Bathtime

I was rather stinky when we came back from the beach yesterday; Kelly said I smelled of stagnant water and fish and seaweed. I didn't mind so much - in fact I was actually enjoying licking the bits on my tummy that smelled fishy - but Kelly said I had to go in the bath because she couldn't stand the smell. She stood me in the bottom of the bathtub and soaked me down with the shower, then soaped me up and gave me a good scrub. Fortunately she had some special puppy shampoo that didn't irritate my eyes, so I didn't really mind being in the bath so much. Even though I'm small I still know how to splash, so Kelly ended up having a bath too, haha!

When I got out of the bath I was wrapped up in a warm towel and rubbed down, and Kelly took some photos of me because she said it was cute that I look so tiny when I'm wet.

Me looking all bedraggled - but still cute!

Kelly dried me with this horrible noisy thing called a hairdryer - I was very scared and I cried and tried to run away, but she held onto me because she said I had to get dried otherwise I'd catch my death of cold.

Half dried - still bedraggled but looking a bit more like normal

Shake! 

Please don't dry me any more, I'll be fine, honestly

Finally it was all over with, and I was mostly dry. I wouldn't let Kelly dry my whiskers though - no way was I having that hairdryer thing blowing in my face!

Pretty as a picture!

Life is a Beach

This afternoon the weather was really fine. Kelly's Dad was taking a drive down to the beach with his Jack Russell, Tess, so he invited us to tag along. We were babysitting Chloe today, so she came too. This is the beach we went to - it's called The Blast.

Some silly person had written this on a fence post to show other people the way to climb down the cliffs to the beach. Kelly had to carry me because the track was very steep.

 Here I am sitting on the beach - I was really excited because I had never seen the sea before, so I was tearing around like a mad thing, and by the time Kelly stopped me to take these photos I was extremely out of breath.

Chloe likes the beach too, although she's a bit more sedate than me. She mostly likes to trot along beside Kelly and sniff the sand.

 Kelly's Dad walked along the beach with me for a while while Kelly took this photo of us. You can just see Chloe camouflaged on the rocks to the left of his feet. Tess the Jack Russell was always off running along the cliffs and crawling through the weeds, so sadly she isn't in any of the photos.

I was fascinated by the waves - I ran up and tried to sniff them, and when they washed into shore I scurried out of the way as fast as my little legs could carry me.

Kelly wouldn't let me walk all the way along the beach and back, because she said I'm too little, so I ended up being carried most of the way. Towards the end of our walk she captured Chloe and we all sat on a rock together to pose for this picture, but Chloe and I were too interested in each other to actually look at the camera.

We were  extremely tired when we got home, not to mention sandy! Luckily the dry sand brushed out of my fur very easily, although Kelly says I still smell like seaweed. I hope Kelly's Dad takes us back to the beach again soon, because it's my new favourite place to go for a walk!

Making My Own Entertainment

This morning I was terribly bored. I hadn't been for my walk yet because Kelly had dozed off on the sofa after breakfast, and I'm too little to climb up there and wake her, so I decided to make my own entertainment while she was sleeping. I looked around for something to chew - aha, my toilet paper! I had great fun tossing it around and shredding it. This is the scene that greeted Kelly when she woke up:



Kelly was horrified at the mess I had made, and she told me I was very naughty. Haha, that's what you get for ignoring me!

Pikachu!

This morning when I came home after my walk there was a surprise for me - a HUGE Pikachu! Someone was throwing it away, so Kelly's Mum brought it for me to play with.

Pikachu is bigger than me, but that doesn't stop me showing him who's boss

Take that, Pikachu!

He's so big and squishy, I love to bounce on top of him and roll around

I've never had such a big toy before, and he's lots of fun to play with. Thank you for giving Pikachu to me, Kelly's Mum!

Slide

Today Kelly and I went for a walk on the field, and we bumped into a man with a big collie dog. At first I was scared and I barked, but after a while I calmed down and made friends with it. The man laughed at me because I couldn't see very well with all this hair hanging over my eyes, so Kelly decided it was time for my hair to be tied up. Unfortunately it still isn't long enough for a topknot, so she came up with a novel solution - a tiny hair slide! This is me with my new yellow hair slide in - hurrah, I can see!


... and this is me five minutes later, after I decided to groom myself and play with my toy:


Kelly says: I thought I had found the ideal solution for poor Bella's inability to see, but sadly it didn't last very long. I guess I'll just have to keep putting the slide back in every time she pulls it out, until her hair is long enough for a proper topknot.

