The Adventures of Balou - a week of wolves and water

This week has been a busy and fun filled week. On monday Balou turned four months - not much longer and the hormones will start kicking in. Eek! We have also been enjoying some lovely sunny days, especially nice after the torrential rain we had last week. With such sunny weather it's easy to spend hours dawdling on our walks sniffing, playing in the leaves, chasing the squirrels and meeting friends old and new.

Balou is rapidly becoming famous in our neck of the woods, he has more friends than I remember meeting and we are regularly stopped by people who say they have been keeping their eyes open to spot him. It's a case of if you go down to the woods today you might see a heffalump.

With the last week of school holidays there have been lots of children off school and out in the woods and on the heath. Balou loves children and they seem to love him, his fuzzy fur and lazy walk seem to be a magnet. As a pup Balou is of the opinion that children are human puppies and who is to say he's wrong, what with all the squeaking, running, stick waving and general madness surrounding them. As much as Balou likes being around children I am always a bit wary for two reasons, firstly he is at the age where a dangling scarf or waggling stick is just asking to be grabbed, secondly he is already big enough to knock them over if he jumps up, which on occasion he has attempted to do. Mainly he is managing well but there are moments when I'm glad that he has a strong 'leave' and thankful of how interested in food he is!

We continued our walks with Karin and her group of  dogs which sometimes include her own Northern Inuit Lily. Because Balou spends so much time with small dogs I'm keen to make sure he still gets a lot of exposure to larger breeds, it's important for him to know that there are people bigger than him and to socialise and be happy with dogs of all sizes. Despite now being the size of a small labrador Balou really thinks of himself as the baby he is, when meeting new dogs, especially larger ones he is very courteous, and a little wary. He tends to warm up once he's met dogs a few times and so is very friendly with my daycare dogs and the other dogs, like Karin's, that he sees regularly. We've met a few other puppies and Balou has had the odd play with them but generally finds them a little too fast. Usually he prefers to play with his little big brother Scrap the pap. Scrappy is the eldest of my dogs and is four years old. He is very friendly and calm and welcomes other dogs into our group. He also has some of the best, clearest doggy body language going - those big ears are really expressive! Scrappy is definitely Balou's 'mentor', he follows him around and is over the moon that Scrap now plays with him. Given the disparity in size, and speed, playing usually involves Balou standing over Scrap and a strange sort of wrestling taking place.

Look at this big stick I have. See how big it is titch.

This week also saw the arrival of our newest daycare client. Dexter, a three month old mini schnauzer. Dexter is about the size of a small cat but is very feisty in true schnauzer fashion. He and Balou have become bosom buddies and would happily spend the day wrestling. When at home this involves Balou lying down with Dexter dancing and prancing around him, nipping his ears and making lots of impressive growling noises. The two also try and play out on walks and would happily roll in the mud for hours. Despite looking rather an odd combo. Balou is fairly gentle with Dexter. Dexter is in fact the more assertive of the two and Balou is the one who often calls time on their rough-housing. Because they enjoy playing so much I often have to physically separate the pair in order to get any walking done. The great thing is that mini schnauzers tend to grow into fairly sturdy little chaps so the pair should be able to continue playing as they get older. It's also nice for both of them to have a similar age pup on hand to keep playing with as puppies can be a little tiresome for older dogs.

Hello Mr Wolf

Another high point this week, for me at least, was meeting a beautiful Utonagan. A breed I know a little about but which is truly spectacular. Very wolfy but with longer fur than the Northern Inuits. We had the pleasure of meeting a lovely young boy called Sos who was very gentle and friendly and was with his pal Dasha the husky.

Although Balou is now four months old and so the critical socialisation window is technically finishing it is still important that he keeps doing new things and having lots of positive experiences. The majority of dogs we've met have been nice with only a couple of shouty staffy types scaring Balou a little from across the street.

This week has also seen Balou visit our local very dog friendly pub where he happily sprawled out and nonchalantly dealt with the attention of all the staff and patrons. He was totally unfazed, probably helped a little by the lovely smells and the gravy bones.

Such a busy week. Time for a snooze.

Also this week there was the arrival of Balou's headcollar and harness. He is learning to wear a dogmatic headcollar when walking on the lead, we're taking things slowly and he's doing okay with the pesky nose strap. Balou is very good at walking to heel and actually needs encouragement when walking on his own but given that he is going to be a very big boy I decided something with a little more control than an ordinary collar would be a good safety measure. The harness is a Kurgo car harness that he wears in the car. It attaches to an 'auto zip line' which fastens from one hanger/handle to the other across the back seats of the car and then forms a tether keeping him safe should there ever be an emergency. The harness is also useful for helping support him as he gets in and out of the car, he's a bit big to lift in and out by himself but rather disinclined to doing anything himself.

Wow, look at these, they look like me.

On Friday we met up with two Leonberger friends, Nelly and Indie. Now that Balou is a bit bigger they actually acknowledged his presence. When they last saw him he was only a little bigger than his little friends and not worth bothering about. Balou was mildly interested in them but I think he knew they were the same breed as him as he was less shy than he can sometimes be around large dogs he doesn't know. Or maybe he just followed my lead as the girls are the ones who introduced me to the delights of Leonbergers in the first place. Indie is young, about two, and very playful, while Nelly is seven, ginormous and very slow and lumbering, only interested in being round the nearest food source.

Naturally the three of them were a real sight and got lots of attention. As tends to be the case with the giants and the tinies people can't help but want to know more about them. In fact one of the pieces of advice for potential Leonberger owners is don't get one if you don't want to be constantly asked about your dog. Luckily having had Deerhounds, Pomeranians, Papillons and Shih Tzus I'm well used to curiosity. In fact I think I'd be mildly offended if nobody asked about my dog!

Below is a video of Balou enjoying a little run around with his larger friend Indie.

Finally, a proper sized water bowl.

We rounded the week off with Balou having his first proper water experience at one of the dog friendly ponds on the heath. The pond at the Vale of Health is sloping and shallow and great for a paddle. Given that Leonbergers have webbed feet and seeing how much Balou enjoys playing with his water bowl I guessed he would enjoy playing in the water but thought it might take him some time to explore. Boy was I wrong!

Balou loved it and immediately waded into the water paddling, jumping and generally enjoying himself. The rest of us, bundled up in warm clothes, looked on laughing as he careered around, probably the fastest I've ever seen him move. After a few minutes of lolloping around there had built up quite a crowd watching Balou frolicking. I can't wait to see him in the summer when he really can make the most of the water. Perhaps he'll be giving the little ones a lead for a change.



If you'd like to see the heffalump flumping in the water then watch the video below. But turn down the sound otherwise you'll hear my cooing!

Hello over there