Rocky the Otterhound: Sleep, Comfort and Friends

There appears to be nothing as tiring as growing, and this activity seems to result in world class sleeping!



Rocky has engaged in this particular passtime to great excess this week; but he appears to be set on having the most comfort possible while doing so.

If alone (such as night time or when we are away from the house) he will sleep in his bed with aplomb; if however we are home, he will compromise and grudgingly (?!!) use our furniture. Bless!!

Next to sleep - comfort is now a high priority.




Rocky can and will amuse himself with his toys and will often indulge in the "mad fit" around the room, all by himself.


If however, he chooses to indulge in a quiet game, such as chewing a favourite article until it submits and either goes soggy or falls into pieces, he seems to want as much comfort as possible while doing this.

Rocky does seem intent on becoming a couch potatoe, and no amount of discussion will persuade him otherwise.

We have had a few wet days recently and I have been amazed how reticent he has been about going out for a walk! I have never known a dog not get excited about going out for a walk ...................... until now!!! But we all know that walkies is good for us (and our dogs) so walkies we must go. He'll thank me one day ............... maybe?!



The ongoing saga of Rocky and the cat seems to have reached a conclusion of sorts. The cat lives upstairs and Rocky downstairs. The cat may walk through Rocky's rooms but this is not recipricol. Rocky has settled to this, but does still tend to get a little confused when the cat saunters past him and walks up the stairs - leaving him to ponder what on earth is going on .......


When Rocky does manage to get close to her he gives her a jolly good wash, or invites her to play with a resounding bark .................. both of which get rewarded with a phenominal amount of hissing.

Snooty cats don't know what they are missing out on though as apart from the fun of playing with Rocky, it is also he that gets the company -because he is downstairs where we are! I am interested to see how long she is going to keep this up for?

But our lad does have other friends, one of which came over to play with him during the week.




Molly is a very sweet and pretty Spaniel who is 7 months old.



The two got on like a house on fire and played .................. and played ..................... and played. They then went for a walk together and as soon as they got home .................. they played.



It was left to the grown ups to decide when to call a halt to the proceedings, otherwise I think they would still be playing.......... Rocky did seem to be running out of steam, but I think Molly would have kept going till Christmas.




All in all Rocky has had a good week, he has had lots of sleeping (growing) time, he is now almost 16Kg. He has had a good deal of comfort, his ration of walks and a bundle of playtime; what more could a growing Otterhound want? Oh yes. food ................... he has had his ration of that as well!

On top of that, he has had loads of love and affection, all the cuddles he wants and even watched a few good telly programmes. Yes, Rocky does watch telly - but has not yet managed to pay attention enough to see a programme from start to finish.

So I must say that at this moment in time raising an Otterhound in your home is no different from raising any other dog. He has a sweet and gentle personality and like all dogs seems to adore his owners. He is already a joy to take for walks; the halti has made a tremendous difference and seems to have relieved Rocky from the hard choice of whether to eat or not eat whatever he comes across. This has led to a relaxed dog, and owner, when walking - which has improved all of our experiences of going for a walk. He has greeted, dogs with the same gentle "happy to see you" response as he has people (and children) whether in a crowd or all alone. He's a lovely chap!

So at this point in time I would heartily reccomend an Otterhound as a pet.

Rocky the Otterhound: Curiosity, Posing and Fun!!!

Rocky is being photgraphed quite frequently so that there is pictorial evidence of his life with us. This has led to him becoming very curious about the camera.................

This photo was taken first thing in the morning when I was trying to creep up on him................ I was hoping to get a sweet sleepy picture.................. failed again!!!! Note the lack of Bloodhound eyes (he'a had a good nights sleep! This is his "What you doing, what's that, can I eat it, will it play with me?" face.

He has come to recognise the sound of the camera focusing, so getting photos is becoming tricky.

He can be fooled though! I tried walking up to him with my hands in the position they are when I have a camera in them; yep he was just as curious.

Curiosity has now turned into posing though; a good excuse for a game ! Don't get me wrong, he is still be curious about all sorts of things, but as far as photographs go..... he poses with one eye on the (real or pretend camera), like a pro! The rules of this game are to see how many posings you can get him to do before he realises there is no camera. So far it's 15-0 to me!!!!!

