Simple Things

Those of you who know me well know that I am not naturally a patient person. As a rule I find it especially hard to be patient when I have an end goal I can ‘see’ and other people are stopping me from reaching it. The kitchen has been a pretty big example of that and it has annoyed me every time I have walked into that room that it is so close, but yet so far. Well, far just became a little bit closer – the granite has now been installed!!

I did promise that I wouldn’t go on about it, so I shall keep to that promise as best I can and let the photos do the talking for me.

You have to admit, it is pretty damn special isn’t it? Smile? I spent most of the evening grinning and stroking the bevelled edges lovingly. Keith and Harry struggled to share my enthusiasm although I’m sure they were supportive of me from the comfort of the sofa.

More exciting than a slab of granite though – Harry has learned to roll over!! I take no credit for this you understand, Keith is the one who finally cracked Harry’s slightly odd approach to training. In his wisdom Harry chooses to listen to the commands you give him, consider them for a week or so, before deciding whether they are worthy of his time and effort.

So it was when we first tried to teach him to fetch. He spent many hours watching us throw toys before giving us a “you threw it, you go pick it up” look. About a week later he brought his toy up to us one evening and we haven’t been able to stop him fetching since (toys, sticks, rabbit legs, small children, you name it).

When it comes to rolling over, you are told that you need to get your dog into a full down position and then make a circle over their heads with a treat while saying Roll Over. This isn’t designed to turn them into toads, but the movement a dog generally makes while following the treat makes them roll over naturally. Under normal circumstances that is, there was no mention of when to do if you dog happens to have inherited the physical characteristics of the child in The Omen. We tried and failed to make Harry roll over although he would manage it if one of us did the treat circling while the other one did some gentle pushing.

True to form though, about a week later, Keith decides to try it again and without so much as a raised eyebrow, little Harry was straight down, legs flailing. So successful was he that when I came home that night the lounge had been rearranged to give him more room for his doggie manoeuvres and Keith was already thinking of the next tricks: Footballs, frisbees and hoops were all mentioned although I think I managed to discourage talk of the flaming variety.

Hold onto your hats next time you meet us folks, we could have a one dog circus going on by then!!!