Its a dog's life

One year old. Our puppy is now officially a dog! Not that his behaviour has changed overnight. He still as jumpy and chewy as ever, but much much more routinized!! He's up with the sun and by 6:30am, wants to go sit in the balcony and denude the potted palms while watching the world wake up. Chewing on leaves takes precedence though. Unless he can sniff and nudge my hubby awake...then its walk time...ooh heaven! A nice long walk with time aside for his morning toilette. No more soiling indoors...hooray! Hubby likes a brisk walk, so Nero has a nice long morning stroll. Back at home, he accompanies hubby around till he (hubby not Nero) leaves for office. Then its a toss up between overseeing the maid clean the house, or retiring to his favorite place in the whole world - his den. Which does NOT happen to be the crate we bought for him, despite all the crate training. No sir, heaven is below the sofa-cum-bed in the lounge, a dark, cool place where he can rest out of reach of anyone who doesnt want to crawl under the bed. This is his domain, and he spends a happy morning sleeping there.

Then its lunchtime, not for him (he eats only two meals/day now). But any meal times are sacred for him. It is utterly necessary for him to be sitting by our side during mealtimes. Sometimes scraps of roti's do make their way to him!! Post our lunch, its time for him to sit vigil while the maid lunches in the kitchen. He isn't allowed in, but that doesnt stop him from sitting pretty at the kitchen door!! Once all the food has been consumed, its time for another nap. This time, on top of the aforementioned sofa-cum-bed, or in the floor near it. This is also the time the AC is usually on, so the entire room is nice and cool for him.

His internal clock sets off again around 6:00pm. Its amazing, no matter how deeply he might be asleep at 5:59, a quick stretch and he's sitting in anticipation for his evening walk! If there is no immediate movement from me, he'll start with gentle pawing, escalate to harder pawning, degenerate to whines and active jumping on top of me. More often than not it works. Sometimes, I have to hide in the bathroom. Then he lies await for me outside. In the rare case, all his techniques have failed, he selects a toy from his toy box and settles down with it to wait. He knows he's going to get that walk...its just a matter of time!!

Evening walks are leisurely affairs. A variable stroll lasting from 20 minutes upto 1.5 hours! Apart from his evening toilette, its time to check out new smells, jump at passing people and other strolling dogs, and if the park is dry, play ball! Recently, its been raining here and the laburnums are in full blossom. Sometimes I feel like Dorothy, and a rather large Toto, walking down the yellow road!!

Once his route has been walked, the smells sniffed and dusk duly fallen, its time to return home. A quick power nap of 15 minutes or so, and he's ready for games again. By this time, hubby also would be back (or on his way back). So its playing with his toys, either fetch (if the humans are in the mood), or on his own, with lots of sound effects (whines, growls, short barks)! This is also the time to keep going out the the balcony (everytime we just close the door, he's jumping at it within a few minutes), watching the night fall and barking at other people standing on their balconies.

Dinner time for him, and then either he goes back to playing or settles down in the lounge with us, curling up against us as we watch tv. Sometimes curling up that is, other times stretching out and nudging us towards the sides of the sofa/bed and he hogs the center! Family time entertainment indeed. When the day is finally done for the humans, usually he's been asleep on the sofa/bed for a while. Very reluctantly, usually dragged off the bed, he joins the humans in the bedroom and finally condescends to use his den (the crate..yess at last!) to sleep in, interspersed with bouts of naps on the rugs and near the foot of the bed.

Thats his day, everyday. Sometimes, we both go out and he's left alone with the maid. Then I'm told, he sleeps in front of the main door (and the maids door which is just inside the main door). Doorbells need immediate investigation, with lots of sniffs under the door, barks and jumps. The wall near the door is scratched to bits!! People coming to work home, plumbers, electricians, repairmen etc. need thorough investigation. Usually denied as most of them insist he's locked in a room. So as soon as they go, a round of sniffing around to ensure he's complete on top of things happens. Visits to my mother's place are full of fun. Lots of garden place to run about and a stray dog, domesticated by their servant to play with!

The days are packed. Life is good =)