Mr Tilly’s  not fond of being brushed, in fact he dislikes it with a vengeance.  I’ve tried treats, coaxing, scolding, and barely touching him with the brush. It makes no difference, he’s OCD about the brush, any brush, and won’t have a bar of it. Consequently we try to keep him quite short.  He usually gets a hair cut every 2 – 3 weeks to keep him Matt free.

We left him a bit longer for our Albany trip. It can be cold down there, and then we were a bit to busy for the first week after we returned. With nearly four weeks between cuts he was getting a bit long and scruffy.

Paul uses the clippers on him, and I do the scissoring. He’s ok with it all as long as he gets his special grooming treats – peanut paste smeared over our fingertips which he gets to lick off. Two treats in one, he loves to lick and he loves peanut paste. His peanut paste jar only comes out at grooming time, and the only time he’s allowed to lick me is when I have peanut paste on my fingertips.

Next came the bath. He goes to the beach almost every day and we hose him off when we get home. He doesn’t mind being hosed off, even lifting his back leg so as we can easily hose the sand and salt off his belly. Because he gets such a regular hose down he doesn’t seem to get very dirty. Consequently he doesn’t get a bath every time he gets a cut, and when he does he’s not that keen.

Almost done. We rub him down with a towel and then leave him indoors to dry naturally.

He’s not quite finished yet. He still has to have the fleece between his paws clipped out, his nails trimmed, his tail scissored, a bit more off his face and ears, and around his ‘whizzer’ done. But that was enough for today. The rest will wait until tomorrow. It’s a big job, especially when we’ve let him go too long between clips.

A little bit more about our Mr Tilly. He’ll be two in July, and currently weighs just under 12kgs. I think that’s about the weight he’ll stay. He gets a chicken bone each day, most times a raw wing, and other than that he gets cooked roo meat with pumpkin and spinach, a few table scraps if there are any, and dry food if he hasn’t had enough. He’s not fond of dry food, but will eat it if he’s really hungry.

He’s still very much a puppy when it comes to games. He carries his squeaky cow around with him all the time. He’s had the same cow since he first arrived home with us, and would you believe, it’s still got it’s squeak. He’s very gentle with his cow. Tug’s his favourite game though, and he’s not so gentle with his tug toys. I’m sure he imagines he has the big husky by the throat when playing tug. (He was attacked once by a husky). He loves his ball too, but doesn’t quite understand that he has to give it back to us before we can throw it again for him. He tries, even putting it into our hand. But as soon as our fingers move to clasp it, he snatches it away again. He has me in hysterics – perhaps he enjoys teasing more than chasing. He has the ‘tease’ off to fine art.

He still sleeps on our bed, staying at the end of the bed on warmer nights, or snuggling between us on the cooler nights (on top of the covers). He’s a delight to have, and we’ve never regretted our decision to add a canine to our household. He does restrict our freedom to visit national parks, and a few other places when we’re in the caravan, but he gives us enough pleasure to compensate for any pleasures lost. He’s a joy to have around.