It has been three weeks since I came to live in Malvern and in that time, I have grown up a lot. My house brother Shep keeps me in check. Sometimes I think that he is a bit scared to play with me because I am so much smaller than him. I am looking forward to a time when we can play together.
I love going out for walks and Julie has already taken me for lots of different ones in the local area although she tries not to walk me too far, or for too long.
Most of my walks have been on Peachfield common because this is where I can meet lots of different dogs and people. Julie and Antony want me to socialise as much as possible because that means that I won’t be scared in the future. Poor Shep, my big brother is quite an anxious dog because, as a puppy, he had a very bad experience with a rather unfriendly dog. Sadly, he never forgot this so now, he discourages other dogs by pretending to be as frightening as possible. He pulls a scary face and jumps up and down on ‘stiff’ legs. If they come too close, he chases them away by trying to bite their bottoms. Whilst some dogs get the message others just think that it is a great game. Actually, I think that he is calmer since I arrived. He is much happier to allow strangers to make a fuss of him now and he is learning to distance himself from dogs that he is unsure of.
One day, Julie took us on a much longer walk than she intended to. It was a beautiful warm sunny day, and white fluffy sheep were munching contentedly on the slopes of the Malvern Hills. Even though I am very young, my instinct is to herd sheep – and Shep is exactly the same. The route that Julie had chosen would have taken us straight through the sheep enclosure and Julie decided that she did not want us to disturb them.
Of course, this meant that our walk was longer than anticipated and we ended up on the top of the Worcestershire Beacon. There were loads of people and dogs on the summit all avoiding the expected later heat in the day. I had a fantastic run with many of them as well as getting fuss from their humans, I was glad to get home though. My legs felt a little bit tired. Julie attempted to carry me, but I was keen to wriggle free.
When I got back, Shep and I found the coolest places in our home, and we crashed. We will have to wait until its much cooler before we walk out again today.
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