Friday & Saturday

Bit late on updating you but last few days have been really busy. Friday we went back into work as Paul was leaving to head off to New Zealand. I decided this would be a good opportunity for Tarkka to be among a large group of adults plus get use to things like clapping. Tarkka was very good and had lots of cuddles. Biggest surprise was when Abbie asked if she could hold him. Abbie is very scared of dogs so this was a big deal, and made me feel very proud of Tarkka that Abbie had asked.

Next I had to run a couple of errands so Tarkka stayed in his car crate while I nipped in & out of places.

When we got home we settled down to some clicker training. I was surprised how quickly Tarkka picked this up. He will sit & down. We are still working on stand. We did clicker training 3 or 4 times throughout the afternoon in 5 min spells.

In between we played out in the garden. Tarkka found a plant pot (with plant still in it) however with a quick tip, the plant was tipped onto the grass and Tarkka proceeded to run around with the plant pot on his head.

3.15 prompted school run Tarkka came along as normal, he's now happy to see the kids and be fussed by both kids & parents.

Saturday was a bit different, for a start George got up at 6am and woke Tarkka up and played with him until 7am yippee a lay in. After breakfast Tarkka had a nap, but we had noticed over the last couple of days that he wasn't so keen to go in his crate. With a bit of quick reading I decided to play games involving his crate. So I put a hula hoop on the floor & found one of Josh's training golf balls (like a kitten ball it has loads of holes in it) and it it great for zooming along the floor & bounces really well. I started by just playing with Tarkka on the floor, which was great fun but as Tarkka got use to bringing the ball back to me and giving me the ball back for a treat I upped the game. I now got Tarkka to sit in the hula hoop on the floor and then swapped the ball for a treat, then I bounced the ball into his crate. Each time he ran to his crate & retrieved the ball bringing it back to the hoop and sitting to exchange the ball for a treat. We did this for about 10 mins and repeated it throughout the day. Result when Tarkka got tired he went of his own accord to his crate and fell asleep. Plus last night after going out and starting to do the whole shutting down, turning things off etc again Tarkka went and got in his crate for bed.

We had a few visitors today. Paul & Nik popped over to say hello, Nik wanted to keep Tarkka however don't think it will fit into the travel plans as they set off for New Zealand in a week Nik's going home and Paul's going with her (Paul's turn to be a foreigner for a couple of years). We also had a visit from Pauline (next door neighbour) with her 2 grandchildren, Harry & Emily. Harry was a bit nervous but Emily happily stroked Tarkka (even if each time she bent over to stroke him he tried to eat her hair).

We have also gone for walks every day around the block (in my arms) and met lots of people & dogs today we met a spaniel and a really big golden retriever each dog wanted to say hello so I crouched down while Tarkka pawed at them (not scared at all)

Tarkka was also lightly groomed today and had his teeth brushed.