Afternoon all! Hope everyone ok! I was intending to get on here earlier, but we have been taking advantage of the glorious sunshine and been out and about with the dog!
On the negative side he still pulls on the lead a lot, and I am now very wary of encounters with other dogs (small contretemps with tiny pomeranian x today). And he still hurls himself at the front door when any of us arrive (we are working on him sitting in the hall politely).
On the positive side, he is much more settled today and more tolerant of us leaving him alone. He has got the hang of sitting on command (even without a kibble treat!), has nearly got the hang of "au lit", and I can now go upstairs and downstairs without him following. (We don't want him in the bedrooms or downstairs in the vicinity of the rabbits, and we want him to go up and downstairs as little as possible anyway because it's not good for his long back!). I have also got him sitting (needs work!) at every zebra crossing and traffic light! This is very fast progress considering he only arrived on Monday!
I was a bit despondent last night because it seemed as if we had taken on such a huge ball of energy but he has really been an angel today (fingers crossed!) and I am in lurrve ... !
Also, I think he likes listening to the Archers 
Plus, I've discovered that lots of people are very sociable when you have a dog on the end of a lead!
[Apologies for my constant canine ramblings to anyone who is non-doggie on here! 
]
How are all of you?
Oh dear Swan I knew your dh was ill but hadn't realised he needed hospital treatment. I sincerely hope he is OK!
So sorry that your dh is still in pain too CaptainSubtext! Hope you are feeling much less tired today! And that play-date (hate that term!) went well!
I'm adding dh to the list of poorly husbands. (He only has a bad cold/flu though.) As often posted before, dh only allows himself to be ill in the holidays and so generally is ill in the holidays! I gave him the "I'm worried about you, working too hard, delegate more, look after yourself better, take some time off" speech this morning, but it went in one ear and out the other (in fact he was checking his work e-mails while I was talking to him 
).
And hope all blood tests: Linzers Linzers dd and Toffees come back promptly and all-clear!!
DEM definitely agree that it is usually owners at fault, definitely not the dogs! Have just discovered that we have a wasps nest too in our garden wall - must call the exterminator! Arf at "bath filing"!! Hope shoulder pain is subsiding and tiredness has worn off a bit.
Thank you very much Swan about the dog walking advice. Yes, I've been trying to say to myself that one encounters virtually no dogs off the lead! This was a very unusual situation. (I didn't keep my head at all btw as all the dog manuals I've read on line since say not to pick up your dog in those circs but heigh ho!!) Persuaded dd to come out with us today and she was wary but fine and no, we are definitely not going to be heading in "that" direction for a long time to come! Hope you have managed to have a break from the continuous choring today! And roast beef sounds delicious despite all the resultant mess!
And agree Linzer and others: it isn't very reassuring when people say "oh don't worry, he's very friendly" because you can never be cast iron sure how one animal is going to interact with another particular animal or a human on one particular day.
Sorry to hear of all these frightening encounters that various mini-fledglings have had with canines Swan Linzer and Toffee. It isn't at all good when a dog is allowed to scare a child; however friendly and well intentioned it is.
Personally I like my dogs well trained and obedient and as reliable as possible (going to take a lot of time and effort in our dog's case but it will be worth it, for his sake (the better trained they are - the more liberty you can give them) as well as everyone around us). He is such a joy to train though, very enthusiastic and as sharp as a tack. It is only now that I realise the over-bred pointers (among others) we had as children were totally "Tim, nice but Dim".
[Sorry - gone off on doggie ramblings again!!] Where was I?
Toffee arf at "pig returning to its rightful place" Are you certain you haven't been inhaling too much knob polish?? 
Hope ds2 enjoyed the science workshop, despite his initial lack of enthusiasm!
Linzer sorry you are still so worried about your dd. Like DEM's ds, DD gets terrible growing pains (she gets aches and pains after ballet sometimes but the two are quite distinct). Is there any possibility of bringing the appt forward if you are really worried? Also, I hope you are able to catch up on some sleep soon too! Worrying about a child is totally exhausting!
MrsMook sorry to hear you are still suffering from broken sleep. That is very tough. Thank you for "tabata" explanation - will check it out - sounds good! I didn't believe it before starting Flylady, but it is amazing what one can achieve in a tiny amount of time!
Hope you were able to catch some more time in the sun today Dogsbum and thank you for links!
Waves to ¨Blue Whoknows Feetheart Engels Honu and everyone else!