This photo was taken after he had his halti (still working by the way) put on, and before his lead was attached............he was sat up looking wise and noble when I went to fetch the camera (honest!)................. as soon as he saw it though, he lay down and did the "see how long she makes me wait" pose!

Note how the eyes are firmly fixed on the camera? As soon as the shutter sound had finished he sat bolt upright again.................Blatent posing!!!!

Rocky being an Otterhound and showing this expert manipulation, leads me to suspect that my winning streak will not continue! It won't be long (I am sure), until he decides that posing is what I want him to do and then he will ignore both the camera and the posing opportunity.

This weeks blog though, is mainly about fun! As Rocky has matured (well a sort of), he has become more fun to play with. Like all dogs he has turned from a pup you play with into a pup that plays with you........ Great fun!

He does still entertain and play by himself. There is the good old plastic plant pot (now several sizes bigger than in previous photos)!

He has also progressed to the obligatory "Mad Fit for no apparent reason" . So far this has always happened when I haven't had the presence of mind to put the camera onto film mode.

Yeterday he picked up his plant pot and decided to race around the coffe table with it, at tremendous speed!! This game evolved into a relay race (with one participant)! Impossible? No, Rocky is great at it. He will charge round the coffee table, there will be a huge kerfuffle on the other side and he will charge back out with a completely different toy in his mouth............ all literally within seconds. This game will continue for some time with toys being swapped at great speed and an accompanying soundtarack of play growls, woofs, yips and high pitched squeeks from toys!! It is so entertaining I think it ought to be suggested for the 2012 Olympics............. We're bound not to get a medal (how unusual) but we would all at least have a jolly good belly laugh!

Then there is playing with us...................... this is where you realise you no longer need a telly?!The game starts with the "challenge a person to chase me" position................ within seconds.......... the game is on.......................


Chases round the living room............... ears flying in the wind (and the dogs), back legs trying to overtake the front ones and the biggest grin possible on your face (and the humans)...................

When you have finally exhausted your human..................You tig him...................

then you can chase him!!!

However, us bipeds tend not to have quite so much energy available to our legs (well us oldies at least)........................ so games sometimes turn to the more sedate kind.............. Such as the hand monster of sofa land..................

This game can involve as many or as few humans as you wish.

This game is more of a sport really, and a deadly one at that! The rules seem to be centred around how many and how well you can disable humans, by reducing them to giggling wrecks. Tactics used are.............. making as many strange and ridiculous noises as possible, while squirming around and making unco-ordinated paw attacks on the monster.

If humans appear to be winning, tactics change........... paws go into retirement and the puppy toothed "snap and suck" comes into play. This step up on rules involves trying to capture an opponents fingers in your mouth and seeing if you can suck them away from the rest of the hand. As origianlly suggested, .....deadly! If Rocky gets more than three fingers he stops, which I suppose means he has won? You however, are left with soggy, dripping fingers that require the urgent aid of soap and water.

Lastly, as Rocky has reached the grand old age of four months a comparison of size between 11 weeks and 4 months is offered.

I finish with a question.............. If this is just 4 months what size will he be at 18 months? Do not put answers on a postcard................. just keep logging on to see the answer!

Rocky the Otterhound: Life makes me want to sleep!

As I am writing this Rocky is fast asleep with eyes like a Bloodhound and head full of sights and sounds. He is nearly 4 months old, wieghs 13 and a bit kilogramms (sorry don't know what that is in English, apart from quite heavy!) and every day is an adventure. Todays first photograph is showing how his eyes look when he is oh so tired................. This really makes me laugh, I've had children who's eyes have shown how tired they are, but this is the first dog..... Bless!!

So what has he been up to this week?

Well there have been 3 impressive successes, two dissapointments and a truce between dog and frogs!

