Update on Merles

Awful at updating this!! Merlin is 5 and a half months old and is doing well.

He's happy and healthy and making some lovely doggy friends, although perhaps a little too excitable and big for the older dogs now, so we stay away from them :)

Training had been going well, until the last couple of days, where he has now decided that no treat is good enough for him.. so we're now trying to turn sniffing and playing with dogs into the reward... Which sounds simple, but isn't!

Today was day one of the sniffing, and I have just been saying sniff everytime he sniffs, so he understands, so on our walk, I was like 'sniff, sniff, sniff, sniff, sniff' an awful lot! - Hopefully he'll get it soon..

He is getting a lot better at being left, and isn't half as fussed when Josh leaves as he was - thank god.

The car sickness is still there, even though we thought we'd got over it with a thundershirt... but there is less dribble, but still very much a work in progress.

Now... Picture Time :)

Merlin at almost 18 weeks old!

Merlin is 18 weeks old on Monday and I really can't believe it - he's almost not a pup! 

He is doing very very well and his training is going excellently. He has learnt all the normal ones and now we are just doing them with distractions and making it harder. 

We are also now teaching him shuffle (crawl), curtsey (bow) and lifting his feet when I left mine to get him to dance ;)

Only thing missing if getting him to recall 100% when he see's a bird!

He's getting slightly better at being left, however he still freaks out of Josh goes out for too long! :(

Today we went for a long walk in Milton Park and sir was very well behaved - didn't jump up, or sometimes even bother at all when people went past and he even had a little dip in the water!

We also had a little trip to the pet shop to get some dog food, and got some doggy ice-cream while we were there, which stayed frozen for the 2 hour walk and was much better than water to cool him down!

Needless to say, I don't think Merlin will be waking anytime soon! 

Here he is - growing up, so so fast! 

Merlin having a little break from all the running around!

'Mum, there not playing with me!!'

Merlin and the friends he met :)

Happy face!

'Errr not sure I like that as much as I thought I would!'

'What ch'o looking at'

'My toy!'

Day with four lovely ladies! (13th May 2012)

This is very very late, but when we went to Essex we had a lovely afternoon with my 4 nieces;

Merlin had a lot of fun, and went a little crazy with the balls!!

Here are the pictures -

Merlin eats better than we do!!

Just a quick one, in jealousy of Merlin!! I had looked at the ingredients of Acana before we put Merlin on the food, and sort of though 'oh that sounds good, it'll do' but tonight I thought I'd do a bit more research - So I looked up the ingredients ;


Dehydrated chicken (30%), russet potato, deboned chicken (6%), deboned walleye (6%), dehydrated whitefish (6%), peas, chicken fat (5%), alfalfa, chicken liver (2%), deboned lake whitefish (2%), whole eggs (2%), salmon oil (1%), sweet potato, pumpkin, spinach, turnip greens, tomatoes, carrots, apples, organic kelp, cranberries, blueberries, juniper berries, blackcurrants, chicory root, licorice root, angelica roots, fenugreek, marigold flowers, sweet fennel, peppermint leaf, chamomile flowers, lavender flowers, summer savory, rosemary.

He definitely eats better than we do! Also, I am happy to say there is not one ingredient (after looking up alfalfa!) that I didn't know what it was - which I think is quite good as normally dog food is like E09209083 etc. 

Will post about the rest of Monster's week some other time! 

When Mummy's Home...

So I've got this week off of work, so Mr Monster Merlin has been having a great time!

Saturday we went for two little walks and then vets - the walks mostly to practice his recall :) then mummy mowed the lawn so Merlin didn't have to pee in a jungle any longer!

Then Sunday, we had a pretty relaxed day, but focused on some training :) Merlin now knows, sit, down, paw, spin, stay, leave, drop (he knows drop really well when he wants to!) and probably come others than you don't really think about but he'd know! Oh and we had a great time with a toy we brought that makes lots of doggy friendly bubbles! (of course, he still got his little walk as well!)

Monday we went to a dog show (I forgot my camera) and we met lots and lots and lots of whippets, including a lovely one that looked quite like Merlin named Tom, but Tom was 5, so it was like meeting a future Merlin! We met lots of other breeds of dogs and everyone commented on 1. Merlin's colour 2. How calm he is.

We watched the fly ball and after trying twice to run along side the dogs, he gave up, laid down and just watched it. Now for 15 weeks old, I'm impressed!

Then on Tuesday we went on another two little walks, again to practice his recall, and then in the evening we met about 5 Shih Tzu's who all came running into the field to play with Merles, and so Merlin had the best time ever, but even the one time went a little too far while playing and I called him back he came running back, dispite the fact he was having a great time with all the other dogs.

I have to say, although we are stilling having a few problems with leaving him on his own, overall, especially with people, he is a well rounded, very socialised, happy dog! I couldn't be prouder of him, especially despite the first weeks being almost traumatic!

Now for some pics :D

14 weeks and 5 days!

Monster Merlin is changing from a puppy into a 'proper' dog! 

He is doing very well with his training, but we are still working on him being left, as he doesn't like it too much... 

I have a week off work, so we are going to working some more on his training and it's almost his last week of the inital 'socialisation period' so we are going to be busy busy busy! 

Merlin met his first horse today, he was very good - no barking etc, but I think he wanted to play with it, I think he thought it was a large dog. It was obviously very tiring as he is now sleeping on the sofa. 

We went to some puppy training, but was unsure of how we felt about it, so we're going to take him to another trainer and see if that's any better! 

He seems to be having a break from his growing, and seems to be putting all the energy into making his gnashers grow beautiful!

So here are some pics of the growing boy!

Merlin's Big Day Out!

My sister-in-law was running the marathon, so we took the monster down to cheer her on!

It was a challenge to take him with us - but well worth it for his socialisation, especially as he is a very people orientated!

He was very good on the tube, especially as there were lots of loud noises, he didn't even flinch. (Silly mummy forgot to take pics on the tube!)

My brother's little girl decided she would like to stand and watch, which was great as it meant Merlin could chill on her pram :D

We then walked to the pub where he was literally amazingly behaved while we ate, just laid down and went to sleep :eek:

Then for the cherry on the top, on the drive home he wasn't sick once!

The only downside was that we were stopped literally every couple of seconds for people to go 'awww' and then ask a million questions :tongue_smilie: I think we've also inadventantly got another 100 people to buy whippets :rolleyes:

So here he is enjoying his big day out!

'Mum, why are people laughing at me?'

'I'm not getting off, she can walk - her legs are longer than mine!'

'Not you too Dad? I've told you, I'm comfy! Don't make me move'

The marathon :)

The marathon from Merlin's level!

Then we had to stop and have a pit stop, so monster got dindins!

My OH with Merlin - we all were a little tired by this point and we didn't even run it!

Then it rained and Merlin didn't want it to ruin his hair!

Lastly here he is in the pub being all cute!