De-Wackifying Update

Simba is continuing to make progress - and get bigger. He's already bigger than all of the rest of us, and he's only seven months old! He's pretty skinny, too - the vet said that she likes to see large breed dogs somewhat skinny when they're younger 'cause it helps to avoid the problems if they grow too fast.

Doesn't seem like we're avoiding growing to fast, if you ask me - it seems like he wakes up bigger every single day!

He's doing pretty good at food time now. Mom and Dad had to board him for a week so they didn't get to practice manners. He was a little growly when he came back, but he's good again now.

He knows how to SIT, WAIT, STAY, COME, DOWN, and knows "crate." He is also getting better at "Drop it." And he met Hobbes, one of the kitties. He was OK for a little while with that, but then he wanted to play with the kitty.

If he'd asked me, I'd have told him that kitties don't play like dogs do. I know from personal experience - one of Cricket's favorite games is to have me chase him, and then he chases me back, and swipes me in the butt! I don't think that part's very fun.

Mom still practices meal manners with him every time we eat, and practices all the other stuff every day, too. He knows how to stay at Mom's side when we go for walks, and he's practicing his manners when we meet new people, although he sometimes forgets.

One new thing Mom discovered is that he got scared whenever people touched the leg where he got hit with the baseball bat. I can't say I blame him for that! Mom has been practicing that for a couple of days now, and he doesn't growl anymore when she picks up that foot.

Mom let him up on the bed with her the other day, and he snuggled up and laid down on his back right next to her. Cuteness factor maxed out. Ugh. Puppies.

When he was boarding, they said that he wasn't very good for his bath; he was afraid of the dryer, and he didn't like being rinsed. Mom worked with him on the dryer, so he got over that, but she says they need to do some bath practice. I'm going to make sure I'm somewhere else when they do that, so Mom doesn't think I need one, too.