Timothy - Michael.

Here are a few pictures of Michael, who has been re-named Timmy. I had nothing against the name Michael but all our dogs have had a name beginning with T so we thought it would be good to keep up the tradition.

As you will see from the pictures he has started to make himself at home in the garden, he enjoys coming to work with me whenever he can which has been most of the time this week. It's nice to see him settle down and be quite content just to listen and look around. Tess has never been able to do this, if I don't keep her occupied with a ball she either goes and sits by the gate waiting to go home or she is off doing things which is okay as she never does any harm but it's not much company for me. So I find it nice to have company and reminds me very much of Tommy in this respect.

We knew before we took to Timmy that there would be things to overcome and this has turned out to be true. The least desirable of his habits was his desire to mark with wee. I noticed this when walking him at the rescue but it also continued indoors when we got him home. He left his mark several times on the Sunday evening and many more times on the Monday so I looked up some information on it and decided to watch him every second that he was on his feet and every time he took an interest in something tell him, 'No wee wee'. I don't suppose at this stage he understands the words but I think he knows what I mean because the last two days have been completely wee free indoors. It might seem a strange thing to do but I try not to allow him to wee when out on a walk. Because he is confined by the lead for the time being his wee wee place for the time being is anywhere in the garden so I give him time to go before I put the lead on and leave the garden. After that there are to be no wee's. I allow him to sniff but move him on before he gets chance to mark and then say, 'good boy'. I don't know if this is having any affect or whether he has marked everything he wants to in the house but since I started there have been no more accidents indoors.

The other problem I need to sort out is his reluctance to get in the car. I'm wondering if he associates this with being moved to various different places and left there. If so hopefully as he travels to more places and doesn't get left there he will become okay with it. He is a bit stressed when travelling but so far has not made any mess which is worth a great deal.