Scary monsters

What we have learned today.

Monkey has added a couple of things to his ‘I’m scared of this as well' list.

On today’s walk he reinforced his dislike of transit vans and added a bus shelter – just the one so far – and wheelie bins.

He also decided that the swooshing sound a car tyre makes when it goes over a wet patch on the road – not a puddle – just a wet patch, is enough to make him jump forward.

He also discovered last night that he would like to be Scooby-Doo. Walking on the green in the twilight he moved away from me by a lead’s length – about six feet (two metres) while he was ahead of me I stepped on a twig. You could almost hear the yikes as he jumped up in the air. Luckily he didn’t try to jump into my arms!

Anyway back to today’s additions to the list. The bus shelter we pass most days is open fronted

Today’s evil bus shelter is one we have passed on the opposite side of the road several times without any fuss. However, walking on that side of the road necessitated a run round behind me as we approached it

Go figure.

Wheelie bin day leads to all sorts of shenanigans as some bins are on drives to our left – others are on the edge of the pavement to our right.

 If I could get Monkey on skis I swear he could win Gold in the downhill slalom at the Winter Olympics.

Monkey day 2

Another quiet night and out in the garden first thing for toilet. Monkey seems to like going out of a side door rather the patio doors. He had a slip in the dining room on his first night so maybe that has coloured his perception. He does want his lead on when he goes out and comes in. With the lead he will trot straight in but without he will stand his ground and no amount of cajoling will change his mind.

He also turns his nose up at treats at the moment so they are no use in reinforcing positive behaviour.

Breakfast today was also a no-go area although he has had some water – again, as his first drink last night, it had to be brought into the front room. It’s almost as if the front room is his run at the kennel and while he seems quite happy in here, he doesn’t like to leave it.

But, having said that, he goes off to bed in the kitchen at night without a fuss.

The news on the cat front appears promising as Monkey passed within two metres of a neighbour’s animal on our morning walk and never turned a hair.

We ventured down to the clay pits, on Bitham Lane, which can be a hit and miss affair as we have encountered loose dogs on there with Winnie but Monkey needs to nose out his surroundings and today there were no other dogs about.

He seems to be on alert all the time when out as traffic noise makes him turn his head all the time to watch. He can be skittish when other dogs are sighted but with the muzzle others are giving us a wide berth.

We are of course awaiting the revealing of Monkey’s true personality once the ‘honeymoon’ period is over and he begins to find his place in the ‘Pritchard pack’.

He is sticking to his ‘spot’ on the carpet rather than in front of the fireplace so we have put his daybed there and hopefully he will get used to the daybed and we can gradually move it.

Fruitless attempt at dinner time to convince him he must be hungry.

However, a bowl of pasta, cheese and chicken at 7pm finally broke his fast abd this was rapidly followed a couple of handfuls of dog biscuits and cheese. Hopefully, tomorrow will bring a proper breakfast meal – if not we’re gonna get through a lot of pasta.