Gotcha Day

Can you believe that I have lived with Ann for three whole years?........

….........When I was a weeny, teeny little 3 month old puppy, living in kennels, I never in my wildest dreams imagined that 3 years later I would have such a nice life.

I have learnt so so much in the last three years. Ann still can't believe what a perfect little pooch I have turned into. Apart from my silly puppy jumping up at random people but even that's getting better?!!

During my first year with Ann I did loads and loads of training. There was sooooooo much that I had to learn. When Ann first adopted me I hadn't had all of my puppy inoculations so wasn't allowed to go walking in public places. Ann had read that puppies do most of their learning in the first four months of their life so she knew she had a lot to teach me in only one month. Who can remember the 'puppy stroller' that Ann used to push me around in when I was little? She was determined that I was going to get used to all the sights and sounds of the city ASAP. She didn't care that people thought she was a 'mad, silly, old dog owner pushing a dog around in a pram'. Within a couple of weeks, I'd been exposed to everything – traffic, emergency services with their scary sirens, pedestrian crossing noises, biffa bins clanking around while emptying the bins, kids scooting to school on scooters and skateboarders. Absolutely everything.

The other thing that was really important to my human was socialising me to be really friendly towards other humans and doggies. Her previous dog, 'MollyCollie' had a very bad start in life and there were some issues that Ann never managed to resolve.


Every single day for about 6 months I had to meet a new human or go for a walk with another dog. I still remember my very bestest walk when I was little. I met 'Fudgeface' with three of her dogs in the Hermitage. I was on my long lead because I was still practising the command, 'Trixie come'. Fudgeface persuaded Ann to let me off my lead. She said that I would stay with her three dogs the pack and I did. That gave Ann the confidence to let me off my lead at other times. My human says that 'recall' training is one of the hardest things that puppies have to learn. My recall is perfect now unless I'm chasing squirrels and then it's non exsistant!!!

Oh and the other thing that I had to practise every single day for 6 months was going out in the car and staying home alone. …......The car wasn't a problem. I actually quite liked being in the car, but when I was in the boot I used to roam around and apparently that wasn't appropriate behaviour so Ann started putting me in a box?? See here. And now that I don't need my crate in the house it just lives in the car so when we go out I just jump into my crate. The highway code has changed recently and now all doggies have to be contained in a car.

Staying 'home alone' was a little bit harder. I used to cry when Ann put me into my crate, but only for a minute or so. She knows because she would stand outside the door and listen. And then when she thought I was confident enough, she left my crate door open so that I could wander around in the kitchen area if I wanted. ............I chewed the walls when my crate door was left open and I was home alone. (See here) A lot of people said, 'Just shut her in her crate when you're out', but to Ann that wasn't the solution. She didn't want me to be shut in my crate. She wanted me to be a happy, well adjusted little collie and lets face it, once I'd chewed the walls they needed re-plastering anyway. So Ann persevered with me. And now I'm a big grown up collie I would never dream of chewing anything.

BUT....................... the worsest aspect of my puppy training was............. 'toilet training'. OMG?! Can anyone remember the problems that my human had trying to toilet train me?????????? It seems like every BLIP from 3 years ago is about my toileting habits. I just didn't get it?! We live in a fourth floor flat. When I was a weeny, teeny, little puppy Ann's social life was severely curtailed because she had to take me out every couple of hours. She was up and down the stairs so often that she lost half a stone she wishes she could do that now but it still took me about 6 months before I was properly toilet trained. And during the whole of that time we kept receiving messages on 'Social Media' saying, 'My dog was toilet trained in 2 days/2 weeks'. #nothelpful

Moving swiftly on............................

2019 was a year of training....................

2020 was the year of lock-down when we consolidated the training and created a really good human/dog bond. We were pretty much together 24/7 for the whole year.

2021 was when life was supposed to get back to normal (but actually it didn't)................ and I was the one constant support in Ann's life. If she hadn't had me, to take out and walk for miles and miles and miles, then she probably wouldn't even have bothered to get out of bed???

So here we are...................... 3 years later..................

It's my 'Gotcha Day'. I LOVE Ann and she LOVES me. xx