Let's start with the dissapointments; Biscuit the cat and Rocky have had four evenings in the same room, leading to hopes that they will sort out the pecking order and become friends. Rocky has been very good and gentle apart from one time when he rushed up shoving his nose on the seat just in front of her......... instinct took over and he was rewarded with a huge hiss and a double whack on his nose........... (no claws.......even when ruffled Biscuit doesn't do claws). This set Rocky down into a sit position with his ears down and a quiet woof. Thinking that the pecking order was now established we proceeded to congratulate Biscuit and ressuringly stroke Rocky. Well if we'd had any chickens we would obviously have counted them too early; as since then Biscuit has retired to the upper floor of the house again and we are back to square one!!!!! If anyone has an idea on how to stop a cat from sulking I would be most grateful?!

This photo is of Biscuits second favourite sulking place............ the washing basket!

Dissapointment number two is quite a biggy! On walks we happily spend ages stood around while Rocky sniffs a scent or sits down to take in the atmosphere; this can be quite a lengthy process but he seems to get such a lot out of it that we don't really mind it. What we do mind however, is when he snaffles up something revolting and proceeds to bring it up again (not always in an out of doors kind of way). It's not as if he doesn't get enough to eat!! Well, during the week he had obviously done this without us being aware (we do try and stop it happening for his sake as well as ours) and proceeded to be quite ill indeed. Unaware of what he may have got hold of a trip to the vet was initiated, and needless to say, Rocky was quickly on the road to recovery and my bank account was severely lightened! This did however lead to success number one.

No one, not even the vet, seemed able to offer any helpful advice on how to stop a pup from doing this unsavoury kind of thing. We had, however, bought a halti some time ago for use in lead training. It fits over a dogs snout and the lead clips on to the side of the head, it stops a dog from pulling in a very kind way, by resulting in the dogs head being turned to the side if it pulls; instead of the possible trauma of collars pressing on windpipes etc. Anyway, I hit upon the idea of trying it to see if it could be used to dissuade Rocky from eating things off the ground on walks. I am happy to report that it is marvelous for this and Rocky seems a lot calmer with its use. I do (and always will) let him smell his way around a walk (he is a hound dog after all) but a gentle tug on the lead at precisely the right time means his head pulls very slightly to the side, he bypasses anything remotely edible or unsavoury, and carries on quite happily. It does mean that you have to always watch for little signals that he is about to snaffle, but we were doing that anyway. Here's hoping it continues to be a success!

This is the state of Rocky after coming home from success number two...................... seems it took a lot out of him?!

This success was when Rocky became socialised with horses. On a walk in the country we came across a field with horses in, quite common in our part of the world. I saw a good opportunity to let Rocky meet some of the other animals he may well encounter throughout his life with us. We walked over to the gate and Rocky was quite curious, but when the horse came over for the handful of fresh grass I was holding, he shot behind me like the devil himself was after him! After two cuddles and being in my arms while I was stroking the horse (another feat of physical acrobatics......... my Kung Fu master would be so proud of me!) Rocky settled for sitting behind my legs while poking his head out between them. Whilst this was particularly uncomfortable, it was at least promising. Anyway, to cut a long story short, the third cuddle in my arms resulted in Rocky and the horse sniffing each other and obviously agreeing not to eat each other, as after that, he sat quite happily at the fence while the horse towered over him and indulged in some more grass.

The third and last success of the week has been Rocky's ability to show he does remember his house training lessons. I am not counting my chickens just yet (OK, if I had any I wouldn't) as I know he may make mistakes as yet, and so may we. But it does make for an easier life.

Rocky is growing well and looking so grown up and handsome some times, then he sits like a puppy and the image is shattered!! Anyway, todays exhaustion has resulted from sitting out the front of the house watching the world go by while I wash the car and my other half clears out the garage. What a lot of life he's seen, there have been cars, bikes and motorbikes going by; dogs going for walks and children coming up to say hello to him. He has been in his element; loves it! He had a soft mat to sit on, his chewey toys incase he got bored, and us around him at all times. He just sat there taking it all in and enjoying life.......but boy did it make him tired! Those eyes did thier thing and it was time to bring him in. Rocky walked briskly to his bed, fell in and after a brief peek out of one eye to check I was still around fell into a blissful sleep............... How I miss being a youngster, I used to be able to do that; oh well, such is life!!

