Rocky the Otterhound: Sunny days and shopping.

Rocky has had a marvelous week, lots and lots of bright sunny days with very cold temperatures - perfect for early spring!!

He went for a lovely walk down by the river.

Unlike the last time he was here he seemed to be taking more notice of his surroundings and other creatures that live there.

Where the sun had failed to get through the trees it was all frosted, a weather phenomenum which tends to get Rocky all bouncy. Instead of walking at such times he gambles about like a spring lamb; which is very funny when you are on the other end of the lead, it can however get a bit dizzying as he tends to bounce in circles?!! No, he hasn't got one leg shorter than the other, I've checked.

Back on the straight and narrow Rocky inevitably met up with new friends. This is another time when he moves around in circles for some reason (I wonder if other Otterhounds do so much circling)? His new friend, however, wanted to charge about in opposing directions and we all got in a bit of a muddle.

I'm sure they would have both got it together if they had not been on leads, but as there were sheep grazing nearby we remained responsible. They did get rather tangled up but we eventually got the other owner disentangled from Rocky's lead, but only after we both stopped laughing. It's lovely when dogs seem so pleased to see each other, you'd have thought they had been life long friends.

Talking of sheep, Rocky was more interested in them this time around. He sat for quite a while, watching them and leaning his head from side to side. However, when one started to move towards him he let out a whispered "oof" and moved swiftly behind my legs - just to make sure the sheep couldn't see him you understand!!

It's not that he's a scaredy cat, he just likes to make sure he isn't too challenged until he's made up his mind what exactly it is that is headed his way. After the sheep lost interest and walked in another direction he was fine; he seemed to make up his mind to remain confused and we walked on.

Rocky did take time to investigate the water a bit more this time.

After all, being an Otterhound and having webbed feet and a strong (and extremely long) tail for use as a rudder; it is inevitable that we should encourage him to come to grips with the wet stuff!

My plans came to nought again though, as having examined it from every angle possible, without actually going in, he semed to decide that it was not for him.

I can accept this, it is after all only February and I'm sure the water would be very cold indeed. However, come late spring/early summer things may be a little different and we will have to get serious about our encouragement. All our dogs have had tremendous fun in water and I'm sure Rocky will be no different;, he just needs to make that first and most important jump (so to speak)!

We had some more visitors this week as well and Rocky enjoyed all the attention and fusses that came his way. He was of course keen to make a good impression so decided to do his ultra cute act!!

He settled down to play very gently with his new toys, carrying them around proudly and gently (but firmly) dodging out of the way of anyone who tried to catch them in order to play with him.

It is only after people have appreciated how much he loves his toys that he will allow you to take them and throw or roll them away for him to chase ......................

This is one of his particular favourites, only played with when we are around (as it has batteries inside it). This one will roll about on its own with the fluffy felow attached seeming to roll around the ball. It never ceases to confuse him and when he has caught it and picked it up .................. it thumps him when he shakes his head from side to side.

I'm not sure why he likes it so much but he gets very excited when it comes out of the cupboard.

Once he was sure that he had his audience captivated he went in for the kill ............ so to speak.

Rocky still loves dressing up and this time he went for the cool dude look.

He seemed particularly proud of the fact that despite everything in the room suddenly becoming darker, he could still locate and set about destroying some of his toys. You gotta admire the lads talents!!

Lastly, I must tell you about Otterhounds love of routines. Being problem solvers it helps to have owners who have a routine - that way you can plan and execute strategies without too much complication.

We tend to do our shopping on the same day each week and Rocky finds this one of the most exciting days of his week. When unloading the car we tend to put the bags on the kitchen floor in order to leave our work tops free for unloading them. Rocky is not one to miss an opportunity and has developed a habbit of "having away" a small sample of goods (just to ensure we are buying top quality you understand). This week however, he bit off more than he could chew (if you'll excuse the pun)! He had run off with a spring onion ...........

As you can see, once he bit in to it (again to check quality) he decided it wasn't quite to his taste .........................!!!!!