Why, Betty, Why?!

 Every dog we have ever had, has each had their unique personality. And Betty is proving to be one of the unique est!

    For a start: every other dog or puppy we have had, has loved to find holes and spaces in the fences and hedges around our garden, so they can go and explore further afield.

    Not Betty! Betty likes being at home. She does not want to go outside of our garden at all!

    We have been trying to walk her on a lead, so she can join Graham and Tallulah on their morning walks. But Betty: a) does not want to be on a lead and

b) does not want to walk in any direction which is 'away' from the garden.

    She just stands stubbornly, or sits down.

We have tried taking Tallulah out in the hope that Betty would follow her mum, as anywhere in the house or garden, Tallulah has a little black Betty shadow. But take Betty out onto the footpath and 'NO, NOT GOING ANYWHERE!' seems to be the message, loud and clear.

    We have tried carrying her away from the house, then walking back towards the garden

    We go two steps, then Betty sat down and refused to go any further.

    Sigh, we will persevere with this.

    Anyway, Betty's biggest 'thing' at the moment seems to be taking ANY opportunity to get wet.

    If there is a water bowl to stand in or fall into, Betty will do so.

    She comes for a fuss and the usual cry is "Betty! Why are you wet?!"

    When Graham is watering the garden, she will play with, or stand under the jet coming out of the watering can. So she gets watered.

    If there is the slightest hint of rain, Betty will have been stood out in it.

    If there is any wet undergrowth, Betty will have rolled in it.

    Her favourite place for sleeping is in the living room hearth. It is tiled so probably feels nice and cool in this weather, so fair enough.

    But there is also a ceramic dog water bowl at one end of the hearth, and inevitably Betty will end up sleeping with her head on the edge of the water bowl.

    And equally inevitably, her head will end up in the water .....

A Week in the Life of a Betty

 A week is a long time in the life of a little dog.

    Last week, Betty was introduced to a small part of the Great Outdoors, which proved to be a huge success. The main success, as far as we were concerned was that she quickly picked up that outside is a lovely place to do your toilet stuff, not always, we must admit, and especially not at night (she hasn't yet managed the dog flap), but by far most of the time.

    Now we must also admit that not all of the chicken wire fencing was as taut as it could have been. Particularly the bit into the left hand side of the garden. So it soon became obvious that some of us had learnt to pull the fence down and scramble over it. Still no harm done, Betty and Tallulah were having a great time playing together, and that seems a secure part of the garden.

    Of course we have had to try and keep the fencing at a level which Betty couldn't get over (....) but Tallulah could. That didn't work out very well. Because when Tallulah goes Boing! over the chicken wire fence, she is followed by a small dog who can also go Boing! over the chicken wire fence. 

    We found this out when Graham was collecting dog droppings and found some Betty sized ones near Holda's Hut.

    Then when he went to put some rubbish in the bin in the side garden, he realised that something was chewing his sock - hello Betty. So she could leap all the bits of fencing designed to keep her contained.

    So that was a waste of time.

    Of course the thing is, Betty is growing at a fantastic rate. You can almost see her doing it!

    Each day she seems to be able to scrabble higher up.

    At lunch time (midday meal, dinner time as I know it), Graham brings stuff through from the kitchen into the living room where our table is, loaded on a tray.

    Yesterday he put the tray down on the kitchen chair, while he turned the kettle off. By the time he turned back, a small dog had her head in the cheese and was giving it a good and very enthusiastic nagging. 

    This time last week she couldn't have reached!

And Then There Was One

 Well we knew it was going to happen.

Angela had a hospital appointment in the area last week, so called in to pick up the three sable babies and take them off for new adventures.

    So now we are left with Tallulah and our little Black Betty, or Betty Boo. She is a little sweetie (although not as cuddly as Singer, he will be a lovely and loving companion for some lucky person).

    Angela said all the puppies were pretty, but as soon as she saw Betty, said 'That one is Show quality.' which made me feel a bit guilty for picking her as the one we would keep.

    We took Betty to be microchipped on Monday. Graham carried her into the vets expecting this to be a quick, in-and-out visit, but it was a bit longer than expected, as all the staff had to come and say 'Aaawwww!' to Betty. 

    She was duly microchipped, had a vaccination and was examined by the vet who pronounced her fine.

    To be honest, Angela had seen her and she would have spotted if anything was amiss. In terms of collies I reckon Angela (from Wicani Collies) is the fount of all wisdom, and probably knows more about the breed than a vet would.

    Anyway, now we are down to Betty and Tallulah, things are a bit more settled, and rather a lot less frantic. There is also a heck of a lot less crap and wee everywhere.

    We have rigged up a fenced off area outside the back door, so that Betty can now get outside whenever she fancies (although 'outside' is HUGE to a small puppy, so that is taking a bit of getting used to). We also hope to encourage her to understand that crapping is an outdoor activity - rather than going upstairs to do it under my chair in the office!

    Tallulah is also encouraging Betty to play with her. Tallulah dangles a toy in front of Betty, until Betty gets hold of it, then gently drags Betty round the room, allowing Betty to have a chance at pulling back too.

    Tallulah has been a fab mum, and still is showing to be so.

                    Ooooo is that 'outdoors'?

                

                    It seems a big place

    

    

                    Can I get over this HUGE step?

                        MUMMY!