My year living with Harry!

Within the last year, my sister gave birth to her first child which put Harry's nose out of joint as he was no longer "number one son". Not long after my nephew came along my sister and her husband then moved house which left Harry feeling even more confused. The change of house also meant Harry had to change dog walker which altered his entire routine. This new routine left Harry feeling even more anxious and unaware of his surroundings.

With my sister being off on maternity leave, Harry got used to having her around and therefore would no longer wait by himself in the house any more. This meant that my sister could not even make short trips to the shops down the street without sending Harry into a frenzy. This also meant that Harry had to go everywhere with her in the car which was very difficult at peak times during summer and winter months with the high and low temperatures.

Harry has become very protective over his new home and now barks at every little hint of movement or noise from the neighbours (including every time they walk past the door!!) He was initially scared of my nephew but now absolutely loves when my nephew feeds him titbits from his high-chair when my sister and her husband aren't looking!

His new anxious state led to my sister and her husband getting in touch with a new behaviourist who suggested using food toys, amongst other things, to mentally stimulate Harry. The behaviourist had said that Harry would take a few weeks to work out how to use these new toys, however worked them out in only a matter of minutes!

My sister and her husband are now currently waiting to see yet another behaviourist at a top veterinary school which will hopefully shed some light on what has caused Harry to become so anxious in multiple situations. They have recently discovered that Harry has arthritis in his hips which means his day care trips with his new dog walker are going to come to an end because he is too tired and sore. We all have our fingers crossed that this new behaviourist will hopefully help Harry, but I guess we will have to wait and see!

My one year old nephew giving poor wee Harry a hug!

Coldplay

Over the years we have discovered Harry’s love for singing along to the radio, television or music on a mobile phone. In particular, he has a soft spot for Coldplay – Everything's Not Lost.  Britain's Got Talent has seen several popular dog acts including Ashleigh and Pudsey and Jules and Matisee but I may have found something to top them...I have posted a video of Harry singing along to Coldplay below. 

In the last year since my nephew has been born, we have discovered that Harry also loves to sing along to my nephew’s toys and books that play noises (which at times can become very annoying). When reading my nephew his bedtime story, Harry never fails to join in with his singing. 


We taught Harry to sing along to Happy Birthday for his human grandparents joint 60th birthday party. This video was shown to them on the evening of their birthday party much to the hilarity of all present.

Not only does Harry enjoy singing, he also likes to "talk" on facetime whenever any one calls and we can hardly get a word in! As soon as Harry hears the ringtone for facetime he runs to the iPhone or iPad and sits beside it until it is answered. He tries to get in on the conversation and does not settle until the caller speaks directly to him. If its someone who's voice he recognises, Harry gets very excited and talks in "doggy language" to the caller by barking and yelping. 

Harry's Country Home

As well as living with my sister and her husband, Harry quite often visits his country home (Campbeltown) where he spends his day with my parents two Springer Spaniels.

Harry, Murphy and Bonnie.

Harry is a completely different dog when he is staying in Campbeltown. He behaves almost perfectly with the company of the other two dogs and obeys all orders. The influence from the older dogs keep him in his place and he is way down in the pecking order.

Harry's favourite place when visiting Campbeltown is Westport Beach where he would quite happily run all day long. His favourite activity at the beach entails chasing his tennis ball which he then attempts to hide when he thinks you are not looking! 

Harry at Westport Beach with his prized possession.

We are always extra careful to hide socks/food and any other object which Harry shouldn't swallow to avoid trips to the vet and usually his trips to Campbeltown are happy and uneventful. However, one day during summer, my mum took Harry for a walk in the fields with her two dogs, Harry ran on ahead and was seen from the distance digging.... Mum hurried to get closer and she could see that Harry had dug up a large green rubber farmers glove and had thrown his head back and was gulping. Mum reached him just as the fingers disappeared into his mouth. 

No doubt the glove was tasty and covered in cow dung! Naturally, mum panicked as the glove was 10 times bigger than any sock he had swallowed before and so she rushed him to the vet who looked at her in disbelief. She was sure the vet didn't believe her but he agreed to give him the medication to empty the contents of his stomach. One hour later and up came the glove much to the vets astonishment! Unfortunately, Harry has never learned from the trips to the vet and will still hunt out socks although these days he rarely swallows them, he just likes the chase!

The first of the behavioural issues..

