The Blog of Frog (#2)

If you haven’t read the first ‘Blog of Frog’ click here

I finished the last blog by saying that since arriving back from Europe, Frog has filled my life with love, cuddles, laughter, destruction, and a little stress.

Before I go on to talking about some of his misadventures, I want to say that I am fully aware that some of his mischief has been due to the fact that with everything that went on in my personal life last year we did miss out on some ‘key’ training stages, and I also spoilt him more than I should have. Now though, training is definitely underway!

When I first arrived back from Europe walking Frog was impossible- he was so big and excited and as I said previously, he would bark at anything. However, when taking him to a routine vet check the vet nurse suggested I take him to Advanced Behavioural Therapy (a dog training company). This was one of the best (frog related) decisions I have made. We did a private class first and that I was suggested to take him the their ‘behavioural therapy’ class, which is a nice way of saying ‘naughty dog’ class. All of the trainers assured me that he is just acting like a German Shepherd Puppy, and with lots of guidance his behaviour will end up matching his loving personality.  Naughty Dog classes were funny (and stressful)- a class full of dogs who all acted like Frog, always barking at each other. I would come home sore from holding him. But after only a few weeks I noticed huge changes- Frog stopped barking at people when we were out walking (still barked at dogs- but this was a huge improvement, and hey, I’ve learnt to ‘pick my battles’).

Despite this big step forward- during the first few months of this year there were MANY frog misadventures (too many to say, but here is a few).

#1- Couch number 2 destroyed. I arrived home on a few occasions to the couch in the middle of the lounge room, Frog loves interior design apparently. All of the stuffing was taken out of couch arms and spread throughout the house.

#2- Frog’s pedigree papers got sent via mail and the postman thought it was a good idea to slip them under the front door…….. Frog also thought that was a good idea because it meant he could shred them.

#3- (This one is my fault). I left the screen door unlocked accidently. I was sitting in the kitchen working on my laptop when a dog walked past and frog jumped up, opened the door and sprinted across the road to say ‘hello’ to the dog. Frog had the best time, I had a mini-heart attack.

#4 Frog decided that after months of ignoring my reading glasses which sat on the kitchen bench everyday, he would chew them up and spread them all around the house. The optometrist told me I was not his first client to come in for replacements due to the excuse ‘the dog ate my glasses’

#5- Frog decided he took a liking to chewing up remotes (I will discuss the incident of the second remote in the next blog of Frog). But, the first one happened when my sister (who moved in with me), came home to discover she could not watch Netflix due to frog chewing the buttons off the remote. $60 later for a new remote.

*to be continued*