Sharing His Space

We had a good ride out this morning but I felt guilty leaving Rick at home although he does give us a wonderful welcome when we get home.  He gets an hour’s walk morning and evening and I always accompany him and Paul for the evening walk.  I just find walking so much more difficult than cycling, my hip and knees suffer as soon as we start to climb (there are a lot of hills around here).  It’s so slow and I really miss feeling the wind in my hair.  I shall persevere and hopefully get fitter.  It’s a pity Rick can’t ride a bike.

When we adopted Rick the refuge warned us that he can be territorial and aggressive in the car.  This goes entirely against his normal docile and loving character.  He has his own duvet in the back of our estate car and was initially quite nervous and growly if anyone approached him when he was in the car.  Paul has been working with him and spends time every day sitting in the boot (trunk), getting Rick to share his space.  It might look crazy but it has worked really well and he is a much happier dog now and seems perfectly relaxed about his place in the car.  Now we just have to try and train him not to bark at white vans.