Biggles in an adventure with mud slides

Yesterday, Shosh (eldest daughter) and I took Biggles out for a walk in the woods a few miles away from home. This was an adventure in itself as the path led us up, and up, and up the side of a hill, which would be no problem usually, but after all the recent rain this path was intermittently nothing more than a giant pool of mud. And very slippery, boot sucking-off-the-feet mud at that. Added to the fact that the young'un on the lead is as strong as a baby ox it did get a bit tricky in places, especially on the downward gradients where, at one point, Shosh and I did a kind of mud ski without the assistance of ski poles to help balance us. Combine that with a sheer drop on one side of us and you can understand that it was quite an adventurous hour out with our charge.

Biggles turned the grand old age of 25 weeks on Friday. It is a common belief that 1 human year is equal to 7 dog years. Apparently, this is not very accurate, since dogs reach adulthood within the first couple of years. The formula of 10.5 dog years per human year for the first 2 years, then 4 dog years per human year for each year after is a bit more accurate (as accurate as one can judge these things) according to an unspecified canine expert. So working on this current theory of conversion, that makes Biggles around about a 5 year old in human terms.

In an article I have found, I was somewhat amused to see certain comparisons with Biggles at his 'converted' age, with children of 5 years old. Children are aware of the rules of good behaviour, but they still have trouble consistently following through with their responsibilities (oh yes - he knows full well that he is supposed to adhere to certain rules, but just decides to simply ignore them when he feels like it). They're concerned with "fairness" and they'll let you know when they think the rules of games, chores, or rewards and punishments aren't fair (yes the vocal chords are very finely-tuned, thank you). It's important that you give kids this age lots of praise, while still being firm with your expectations (don't we just, till we are blue in the face sometimes).

However, I don't recall my two girls taking a sneaky chew on the furniture when they were 5.