First meeting with the Atlantic

Less than a week after our previous visit to Point Pleasant Park we went again, this time accompanying Jess on a geology mission. For the first time we took a path down to the water, as we needed to find a specific outcrop on the beach. There, Apollo had his first close encounter with the Atlantic.

At first calmly exploring the beach

Soon even venturing into the sea

Distracted by a noise on the far side of the harbour...

...and suddenly it got a little deep

A short trip on land to show off those huge fluffy ears...

...before gracefully re-entering the water...

...before racing up and down the beach to get dry

Apollo is also kind enough to stop and pose every so often

Biggest surprise came when importing pictures. The colours have been
tweaked a little, but that's all. Sometimes dumb luck works out best.

Oops!

 Well, I certainly wasn't planning for it to take this long to write again. I kept telling myself I just had to import and process pictures, and that I would have time for that during the weekend… then it got put off… then I had more pictures, but I had to post the older ones first… and in the end, nothing happened, and now it's February. So, to catch up on the last 3-4 months. Apollo has grown a great deal, is looking ever less like a puppy and more like a young dog, and a good lot has happened in the last few months. Although the dates naturally won't be accurate, I'll try to separate into different posts in chronological order. So apparently it's possible to set the published date to one in the past. Eureka! All will be well!

Here's a puppy in the window to go some way towards making up for it.

The Pumpkin Project begins…

I am about to become one of those people who gives far more information than anyone has asked for. Be warned.

Briefly put, Apollo's output has not been very, ah, scoopable since he came here. Advice to pour some water on his food before giving it to him has helped somewhat, but there's still room for improvement.

So, yesterday at Sobey's I picked up a tin of puréed pumpkin, after hearing that a tablespoon or two in each meal helps many dogs. Apollo had his first taste with supper last night, and seemed extremely enthusiastic about it. Likewise for his two meals so far today.

Even with being extra eager due to the new smell, his table manners are excellent. He'll get very excited the moment I get the bag and scales out, but settles down almost immediately. He then waits while I prepare the food, put the dish down, and give him the ok. If I ask him to wait whilst I put everything away, fill water in his other bowl, that's no problem. This wonderful pup seems to have some patience and focus — most of the time (though we'll see how long that lasts when he hits puberty…).

Of course, it's too early to say for sure, but today's answers to nature's call have been promising.


In other news, we had our second visit to Point Pleasant Park a couple of days ago. More on that, with pictures, soon.

First visit to Point Pleasant Park

After the miserable weather we had last week, this weekend's summer heat was quite welcome. Apollo and I went on our first walk to Point Pleasant Park, and what was originally intended to be a medium-long walk ended up filling our afternoon for over two and a half hours. Below is the route we took in the park. According to my sophisticated guesstimate (technically according to Google Maps, but they don't have a setting for "sniffing puppy" speed), our walk to the park and back was about half an hour each way.

Once in the park, Apollo found a delightful little pond.

What do you mean, I can't stay here forever?

We also met lots of other dogs and owners, including one adorable 12-week old chocolate lab mix. I didn't get a picture, so you'll just have to take my word for it. This pup was seriously cute, as was the 4-month-old golden retriever we also met.

Watching a dog up on the hill

Hopefully we'll see some more warm-ish non-rainy days soon, so we can head back there. Apparently there are dog meets at 9:00 on Saturdays, but I feel like I need to be able to let Apollo off leash before going there. Haven't been working quite enough on recall yet for that.

A long-awaited update

Well, Apollo's been with me a little over a month, and my planned regular posting has so far been non-existent. Buuut allow me to distract you with puppy pictures and make you forget that.

I mean, try to resist that

Apollo is every bit as wonderful as I was hoping. He surprisingly calm, with few of the hyper puppy moments I was expecting. He's now mostly housetrained, and when anything does happen it's usually my fault for not noticing the time or his signals. When he first arrived he was very uncertain around other dogs, basically ready to flee when he spotted a dog at the end of the street. With patience and a fair bit of work, he's now showing none of those tendencies — he's even been playing with some of the dogs and pups he's met recently!

I do think he's missed the part of the breed standard that says he's supposed to be reserved with strangers. Because he's so used to getting lots of attention, he'll even stop and stare at people who walk past us without giving him adoring looks. The upside is socialising him is an absolute breeze, since all I have to do is go out the door. He's a little over-excited with children, but we're working on that. I just need to find some willing victims volunteers.

It's taken me a while to get pictures imported, organised, and edited. The above is from the first couple of days after Apollo arrived. It's remarkable how much he's grown and changed this last month. He's no longer all puppy fur, his legs grew long overnight, and then his chest and shoulders suddenly got wider. His tail has gotten all bushy in just the last week and a half, I'm sure!

Now that I've sorted out hard drive space, picture organising, and uploading (I think, still testing a few things), I promise not to wait another month before the next update.