The Boys Survive

This afternoon we decided it was time to trust the boys to play together without either of us being around, so when I came home at lunchtime to check on them, I set up the downstairs so they would have access to the lounge, hall & kitchen and each other. Until now I've separated them when no-one else has been in the house, usually keeping Jackson in his pen, although earlier this week I did let him have a free run in the lounge, while keeping Mishka in the hall & kitchen - for the animal lovers out there, they both had access to their respective food and water bowls at all times! Jackson was a little destructive when I let him have the lounge, getting hold of some newspapers and some of Lara's toys, and most worryingly a 4-socket extension, which he chewed the cable of, but I'd already turned the power off at the switch to that, so it was safe, but it was a warning to us.
Anyway, I was a little nervous of what I'd find this afternoon when we got home from work, but everything was OK, Jackson still had both ears and all four legs still attached, and whatsmore, apart from three pee puddles, there wasn't any damage to the house.  For the next day or so I'll still only let them play for a few hours at a time without supervision, especially as Jackson is supposed to be "resting" to help his leg heal. Other than the bandage, you wouldn't know to look at him that he has a broken leg, so I'm sure it's healing properly. How do you convince a 3 1/2 month old puppy to relax? It would be like trying to tell Lara to spend the day chilling on the sofa and watching TV.
This evening we've given Jackson even more freedom, by letting him come and go as he pleases to and from the garden, making use of the catflap while he can still fit through it! We're hoping this will help him with his toilet training, which is going in the right direction, but perhaps not as quickly as it should, mostly because we're out most of the day and he's left to his own devices. The thing is, that was the case with Mishka and I remember being pleasantly surprised by what a breeze it was to house train him.  He's continuing to be the perfect older brother, even letting go of his favourite soft toy when a tog-of-war develops with Jackson over it.
Jackson's off to the vet tomorrow to have his bandage changed again, then it's one more week before we can go out for another walk together, it'll be interesting to see if he's as well behaved then as he was on our last walk...