Baby Balou

Thursday, 6 September 2012

Teenage times

ZZZzzz - this is the right size bed for me

Isn't it amazing how time flies. Here we are in September with Balou's first birthday just a few days off - he'll be one this Sunday, September 9th. Balou's teenage behaviour continues to keep us on our toes. He might be rather slower than his little friends but he likes to test the boundaries just like they did. Current favourites are counter surfing - he is very keen on eating cat food! Sneaking (yes a Leonberger can sneak) into my bedroom and onto the bed. This is what I call his Goldilocks move - finding a bed which is just right. He has also become obsessed with intact boys. Luckily we've only met a couple of girls in season but there are plenty of boys who are still boasting their manhood. When Balou sniffs out one of these he does a dirty dart to go and investigate. Cue attempts to mount, smack with his big paws, yowl with excitement and generally pester the other boys. Needless to say this behaviour isn't popular with the other dogs or their owners!

Puppy paddling pool - yay!

His adolescence is showing itself in other ways too - he's becoming more assertive and standing up for himself, sometimes even throwing his weight around which is something we are watching carefully. Balou himself is eventually destined for the snip, not least because he has an undescended testicle. At the moment I am trying to hold off a little longer but it seems likely that we will have to have him neutered slightly earlier than the 18 month mark I was hoping to hold out for. The benefits of delaying neutering by a couple of months have to be weighed against the disadvantages and impact on his behaviour of allowing him to form bad habits. It's a tricky one!

Enjoying a friend's pond on a warm day

Hmmm - who is going to win this tug of war?

Best of friends, Balou and Bouche.

Tuesday, 31 July 2012

Balou's latest exploits

Relaxing in the mud

Attempt one at finding a Leo sized chew

Attempt 2!

Balou cuddling up with Lucha the cat

Making friends with small humans on a walk...

Balou does fetch

Teenage trials

Balou is rapidly approaching a year - only a month and a bit to go! He is still growing and resembles a lanky teenager, still not as big as the fully grown male Leonbergers we've met, but getting there. He is also very much the adolescent in his behaviour, he is becoming more assertive, especially around other dogs - he even told another dog off for the first time recently when its attempts to get him to play just became too much. He still remains a lovely, cuddly boy but we are at a critical time where we need to make sure he doesn't start to get the upper hand - at least as far as his interactions with humans are concerned!

Another interesting thing about adolescent dogs is that older intact males will ALWAYS make sure they are put in their place. Balou recently met two older boys, an 18 month old who was very friendly but a little too rough for Balou, much like an older child shoving another around he was very keen to show Balou that he had a little extra muscle and experience. We also met a four year old boy who bossed Balou around as soon as he saw him - even going so far as to knock him over and sit on him! I found this all very funny, Balou a little less so. It was interesting because there was no snarling or growling from the older dog, he just knocked Balou over and sat on him, just to make his point that he was the older more macho dog perfectly clear.

Wednesday, 4 July 2012

Playing with friends - big and small

Balou is a very sociable pup and has lots of friends. Most of them are smaller than him, some much smaller as he spends a lot of time with toy dogs. But sometimes we find some big friends to play with too.

Balou tries to get a Great Dane to play.

Balou finds a friendly Malamute, Sid, to wrestle, and his pals join in the fun.