Rocky loves shoes. When he manages to get one, he grabs it in his mouth and runs gaily away from where he found it, head held high, feet galumphing - with the shoe bumping along, it sounds like at least six feet - and then he finds a spot and lies down and very gently gnaws on the shoe. I am pretty fast in the retrieval of said shoes but he has yet to put a hole in them so I am thankful for his soft mouth. Maybe when he gets his adult teeth, things will be different, but for now, we call this gallop “the triumphant prance of the shoes”.

I looked over just now and saw evidence that he was trying to get at my running shoes. I keep a pair of shoes at the patio door but I can’t keep them on the floor of course. I have taken to putting them up on the back of the armchair, delicately placing them on the wet-puppy-paws towel that also resides on the chair. However, yesterday was lawn mowing day AND it was raining so my shoes were covered in wet grass clippings. I therefore put them in a grocery bag and perched them on top of the basket that holds some wood for the fireplace. What I saw just now was the bag moving (it was the rustling that got my attention). Rocky was hidden behind the chair. As I watched, the bag slowly started to slide so I told Rocky, “watch it or that’s going to land on your head.” And he left it alone! He has worried at the umbrella that we also keep at the back door, enough so that it fell over and scared him. I told him then that this served him right but he still goes after it occasionally.

Regarding poop, he had to go at 1:30am again last night (so much for hoping), although he did manage two poops in the one outing and slept until 6am after that. Sheila the PW supervisor thinks it might just be the way his bowels work, although she agreed puppies never hold poop in for more than 14 hours. This is quite unusual. But he is not lethargic and when he does go, it doesn’t bother him so maybe this is normal for Rocky. A neighbour suggested I should become a night owl and get things done in the middle of the night. Like that’s going to happen.