Official first birthday portrait after he'd been swimming the other day.
Turning into a fantastic dog, but it's been quite a ride as it always is with puppies. Tons of joy, tons of frustration and the number of times that he's been warned that's he's off to Battersea after his next offence - a threat as likely to be carried through as a warning from a RWC referee.
Highly sociable and we've put a lot of effort into his training which has largely paid dividends, but he's still perfectly capable of being a world class git. Furniture largely intact, electronic devices are more his thing - bone conduction headphones, heart rate monitors and Sky controllers have all fallen victim to his fine set of gnashers.
Unfortunately he's got hip dysplasia. We did all the right checks when getting him but sometimes that's the way the dice roll. One side only which is good and not causing him any problems. We'll be talking to an orthopaedic surgeon in the New Year to discuss whether to leave or have hip replacement surgery. We'll do whatever's best for him and if surgery is needed, where we live means it will probably be done by the Supervet's team who have an amazing track record. If it has to be done, no current reason to suppose that it would be anything other than straightforward (although trying to ground him for a while post op would be a total mare).
That's for tomorrow. For today, happy first birthday J-Pup. Couldn't love you more and look forward to seeing you unwrap your zillions of presents later!
