Rocky the Otterhound: If at first you don't succeed ...................

This week has seen a lot of bad weather, mainly lots of wind and rain - Not Rocky's favourite!! Consequently, apart from the occasional (almost forced) walk, Rocky has been confined to barracks, so to speak. Well he is getting to that age, you know the lovely teenage stage that we all find so endearing in our children (?), which in an Otterhound seems to result in an increase of the sleeping in and obstinacy stakes.

Imagine .............. it's raining and walkies time - Rocky tries to hide under the table (I say tries, he is now so big he usually only gets his head underneath it) and you have to cajole or bribe in order to get him to allow the lead to be put on. Then you have to jump up and down, squeeking encouragement, in order to get him out the door. Having done your soggy duty of walking him you arrive back at the house, take him through the garage to the back garden (so that you dry him as he comes through the back door); and he won't come in!!! It ends up in a standoff - he won't come in, you shut the door on him - he barks to come in, you open the door - he won't come in etc ............. Rocky seems to find this good fun, despite the weather.

Sitting on command can now end up as a battle of wills if you let it (tidbits for good behaviour will still work though, thankfully) and "NO" appears to have turned into a new game of "OK, if you want me to stop you'll have to get really really cross with me or I'm gonna play with you" - how do you get cross with such an endearing hound?

He has also decided to become a bit more vocal - I don't know if this is the Otterhound teenage version of throwing a tantrum or what, but it takes you by surprise - he is usually so quiet!? As eplained above it is useless at present saying NO, so we are trying diversionary tactics, with a little success.

I think we are slowly winning on the good manners and behaviour side of things but we are right back to puppyhood with tidbits.

Oh yes, he also does a wonderful teenage sulk, especially if you have managed to stop him doing something naughty, like taking something of ours off the coffee table (a big no no in our house)! He gets as high onto the arm of a sofa as possible and, almost frowning, looks anywhere but at you! If you try and look him in the eyes he will turn his head and stolidly examine the pattern on the floor!! But I am happy to say that all teenage behaviour is short lived and not really a patch on what the children were like.

To relieve the enforced monotony (due to our lovely weather) we have tried to pep things up for Rocky and the cat. We have gone back to trying to get them to share space in the same room again. Well Biskitt (the cat) used to love a lap to sit on and Rocky is still confused by her on the few occasions he sees her.

Biskitt likes the high ground and Rocky, still wanting to hug her and squeeze her and love her, can't understand why she won't play!

She is less hissy and a little more curious (guess she has realised he is staying now), but continues to resist Rocky's advances.


After sitting opposite her, shuffling slowly towards her on his bottom, a slight stretch of the neck to sniff close to her will result is Rocky gettin a clawed paw waved vaguely in his direction. Now, our Rocky can only be described as a big gentle coward who needs reassuring in order to proceed towards anything which may have spooked him (that includes carrier bags blowing in the wind - which are apparently very scary to 63lb dogs?!).





This is one of his - "Cripes Mum, what am I supposed to do know" looks.


In this instance much reassurance resulted in Rocky relaxing and getting a little closer ...................
Yippe we thought ...........................
but ....................................



Biskitt then decided she was bored and dissapeared upstairs again.


Poor Rocky he'd love to play with her ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,


We are, however, continuing to proceed with the getting used to each other tactics. Biskitt does not seem upset or frightened by Rocky and on a couple of occasions has even sat on my lap enjoying a tickle and stroke.


Rocky continues with the "Aw, come on puss, play with me" attitude and I think she may slowly come to accept him.



He got this far quite recently and she didn't hiss or try to back him off with paw waving ...........



so perhaps I am right to be hopeful!?









Yesterday was so funny - we have a full length mirror in our living room, right next to the door (which we usually keep open). Rocky actually noticed his reflection in the mirror!



We had the shake of head with snuffling noises, as he made sure he was seeing right. Then there was the paddy pawing of the mirror with a "come play" bark. Eventually he poked his head around the door to see where the rest of this fine looking dog was; having no luck he went into the next room to find him. There is a long cupboard on the other side of the wall from the mirror, so Rocky barked for someone to open the door - looking in he saw no dog - so it was straight back to the mirror to check he was still there, he was!!



This turned out to be a lesson in how to confuse an Otterhound! But, like all the times you can laugh at someone elses expense - you have to pay ............. every time we go into that room now we have to open the cupboard door so Rocky can see if that dog is there!!



Finally, having told you of all the teenage behaviour we are experiencing I can't sign off without letting you know about the more frequent behaviour.

Despite growing, and growing up, he remains a happy child like dog. He doesn't ever get aggressive or bad tempered and prefers to keep smiling and having fun.

He is affectionate without being "in your face" and soooo adorable. he loves his cuddly toys and has really taken to the duck he got from santa, he carries it around a lot and talks to it often.

Actually, if I'm honest, I wish the kids had been this easy when they were teenagers! Sorry, can't do anything but love this dog!!