ALL ABOUT ME – Dougal Pearson
Hi, Dougal here. I am a one year old Bolognese puppy. I was born on November 26th 2023. My dog daddy is called Odin and my dog mummy is called Kali and they are both show dogs who win lots of prizes in competitions as they are so good looking and they belong to Chris and Brian Thatcher of Devonia’s Bolognese.
My human mummy lost a Bolognese dog a month before I was born. His name was Rupert and he was nearly 15 years old. I gather my human mummy was heartbroken when he left her to go over rainbow bridge and he left such a hole in my human parents hearts. I think I have big boots (paws) to fill!
Anyway, my human mummy was not on the look out for another Bolognese so soon after Rupert but Chris was having a litter and my human mum decided it just seemed so right. So, she visited me the day after I was born and then every week right up to February 11th 2024 until she took me home for good. I have two brothers and three sisters. My mummy only lives a few minutes away from Chris and Brian so the journey home was not too scary at all.
I met Daisy on my arrival. She is a 13 year old Bichon Frise and she was Rupert’s best friend. I think I caused her quite a shock when I moved in as she had to go from living with a veteran dog to living with a very lively puppy. She was curious at first and then I decided I quite liked biting her legs and chasing her every time she moved. Daisy decided she would spend the first few weeks of me moving in on the sofa out of the way of me. That was until I found my jumping legs and I found I could quite easily jump on the sofa. So Daisy got off the sofa which was even more fun as when she moved around I could chase her even more. I decided I would call her Auntie Daisy as mummy said she was very old and we need to look after her. Sometimes when I bite her legs she will retaliate and go to bite me back which scares me and I jump up at my mummy to pick me up. I soon forget about this and go straight back to biting her until the next time I remember I not supposed to nibble at her. My mummy says I will grow out of it eventually and it’s a working progress.
On my first night at my new house I slept all night. My mummy put me in a pen next to my mum and dad’s bed. I made a whimpering noise on and off for about an hour and then I went to sleep. In between making my noises my mummy kept turning a torch on to make sure I was alright. That would set me off again. She soon learnt that if she stopped worrying and kept the torch off then I would go to sleep. On the second night I only made whimpering noises for about five minutes. From then until now, when I go in my pen I know it’s time to sleep so I sleep all through the night. Mummy is really pleased about this. However, I may have to put in an official complaint. I notice that Daisy is allowed to sleep on the bed. Mummy says I’m too young to sleep on the bed just yet and it will happen in time but at the moment I would just jump around and jump on Daisy which would not be fair on her. I feel this is wrong and goes against puppies rights!
Mummy took to me to a training course called Puppy Paws which she renamed puppy boot camp. It was great. There were only two puppies in the class but I still learnt to socialise and I loved going there every week. I learnt lots and it really helped me learn how to navigate my way with some things. And, they seemed to like giving lots of treats there when I did things. I learnt loose lead walking, recall (although I still need to practice this as chase is an even better game) I learnt how to focus, wait and played hide and seek games. I also learnt how to do tricks which my mummy taught me. I learnt to give my paw on request, spin, bow and roll over. Of course this is treat orientated. There’s no way I’m doing it if there’s nothing to gain at the end!
Some of my favourite things to do in the house are to pinch socks off my humans feet. I tug at them until they come off. I think they will continually have cold feet this winter. I also love doing zoomies which I take to the next level. I run round and round the sofas at great speed, then up on to the sofa and on to the back of it, down again and repeat again and again. It really is a sight to see and I’m super proud of how fast I can go. My mummy says I have so much energy that she thinks I would be very good at agility.
One thing I don’t understand at home is that humans seem to like staring at rectangles. They have a big one in the corner of the room that makes sounds and moving pictures. They also have little rectangles they hold in their hands and they can stare at them for a good while too. They also talk to them and then sometimes when my daddy is out at work the sound of his voice comes through the rectangle. I cant quite work it out and I think he is actually in the rectangle. Humans are strange creatures to like these rectangles so much. It’s all very odd and I sometimes put myself in between them and the rectangles so they look at me rather than taking notice of the rectangles. I think that’s only right.
Anyway, I need to sign off now as I have got toys to play with, socks to pull off feet, zoomies to do and Daisy’s legs to nibble.
Bye for now
