In which Charlie gets a shampoo and set

Welcome to your next Charlie Puppy Pen Pupdate!

Here he is, showing his Volunteer Puppy Trainer Tamsin how well he can walk alongside her, even though he's off-lead.

Did you notice how Charlie got plenty of treats? Every few steps, there it goes, another tasty treat popped into his mouth.

This is all part of his 'reward-based training', in which he's rewarded for doing 'the right thing'. In this case, 'the right thing' is walking nicely alongside Tamsin, so he quickly learns that if he does that, he gets rewarded. Eventually this will just become second nature to him, and he'll behave very nicely, off-lead, every time. It's a very effective way to train a dog, and we've been using it for forty years!

Charlie has also become acquainted with Tamsin's cat...

It started with a nice nose nudge, and now they're pals (although the cat gets the bed, obviously).

That's all well and good, but you came here to see photos of Charlie's first groom - so here you go!

Grooms are an important part of keeping Charlie happy and healthy, even though he may not, at first, agree...

A penny for your thoughts, Charlie?

Charlie really doesn't mind getting wet, as we showed you in your previous Pupdate. However, we've yet to find a dog that thoroughly enjoys getting a shampoo and rinse...

Don't worry Charlie, the good bit's coming! Why don't you help yourself to that treat for being such a good boy?

One vigorous hairdryer session later, and his fur volume has increased hugely.

Talk about a shaggy dog story!

OK Charlie, we get it - you'd very much like a trim now, yes?

Midway through, and a new dog is emerging from under all that fur. And look, he's even starting to perk up a bit!

We suspect a treat might be off-camera, stage left.

What a good boy you are Charlie! You deserve a bit of a chin-scratch.

All done! And Charlie even gives us a candidate for Tongue Out Tuesday.

So, what did Charlie do next? Did he go for a run-around with his pals in the park? Did he investigate the garden, or the fields, or the woodland? Did he even go for a nice, gentle walk off-lead?

No...

Sweet dreams Charlie - yet again!

Throughout his groom, Charlie was so very well behaved, just plonked himself down and went along with everything, no fuss, no bother. He's going to make his eventual deaf partner extremely proud one day.

We hope you're very proud of him too, because your kindness has made all this possible. So, until next time, once again, thank you so much for sponsoring Charlie.