No, Bingley!

Bingley: a little puppy angel and bundle of delight, or a mischievous little pooch always up to no good?

Well, as you can imagine it's actually a bit of both; and although on the whole he's certainly a little bundle of delight, the mischievous little pooch has us saying 'No, Bingley!' throughout the day. Of course he's not such a little bundle anymore: at over 11 kilos he's definitely growing up, and with his increased size comes a growing need to explore (both the backyard and the depths of our patience).


The backyard has been his home for nearly a month now, and having scrutinised every corner he knows it intimately by this stage. That's probably a good thing in many ways: it's reassuring to have your own patch, your own place in the world. But he must be getting a bit bored with it by now and having watched us both leave and return throughout the day, he's become increasingly aware that there's something out there beyond those gates.


New toys help to relieve the boredom and are immediately diverting; he investigates and plays with them for a long time - but then he'll return to the gate, and watch it hopefully and expectantly. To be honest, we're all looking forward to being able to get out a bit more; and though I'm equally certain that it'll bring about it's own set of issues, being able to go out for a walk will be such a relief.


Of course there's always the front garden. But that's equally out of bounds at the moment: Jane and I have worked hard at attracting birds into the garden, and that's been a huge success (though the local sparrowhawk isn't entirely welcomed).

But where there are birds there are cats, and where there are cats there's....well, the evidence of cats: not a pleasant encounter when you're mowing the lawn, and not good for a puppy who hasn't had his full set of innoculations. But thankfully the next set of jabs will be on Tuesday, so by the weekend our horizons can be expanded. Though I don't imagine that we'll stop having to say 'No, Bingley!' or 'Bingley, put that down!' or 'Spit it out, Bingley!'.