Balou finally convinces Kit to play with him

Another of the highlights of the last few days has been that Kit the Bearded Collie has finally deigned to play with Balou. Kit is a lovely, friendly dog and Balou has always been drawn to her. He has spent the last couple of months following her around and trying his best to get her to play with him. Most of the time she has ignored him, until now. Finally she has decided that Balou is worth playing with - happy days!

Balou turns 5 - months!

This week saw Balou's five month birthday. He is so different both it terms of confidence, size and looks from the 11 week old baby who came to join us at the end of November. Size wise he nowrivals our golden retriever friend George and is starting to seek out and play with bigger pups. He continues to enjoy playing with his little gang of pals but is growing in confidence with other dogs and is happy saying hello to dogs we meet of all shapes and

sizes. We met a lovely young Bouvier - another giant breed - who would have been great fun to play with but was on the lead as he was too naughty to be let off. (Big dog trainer sigh) His face is also looking much less puppyish and goofy, there are moments when I look at him and

see

the handsome adult he is going to become. He still has his puppy fur but along the back a line of courser, longer adult fur is starting to grow in, and almost all of his grown up teeth have come through. He is still very good in terms of behaviour and recall though the first signs of adolescence are starting to show - every so often he finds something more interesting than me!

This week has seen a flurry of snow which Balou has loved. Unlike the smaller dogs who need to be wrapped up warm I get the impression that Balou would happily live in a snow hole. He is the only one of my dogs who thinks nothing of lying down in the snow for a rest.

January fun...

The iPhone being the great invention that it is I've been able to get some pretty good vids of Balou going about the arduous task of being a puppy.

Here he is playing with his little friend Dexter, and a branch...


And here he is trying to play with a swing we met in the woods. At first he was slightly scared of the swing and then he realised if he nudged it it swang back, cue much woofing and hijinks. I literally had to drag him away.



In this one he is enjoying playing in the long grass on Hampstead heath with his furry family and friends...

Wow - it's February already. Time is really flying by. Balou is now losing his puppy teeth and teething with a vengence. In an attempt to keep him from nibbling on the furniture, car and everything going we've been getting through large numbers of doggy chews. Pig ears, pizzle sticks, sweet potato chews, bones. You name it, if it keeps Balou occupied then we've tried it. The only difficulty is a lot of the chews cause an upset tummy if chewed in any quantity so he's been having lots of rice and charcoal biscuits in an attempt to keep things *ahem* regular.

The weather over the last couple of weeks has moved from rainy and horrid to cold and, when we're lucky, sunny. This is great weather for a heffalump. Unlike some of the others Balou couldn't care less about the cold weather, he is after all a furry lion/bear creature.