Archie gains an A for behaviour

There has been a dramatic change (improvement) in Archie’s behaviour. The advice about ignoring the pup when you come back to him has worked wonders - just not making a huge fuss of him right away - you can do that after a while. He has settled down, is less bitey, less manic, will just sit and wait by your foot to be picked up instead of scrabbling to get up. My knees are all scratched from morning sessions with my PJs rolled up to stop him chewing the ends.

He spent long periods on his own yesterday - outside and in the kitchen. There was no crying. And Archie didn’t cry either.

I could hear him rattling round his crate in the night, and then rattling around early this morning. No whining - he had his pig’s ear to chew- and I got up about 6am, let him out and made sure he did his business, then came back to bed. He has his toys, his breakfast, the run of the kitchen and his outdoor area. There were a couple of wee whines at the door, but when I got up (at 8am!) he was in his crate! This is brilliant.

He’s outside just now and I looked out to see him sitting at the fence looking very interested in something on the grass. It was the neighbour putting her washing out. He hadn’t barked at all. Good.

I went out to chat to her, and she seemed to be getting quite fond of Archie, after having been a bit ho-hum at first about having a puppy in the back yard.

I popped into JL early today to get a cover for my new iPad and a few other goodies in the £1 shop. Oops a packet of Chocolate Orange fell into my bag at the checkout. Also got a proper ice cube tray - the plastic freezable ones just don’t clink properly, though they don’t dilute the G&T.

C came to visit Archie and loved him. He was at his just-woken-up-dozey-cuddly-tummy-tickling cutest.

I loved this one of him posing beside one of his toys. Look at that wee glum mouth! (He's not glum - just thoughtful).

You have no idea how long this pose took...