Very cross with the bleedin' dog!

[Aked]

And obviously there is little point in saying anything to her, so the keyboard gets it.

We've had a week away, she had to have mostly lead walks and seems now to be relishing the bloody freedom. She had been so, so brilliant leading up to the holiday. Excellent recall, sticking around on the walk, and generally an all round good girl. Since we got home she is straying further, not recalling immediately and generally just fecking ignoring me which drives me potty!

Tonight she disappeared totally for nearly five minutes, it felt like an age. When she got back she has run herself into the ground, she's knackered.

We've backtracked and I'm cross :( Plus she is being spayed next week, so will be back on lead arrest for 10 days. I guess I'll have to do some serious obedience work while she is!

Rant over.

I have one dc just starting the whole teenage thing at the same time as Pip - at least I know Pip's should be shorter lived.

I have read about the sprinkles thing a few times and keep meaning to try it with Pip. Must get around to it now the dc are all back to school and I might actually get 5 minutes to myself.

I had the worst walk, I think, so far with Pip yesterday. Off lead, extremely bossy/dominant, enormous Labradoodley thing (he towered over Pip - who's now over 28" tall) without an owner in sight and determined to start trouble with my two, on-lead, dogs. Owner was actually stood outside the park exit, right over the other side of the field, calling weakly while he dog repeatedly buzzed mine and barrelled into the pair of them, as Pip barked and growled at it. Not fun and I am sooooo mad about it, as it's taken months to get Pip past his fear of off-lead dogs (caused by being jumped on by large off-lead dogs that didn't have owners in sight when he was a pup) and I'm fairly sure this will have set him back. I'm so not looking forward to today's walk and finding out how he reacts to seeing off-lead dogs.

Oh dear Moose, I hope today went ok. People are totally oblivious to the fact they are undoing hours and hours of hard work by letting their dog run riot.

I'm always trying to get Mabel to walk past people without trying to leap at them to say hello. Had the clicker out today and was trying to get her past a man on the road quietly. He still insists on coming over to say hello and that is her ultimate reward! As he was coming over I'm saying, "She will jump up at you. She will jump up at you", and still he ignores it. So frustrating!

Anyway, had a better walk today. I took her to a field where you rarely see anyone else, no squirrels. Just the long grass which tickles her tummy and makes her spring in and out of it. She thoroughly enjoyed herself. Did lots of recall, and a mini version of sprinkles with her jackpot of a Felix pouch, that kept her busy a while and I just sat and let her get on with it . I love the idea of Sprinkles! Going to get some stuff sorted to use later before I leave her to go on the school run.

Haven't managed to go yet - been waiting all day for my new laptop charger to be delivered and still no sign of it. Looks like it will have to be an evening walk. I hate those, as there are even more badly trained dogs around of an evening and they've usually been cooped up in a house all day while they're owners were at work.

We've been doing some self-control exercises at home and lots of find-it games and retrieving with their new cuddly toys to keep them busy.

I love it when they do the springing in and out of long-grass game!

She has just had sprinkles for tea! She was out there about 10 minutes, I threw her kibble mixed with some tiny chicken pieces and grated cheese. I can't see any left:)