Bluebell season is my favourite time of the year. Not only is it during spring, when all new life blossoms and blooms, but the woodlands around where we live fill with carpets of blue and purple. The woodlands we explored on the weekend are beginning to turn a more colourful shade although there should be masses more to come.

Margot continues on her rollercoaster ride in terms of her training. They weren’t kidding when they said it was hard work with constant reinforcement and reminders needed. On some occasions she is extremely well-behaved and on others I feel a bit let down when she appears to have forgotten what any of the commands mean.

Bluebell Walk

I find walking amongst bluebells inspiring and uplifting. There is something about the blue sea of flowers, which look as though they are wearing little skirts with tiny flicks at the bottom. We are lucky that near to where we live there are ancient bluebell woodlands in lots of different places. One of our favourite strolls takes in three areas of bluebells, but is much longer than Margot can walk at the moment. Therefore we drove to a spot where we could leave the car and explore one of the spots to investigate further – are the bluebells later than usual this year? I don’t know whether they prefer sunshine and warmth or swathes of rain in order to flourish. We have had quite a bit of both recently.

This walk was not without drama: just as I was checking my OS map app to see if we were on the right footpath, a young stag ran past us only a few metres away. It was the closest I have been to a deer in my life – and I have seen quite a number of them from a distance. Surprisingly, Margot didn’t bat an eyelid. There was no reaction from her at all. I’m not sure she even noticed to be honest. Certainly, we all did. It was very exciting. P later slightly turned on her already twisted ankle due to the uneven paths, but fortunately she was able to continue walking around the circuit. We managed to find some bluebells as you can see in a couple of the pictures – they should be amazing in a week or two!

Recall Rollercoaster

On Monday, it was back to Margot and I walking together on our own. This first outing of the week was not without drama either. We met a range of people with different reactions: the first was a couple without a dog, but they were clearly dog people and wanted to interact with our pup. They lost their rescue last November and weren’t quite ready to take on another yet. However, they did their best to encourage Margot not to jump up at them by turning their backs. I’m afraid to say that it didn’t really work but they didn’t seem to mind, saying that she was ‘still a baby’ and so her behaviour was therefore expected.

On the common I took Margot off the lead as I usually do – but all of a sudden around the corner we came face to face with a large retriever also off its lead. Instantly, our pup ran over and tried to engage the other dog into playing with her. Unfortunately, when she didn’t get the desired reaction from the other dog, and completely deaf to my calling her repeatedly, Margot raced over to the older lady and jumped up at her instead. Mortified by her audible complaint about her now dirty trousers clean on this morning, I blew the whistle and finally managed to get my dog back on the lead. After my apologising profusely, she turned to me and said it was down to the ‘overexuberance of youth and puppies are very hard work’. I felt suitably chastised.

Feeling somewhat deflated, and worried about bumping into other dogwalkers, I kept her on the lead for a while until we reached the quieter end of the common and I tried again. This time my eyes were pealed for any movement up ahead and I used the opportunity to practise some recall at a short distance. She’s definitely not as well-behaved with me as she is with J. (I think it’s probably down to the number of treats we give her…)

We did meet one more dog on our walk – a sweet little thing called Betty, who was very timid and although was encouraged to interact with Margot by her owner, clearly didn’t want to. Instead our pup chose to continue splooting on the grass. Who can blame her when it’s warm and sunny? I was quite keen to get home at that point however.

Swimming in the Sunshine

In the pictures above, it looks like there is a lake on one of the walking routes I take with Margot. It’s actually a drainage basin next to a new housing estate. At one end there’s a small makeshift island, which sometimes houses a pair of ducks. Margot has run down the incline to the edge of the water on many occasions, but this week she took a swim for the first time. It’s not very deep so perhaps I should describe it as more of a wade. Maybe it was down to the sun shining on the surface of the water that made it more inviting this time?

Yesterday the ducks were back in residence. Having chased a few birds before, I wondered if she might decide to pursue them through the water. Our pup definitely gave them a good look, but responded to my call to come away this time.

More Sunbathing

Lying in the sun appears to be a favourite pastime, whether it is on the patio in the garden or splooting on any patch of grass during a walk. I totally empathise – I also enjoy having the sun’s rays on my face, especially in these spring months when the warmth is so welcome after the winter period. Having said that, the lying down prone and refusing to move when I am trying to walk back home remains annoying. As our pup only does this when she is on the lead, perhaps she is trying to tell us something…

And finally…

I’m finding the destructive aspect of this dog business really difficult at the moment. I was so pleased once we were past the biting stage with all those razor-sharp puppy teeth and my clothes stopped receiving so many holes in them.

You will have seen in a previous post that she bit the wall in the hall. Now it seems she has moved onto the dining room chairs. I’m so cross with myself that I didn’t move the other one away this morning as I found her nibbling on the corner of another seat pad. It’s not as bad as the one in the picture which will now have to be thrown away. There are scratch marks on the glass French doors both inside and out and I am continually picking up branches she has chewed off from the trees and bushes in the garden. Is this another stage we have to ride our way through? It’s not as if Margot doesn’t have a large number of bones and toys to chew on instead.

I feel as though I am back to square one – I’m now worried that I can’t leave her alone downstairs while I go upstairs to work, which was the new routine I talked about in last week’s blog post. As I mentioned at the beginning about puppies being hard work – they weren’t wrong. I do hope things become easier soon.

Next week… new spring adventures?

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