Barney the cockapoo, puppy to teenager

Barney at eight weeks, the first day we brought him home

Barney reached the grand old age of seven months last weekend and is firmly in the grip of adolescence. He's been with us five months and we haven't been aware of him growing, but looking back on old photos, we can't believe how tiny he was. He also had his first proper haircut yesterday and now looks like a proper dog (sob!) I miss him being a tiny puppy who'd follow me everywhere, but at the same time I'm glad that his training is paying off and he's slightly more controllable.

Barney last week, before haircut. I love the shaggy hound look.

Immediately post groom, where did my puppy go?!

Although he has his moments (helping himself to wood from the wood shed and digging being his current favourites), he's generally pretty good around the house. His greatest downfall is that he loves everyone. He loves meeting people and other dogs and all manners go out of the window, he just jumps all over them. We're trying to teach him some manners, but it's very much a work in progress. He's exactly the same with me, when I come home from work or come downstairs in the morning, he acts like I've been gone for months. When I've actually stayed out for an evening, he was almost apoplectic when I got home. It's nice that he's pleased to see me, but when he greets me with muddy footprints on a clean pair of jeans, I do look forward to him being a little less excited by everything.

What do you mean you didn't need me to help with gardening?

The downside of his exuberance is that he won't take no for an answer, even from other dogs. I'd assumed dogs would understand when other dogs don't want to be bothered. Not our Barney. He'll run up to other dogs, encouraging them to play with him and older dogs who really don't want to be bothered by him ignore him and then when he won't take the hint growl or snap at him. I'm worried he'll get bitten at some point which would be awful when he's such a friendly dog, but I don't know how else to get the message through to him.

The main area where we've noticed his adolescent tendencies is that he'll just ignore us if there's something more interesting he could be doing. Often we'll call him over and he'll come in his own time, taking a diversion via an interesting smell. He'll also look at you as if you're using words he has no comprehension of when you ask him to sit. The only good thing is that he absolutely loves his food and so his memory will return if you have food in your hand. The only other thing that gives away his teenage years (we'll try to ignore the bed humping), is that some days he'll want to climb onto your lap for a cuddle, the next day he can't get away soon enough. I'm hoping it's just a phase as there's nothing nicer than a sofa cuddle with a warm dog on a cold night. 

Today I fancy a cuddle

We've been taking him to puppy school since he was about ten weeks old and whilst he's not the best student, we are making progress. As long as you have food in your hand, he'll sit, lie down, give you a paw, twirl, go around your leg, pray and probably other things I've forgotten. At home he'll sit and stay when we ask him to, but ask him to do it in class and he'll sit, stay for five seconds and then obviously think, "well, if you don't need me, I've spotted something over there to sniff" and wander off. I think that one glitch may keep us in our current level of puppy school for some time. I've had sessions where I've wanted to walk out of the classes and never return, but he's been pretty good over the last couple of weeks. I just hope that continues. His recall has been patchy (again, great until he sees a dog five hundred yards away that he wants to meet), but latterly seems to be improving. Again, as long as you have food with you for him to return for. There's nothing better than a flurry of paws and ears heading straight for you when you call him. 

You just know there's food in that hand

It's really difficult to tell if he's still teething as he has a mouthful of teeth, but still has his upper puppy canines. He doesn't bite as much as he used to, now it's really just if he gets excited and it's mainly just mouthing. Another work in progress! Distraction usually works though, inserting an antler between his jaws or throwing a toy at him gives him something more suitable to chew. He's destroyed a number of soft toys and my sewing skills are finally coming into their own, but I can't resist replacing them when he's so excited running around with a cuddly toy dangling from his jaws.

How many toys do you think I can fit in my bed??

He's slept in a crate since day one, only now he has the whole crate and a large snuggly bed, rather than being restricted to a smaller area with a partition. He's a great sleeper, will lie in as long as we do at the weekend and often in the week lifts his head reluctantly when it's time to get up. We suffered awful sleep deprivation when he was first with us, it's so nice to be back to weekend lie ins.

It's exhausting being a puppy

Touch wood, he's also house trained. We thought our garden was perfect for a puppy, a good size and fully enclosed. That was until he ate the cherries from the ornamental cherry tree, and then the berries from the cherry laurel, and started thinking about the yew berries. Suffice it to say that the yew tree and cherry laurel are no longer with us! He picked up house training fairly quickly as we took him out every hour, after a few weeks once he knew why he was going out we introduced him to the dog flap. Since then he's just come and gone as he likes. We've had a handful of accidents since then, but we've blamed ourselves for most of them. He had numerous accidents in his crate though, mainly due to filling up on berries or slugs and snails before bed time. Luckily he seems to have given up on his invertebrate diet and has been clean overnight for some time. It's such a relief, my husband was a saint for the number of crate clean-ups and puppy baths that he did in the middle of the night or early morning. You live and you learn...