So after his trip to Campbeltown, Harry was never the same dog again. It became very evident that his personality and behaviour had changed as he would no longer stay in the house or even a room by himself. He was generally very anxious and would follow my sister and her husband around everywhere just in case they left again.

Harry already had a dog walker, but this then lead to the dog walker taking him all day, every working day for four years. Harry went everywhere with his dog walker and he began to get used to his new routine. His dog walker loved him and she even got him his own personal doggy seatbelt for riding shotgun in her car which he absolutely loved! She was a great help and often only wanted paid for just one walk because she loved Harry so much!

Harry recognised the noise from her car engine and would start to pace around the kitchen before she had even got out of her car. The dog walker would jingle her keys and Harry would sit at the window watching for her walking to the door.

Harry grew to tolerate his weekday routine whilst my sister and her husband were at work, but still wouldn't stay in the house alone at nights or at weekends which meant he either had to go everywhere with my sister and her husband in their car or be babysat by another member of the family he was familiar with. This triggered the first dog trainer/behaviour consultant for help but I will touch on more of Harry’s behaviour in a later blog.

And they called it... Puppy Love

So, before my sister’s husband gave in to her and agreed to get a dog, my mum bought her a life-sized west highland terrier cuddly toy which took pride of place in her living room and which she named Seamus.

When Harry was 1 year old, (teenager in human years) he set eyes on Seamus who became his first love. As the weeks passed by Harry gave Seamus more and more of his attention and became more and more amorous towards him. One afternoon whilst my sister was enjoying coffee with her friend, Harry's flirting turned into full-blown physical attention - much to my sister’s horror and embarrassment!

Harry and Seamus.

An appointment at the vet was swiftly made and poor wee Harry got the “snip”.

So Seamus was safe from unwanted attention and Harry never bothered him again however, Harry did discover a new trick to wind up my sister and her husband. This new trick involved emptying his entire water bowl into his crate and across the kitchen floor which meant my sister and her husband arrived home to a flooded kitchen most evenings.

But they couldn't stay mad at his wee face...

Harry giving the "puppy dog eyes"

Back to the beginning!

So after Harry's performance in Campbeltown, my mum and dad were glad to see the back of him... But I will touch on the rest of that story in a later blog. For now I will start from the beginning from the moment Harry arrived at his new home. 

Harry first arrived home in February 2011. He was an extremely timid puppy and would pee uncontrollably at every little thing that frightened him... including his reflection in the mirror, the ironing board and his best friend, the hoover! 

My sister and her husband decided puppy classes would be ideal to try and get him interacting and playing with other puppies. During his first few classes Harry was still very timid and was unsure of the other puppies. However, this didn't last and it wasn't long before Harry became very boisterous rolling about with the other puppies and misbehaving.

Harry wasn't settling very well and could often be heard crying in his crate during the night. To get him to settle, he had to be taken into my sisters bedroom in his crate. One particular evening, my sister and her husband woke up to a strange noise in the middle of the night which sounded like rain trickling down tarpaulin.... it was Harry peeing all over his crate.

Harry as a puppy in his crate.

Throughout the next few weeks, it became a battle for my sister and her husband to get out to work in the morning. In order for them to leave the house, they had to rock Harry back and forth in their arms until he fell asleep and then place him carefully in his crate so that he didn't wake up!

Harry kept up this routine for the next several weeks and his puppy story will continue in my next blog.

Have you experienced anything similar? Do you have any funny puppy stories? Please feel free to post them in a comment below!

Just in case....

We should have known from the start that Harry was going to be troublesome from his given puppy name of "Justin".... as coupled with my sister’s married name "Casey", he would have been known as "Justin Casey" (just in case).

From day 1 Harry has shown his love for socks (in particular dirty socks). In his first year, Harry had been seen by vets in numerous locations across the country, including Campbeltown, Glasgow and Harris. He was fond of swallowing socks and eating poo bags which resulted in many trips to the vet to get his stomach pumped.

During one particular holiday in Campbeltown (our hometown) my mum had lovingly prepared spaghetti bolognese for dinner. Although my mum and dad have two springer spaniels, they were not used to protecting their food…. that was when they realised Harry was much more of a springer spaniel than a cocker spaniel and sprung onto the dinner table and cleared it. Every. Last. Bit.

Sometime during the same trip, Harry also managed to get a hold of my dad’s £350 glasses and ate them. Which, if you hadn't already guessed, resulted in yet another trip to the vet.

His bags were well and truly packed… 

Harry smiling in the garden.