First time at the Kingston Dog Beach




Who Loves You?

 

I guess it's just more proof that I am growning, It appears I'm too big to be a lap dog, so I get my hugs sitting up.  I weighed yesterday at 22 kilo's exactly. I will be 5 months old on March 5th.

Our resident Parrot friends Pete, Pete and Big Pete have brought a little friend along with them lately. What a lovely colour, This little fellow fairly shouts good weather, don't you think?

 I had a big day today! I had my 2 1/2 kilometre morning walk, then ... 



A man and his dog



My Alpha male Graham, made me feel like a big dog for sure. He took the small puppy crate which I had fit nicely into for my flight here from the kennel, out of the back of the truck and put in my big one. It's official; I'm more dog than puppy now. I have way more room in it. My pack popped me in my bigger crate, and we went on a very mysterious adventure. 

We stopped at Kinston Beach and walked along the path, past the beach volley ball players, (where I enjoyed some attention and a few pats from the officials) to the KINGSTON DOG BEACH.  Wow, it's totally for us canines, complete with a huge "Off the lead" area. As I walked I could hear loud noises, that seemed to come from the salty water, Julie told me they were waves, and explained it was them crashing

Florence teaches me the ropes at Kingston Dog beach

 onto the beach I could hear.  I wasn't game to go jumping into them yet they're a bit un nerving.



It was very exciting as there were so many new smells to sniff out as we walked along the path and people who wanted to pat me.  I met a new friend, Florence a medium sized Labradoodle like my cousin Jigs only smaller and less curly





She loves to play and we had a great time running around each other, into the freshwater, rolling in the sand, sniffing the seaweed and jumping. It was fabulous fun.  And there was so much room to race around in. I definitely had my happy face on!



 

Who's faster??

I thought I could run fast until my experience at the beach. These other dogs are very fast too. I had to really push myself to stay in front.












Mommy!!!!

I met lots of other dogs during my walk. From a huge Burmese Mountain Dog, to the tiny Springer Spaniel puppy (from the same pack). The Dalmatian had me running back to the safety of my pack. I wasn't quite sure about him.



I had some time with Graham throwing sticks into the water for me. I wasn't that keen on fetching, but the whole water experience was really quite fascinating!

I even tried sniffing under water.






Toby and me, playing

 

I met another Chocolate Lab puppy from the mainland whose birthday is 4 days after mine. His name is Toby and for 4 days younger than me, he's much bigger. He's from the mainland but another breeder, and they think he'll be over 70 lbs when he's grown. We had a lot of fun together, and even though he is bigger, I held my own with him. Julie said it was lucky he had a collar on, or she wouldn't know which of us was which.

After all the excitement of these new dogs, we walked back to the car on our own. It was nice to just walk with my pack, to be truthful, I was quite pooped.  I had a huge snooze, then another Oxleys Road walk after dinner.

What a HUGE day!!

 



The other dogs are fun, but I like this best



New Tricks - Frisbee

Graham and Julie came home today with a new toy – a Frisbee for Dogs.  Graham sat me down and explained how it worked. I looked at him and listened intently, but it took me a few explanations and tosses to really understand. That and I kind of get a kick out of him throwing something, then showing me how to go and bring it back. The actual dog frisbee is very well designed from my puppy point of view. It has a bump in the middle I can grab with my teeth if the bump faces up  and if the bump is underneath, when I step on the frisbee, the bump makes the disk tilt so I can pick it up on the sides with me teeth.  It’s great fun.

Still Growing

OK even I have to admit I’m growing now. We looked back at my favourite toy, the plastic plant pot. We lined them up in order of sizes I’ve gone through, and when you think I used to put my whole head in the little black one, I must have grown. 

 I’ve also noticed how small the travel crate is becoming. I almost fill it up. I think I’ll be in the bigger crate soon.  I'm still puppy cute though right?

My routine

Sorry for the delay since I last wrote, my people got a new computer recently and it’s been hard for me to sneak upstairs to learn how to use it.  This one is an iMac and I’ve been learning how it works while they’re at work. I think the keyboard will be OK for my paws. Here goes.

Since Julie got back, life settled into a nice pattern for me. I wake up around 5:15 am and greet the morning with a little awwuuuww chatter which I think also helps to get my human’s attention. I’ve started adding a little woof if they don’t seem to hear me, when I think they should have been down already once I’m awake. 

