Observations on change

I think it was Heraclitus who said: "No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it's not the same river and he's not the same man." Well, if you replace "man" with "dog", it still applies. And this is what I have been thinking about lately.

The Thinker

Here are some things that have been changing lately:

- My size. It was small and I could fit in my basket and all other dogs looked big. Now I can't really fit in my basket (er, new one please Mummy) and some dogs I actually find a bit on the small side nowadays, like chihuahuas and maltesers. I still prefer bigger dogs, I don't know why, I guess I just identify more with them. But it is amazing - the world seems a less daunting place now I am bigger.

- My busys. This may be TMI (Mummy taught me that phrase), but they change all the time. Right now it is baaadddd, runny and smelly and makes me feel funny. When the busy changed, then soon after my food changed as well and I started to get this soft mushy, well, bland if I am honest, stuff instead. Also at this time, we stopped going for walks with Jeanie and Mummy and Daddy kept trying to shove things in my mouth. Mummy and Daddy were always hanging around me and stroking and patting me and saying "poor little thing". It has been a time of great dietary as well as physical and emotional upheaval, all seemingly linked with my busys.

- Mummy's tummy. It is getting bigger. Not just a bit bigger like bloating, but progressively more and more huge. She keeps her hand on it a lot and won't let me walk around on it like I used to. She talks to it, puts tasty lotions on it, puts headphones on it. It is a bit distracting really. It is no way more interesting than me.

- While other things get smaller as I get bigger, another thing that is getting annoyingly bigger is Jeanie. She used to be smaller than me, now she is bigger, even though I am a month and three days older than her. It doesn't matter too much, because like I said, I am way more confident nowadays, but it does mean she can jump on stuff and I can't follow her, including on me.

Jeanie trying to jump on my head

- Smells. Smells are like that river Heraclitus was on about. Constantly changing, always fascinating, and each time I smell a new smell, I feel like I change a bit too, like he said.. I feel more confident with every sniff, more knowledgeable, more worldly. I am six months old now, equivalent to a 15-year old, in your terms. So it is no surprise really that I know so much is it? 

Why I am a little shitbag

"Little shitbag" face

Now, I don't exactly know what the expression "shitbag" means, ok, but this is just one of the many things Mummy has called me today. The others are:

- pesticles
- menace
- misterchiefs
- naughtyface
- trouble bucket
- a teenager

The use of these names has almost exactly coincided with the following behaviour:

- poos and wees indoors - two of each. The first round was at 5.30am. What else was I meant to do when I couldn't get outside and they didn't wake up on command? The second round was Mummy's fault. She had shut the back door to prevent me doing what I do with the plants (see below) so I couldn't get outside.

- shoving my face in the pots where the plants are to eat the soil, then dragging the soily, twiggy bits inside and shaking them around a bit. Soil is wondrous. Soft, earthy, moist - why wouldn't Mummy want it everywhere too? I brought it in to show her but I won't be making that mistake again. She took it off me then GOT RID of all the lovely soil with that noisy sucky machine. The picture above is me after the soil dragging. The picture below is what the balcony looked like afterwards.

I forgot to mention that I also stripped the olive tree of half of its branches/ leaves

- general exuberance, energy and independence of mind. I haven't been following Mummy around all day today - I have been doing my own thing. Because I can. This started yesterday with the independent chewing of cables (shouted at for that too). Then the independent chewing of the new oak tree sapling that I am given to understand was some sort of 30th birthday present for Mummy. Well, she should have got to it first then shouldn't she? I also chewed a birthday balloon, but didn't get shouted at much for this. See below.

That's balloon string wrapped round my face

It continued with the chewing of books, then the chewing of the cardboard box under the bed. All of these things I consider to be mega fun and a good and productive use of my time - it all helps improve my gnashers after all - but Mummy has a different take on things. Why does she always restrict me? Take things away? Shout "no!" loudly and scarily when I'm just having fun. Jeez Mummy perhaps you should have some from time to time and just loosen up a bit like me. Maybe get yourself a cardboard box to chew on or something.

Park life

So this is the pattern of a normal walk. We leave the flat. This bit is hugely exciting and I am always filled with anticipation, which I express by jumping and running about so Mummy can be in no doubt that I want this to happen very much. We go downstairs in a lift. This bit is boring but then not long until we get to the doors that you can see through to... OUTSIDE!!! Place of wonders, place of dreams, place of places to do busy busys freely. Obviously the first thing I do is busy one (up the pillar now because I can cock my leg up, but only the right one) then I do a little run, then sometimes busy two.
I always insist on us walking through the big garden where there are sometimes folks about before we go out into proper outside, with the roads and cars and stuff. Mummy sometimes resists this but I resist back and more often than not, this results in a Henry victory. So I have a little run around there and roll in the nice softy soft grass. There's always good sniffs about too. Once this walk phase is over (it can vary from 10 minutes to about half an hour, I'd guess) we go proper outside.
Now, I don't want to knock any of outside because it is all infinitely preferable to inside. But this in-betweeny bit is a bit tedious. I mean, don't get me wrong, I like the sniffs. There's loads. It is the ground that is the problem - it is all hard and scratchy, not soft and diggable, like ground really should be.

Here is me and mummy on the hard ground

Anyway, we only have to do this bit for about ten minutes before Allelujah! We get to acres and acres of grass! With people! And dogs! On this particular day there was lots of people lying on the floor, which affords brilliant access, as you can see from the below example:

Me jumping on fun lying down man

Oh yeah, then there was this big group of men that really liked me too, so I played with them for ages:

That's me, on top of the guy third from left

Also in parks, you don't need toys, because the ground provides many natural ones for you. Like.... STICKS! Best invention ever - they fit easily into the mouth, are light and easily transportable and can be chewed too. This one was a really good one:

Check it out

Also, an excellent thing about these places called parks is that I am allowed off the lead. Mummy says I shouldn't be as my recall is not very good and I always run over to people - and what if the people don't like me? But she lets me anyway because I am so cute. Look, here is me being really independent:

Look at my confident stride

So folks, that's a typical walk for you. We didn't see many other dogs on this one but usually there are loads. No matter, people are much better anyway. 'Til the next time.