The other good thing is that he seems happy to be left alone, we've only ever left him for a maximum of four or five hours and that's infrequently, but when we come home he runs over to greet us and then does a dramatic stretch, looking as if he's just woken up. Even in the daytime he'll potter around and do his own thing, just coming through occasionally to check up on us before returning to do something more interesting.  

All in all though, we seem to be bringing up a happy, healthy confident dog. He even won dog with the waggiest tail at a dog show last weekend. The judges said he was the clear winner, he was wagging even before the judging started. He's great company and makes me laugh on a daily basis. What more could I ask for??

Things I didn't expect about getting a puppy

My husband has wanted a dog of his own pretty much forever, but whenever he mentioned it to me, I just didn't get it. Don't get me wrong, I like dogs, but I didn't understand the concept of bringing an animal to live in our house. It struck me that it would make our house messy and smelly and we would lose the freedom to live day to day with no one else to worry about.

He eventually convinced me and I thought I'd give it a go. I have to admit, it's a scary prospect, someone else to look after for fifteen years, not just that, but being responsible for their wellbeing and training to make sure they're a good citizen of the dog world.

And so Barney arrived. It's been nearly two weeks, it helps that he's utterly adorable (he's currently asleep on my left arm), and I seem to have settled into puppy ownership better than I expected. That said, it's early days. There have been a number of things that I wasn't expecting though...

The noise
Oh, the noise. I expected him to be upset on his first night. What I wasn't expecting was the hours and hours of howling, crying, whimpering, you name it... I don't actually know when he found the time to breathe. After two nights though, we didn't hear a peep from him from 10pm to 6am. I have to admit I did worry he'd died in the night...

How much noise do you think something this size can make??

The constant attention

I don't think I quite appreciated how much attention my little bundle of fur would need. I need to keep an eye out for toilet trips, either to get him outside in time, or to praise him if we're already outside, but it's also making sure he's not eating anything too unsuitable, whether it be the sofa or roses. It's pretty much a full time job.

Mmmm, moss

The laughs

He makes me laugh so much, it's great for my pelvic floor. Whether its chasing Andrew around the garden, running off with his soft toy at such a pace with no concept as to where he's going or why, or falling over because he lost balance whilst chewing his tail, it's great for lifting family spirits when you're feeling sleep deprived.

I'm not quite sure why Andrew's rugby shirt needed a trip through the dog flap, but it did

The sleeping
He sleeps a lot, just not when we want him to! Perhaps eighteen hours a day? I guess all these new experiences, smells and growing he has to do takes it out of a young puppy. That said, when he's awake he can be like a crazed beast. We end up running him around the garden just to quieten him down!

Asleep with his face in my slipper, crazy animal

The companionship

When anyone told me why I should get a dog, they all mentioned loyalty. Don't get me wrong, I value loyalty as much as anyone else. I love that my husband doesn't chase other women or moan about me behind my back (much), but I couldn't see how that would translate into a positive quality in a four legged friend. Now I think I get it. There's nothing he loves more than being next to me. He sleeps on my feet and if I get up (assuming he's not too sleep fuddled), he'll leap up to accompany me wherever I'm going. Admittedly it'd be nice if he didn't keep tripping me up, but it's nice to know that he's settled and quite likes his new family.

My little shadow

Communication issues

I hadn't realised how difficult it would be to live with someone who speaks a completely different language. It's like having a lodger from a different world who wants to eat the curtains and your clothing and you can't explain to him why he shouldn't. We're booked in for puppy classes in a month's time, I can't wait for us to find a common language.

The biting

When we chose Barney at six weeks old, he was part cockapoo, part piranha. It's amazing how sharp those little puppy teeth are. The breeders worked on his training and whilst he mainly just mouthed, he's now starting to catch us more often as he's teething again. He's now part velociraptor! We're still working on bite inhibition, I didn't even know that was a thing two weeks ago. Whilst he's learning not to bite hands, that hasn't yet translated to clothing or soft furnishings. If only the curtains could yelp.

Biting the hand that feeds

The poo

Picking up poo isn't as bad as I thought. What adds an extra dimension is that it seems I need skills for speed poo collection. If I'm not quick enough at grabbing it in the bag and whisking it away, I end up with a puppy attached to the bag. Whoever put a smell on these bags which attracts puppies is a mentalist.

Puppy blues

This was the bit I really wasn't expecting. I was left alone with Barney for about nine hours on Saturday and it was just about the toughest experience of my life. He was trouble from the start, wanting to jump up, pull at my clothes, eat the curtains, claw the sofa, you name it... Nothing would distract him and when I tried to, he'd just snap at me. I ended up putting him in his crate to calm down, but he'd be just the same when I took him out. It didn't help that I was exhausted after only six hours sleep. I didn't give up, I kept taking him out to play with him, but he was just impossible. I was fed up being stuck in the house on my own with an ungrateful hound and he probably missed Andrew. As a result, we were both thoroughly miserable. It made me realise what a huge project I'd taken on, with no training, and I was worried that Barney was an unhappy as I was. He's been much better since, but if you feel a bit helpless after a week or so, its not unusual. You just have to remember, it will all be worth it.

Sorry for biting you