Chicken Run

Today Kelly's Mum went to the grocery store, and she came back with lots of bags of food. She foolishly put them on the kitchen floor within my reach while she and Kelly unpacked them. I sniffed around the bags - mmm, roast chicken! Yep, this must be mine... so I decided to help unpack by taking the chicken out of the way.



After Kelly and her Mum finished laughing at me, they confiscated the chicken - hey, I thought that was my dinner? I did get a plate of chicken afterwards though, so I can't complain.

In the Dog House

Today I went to my first puppy training class at The Dog House, which is a big dog arena near where we live. I was really nervous when we arrived, because I had never seen so many big dogs up close before. Kelly explained that the other dogs were all different breeds, and that's why they were all so big compared to me - there were about a dozen other puppies including a collie, a beagle, a dachshund and some mongrels. I was the smallest and fluffiest dog in the whole class, and the other puppies were so bouncy and barky that they scared me, so I hid under Kelly's chair. Kelly took me onto the arena floor away from the other puppies so that I could calm down; here's a photo of me sitting on the special pretend grass that they have there.


I'm doing the foundation level of the Kennel Club Good Citizen Dog Training Scheme, which means that I have to learn things like Sit, Stay, how to walk on the lead properly and how to socialise with other dogs. I know all of those things already, but I was so nervous around the other dogs that I wasn't really paying any attention to what Kelly was saying; I was too busy looking at the big Alsatian that was sitting right behind me! I still managed to get some ticks on my worksheet though; when all of the items on the worksheet are ticked off I'll get a certificate and a rosette to show how clever I am!

I'm usually pretty playful and bouncy, but today I just wanted to lie down and sniff the ground, and watch all the other puppies running around. Some of the other humans had trouble even persuading their puppies to sit down because they were so excited, but I was completely chilled out and I just lounged around on the ground. In this photo you can see all the other puppies sitting in a circle and paying attention, while I'm crashed out flat on the floor. This was the position I adopted for most of the class, and someone said that Kelly might as well have just brought a rug instead of me; that made me feel sad because I'm better than any mangy old rug!


At the end of the class the instructors set up the agility equipment so all of the puppies could practice doing some jumps. Of course I refused to jump, which I think is understandable given that I only have short little legs - I went under the jump bar instead. I didn't much like going through the tunnel either, and Kelly had to stand at the other end and coax me to run through it. Here's a photo of some of the other puppies attempting the agility course - as you can see I wasn't the only one who didn't like going through the tunnel!


For next week we have to practice keeping my attention on Kelly, so when she asks me to do something I might actually hear her and respond. The instructor said if I was a little more hungry I might be more likely to pay attention to the biscuit in Kelly's hand, so I won't be getting so much breakfast before next week's class!

New Tricks

Here is a video of me attempting to do my new tricks, Roll Over and Twist. I get a bit confused sometimes, but I'm starting to get the hang of it... I still won't do it unless I get a biscuit though!

Demon Puppy

Most of the time I'm a sweet, placid little pup... but occasionally I become possessed and race around like a mad thing for absolutely no reason. Kelly filmed me so I could see how scary I look when I'm in one of my crazy moods... I didn't realise I was so intimidating!

Cousin It

This is me when I woke up this morning:

Kelly laughed at me and said that I looked like Cousin It, which I thought was a very hurtful thing to say. My hair isn't quite long enough to be tied up in a topknot, but it's long enough to obscure my vision, and I'm having trouble seeing. This afternoon we visited Kelly's Dad and I ran straight into a glass door because I didn't realise it was there - luckily my face is flat already! Anyway, Kelly decided that my face needed to be combed - I didn't like it much but she held me tightly and did it anyway.

This is me post-combing:

Hurrah, I can see again! For now anyway... Kelly says that my face has to be combed every day from now on, to keep my hair out of my eyes. Once my topknot grows a bit longer it can be tied up and I'll be able to see much better.

Puppy Tricks

Kelly filmed me showing off the tricks I learned. I know how to Sit, Lie Down, Get Up, and Give a Paw. I'm very clever for being only 13 weeks old!

Spot the Puppy

I decided to hide from Kelly so I could get some peace and quiet. Can you spot me in the photo?

Sausages!

Kelly's Mum brought me a string of sausages, and I haven't stopped playing with them since!