Saturday Morning Update.

So far this morning, we.....and by we I mean Lionel with me observing---and occasionally intervening....have done the following:

-Come downstairs all by ourselves:

Bunny Hop from SoThereThen Gal on Vimeo.

-"Helped" (Attacked) bring the hose up from the garden to the house

-Chewed on all the toys in the house

-Chewed on the leather ottoman (That may have gotten us an ear bite from me)

-Drank all the water and shared with everybody via the drips from the jowls (He got those this week....he is really starting to look like a mastiff)

-Defended the homestead from the Evil Angel Bulldog:

Defending the Homestead from SoThereThen Gal on Vimeo.

-Tried to dig a hole to China (Another ear bite when we didn't listen to the mama dog growl from me)

-Tried a second time to dig a hole to China after we were told to knock it off (another ear bite.....five minutes after the first bite. Attention Span or just Short Term Memory Problem? Nah, just being a puppy.)

-Sat and watched the runners and walkers go by in a race around town

-Investigated the culvert at the corner of the property.....not too much though, cause it was dark inside and a little scary

-Defended the homestead from the Trifecta of Fiendish Foes:
*Sundry Rocks (Stellar bit of luck that we have a gravel driveway!)
*Bark-Slash-Sticks-Slash-Things-That-Can-Come-Off-Trees-Including-Leaves
*Pine cones
(Hand to God, I have my hands in his mouth or prying open his mouth at least once every 3 minutes when we are outside)

-Had a light breakfast of kibbles---just 1 of the 2 cups for the morning feeding. We'll finish it when we wake up from our morning crash.

Snuggied up to the radiator for said nap. Our legs and as much of our body that can fit, is shoved under the radiator. We can't fit under the Hoosier Cabinet any more.

We need to rest up for our second Puppy Playtime at Petco today at 3.


Seriously, this dog is hilarious. We went to puppy playtime on Thursday and I was a bit concerned when he wouldn't come out of the corner of the bigdog pen for the first 40 minutes. There was a pretty aggressive puppy that Lionel would have NOTHING to do with except when Aggresivo tried to engage him in "playing".....it was more of an attack/fight. Lionel bared his teeth for the first time to defend himself successfully. Which was good; that is the whole purpose of puppy playtime. Learning how to behave like a dog and get along with other dogs.

Once the aggressive dog left (Got kicked out......in a passive aggressive Minnesota way. The trainers didn't ask the owner to take the puppy, they waited until the owner finally clued in that the puppy was terrorizing everyone and asked: "Should I take her home?" The response: "Uhmmmm, yeah, you know, I think that might be a good idea. She seems to have had enough today."), things got better.

Lionel started trying to play with the toys first and then worked his way up to actual other puppies. Two golden retrievers, a 1/5 his size, were clowning around and Lionel started barking.

And then wagging.

And then he got up.

And then he was playing.

And all the puppy parents cheered for Lionel.

And then, 10 minutes later, puppy playtime was over and someone---I am not naming any names but it starts with a "Lie" and ends with an "O-Nell"---didn't want to leave the store.

So, we go back today to a different store. Big plans for the day, and for the evening as he absolutely CRASHED when he can home.

He is still crammed under the radiator, but now he is dreaming and barking in his sleep. I love this dog.

All this, before 9 am.