Rocky the otterhound: No place like home and Halloween Spooks!

This week has been a quieter week for Rocky, we have an elderly relative visiting who has been great, but has curtailed our activities a little. Rocky has still had his lovely walks but due to the fact that I am keeping an eye (and a helping hand) on our visitor, there have been fewer photo’s taken.

So this week is all about more homely things and may be a little shorter than usual. However, to add interest, I have a little Halloween quiz for you at the end. Hope you enjoy it.







Life has been a bit more laid back this week and Rocky is the kinda guy to take full advantage of this. Far from fussing for more walking or more energetic games he has joined in the relaxation with full gusto!











This atmosphere of quiet and calm has penetrated our entire household, so much so that Biskitt has stopped being quite so mistrusting of Mij! This has allowed a small amount of bonding between the two, however; at 18 going on 19 Biskitt is not going to allow full on affection – just tolerance at a closer distance.








Rocky has been more patient at waiting for Mij to join in chasing or wrestling games …………….










He has also been able to amuse himself with his own toys (a gift he had oodles of before Mij turned up). He didn’t so much loose this ability after her arrival – it was more a case of being very VERY easily distracted from a personal game into wanting Mij to be involved. So he is again able to take full enjoyment from playing by himself and will cheerfully carry on in his own world even when Mij is playing her own game close by ……….. He will of course stop to view what she is doing ………… just incase he has a desperate need to abandon his game and join in hers - especially if there is more food involved in her game!!!

Shopping day remains one of his favourite days, he continues to insist on examining the contents of each bag. This has become a joint task for Rocky and Mij as they are both to be found with their heads firmly embedded in the shopping bags now. In fact I have become slightly confused as to the purpose of Rocky’s interest lately; I am not sure if he is examining the shopping (need to gain his approval on what you have bought you know), or whether he is busy trying to see where Mij is and if she anything more exciting than he has been able to find!?

Mij is not above a fair bit of nosiness either. Occasionally Rocky will run off with an emptied carrier bag for a quick game of “shred the noisy thing” (see, we do recycle our bags), at which time it is Mij’s turn to take an interest in what is happening – just incase she feels it ought to be her game instead of his!! In short, it is like having two children in the house ……….. Only without the bickering!

Rocky appears to have willingly given up some room on his sofa to our latest addition. Although she does keep waking him up from an important snooze by playing “Kill” with his tail!!

Rocky has become so used to this (in a comparatively short time) that he tends to just roll over and leave her to it now! Aaahh!

Eventually (once Mij has finished playing and there has been a bit of jostling and moving around for the most comfortable position) peace is restored and they can both get down to the even more important business of sleeping!!

Talking of sleeping, “our sofa” has had the almost constant presence of our visitor on it; so when “dad” wants HIS important post-work sleep he has decided to use Rocky’s sofa. This has been a lesson in “how to confuse your young Otterhound”! An apparently easy exercise ………. Just choose to take up all the room on his sofa – job done!!!!

However …………. Be aware that if you partake in this dangerous exercise ……….. You will invariably be rudely awakened by a playful hound (once he has worked out that what you are really doing is asking for a game that is)!!!!

Always be sure to remember that the whole point of an Otterhounds private sofa is ………. To provide enough comfortable room for a good old fashioned snooze!!

As it was Halloween this week I thought it would be an ideal opportunity to talk about Otterhounds and Spooks. In this instance I do, of course, refer to the Otterhound propensity for getting spooked by everyday objects!

I have mentioned previously that Rocky can get spooked by many things and that we have tried to socialise him to anything that may provide a bit of spooking! Well, we were told that 18 months of age was the time they were most easily spooked and he is now 16 months and heading for that time at a tremendous pace. So naturally we have been alert to the possibility of an increase in his ability to find almost anything “spooky”.

We have (so far) got over the hatchback car with its boot open spook and the car towing a caravan spook; we have got past the stone lions on the gatepost spook and even the weekly wheelie bin spook but we have noticed that the silliest of things are becoming spooky?!!

I think I am right in saying that this endearing vulnerability continues for an Otterhounds lifetime, but perhaps this age is particularly prone? Anyway on to your game for this week …………

Below are just a few everyday objects and your task is to identify which have recently spooked our Rocky??

No 1 – a bathroom toy left on the kitchen work top.

No 2 – a washing basket left on the floor of the kitchen.

No 3 – tinfoil used to cover food while cooking.

No 4 – a packet of tomatoes left in the far corner of the kitchen work top.

No 5 – a shopping trolley left outside the local shop.

No 6 – A plank of wood left across a path at the building site on the Downs.

No 7 – A brightly coloured caterpillar in the middle of a path.

No 8 – A drawer left in the hedgerow at the building site.

No 9 - Some abandoned insulation just past the building site

No 10 – A huge concrete pipe at the end of the path at the building site on the Downs.




Answer:
Would you believe, all have sent our big baby into uncertainty and clingy-ness except No’s 1 and 7.

At this point I should say that reassurance and physically patting the object of his fear (and encouraging him to sniff it) quickly calms your Otterhound, and activities can then proceed as normal. Also having once been reassured he will no longer be spooked by that particular item if he comes across it again (except the shopping trolley but he was only 9 weeks old when he last met one face to face)!

Our observations have led us to believe that almost any everyday object can spook him if it is in a place he does not expect to find it ………… for instance; he has never been spooked by the washing basket before but it has usually been left by the back door before going back to the utility room. Seeing it in the kitchen sent him running for the safety of his sofa; peeking from behind it he bravely (?) barked at it from a distance!! So perhaps forwarned may be forearmed so to speak.

Lastly and to finish ……… Otterhounds are big, clumsy and clown like. They are independent, obstinate at times and their own dog. But above all they are endearingly cute, they are loving and very funny and I wouldn’t be without one!!

Night night Rocky, sleep well!