Summer has been getting very good at escaping from the garden. She was especially pleased to discover dog toys and bones in a neighbours garden. We are now trying to work out how to keep her in! She is not impressed that we don't let her out to play without us. Consequently she is naughty indoors eg. doormats get chewed or shaken around the room. She also ate a lasagne I left cooling on the worktop - my fault I guess for not making sure the kitchen door was shut! I can laugh about it now but she knew I wasn't happy at the time. At least I caught her in the act so I could tell her off otherwise she wouldn't have known why I was cross.
It must be the start of the adolescence we were warned about. She also ran off when out for a walk and it seemed ages before she decided to come back. None of the usual tricks worked. You can see her thinking about whether to do what we are asking her to. We will just have to make sure she doesn't get away with it but remain consistent in our training.

Summer is now 7 months old. She has now grown into those big paws and we no longer get comments on them! Daily life consists of waking us up to be let out anytime from 6 – 7 am (need to work on the early starts!) and then sitting by the dining table hoping for crumbs as we eat breakfast. She loves to spend time just wandering around the garden and barking at any walkers who go by on the hill opposite. We go out for a walk late morning usually, with lots of running about in the fields. If Summer decides not to come back when called we walk in the other direction – guaranteed to make her come running! We have also taught her to come when the bell outside the back door is rung so we can get her in from the garden quickly if needed (useful if I get paged as a First Responder!).

We are still doing Bronze training every week though haven't done the test as she is still not good at resisting launching herself at other dogs and people. I keep meaning to take her into town but its hard to make the time to do it. Summer follows me round as I get the evening meal ready, hoping for a piece of carrot, then often sleeps most of the evening. We take her out at 10 pm and then she is left in the kitchen overnight.

She ate the birthday cake I had left cooling for my 9 year old and she was sick at Christmas after eating lots of sheep droppings! Otherwise she has been pretty well behaved. We had our first weekend away recently and Summer was quite happy at the kennels. She loved running around with the other dogs. She was pleased to see us back though. This week has been fun with all the snow. She loves it and goes completely wild! Unfortunately, she also decided it was a good time to explore other people's gardens. Let's hope that doesn't become a habit.

Summer is now over five months old. Life is more relaxing with her most of the time. If we all need to chill out we just get the fire going - guaranteed to make her flop out in front of it. We are now working towards our Bronze award so more training challenges like a stay for one minute or walking through a group of people and dogs. Summer still pulls like mad sometimes but can also walk to heel beautifully. We took her to Chatsworth for a walk through the park on the extending lead. She loved the freedom. We have had no accidents indoors for a while now - just need to remember when to take her out. This week we are working on her barking - making sure we don't go to let her out until she is quiet. Of course she isn't perfect all the time! She still loves to put her front paws up on the worktop and scavenge, or lick items in the dishwasher. She barks at visitors who knock on the door and launches herself at cars driving past. Our Christmas tree is well out of her way in the lounge so no temptation there. She is now sneaking up the stairs which isn't allowed so will have to stop writing!

Summer has now been living with us a couple of months. Its hard to remember life pre dog! We are now so used to a different way of life with her. It can still be frustrating at times, particularly if she is misbehaving or training is not going well. Its best to walk away and come back to it later. We must be doing OK though because she passed her Kennel club Puppy Foundation Assessment yesterday. We'll still keep going to classes though as there is always more to learn. Summer loves looking in the cupboards when I open them and managed to take a whole head of garlic. She was very reluctant to give it up even though she probably hated the taste. She loves chewing on a really hard piece of wood or a bone which we get from the local butcher. We ar now trying to work out how we can go away for the weekend. Will those friends who offered still be willing to have her!

Summer has taken a week to get onto Greenwich Mean Time! She has been waking us up at 6am with her barking. She is growing rapidly and will soon need a bigger bed. She loves stretching out by the fire. I spoke to a friend who gets her new puppy soon. It is very hard to make someone understand what a complete upheaval it is - however much you tell them you know it will be a shock to the whole household when it arrives! We were back at the puppy class yesterday. Summer wasn't that well behaved and was hoovering up anything she could find. We realised afterwards that maybe we should have given her an early lunch! Otherwise she is doing well on the training most of the time. Its just important for us to keep doing it. She also only has accidents in the house if we forget to take her out regularly. She hasn't learnt how to tell us when she wants to go out. Fireworks caused lots of barking but our trainer said not to reassure her as she will then think it is something to be frightened of - just play with or ignore her. One day we took her across the fields instead of a walk along the road and Summer was obviously enjoying all the smells in every direction. Not good for getting her to walk to heel!

Here is Summer with a peg she has grabbed, sitting on the stairs enjoying the sunshine.
Its been half term this week so lots of help for me with Summer but the boys have also realised how restricting a puppy can be and what a commitment she is. We can't go to Alton Towers and leave her for the day. We did take her to the National Stone Centre and Tittesworth though. Our visitors thought she was lovely. We had to make sure we told them the house rules like not letting her jump up or pull on the lead. We have bought a Kong to keep her entertained at mealtimes to stop her barking and an extension for the lead so it is longer. Its very hard to find a lead longer than 1 metre. Its amazing how much you can spend on a dog - just like having a baby! She has been up to mischief as usual - one day she got up on the front garden wall to look at the view! She also got on a wall next to the horse in the field and put her front feet on Blaze's back. When I told her to get off she fell in the muddy field. Its a good job Blaze is used to dogs. She loves chewing cardboard so there is now shredded bits of it everywhere. I've been cleaning the outside of the kitchen cupboards and Summer has been licking them dry! We visited Stilesmeadow today and saw Sam. He thought she was looking well and gave us some helpful advice on feeding her.

Life is settling into a routine now. The boys are helping more and enjoy playing with Summer. She is still enjoying running off with things - half a loaf of bread and a banana have been grabbed from the kitchen worktop! We have got her some cuddly toys from the charity shop which she likes chewing. Sadly she has also chewed an electric plug off and a telephone wire. Some days she is terrible on the lead but eventually settles down and walks nicely to heel. Its better to just walk very short distances well than longer walks pulling hard even though its tempting to take her to the shop. Summer is growing fast and looking more like she is crossed with a collie. Everyone comments on her big paws still. She loves to chase a washing detergent ball round the kitchen and chew any bit of wood she can find. My rubber gloves are also popular so have to be well out of the way. The classes are going well and Elaine the trainer is brilliant at suggesting how to overcome any problems like persistent barking. She says we need to get a longer lead as we are both tall. Will be interesting to see how it goes with our visitors at half term.