Super proud.

I was super proud of Timothy - Michael this morning. During the morning walk, that takes place around 7am we take a detour back through the village just especially to get him used to the traffic which usually amounts to probably a couple of cars. This morning however we encountered a huge sugar beet harvester which did turn off before it got to us but it still looked pretty scary to me. Behind it though was a long line of cars and vans which all had to pass us plus there was a tractor coming the other way so that caused more mayhem on the narrow village street that has no footpath where we were but Timmy didn't even flinch or pull on the lead just walked or when directed stood quietly by my side.

 

Today we did a first. Usually when I have to leave him at home for some reason I do so in the kitchen with the radio on and Tess baby sitting and recently there has been no trouble like counter surfing. However yesterday because Tess was not available for baby sitting duties I had to leave him alone in the kitchen which resulted in more breakages. So today when I left him I thought why not give him more room, so apart from the kitchen I gave him access to the stairs and his bedroom which probably doesn't sound very sensible after what happened yesterday but I thought being able to move from one room to another might make him feel less confined also he would be with his toys and bed and also Tess. Well on this occasion it seems to have worked as there was no trouble at all. He had been laid in his bed as I could feel it was warm.

 

This morning I called in on the people who own the dog which attacked Tess, mainly to see if they were alright after it all but also to reassure them we bore them no ill feelings. We discovered yesterday that there was a bit of a witch hunt being implemented via emails to residents in the village. This made me realise that we weren't the only ones to suffer through all of this. They have shown remorse throughout and done as much as anyone can to make amends. So it didn't seem right to us that they be treated this way and that's why I went to give them some moral support and also ascertain if lessons had been learnt and it seems they have as they have at least gone out and bought muzzles for the dogs and you can tell that she is just as devastated by it all as we are. I just think that if the boot was on the other foot I would be guttered without the whole village on my back over it.

Lessons on road walking.

Today we had to plant some shrubs down the sides of the avenue which is outside the confines of the main garden. For a while I had Timmy fastened by a long lead to a tree next to where I was working but when the time came to go and fetch a wheel barrow full of compost I decided to see what he would do when I let him off the lead. He followed me to the compost area okay and was happy to sniff around so I took my eye off him for a minute and next thing you know he was rolling around in the pile of horse manure next to the compost pile. After a quick brush down he then followed me back to the planting site but instead of stopping he continued on so I called him back and he stopped but hesitated so I called again and he came back so far before diverting in to the old garden where we burn rubbish. I called him again but he was now deliberately ignoring  me and he knew it because when I caught up with him he started rolling around in the bonfire ash thinking he was going to be getting some sort of punishment. In actual fact I was more concerned about him rolling around in the ashes as I didn't want them all in his coat. To my mind his punishment was once again being confined to the lead, I didn't need to hit or shout as he already knew he did wrong and if I'd beaten him he would have been less likely to have come back to me next time he felt that he did something wrong. I'm thinking now that perhaps the second call I gave may have led him to think he was already in trouble which is why he diverted in to the old garden on the way back to me although I do know there are rabbits in there so I don't know for sure. I know my second call had a ring of desperation to it as he was about to disappear around the corner and out of sight.

 

These last few of mornings we have been coming back through the village purposely to give him some lessons on road walking. The first morning we both nearly end up in a heap on the floor when Timmy decided to do a figure of eight in and around my legs, it would seem that walking on the road at seven in the morning is very exciting. Since then things have gone very well so much so that this morning he did a proper walk by my side with very little correction for pulling. There is no footpath on the part where we walk but the cars don't bother him in the slightest.

Apparently previous owners have always provided him with a pillow on which to rest his weary head, or at least that's what he tells me so I thought I'd better do the same.