My First Year

It is my first birthday today and I’ve been looking forward to getting spoiled rotten with gifts and treats. I’ve already been for a grooming session at the dog spa and my friend Archie gave a really nice present. My humans have promised to take me out somewhere tonight – I can’t wait!

I’ve spent today looking back at my first year with the humans – I’ve managed to train them pretty well in this short time I think, and I thought I’d share some of my top moments and some photos with you all. If I were a human I suppose you could have called this my CV, but dogs don’t care about these things. We just call it happy times!

November 2010

Dinner with my siblings

In November last year, I was still living with my mum and my siblings in Norwich. It was starting to get really crowded with all of us puppies there, and I was getting fed up with having my brothers stealing my toys all the time. I had started dreaming of my own space and my own toys so when I found out that I was going to move to London I was really excited. I slept the whole trip to my new home and didn’t whine too much the first couple of nights. I think I was really brave. Then, as soon as I had settled in, I quickly taught the humans to feed me treats for a sit or down and overall things were going great, although the humans did look a little tired after hourly pee breaks throughout the day and two trips to the garden every night.

December 2010

Showing the cat who's in charge - December

The humans were not coping very well with the 24 hour dog programme and decided to re group and divide the job into a night and day shift. The new routine worked really well as it meant I now had my own human servant 24 hour a day. I decided that the humans need to go to puppy school to learn some dog language, and I declared myself top dog of the class. At Christmas, I went to my very first Christmas Dog Party  and made lots of new friends. I played in my first snow and the salt and grit hurt my soft puppy pads. I slowly begin to understand what fame my  cute mountain dog face will bring when random humans keep stopping us on the street asking how I’m doing and letting me know they’ve looked up my breed on the Internet. My biggest accomplishment in December is the invention of the Sock Game and How to play it, providing puppies world wide with the support they need to steal socks in all locations.

January 2011

One of my humans and I - January

I spend the New Year weekend with my humans and eight of their friends in a lovely cottage on the country side. I finally let the humans sleep a whole night through without potty breaks, but they still looked a bit worn out. I quickly realise that the perfect ratio of humans keeping an Entlebucher puppy happy is 10:1. In January I also interviewed all my friends to consider my career options.

February 2011

Playing in the park - February

This month I started to realise that not all humans love dogs, and not all humans are friendly. I’m starting to get bigger and people don’t always understand that I’m still just a little puppy. I get chased with an umbrella, kicked at and even hit by an old man on a bicycle. Its a steep learning curve. I also went to the pub with my humans and found my own entertainment.

The deep end - March

March 2011

March was a big month. I was halfway through the brat stage and got humiliated in the park by another dog who thought I’m a girl. My eyes turned really red and I ran a temperature and the long battle of the sofa began as I was now allowed to enter the living room. I learned to swim real quick as I jumped in the deep end of a pond, and best of all – I got to meet my siblings again at the Entlebucher Club meeting!

April 2011

April was another big month for me. I’m started to like the sound of my own voice and I used it often to speak my opinion. I taught the humans that smoking is bad, and I told them I needed a bigger and better crate. I also went to my first real doggie birthday party and told my humans how to save the lawn.

Birthday Party - April

Mum and I - May

May 2011

In May I made many new friends, some with more legs than others. My mum Queenie came to visit me in London and I took her for a swim in my favourite lake. I also become a published author when my dog blog becomes available for Kindle on Amazon!

June 2011

In June, I took up some new hobbies and helped my humans with some gardening and we baked some yummy dog biscuits together. I tore out the stuffing from Mr Big Nose, and I finally claimed my spot in the sofa.

Claiming the sofa

Claiming the bed - July

July 2011

I was so busy in July that I nearly had to draft another dog in just to cope with my workload. Following on from my success with the sofa previous month, I now claimed my spot in the humans’ bed. I was drafted in to resolve some rodent problems and also came up with a solution for the cat over population on our street. I found the time to invent an instant slimming method for dogs and even opened my own dog shop! I forgot to ask for a raise though.

August 2011

In August I took up some more gardening and educated the humans how not to stop their puppies from digging. My friend Shadow got stranded in Switzerland as her microchip breaks down and I got more eyedrops for my hay fever.

Gardening - August

Saying Hello - September

September 2011

This month I helped my brother Archie find a new home, and met a new really big friend who helped me understand why puppy socialisation is so important. I explored methods for getting lazy humans off the sofa and explained why group fetch never took off.

Its been quite a year so far, hasn’t it? What are your big milestones this year so far?