When the cat (owner) is away, the puppies will play...

We've had Archie for just over a week now and he seems to be settling in well. He does cry a bit still if we leave him but he settles down eventually. The boys are being brought up to be on their own in their crates during the day for four hours at a time while we're at work, I've been told that if you start them with this when they're young then they're happy like that because that's all they know.

Angus was allowed a bit of freedom in the beginning, we'd put his crate in the kitchen but leave the crate door open so that he could run around in the kitchen. Archie has been crated since we got him and he's doing well with it, he's managing to hold it all in until we let him out.

Yesterday was the first day the boys were left on their own while I went to work, Rich is away with work all week so it was down to me to sort them out. We decided it might be an idea to put Angus's crate in the dining room opening onto the conservatory so that if he needed to he could run around in there. I closed the conservatory door most of the way so there was only a small gap between the crate and the open door. Archie meanwhile was in his crate in the dining room, not too far away from Angus.

When I got home at lunch time to let them out I got the shock of my life when I looked through the living room window - Angus was happily playing on the dining room carpet!! He'd managed to get through the tiniest gap between the crate door and the conservatory door and must have been laughing at Archie still locked in his crate!

Well, I couldn't let that happen again (imagine the damage he could have done to the house and to himself!) so they are now both locked in their crates in the kitchen with a blanket over them! They are let out at lunch times for an hour for food and play then they go back in until I get home from work and are out for the whole evening (unless they decide they want a lie down!).

Last night was the first night that Archie made it through the night without me needing to take him out to do his business which was such a relief as getting up at 3am every night is not great, especially when I'm on my own because Rich is away!

So, I wonder what delights I will go home to today... :-) :-) They really are a joy to have around!