a cat and a lhasa apso

 Our neighbour has a cat. He wants to be near Peppa, and in fact wandered right into our house the day after Peppa came to live with us.

Peppa loves him. But the problem is that he won't let her come very close. One day, when Peppa was tiny, we went for an on-lead walk along the street and he accompanied us by walking alongside us up on the tops of the fences. 

Peppa had conniptions and it was pretty nightmarish trying to stop her strangling herself on the leash. 

Things have settled into a sort of truce, where he strolls around the perimeter of the house and she races around inside, looking out the windows or trying to bash her way through the screen door, if the wooden door is open. It's fun for her and entertaining for us. Sometimes I wonder what will happen when he eventually decides to let her approach him.

Well, today I discovered that she  can play happily with a friendly cat. We came across  a cat lying on the edge of a footpath when we were out for a walk, and these photos show what a lovely time the two of them had together:

So perhaps Mr Next-door and Peppa will get to play together sometime in the future.

A lhasa apso puppy having fun in water

 

 Peppa had her first experience of water play two days ago and again today. I had read that lhasa apso dogs don't like water, but we thought it was worth a try.

It has continued to be hot this week, so we  wanted to get out the old pool Penny had loved. We put a sprinkler into it, so that the water was moving but not deep. 

I found an old footstool that had flat legs that we thought  would not damage the pool floor.

                                                                                                                      

 

An additional box outside the pool acted as a step for getting in.

It was fun!

 

Snooza bed is still giving good service

 It's great to see Peppa using the Snooza raised bed that we bought for Penny so many years ago. 

Penny would only sleep on it if it had a cushion or blanket on it, and even on super hot days or nights wouldn't be happy without that covering. Snooza does say that their pet futon is cool, but I prefer the open bedding at the moment.

I've read that the open mesh is a good way to keep a dog cooler, as the air can circulate around their belly and paw pads. So we feel happy that Peppa doesn't care if there's no covering on the mesh.

Coping with the heat for the first time

As I mentioned yesterday, there has been a late onset of hot weather after a strangely cool and wet start to summer. I had  read that one way to help a dog cool down is the use of a gel mat.

It was a surprise to see how quickly she got started on using the gel mat - because it was quite a bother to get Penny to adapt to it and she hardly ever used it.

At first Peppa lay near it. I had read that it's a good idea to show her that a new gel mat can be a nice place, where you find toys and treats, so I tossed a couple of Ziwi treats onto it.

That worked nicely, especially when I added her high-tech toy (the insert from a toilet roll.)

So, there she was lying on it within minutes.

And soon she was stretched out with her belly on the cooling surface.

Here's hoping she continues to use it.