In particular Finlay is growing in the Testosterone department! Finlay has always been a full on puppy, both gorgeous and a right handful at the same time. Several people have said that Balgay puppies are not for the faint-hearted and they were not wrong. For the last couple of weeks he has been almost beside himself with energy, panting and pacing around the house and scraping at the front door trying to get out....even when he has only just come back from a walk.
In fact when you take him for a walk, no matter how long it is, he doesn't want to come into the house, he just wants to go around again. I think he would happily be tethered in the front garden so he could watch the world go by (that isn't going to happen!!). I walked him for well over an hour the other day, it did actually tire him out for 60 minutes or so. He slept by the front door but was up and ready all too soon.
He whines at the front door, tries to jump out of the front window - at least I believe this is what he is trying to do - and, well it has been quite a headache. We came to realise that his behaviour was hormone driven and his desire to a) not come back to the house from his walk and b) constantly want to leave the house was because he had smelt something he felt worthwhile leaving home for. A local lovely lady.....I think we have found the culprit.
Finlay is the sweetest natured loveliest puppy you could ever hope to meet, he wags and smiles at all people and dogs he sees, and is a complete charmer. However, he met Ruby recently and that was a different story....it drove him a bit mad. He jiggled, pulled, wagged and made some kind of squealing noise we've never heard before. She is the same age as Finlay and lives a few roads away, she is a Jack Russel cross and has recently had her first season. We think this could the cause of Finlays madness.
We have used a calming tablet called Zylkene before on our previous Tibbies and it worked quite well....so we have tried it on Finlay. It does help, particularly in the evening, although during the day it isn't much good. He was pacing and whining in the evening, but now he is much more settled. So I guess for now we have to weather the storm of hormones until he gives up on the idea of creating Finlay babies with Ruby and hopefully Ruby's gorgeous aroma will die off a bit soon! He does at least sleep very well at night, and has done ever since we've had him.
Other than this rather time consuming series of events, Finlay is doing rather well.
Here is Finlay trying to jump out of the front window. Boy can this dog jump, he has a serious set of springs on him. If he gets a bit more power and better technique, he'll be on the window sill! (which we'd rather avoid!!)
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| Boing, boing, boing.... |
Here he is on a recent "mission to tire out Finlay" walk....it worked for a while....
