The rest of the third day in brief - He is beginning to relax and make his own entertainment with a maximum of 5 play alone toys and chews that we leave around for him to play with. I am beginning to rotate them so that a few disappear every other day and are replaced with others - each especially chosen for their sensory or play value (which I will explore in more detail in another post in the future). Chew toys, particularly the beloved hide bone, are left for him and are his to keep forever. By the way, we are not playing with these toys - they are his to play with as he wishes. The toys we will be playing with him are not seen at all at the moment. Mr Ball-ee and his other ball shaped relations (and other retrieve items) are only going to appear as and when we need them - for training or for changing his emotional state if an emergency requires it. The wet weather has prevented us from doing any car acclimatisation, so we will leave that for another day. He has been having some short staccato vocal discussions in our garden with a dog two doors away (who has a history of barking at dogs passing by their house). They are getting to know one another by sound and air scenting as well, I am sure. All part of fitting in and being part of the neighbourhood. About 3.30 in the afternoon he seems to get very frustrated and playful again. Today he began chewing my clothes, stealing from my dog proof (!) kitchen bin, so it was time for a stress buster. I brought into the kitchen a large cardboard box for him to demolish (see video and commentary). Two and a half minutes of full-on trash and play (similar to dogs playing with each other) and he walked off for a rest. Then off for a bit of Kong licking and chill down time before taking it out on the remains of the cardboard once more. My surmise from all this behaviour is that this time in the afternoon would be a good time to walk him, when we get the opportunity. We need to exercise his brain by sniffy exploration, and a bit of a potter and a sprint run would do him the power of good (but no mad chase the toy games). Soon Buddy, soon..... I also feel he is now more at home and finding his feet - more rough and tumble play and confidence in the fact that the toys are his. This confidence also means he will begin testing and experimenting all routines, boundaries and behaviours. Bring it on! PS - An evening adventure involving buried treasure Buddy has begun to have an evening routine being with Sean (my husband) chilling out as boys do :-) He usually devotes his time to the big project of chewing his now well loved rawhide which is bone shaped, solid, and has no knots at either end. Tonight he managed to get the top layer clean off one end and went outside to bury it in the flowerbed near the back of our house and returned with a tell tale muddy nose :-) This activity is not a problem for us, but it does demonstrate that he now feels at home enough to stash hard earned treasure for a later date.
Posted on: Mon, 12 Jan 2015 22:38:24 +0000
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