Rocky the Otterhound: Laziness, affection and fun!

Rocky has had a full week with lots of lovely play time. He continues to develop into a lovely young Otterhound and I have been able to identify some more personality traits.

Rocky has not developed into a cuddly dog, don’t get me wrong he is affectionate, but he is his own man. Since he has grown he shows his affection in other ways; by coming over to you and leaning on you. He then enjoys a good stroke and will put up with you sneaking a quick cuddle (but you have to be quick)!

How do I know that a good leaning is affectionate? Well, he seems to have taken to leaning in a big way (too lazy to lift himself onto the sofa may be?) but he normally just leans where ever he is at the time.

Actually seeking you out to lean on is different in my book; and he does purposefully walk over to lean on you quite often! I would translate that into affection, alongside his habit of getting up on the chair next to you and giving you his paw to hold while he falls asleep ……….. Pups all develop their own way but I think these may be uniquely Rocky, or Otterhound, or both?!

Rocky will often show a lazy nature …………. Does things half hearted so to speak ………….. Such as getting up on the sofa after climbing off it to fetch a favoured toy. Or not!!

I would love to think that these frequent poses are due to his over-excitement with the toy leading to an inability to finish a manoeuvre before getting stuck in. But that is not his way! Rocky tends to think about things and come to a decision before he does them ……… although he doesn’t always make the right decision, but he is still learning.

A couple of weeks ago I told you about his new favourite toys (soft latex dinosaurs that we thought would only last 3 minutes), well they are still going strong and he is rarely seen in the house without one of them hanging from his mouth.

I would highly recommend them as an Otterhounds jaw can make short shrift of most things – but these appear to be an exception!

This week “daddy” bought home another new toy for him (again one of his favourites) a cardboard tube! The bigger the better –

This one was as tall as him and he had great fun trying to run around the house with it in his mouth. It did give us a few worried moments as he is now almost on a level with most of the ornaments in the room. But thankfully it didn’t take long for him to stop parading and settle down to destruction!!

Rocky is also fascinated by birds!! He will try and follow the crows up in the fields, stop what he is doing to watch a bird fly past and look up at the roof to see what is making that lovely noise. He also spends a lot of his time sat at the patio doors watching the birds feed at the table in the back garden.

Needless to say his favourite part of the garden is by the bird table. He will wait for them to show up and when he gets bored (because none of them do) he will go and lay on the bank; with one eye still watching the bird table. If he manages to stay still long enough one will always come down; unfortunately he then ruins the moment by running down there to try and get a closer look!! Still, everyone ought to have a hobby I suppose!!

Rocky’s adventure this week was doubly enjoyable as his friend Molly joined him. Molly (being a Spaniel) doesn’t have the same apparent reticence about water that Rocky has, this became more apparent as the walk went on. Rocky is still happy to paddle but does not go in for the total abandonment that his friend shows. I don’t know if this is Otterhound or just Rocky behaviour but it is still early in the year and there is always the hot balmy summer (what in England??!!) to look forward to.

We managed to walk a little further this week and found the “lake” that I had been told about. I must say, it was more like a very large pond than a lake but ideal for doggy swimming as it was deep enough, clean and had easy to walk out of sides.

Molly was in her element, loved her swim ……… but Rocky was not so sure!

Rocky took his time, watched how much fun his mate was having, checked out the wet stuff a bit and seemed in no hurry to make his decision.

However, “daddy” decided he couldn't wait any longer to enjoy seeing his lad taking a swim.

The sun was out, the birds were singing, Molly was in and out like a water baby ………

So “daddy” went for it …………. And Rocky found himself walking out of the pond in a strange state of wetness!!

Despite being exceedingly happy afterwards, Rocky did not venture into the water again. Even when we were joined by a couple of new friends (who also loved a good swim) Rocky was happy to just sit back and watch his friends have fun.

He did have a jolly good charge round though, when they were all out of the water. He just loves playing!!

Eventually we headed back, Rocky stopped to watch a few cows on the way.

Unlike last time he met them he was more self assured and seemed happy to stand in plain sight and watch for a while. I often wish I could know what he is thinking ……… for such a young dog he does an awful lot of watching and pondering!! It’s quite fascinating to watch ……… he just takes his time …….. Then suddenly does a mental shrug and walks away!! If intelligence is measured by how much information you take in about something, I may have a doggy genius on my hands!!

Back at the cars and Molly is moving less fast – time for Rocky to play his way (as close to “in one place” as possible).

The fact they they had just finished an amazingly stimulating walk got the better of both of them. They both got closer and closer to the ground -until they played without moving around much at all - sort of a mixture betweem teeth duelling and boxing.

While we found this rather amusing it seems that Rocky and Molly found it hilarious – they just couldn’t stop laughing and smiling. How cute is that?

After saying our goodbyes it was home for a good rest. Rocky was contented and decided to curly up behind “daddy”. Now was that affection or just the fact that “daddy” had all the comfy cushions??