Rocky the Otterhound: Continued celebrations and fact file.

Rocky’s week has not been quite as full as last week due to the return of the monsoon weather. However he did have a lovely surprise at the beginning of the week, so photo opportunities did present themselves.

Alongside a pictorial account of his week I shall give you some facts and figures which may help anyone out there considering homing one of these charming clowns.


For a start this is the real story of trying to get the posed photo of Rocky which appeared last week (for comparison with his first ever photo). Yes Otterhounds get big; but, that doesn’t necessarily mean they need a big home – providing you are prepared to give them the exercise and love they need, you don’t have to live in a mansion house.





This photo needed sharing as it is the state of the men in the house after Rocky’s lovely birthday party last week ………… such stamina!!!







Rocky was still enjoying the fruits of his party the next day when …………..









His pal Daisy turned up to wish him a happy birthday.

They were very pleased to see each other.






She bought him another present!! Rocky was very pleased ……..









He couldn’t wait to open it …………….











It was a squeaky Otter!!!! Wow!










He also had an edible birthday card ……….
He had no interest in reading the lovely message inside – it was a case of “yummy I want to eat it now”!!! What a lucky Otterhound!











Then it was ready, steady, go; Playtime!!!





While you are enjoying the photos of two dogs having a great time, I think I will start to give you some facts of what we have found out by living with our Otterhound. They are in no particular order of priority.



For the first 35 weeks of his life his average weight gain was 1kg (2.2lbs) per week.

At one year old he weighs 41.3kg (91lbs).

He stands 27 and a half inches at the shoulder.

He sings and runs in his sleep, with the occasional full-blown howl (complete with raised head and nose pointing to the sky), this does not wake him but makes us laugh!!

Heavy rain, or just being wet, sends him into a mad fit (running around like a mad thing).

On or off the lead he will not cross the road without permission. This took a little teaching but he learned quickly and it is constantly reinforced.

He does not like to swim but loves to paddle.

His bottom is silent but deadly; however, his body odour is no worse than previous dogs and is generally unnoticeable.

He has never hurt another creature (except snails which are still considered a snack), including, babies, small children and cats.

He now eats 0.6kg (1.3lbs) of food a day. We try to ensure that this includes treats.

He is 21 and half inches from ear tip to ear tip.

He will eat just about anything if he can (be warned you do need to be observant).

At 7 and a half months he had a very brief destructive phase (over the period of one week), table, sideboards, carpet and rugs (a little of each in fact). He very quickly learned to desist (he likes to please and dislikes displeasure) and there have been no recurrences.

The breed characteristics of single-mindedness and stubbornness are confirmed – as are the ones of clumsiness and clown like behaviour.

His recall is useless but he has never run away

He is happy to lie in at weekends and never demands that we keep to a schedule.

He was fully house-trained by 5 months.

He is very messy, hair, mud etc; especially his beard.

He loves squeaky toys.

He is in fact, the best thing since sliced bread!!!

Anyway, eventually these two friends ran out of steam and it was time for Daisy to go home.

Rocky is now finding that his Otter is a great toy, he sucks it and squeaks it and enjoys thrusting it into our groins – his signal for a play please!

His card did not last very long but he sure enjoyed it, what with that and his birthday cake (which he couldn’t get enough of by the way), he has had a jolly good feast this birthday!

In fact all this week he has been playing with birthday toys; his new latex ball, his new squeaky ball (lucky boy found it in his doggy bag!), his Otter and his card.

Oh yes, and balloons! After he finally burst his party balloon we had to blow up some more for him.

And what do all good Otterhounds do after all this?

That’s right ……………..

Night night Rocky.