Hi everyone Kyko will be 16 months on the 10th Nov, and we have just taken him away for his 1st weekend break. Just had to post, as it was so successful. On the way there he settled really well in the car even though we hit bad traffic which stretched the journey from just under 2 hours to closer to 3, which in itself is a massive achievement as it took him a long time to be comfortable in the car, he even slept part of the way which is practically unheard of. We got into the caravan & that was the first disaster, very dark at this point & due to a mix up he got out of the door & bolted (our fault) straight for a cliff! Luckily he got distracted by a scent before he got to the end of the cliff so we managed to get him back relatively quickly & with no harm done. The next day we went for a walk along the cliff path & he walked so well, usually in new places he can pull a bit on the lead, but was very good here. Then we went to a hydrotherapy pool for a fun swim! He had a blast & took to the water so well he even got his life jacket off for the last 5 mins of the session. He absolutely loved it & we had sore faces from the smiles on our face. Now we are going to try and do the journey once a month at least to let him continue this. After he had a good rest we took him for his first ever go to the beach. He wasn’t particularly good on the steps down to the beach, mainly as we kept meeting other dogs & he is very over excited by dogs (work in progress), once onto the sands we put his long line on & once the initial excitement had faded he had great fun digging in the sand. Once he got down to the water he was so happy chasing the waves in & out he didn’t even seem to notice there were dogs near him! Although on yesterdays trip to the beach I ended up having an impromptu paddle in the North Sea it was a really, really good weekend away & won’t be the last time we go away with him. Sorry for the long post, but I was just so pleased overall with his behaviour & the way he settled so well into a new place.
Hello Leigh and Kyko. Well done you. I love reading positive posts about successes. It can be quite daunting sometimes to read about all the downsides. I post if Hero does good cos at the end of the day we're so proud with the successes they have. So keep on posting. It makes for happy reading
Thank you In general we have been very lucky with Kyko, we had none the 'usual' puppy behaviours & he has always been a joy to be around. The only things we struggle with really, is his over excitement with other dogs & his recall. He wouldn't run away as such but just can't listen especially with distractions, but we work around this by having a long line & hiring a paddock on a weekend where he can just run like a maniac
Love positive stories! Our first trip away with Loki was a mixed bag. He was only one and we were still working through his biting and issues with being overstimulated so meeting up with family and friends was really hard work for him and me but we survived. It helped that the cottage we stayed in was amazing with a big walled garden right on the dunes in Sea Palling (on Airbnb if you're interested, surprisingly cheap). Subsequent trips have been much easier and we've been able to do things I never thought would be possible - we even went on a crowded bus to the beach at Portobello when we were in Edinburgh and sat in pubs and cafes like normal people with a normal dog!
that sounds lovely! We've been saying for a long time that we wanted a weekend away with him, but all the cottages and stuff we looked at were very expensive, doesn't help we were looking in the lakes, as we didn't want to travel too far with him. I found this caravan we stayed in last minute and it was only £90 for the 2 of us plus Kyko, and as it was my birthday I decided instead of going for a night out were I could easily spend that much I wanted to have some quality time with Kyko instead. Think it will be a new birthday tradition now
New traditions are great. Every year for our anniversary me and hubs have a day out somewhere. Yesterday we took Hero with us so it was a big day for him and start of a new tradition for us too.
