Everyone that meets Lurcherboy goes on about how beautiful he is. Part of that is obviously his colouring and deerhoundy face, but I think a bit part of it is his supersoft, obviously gentle, big, brown eyes. You can tell when you look into his face that he's not the brightest bulb in the box, but his gentle nature shines through and he seems to be able to melt the coldest heart with one look. 
I think he gained quite a bit of weight when we first got Pip, as I was struggling to find times when I could take just him for a proper good run. He's lost quite a bit over the past few weeks though and we're seeing a reappearance of his lurcher waist and thigh muscles.
I used to try and wear him out with the flinger, but as per the current thread on LL, was advised not to let him do too much of the jumping and handbrake turns, especially being so heavy set. Which is a shame, because he does love it. Fortunately we only need to fling it once now and he spends the rest of the time trying to outrun Pip!
Just recently I have been mulling over what a massive responsibility dog ownership is and realised I'm always fretting about not doing something right, not doing enough of one thing or too much of another. I know it's daft, because I've had dogs for getting on for 25 years now and they've all been loved, happy and healthy, which is the most important thing. When I read things like the stuff on LL about developing fitness etc, I start worrying that I don't do enough.
This was reinforced at puppy class this week when I was told off for not teaching a separate cue for 'sit up' (as in when you're doing sit-down-sit-stand). Never mind that I missed last week's lesson because I was ill, so didn't know I was supposed to be doing it in the first place. 
I have had numerous dogs of my own and helped train several others over the years and have only ever bothered teaching a sit-up to dogs who were involved in obedience comps. My other dogs have always understood that if I say sit, I mean get yerself into the sit position and have done sit-down-sit-stand fine without a separate cue and Pip can do sit, down, stand in any order or combination no problem at all, without a blooming sit-up cue.
Basically I was taken into a different room by one of the assistants, to go over what I missed from last week's class. It didn't help that we'd just arrived and Pip had been really scared of the other dogs outside. I'd literally just got Pip settled in our area, slightly away from the other puppies and was then told to walk him past all the other dogs into the corridor. Obviously this unsettled him again and he was so worried about the proximity of other dogs and hearing them bark etc, just on the other side of a swinging door, that he was in no state to be 'performing'. All I really want from the class for him is socialisation and the trainer knows that. I was then made to reel completely incompetant, as she kept correcting my handling, telling me my timing was off etc, when in actual fact I was just concerned about Pip getting stressed by the other dogs, when I need him to be calm and reinforced for positive reactions and associations. I didn't want to reinforce him for being fearful. Not to mention I hate being watched, which is why I chose not to compete in obedience or htm. She acted as if I was a hopeless trainer and essentially told me I have to go backwards with Pip and teach him a new cue and hand-signal just for that, when he already sits if I tell him to 'sit' from a down. As if not teaching a sit-up was some sort of heinous crime which could be really detrimental to my dog.
I have done it. Took about 5 minutes to teach the new cue and hand-signal, but for some reason it's really annoyed me. Partly I suppose because it's just unnecessary when I have so many more important things to be working on with him and partly I think perhaps because I have approached his training from what skills I feel he needs to be a happy, well behaved pet dog. If I'd wanted him to be an obedience winner I'd have approached his training differently and pushed for more precision. The main trainer (and owner of the club) says you don't have to go for the certification (KC award) there's no test and you can just take what you want from the course, but the assistant seemed determined to make me jump through unnecessary hoops. I then noticed she was watching me from the other side of the room for most of the class. No doubt judging my poor handling, when a lot of the time I wasn't even attempting the exercises, but rather rewarding Pip for calmly watching or taking a step towards other dogs. 
It struck me that having dogs is like parenting. You can never get it right. There will always be someone willing to tell you you're doing it wrong and you should be doing x, y, z.
I should just let it wash over me I know, but I have a bee in my bonnet about it, as it's one of the reasons why so many people don't bother going to a class or asking for help and therefore, indirectly, the cause of a lot of unnecessary problems and stress for owners and even worse, dogs being abandoned or given up to rescue.