Dennis trotted in as if he owned the place.  Making himself right at home – Dennis had stayed before at the beginning of the year, so I was really pleased to see him again and looking forward to spending some time with him.

Dennis initially was quite excitable – he literally dived into his ‘suitcase’ and pulled out a chewy bone – he happily skipped and zoomed round with it, barking excitedly – and dropped it on my lap – we played ‘hide and seek’, ‘fetch it’ and ‘find it’ - an hour of fun later whilst washing up, I felt a little thud at my feet and saw his chewy bone – Dennis was still determined to play!

It was at this point I realised Dennis was going over his threshold and getting a little too excited and wound up – by this time he had shredded his soft toy and literally knocked the stuffing out of it – I thought it would be a good idea to calm things down a little and take our playtime down a notch or two.

We needed to chill.

I cleared up the trail of destruction Dennis had left behind and filled a small Kong toy with some of his biscuits and a spoon of tinned meat.  These types of interactive toys are great – the Kong kept Dennis busy for at least ten minutes, whilst he discovered once he’d got through the meaty bit – there were biscuits at the bottom! After he finished, he picked up the Kong and scampered off outside. 

I like to give dogs choices; so I didn’t totally remove his chewy bones, just quietly put them to one side by Dennis’s bed – ready for him to find later.

Dennis was now a little calmer.  We pottered around the garden, giving him time to get re-acquainted with his new surroundings and space to relax. Dennis took full advantage of this moment; he stretched out in a sunbeam and gave a little contented sigh.  He rolled over onto his back as I gently tickled his little pink belly.  It was such a sweet moment.  I took full advantage of this quiet time too….as I knew Dennis was secretly preparing for round 2 …

.....chaos rules !