Tuesday, May 4, 2010

The Swiss Army Knife of Dogs...

It's that time of year again; the boarding dogs are coming through thick and fast. Currently, as you can see in the picture to the left, it's the return of my most frequent boarding guest, Monty the pug. Only this time, Monty is not alone - he now has a new playmate, Cooper the Boston Terrier.

Though they both have entirely different personalities, they get on incredibly well. Monty is like an older gentleman; he likes his sleep and creature comforts. He's confident and sedate. It's really not unusual for him to be the last to wake up in the mornings. Cooper is entirely different; Cooper is a nervous play-machine. He's incredibly timid at times, but he loves nothing more than running around and jumping up at Ellie. Much to Ellie's dismay I should add.

I have them both until Saturday 8th. However, on Thursday 6th, I also have a Border Collie coming to join me. Am I mad? Just ever so slightly - I find it helps when looking after dogs. :)

In other news, I have to tell you why I am so exceptionally proud of Ellie this morning. I took all three dogs around the local farm fields for their morning walk. Half way around my walk I began to get a little warm. I decided to stop and remove my jumper. I placed the leads and my sunglasses on the ground, removed my jumper and tied it around my waist, before picking up my bits and competing my walk.

As I approached my home, I noticed something was missing; I had left my sunglasses on the ground where I took my jumper off. As it was so far away, I decided to drop Monty and Cooper off at the house, and then do the walk again with Ellie.

As I stepped onto the farm fields with Ellie, I thought I would just try something. Sometimes, around the house, I will hide a tennis ball and tell Ellie to "Find". She then methodically searches high and low for the ball, and generally always finds it. Would she do it for my glasses, I wondered? I said "Find" and watched as she ran through the beaten tracks. She dutifully returned with something in her mouth. "Good girl", I cried. "Good Girl!". I was presented with a stick! Not quite what I had in mind. I decided to make one more attempt. "Go find", I asked. Sure enough, she ran off again. She returned two minutes later. I could see the sun reflecting off something in her mouth. Hoozah! My sunglasses! And that, dear reader, is why I am so damn proud of my dog. She's like the Swiss Army Knife of dogs. :)

3 comments:

Wendy said...

Ellie is a star, not only does she find your stuff, she gives it to you - she must love you dearly :)

Achieve1dream said...

That is so awesome!!!! Way to go Ellie! And you too. You've done such a great job with her. :)

Oh and I like the new look on the blog. I keep forgetting to add that. :)

The Dog Man said...

Thank you both for the kind comments. :)