from tiny pup to a 4 year old adult and all his experiences along the way.
Good luck with your puppy and if I can be of any help then please feel free to contact me. Would love to see some photos when you get him or her.
Regards
Karen