Bet you thought I'd forgotten about the frogs? ................. Our patio appears to double up as the local meeting ground for frogs of all shapes and sizes, Rocky no longer appears surprised when on going out the back door there is a hoppy thing bouncing around. He moves towards it, has a quick sniff on his way past and just gets on with his life. I think he's done marvelously; but as I mentioned before frogs seem to be the most ungrateful of things and hop themselves almost into appaplexy after a quick sniff from our boy!!!! So, trying not to give the meeting ground a bad reputation, I still end up chaseing them, picking them up and putting them under cover somewhere. You'd think they would have passed the message on by now wouldn't you?!

Rocky the Otterhound: The Good, The Bad and the "Ohhh! is it time to go home already"

Lets start this weeks report with the good stuff, what's nice about owning an Otterhound pup?

Well, everywhere you go together people talk to you, mainly to enquire about what breed the pup is. Most want to fuss him and some want to take him home.

Rocky is generally very gentle and sedate, except when he has his mad fits of tearing around the floor and trying to look cool....but all puppies do that.

He learns some things very quickly, Rocky has taken to "sit" and "down" like a duck to water................maybe too well?!!!! After just two weeks of being walked on the lead he will sit at kerbs without being asked..............but honestly, we never asked him to sit down to eat his meals!!


He is cute, funny and very loving. You can always tell when he is tired as his eyes sag and he starts to look a little like a Bloodhound, thats when you leave him in peace which results in no puppy temper tantrums.


Rocky is also very cuddly, he loves people to bits and climbs on your lap for a cuddle whenever he can...................great at this age but it maight have to go onto the negative side when he is fully grown (?)!


He is growing into a very handsome dog...............


and he will leave you alone if you are busy; either by taking a nap or by entertaining himself with his toys, which can be a distraction as he's very funny. He will growl and talk to his toys and if he gets frustrated with a toy he can't pick up, will give it a right telling off!!

Rocky has a variety of faces which range from wise to happy, from tired to sorry and from goofy to serene. I think he has one of the most expressive faces of any dog I have owned. There is no need to try and guess how he is feeling!

So, let's see what we can inform you of as the drawbacks of owning an Otterhound pup. Well, if not watched carefully he will eat all manner of invertebrates, muck and unsavoury things....until he is sick!!!! But, Talking with other puppy owners I have found that they all do that!

He can be very stubborn at times, but then can't we all? He does not appear to have totally embraced his toilet training, but has done much better since he started going for walks. I don't think it is because he is emptying while out, more that he has more to think about now? He was quite difficult the week before he was allowed out for a walk; which may be because he is such an intelligent dog and the confines of house and garden alone were not enough to stimulate him (despite all the fun and games we generated for him).

When playing chase (a favourite with all dogs) he usually works out very quickly how to get to you in seconds rather than follow you round and round in circles. This does tend to remove the pleasure of the game for both of you and you are left trying to think of another game to play that he can't work out an easy way round. This in turn tends to challenge you rather than your puppy which may somewhat defeat the object of it all!!

Taking Rocky for walk can take a while, depending on where you go. For his weekend treat I take him out to the country where a 15 minute walk for him can take you an hour (he only physically walks for about 15 minutes or so).

He walks a little then does his hound thing.....he will sniff the air in all directions; often stop just to look around and generally take in the scents. Mostly standing still, but occasionally will want to follow a scent (that's when you have to out stubborn him). Although listed as a drawback I must mention that it isn't a drawback for me as I really enjoy our time out, but if you are someone in a hurry or have little time; then it would certainly be one.

Lastly, he still has not quite got the hang of his legs. He tends to look like a young teenage boy, with legs longer than his body. Rocky manages quite well apart from getting in and out of his bed, trying to jump or pounce on his toys and generally getting tangled up if he is concentrating on something else. This can lead to aching sides as you laugh yourself silly and is not to be reccomended. Apart from that he is great!!!

Finally, as I reported last week Rocky has taken well to the car and his own seat belt.............. so I thought you might like to see it. This photo was taken when Rocky had stubbornly sat away from the car as he didn't want to go home just yet, despite us being out for an hour!