Day 40 - 46 (Friday to Wednesday)

Well I haven't been very good at blogging recently, but not because there is any problem, other than the weather!  As it has been very wet recently Poppy has not got up to much - but the last couple of days have actually been far nicer weather so she is back on form.

Indeed tonight, we went back to dog club after a 2 week absence.  Poppy had a wonderful hour.  She did all the movements that all the other 5 puppies did, which included a down stay, sit stay, recall on the lead, heel walking, recall across the yard, heel walking around the other puppies, retrieve the ball, follow off the lead, and puppy playing!  She may not have done alot of anything, but at least she did something of each of them.

We are now on mark 3 boots, and I think this is really helping.  They have been made more like mittens, so are quite easy to put on.  They have velcro closures, and are lined with fleece and sheepskin, so are softer and more padded. The outer layer is made from one of our pony's old rugs, so they are sort of shower-proof; although still not yet fully waterproof, as the seams obviously let in the water.

I am sure that these new boots really helped her to achieve a whole hour on tarmac tonight.  She is so good having her boots put on, I think she realises that they do help.  Although she does not like having her warm coat on - this was used for the first time yesterday morning to her disgust!

We weighed her on Monday and she is now 15.9 kgs.  We have started to add some Chappie complete to her feed and slightly reduce her Puppy food.  In part to get her ready later to move on to Chappie, and also to make her meals smaller in actual volume.  She does struggle with the quantity that the Purina Puppy seems to be, and just the act of eating can fatigue her.  Since we have changed, she gets 1 cup of Purina Puppy and a small handful of Chappie and she seems to get on far better.

She is nearly as tall and long as Abbie, but much slimmer still.  I reckon about another 5 cms to go on the height and quite a lot of width - although this may be where we really notice a difference as of course not much of her body will be muscle.

I have been trying to get a good photo of her, but whenever I have the camera around she always seems to move - ironic for a puppy that has difficulty in moving around!  Anyway, the following picture is the best I can do at the moment, it does capture some of her cheekiness!