Penultimate Visit

On Sunday we went over to visit him for the last time before picking him up on Friday. We were excited as we'd not seen him since before Easter and wondered how he'd have changed. He was much more active and had far more of a personality, darting back and forth in the garden, nose to the ground hoovering up all the exciting new smells. The family we are getting him from have been using his name and he was sort of responding to it but there was so much excitement around that he wasn't really able to concentrate. We put his collar back on him and he tolerated it very well, not seeming to bother him in the slightest. He's fine being handled but is full of puppy energy, wanting to be everywhere at once. We tried getting some photos but he was a bit of a moving target. Here are our best efforts.

Paddy Proofing

Saturday was spent trying to make the garden as 'Paddy-proof' as possible. To prevent him getting behind the 'bungalow' I made two panels covered in green garden mesh. Not incredibly robust but should slow him down long enough for us to notice he's trying to get through them! One fence panel had rotted at the bottom so, with the assistance of a neighbour, we swapped it for a better one from elsewhere in the garden. As we were explaining why we were doing this, he mentioned he had an old kennel that his dog has used before they moved and asked us if we wanted it. We thought it'd be good to let Paddy have somewhere he could shelter in the garden if he wanted so we jumped at the offer. It needs the roof re-felting but other than that it's perfect. The next outdoor project is to build him a sandpit so he can have somewhere he can dig to his heart's content (along with buried toys for him to find).

Indoors we put his crate up, complete with his bed and, at the moment, a Fimble that we've been sleeping with to give it our scent. The Fimble was non-cooperative, hence him being locked in there for the time being. We also put up the dog gate that will keep him out of the study. Below you can see it being tested by Paddy's softer and smaller stand-in.