A day of many puddles

We had a good sleep last night - the newest member of the household slept quietly in his crate downstairs, and with the exception of a half-hearted attempt at a whimper when we went to bed and another brief whimper at around 4.30am, Reggie kept the peace. Florence even shared a room with her new housemate - sleeping on her (current) favourite cushion on the sofa throughout the night, while Lucca came up to our room to snuggle up with us.

Anyway, Stuart and I hauled ourselves out of bed at 6.45am to go and find out how Reggie had really got on overnight - and found quite a mess. Not only had he soiled his cage (which we had been expecting), but he had managed to do it in his bed, and sleep in it. It was therefore a team effort to get the dog out, clean his head and paws, dispose of the soiled newspaper, wipe down the bed and throw it, his toy and the towel all into the washing machine before putting some fresh newspaper and a fresh towel into his cage so that he would have something else to sit on while his bed was spinning around in the washing machine. It took us almost an hour to get everything straight and clean again as well as sort out the geese and cats (who had been fed first, so as not to have to wait for Operation-Reggie-Clean to be finished).

While I had a shower, Stuart walked Reggie up and down the drive, where Reggie performed his first outside toileting since his arrival - brilliant!

Once the animals had all been seen to, we had a quick breakfast before leaving the menagerie in the capable hands of Tess and Nick while we went to run some errands in town.

While out and about, we stopped off amongst other places at Arcaplanet to buy Reggie some doggie shampoo (after this morning's episode I've a feeling we might be needing to give him a hose down before long), some more toys to give him a bit of variety, and some doggie nappies. We did NOT buy him nappies to wear (and were quite horrified to find out that you CAN buy nappies for dogs to wear), but large flat square absorbent 'nappies' for lining the inside of his cage overnight. We don't have an endless supply of newspaper, as we don't know Italian well enough to buy a paper, but we did have a small collection of papers that friends had brought with them from the UK, as well as the newspaper-style advertising catalogues that end up in out postbox from time to time. However, we had kept these to one side, thinking that they would be useful for lighting fires - and indeed they were: we burnt most of them before realising that we would have a puppy's bladder to contend with.

After Arcaplanet, a dash into the agraria in Borgo a Buggiano to buy another sack of goose feed, and topping up the car with methane, we headed home to find out how the morning had gone for Tess, Nick and the menagerie.

Everyone seemed tired today - both Nick and I have succumbed to the cold that Tess has been suffering with, and both Stuart and I still felt like we hadn't caught up on the sleep we missed out on from the night before. Besides all that, the weather was enough to make anyone want to curl up under the bed covers and go back to sleep. It felt very 'British' today - cold, grey and wet! Despite that, the view from our patio still manages to look magical, with the mist hanging over the valley, the landscape turning to wintry colours.

We therefore all sat down to a cup of coffee and a chat - it seemed that the animals had all behaved, Reggie had been outside for a short walk, and Tess and Nick had appreciated the slow start to the day.

We decided to have an early lunch as the weather was not the least bit encouraging for those who had outdoor work to attend to, so Stuart decided we would all have lunch and then he and Tess and Nick would venture out for the afternoon.

After a lunch of pea and pesto soup, and a coffee afterwards, the inevitable could be delayed no longer, and Tess, Nick and Stuart donned waterproofs and braved the weather.

I needed to settle down to some office work, so I brought Reggie into the office with me, tied his lead around the arm of my chair to stop him wandering too far or racing after cats, and turned to my work. That lasted all of three minutes as Reggie happily wandered to the corner of the room and created an indoor puddle (as if today wasn't already wet enough). I dashed outside with him, but it was too late, he was already feeling relieved. I mopped the floor, then the pair of us traipsed back indoors for take 2 at settling down to work. That also lasted all of three minutes, as it soon became blatantly clear that Reggie was in need of some more toilet action, so I dashed outside with him in the pouring rain. Once he gets outside he seems to forget his previous urge, or else get too distracted by what else there is to see and do outside. So, while I was getting soaked and shivery in the cold rain, Reggie was prancing around the lawn doing anything but his business. Stuart, Tess and Nick were in the middle of erecting a tarpaulin over the garden wall at the time, so I asked Tess if she would hold Reggie's lead while I ran indoors to get a coat. By the time I came out again I could hear Tess and Nick singing Reggie's praises as he had done his business in the garden. Clever boy!

Reggie and I traipsed back indoors for take 3 at settling down to work. That lasted all of three minutes (can you see a pattern developing here?). This time, Reggie growled at Lucca (and rushed at him when my back was turned for a second), shredded and ate tissues from the wastebin, shredded and ate paper from the recycling pile, attempted to eat my scarf, attempted to get onto the bed (which is out of bounds), attempted to get onto my lap, wound himself and his lead into knots around my chair, and generally messed about.

But I don't want you to work! I want to play!

Eventually, though, he settled down in his 'office bed' (after having another wee on it for good measure...) and snoozed his way through the rest of the afternoon, while I managed to get a couple of hours' work done.

All tuckered out.

Peace at last.

In the meantime, Stuart, Tess and Nick made a start at repointing the garden wall under the protection of the piece of tarpaulin they had strung up. A truly cold and wet afternoon for all of them.

When Reggie showed signs of waking up - and my computer crashed at the same time - I decided that, since the light was fading rapidly, it was a good time to go and put the geese to bed and get Reggie to stretch his legs again. Reggie and I went up to the goose terrace - I left him outside, with his lead around an olive tree, while I went in to encourage the geese into their house. That done, Stuart joined us for a walk up and down the drive (twice over). We managed to get Reggie to 'sit' on command (certainly just a coincidence that he sat down at the same time as we commanded it, but he was duly rewarded in any case), but of course he showed no signs of interest whatsoever in relieving himself outdoors.

Of course, once we got inside, he made more puddles - once on his towel in his cage and later on the floor. I can tell that our patience (and washing machine) will be tested to its limits over the coming days/weeks! He also spent the evening exercising his vocal chords - there was a lot of growling and barking at the cats, and general whining. I suspect that tonight might not be quite as peaceful as last night was!!