I’m Laura and I have a 13 month old Cockapoo named Nevis. He was originally a dog for my mum and I to share responsibility and all the joys of having a dog, in that she has him when i’m at work so he isn’t left alone too long. This is still the case however my fiancé and I have him at home with us for the rest of the time so we consider him our dog too. Basically he is loved by all three of us! I live in Aberdeen, Scotland.
I walk Nevis for approximately half an hour in the mornings before work then he goes to my mum for the rest of the day. They go for a walk together anything from half an hour to two hours depending on her schedule that day. He will then proceed to follow her around the house the rest of the day while she does her jobs etc and thus by the time I get him home he is very content to just sleep on my lap! He also has become friends with the next door cockapoo (female – wink wink) and often schedule puppy play dates running round with a ball together.
In regards to the lockdown that we are continuing to experience, things haven’t changed massively for us. I am a key worker at a special needs boarding school (to put it in simple terms) therefore I have still be working during all of this. Therefore my mum and I have continued as normal and I still drop him off to her house on the way to work and pick him up on the way home. The only changes are that I stay at the front door, drop off his things and let him into the house, while my mum talks to me more than 2ft away from the other side of her internal door.
Walks have been much later usually 11am ish which can be the first time he is outside. We do have a great enclosed front and back garden joined by a path and wall, however Nevis isn’t too keen to use this for morning toilet time. Hence a walk before work. At the minute he just eats the rabbit poo or chases after him! He has good toilet control which is why he is happy to wait until whenever we go out to get his walk. We have stuck to an hour manly because I think that is enough for him anyway regardless of restrictions which for us is an hour (but there seems to be a lot of variables on this) I have only walked him from the distance of my house and haven’t driven anywhere to then walk him, although I think this is ok, but not sure. He is happy on his walks and I try to let him off the lead for an extra run around which he loves. When on the lead however ive noticed that he is crying to either speak to other dogs or just their owners. I think he has been struggling too with less contact. He is so loveable and fluffy everyone wants to touch him even today a lady told me is so hard not to want to pet him.
There has been a great bonus for us though as last week at work for two days he was invited to come and join pupils on their walks. He sort of became a therapy dog to encourage pupils to walk and engaged in the days activities. This was great as Nevis got to explore places he hadn’t been before and loved the chance to play and meet new people at work.
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