Thursday December 4th 2014 - Keeping things ticking over

As this is first and foremost a camping blog I would normally only write about camping and things connected to it, but as any planned winter outings with the tent have been put on hold - for reasons which will be explained at a later date - I've decided to keep things ticking over during the next few months by writing about other things which happen in my day-to-day life. These could be funny, quirky, sad, serious or downright silly things, but whatever they are they will no doubt end up on here in the coming months. So here it is - the first truly non-camping related post on this blog.

My new little dog Poppie has been with me for five weeks now and has well and truly settled into her new life with me and the other pets, and a couple of weeks ago I found out that she knows her kerb drill when out walking round the local roads. I trained both Sugar and Sophie to 'wait' at the edge of the pavement then cross the road on the command of 'right' when it was clear and I was going to do the same with Poppie, however, on the first occasion that we had to cross a main road she sat nicely without being told and didn't move until I started to cross. I thought at first it may be a fluke but she's done it almost every time since then; she also knows 'off' 'down' 'here' and 'bed' so wherever she's lived previously it's obvious that someone has taken the trouble to train her. 

If she has one fault at all it's that she likes to jump up onto my bed at every opportunity she gets. Now I know many people don't mind having their dog on the bed, and some actively encourage it, but it's something I personally hate - a stern 'off!' from me though is usually enough to make her get down again straight away. Other than that though she's a very sweet and loving little dog and I'm looking forward to having her around for many years to come.