My alpha male Graham has a different morning routine than my female.  He comes out and we walk around the grass to make sure my feet are clean in case I’ve stepped in any overnight accidents and have a pee. Then he leaves me to entertain myself while he cleans washes out my pen. Normally I try to help him with the hose. Then he invites me into the house if I sit; and we make my breakfast. We head back outside, I sit while he puts my bowl down and I watch him until he tells me it’s OK to eat. Then he leaves me to my breakfast while he does human stuff inside. Later we have a play or walk the yard, and Julie has a play or walk with me again when she comes down.

When it’s my female’s morning, she turns the light on outside so I know she’s coming, and I jump up against the pen in joyous abandon.  She always tells me to settle, before she opens the gate, and I leap out and wriggle and ooouuu talk to her to tell her how happy I am to see her. She gives me a big body rub and scratch and we go for a walk and a pee.  She makes me breakfast right away but she also follows the sit and invitation routine. I eat it while she cleans my pen and washes it out.  Then we have a stroll down to the bottom of the yard, and play fetch for a while, and she heads in to do her human thing.

New Adventures:  After they’re settled and chores are done for the morning they get my lead, put my collar on me and we go for a walk. I prance along with my head high, but I do like to nibble on the end of the lead. Graham tells me this is not a good thing, so I’m trying to resist it. Sometimes we go up a long dirt road, and when it turns onto a side road, they ask me to sit and slip my collar off and I get to run up and down the road and have fun. 

You wouldn’t believe how many new things there are to sniff and taste when we go down this road. I love the tasty little pellets they call wallaby poop, but they tell me to spit them out. I had a bonanza the other day; I was trotting along just behind them, when I found this really wonderful stuff. Big giant piles of it were right there on the road. I couldn’t believe my luck, who leaves this kind of treasure lying around?  I sniffed it and had just taken a whopping big mouthful when they turned to check on me.  Julie covered her mouth with both hands and her shoulders were shaking, as she tried to stifle a laugh. Graham had on his really stern face and with his “no kidding voice” was telling me “NO” and to put it down. Are you kidding me? This stuff is ambrosia!! I tried to look innocent, like I didn’t know what they were talking about, but I couldn’t hide the big patty of horse poop when its edges were hanging out both sides of my mouth.  I really didn’t think they’d notice it, and gave them my best – “what – who me?” look, and tried to swallow it quickly, but it was too huge and they weren’t fooled.

Sometimes we walk to the local cricket field and take the outside path around it, across a big field and across the bridge to the marina. Last week I had just started ambling along the path when Graham shouted SNAKE and grabbed me. We all stopped and watched a big fat tiger snake slither off the path. They were quite insistent I not follow it, and we carried on.  I love this walk as it has such a variety in it.  There’s the big field I can run around in, and when we walk down the path these little floating creatures flutter just over my head, and jump up and around trying to catch them.  I love both walks.

They’ve taught me to climb the stairs and let me join them up on the balcony for a little visit now. I can hang out up there looking over the lower railing, and see my whole yard. Julie brings a little bowl of ice cubes for me and I get to nibble on them while I’m up there. 

During the day we normally just hang out, I like to sleep a lot as I’m still little (although I’m 4 and ½ months old now) and enjoy hearing them rustling around the house while I doze. Sometimes I get to sleep inside on my mat while Julie reads or Graham paints.

Now and again they go out for a few hours, and leave me in my pen with a yummy bone, and chew toy. I’m always excited to see them when they come home. They say they’re getting me ready for when they’re at work. Not sure what that means, but if it means I get a bone….Yummm.

Dinner time rolls around and for me it’s the same routine as the morning. Then they let me play outside while they eat. After that, there’s time for another walk then we hang out until bed time.

I’ve found some wonderful yummy things in our very own yard. A fuschia tree was dropping fruit and I ate a heap of it before they figured out what I was doing. Then I found the apricot tree was dropping fruit before they did. I like to snatch the fallen fruit, and eat the sweet flesh. I nibble around the hard bit in the middle and leave it behind. I sure love fruit.


THIS THING CALLED WORK!! 

Just when I thought this was the routine, they both went away FOR THE WHOLE DAY. That was lonely! Even though they left me with a big fresh bone, my toys and the radio for company, it was a very LOONG day. I was hugely excited to see them when they finally got home and bounced around like crazy to show them. They took me for a huge walk to make up for being away all day.

So, now I know what going to work means. I don’t really like it as much as when they’re around.  Graham only does it 3 times then he’s home 4 times, but Julie goes away for the day more often. I like it best when they’re both here.

Bath time is every week or so, when I start to smell "doggy"  I've grown so much, I don't think I'll fit in the tub for much longer.

Well, I’d better get off now before they come home and find me on the computer. Woof Woof.  Elwood.