Dear Leo,

Some random antics from when you were little:

July 06, a couple of days into life with Leo.
"Last night, he realized he was nose-level with the coffee table and started sniffing the candles on top. He pushed a candle, we told him "no", then praised him when he complied and he liked that game so much he went along pushing everything on the coffee table as far as he could reach, and then sitting and looking at us expectantly for his praise.

Smartypants dog."

"He knows his name! I am now certain of it, because I was mowing the lawn yesterday afternoon, turned around and caught him on the patio with a leaf from a plant I've been trying to get him to leave alone hanging out of his mouth.
I yelled "LEO!" and he dropped the leaf and sped over to me, regardless of the noisy lawnmower. Not only does he know his name, he comes when he hears it! And he can hear over a lawn mower and wasn't afraid to approach it. ...and I thought the only reason he was coming when called was because I was sounding excited, making smooching noises and clapping my hands..."

Well, your love affair with the lawn mower was rather short-lived. You still carry quite a torch for the vacuum, though. I oughta teach you how to operate it and give myself a break.

7/13/06
"I buy yogurt in the big cartons and let Kansas lick them clean when I empty one. I had just given it to her and Leo, who turns piranha when food is around (that dog circles, sniffing, like he's going to get dizzy! and if he can't find food on the ground, he starts circling with his nose in the air! You can barely get his attention to direct him to his bowl!) made a mad dash and buried himself in the carton, up to his neck. Kansas was standing there in shock and how fast he had taken it away from her. She likes to take it from me, place it on the floor, hold it with her paws and lick it clean. And here's Leo thumping around with it on his head, licking away at the inside and bumping into everything at the same time! I got ahold of him and removed it- his head was COATED in vanilla yogurt."

7/15/06
"Well, we've survived one week with Leo. He's definitely settled in. Every warm body that isn't moving becomes his comfy pillow. He and Kansas chased each other around and around the furniture yesterday. He even is clever enough to think quickly and dodge under the cofee table while Kansas kept doing laps around the couch, looking for him."

"He started barking on Tuesday and hasn't really stopped yet... "

"Today was one of those days when I was relieved to know that "dogs have off days just like people..." "

7/26/06
"9 weeks old today and achieved a milestone- able to climb up onto the couch completely on his own. Now dinner is no longer safe. Good for me for teaching him "off!", "Sit!", and "stay!" before hand, and putting it to use!"


"My mom made the comment this past weekend "you've had him two weeks today!" and I thought "...is that all...?" It seems like an eternity. "

7/28/06
"Major breakthrough today- did I really just see him run, whining, over to the back door and sit and then look right at me? and paw at the door when I asked if he needed to go out? I can't believe my eyes!"

"Well, we had another mostly successful, accident-free week of housebreaking last week. This week is shaping up well, so far. Except for last night, when he had such a huge success sitting quietly the entire time I ate my meal, not bothering me once- and then apparently it was such a difficult accomplishment for him that he had to go and pee a puddle while I was doing the dishes. Without even telling me. You win some, you lose some, I guess. I admit, we've done alot of "oh, you're not going to go right now? Well, let's go in the door and right back out and see if that works." That works. I think, for the moment, I am still sneakier than he is. "

"We might have weeded out the 5:30 "I'm tired of sleeping" wakeup call.
Last night, he didn't even make a sound until 4am! So we slept almost straight through! If I'd remembered to close my barely-opened blinds, he might have let us sleep until 7 instead of being ready to get up at 6:30."

" I just realized he hasn't jumped on or tried to wrestle with the cats in about a week...that's progress... He is also getting increasingly more able to leave everyone else's food alone, for the most part."

9/1/06
"He picked his first dog fight last night. I'm still not sure normal dogs begin fighting at 10 weeks old. DH is arguing "he's still a baby", and I say "NOT WHEN HE BEHAVES LIKE THAT HE'S NOT." It could have been a bad one if I hadn't been in between them and hadn't spent 3 years training Kansas to listen to me. They had been nicely sharing a toy and he decided to escalate things into a tugging match and not give Kasas' toy back to her. Instead, he chose to bite her and she definitely knew he had crossed a line and was no longer playing by the right rules. I really wanted to let her do the correcting, since, as an adult dog, she should have, but she's never been in a fight before- she's always the low dog on the totem pole, and I wasn't sure she would survive this little demon dog that used to be Leo."

9/9/06
"I just called to Leo for a potty break. He looked at me (I was at the back door) and then went around the coffee table, jumped up on the couch, climbed onto the arm of the couch closest to the door, jumped off that, and went out. Usually, the floor is sufficient means of travel from one end of the room to the next...not anymore, I guess."

9/12/06
"I kind of can't wait until he's a real, grown-up dog to do things with and out of the puppy stage. Uninterrupted nights, no more watching him like a hawk when he's inside, maybe we'll get past this feeding frenzy that he calls mealtimes. Because of him, it is taking me 20 minutes AT LEAST to get everyone fed. And that's because I have to keep ordering him "out" of the kitchen (it used to be just away from the food but today I had to get more extreme), every ten seconds, trying to teach him to stay and wait politely like everyone else. He and I really got into it this afternoon because I am sick of his little face finding it's way into the food bucket when I'm trying to scoop. He even attempted to bite me twice when I reached for his collar to haul him away."

Then there was the beginning of what turned into a week-long meltdown:
"OH GOD! I am REALLY in for it now! I put both dogs outside so I could do some yoga in peace and try to get in a better mood. I was doing ok, ignoring Leo's barks to come in and Kansas' occasional swat at the door with her paw. I heard all this rattling and decided to turn around and fuss at Kansas through the glass to quit pawing the door and what do I see? Leo. On his tippy-toes. With his mouth around the doorknob. My god. I am going to have THAT kind of dog. I do not think I want a dog that can figure out how to turn a doorknob and open the door.

*make it stop. please, please, make it stop.*"

"He makes me so mad. "

From 8/16/06
"I have to laugh a little bit. DH did try to get up and walk Leo as agreed yesterday. Leo apparently decided this week is the week to refuse to walk more than a few steps away from the house in any direction. After he choked himself and puked up a bunch of water he'd drank before, DH gave up and just ran him around the back yard. I walked him today and received the same protests. He even growled at me at one point when I kept walking and the tension on the leash increased. I wouldn't get into a tugging match with him over it. Instead, I picked him up and carried him while waking Kansas- just long enough for him to decide it was a rather uncomfortable setup. After that, he walked fine. And then he growled at DH when he tried to move him off the couch to take some picture (Leo was pooped and wanting a nap) and proceeded to try and bite him twice when DH picked him up and moved him. The dumbest part about that was when DH assumed Leo was playing and started waving his hand in Leo's face, eliciting more biting - and snarling. ... to the tune of me yelling
"TELL HIM "NO!" TELL HIM "NO!""

From 8/23/06
"Last night, Leo finally figured out how to get up on the bed on his own."

8/31/06
"Leo is walking really good now. He only balks on his way down the driveway. He can walk the whole 45 minutes that Kansas and I usually go without having to be brought home halfway through. I think he's enjoying it. "

9/3/06
"Last night was wild. I had DH's plate in hand and bent over to get something out of the fridge and Leo decided to leap up and try to grab a mouthful off the plate. He didn't get a taste of anything good, though.
Miraculously, the only thing that fell to the floor was the fork; I scared him when I habitually yelled "HEY!" (it seems to be that one word that works for both my dogs- they always cease all activity when they hear it) as I saw him coming at the plate out of the corner of my eye.
I somehow managed to shut the fridge, put the plate down and grab Leo without breaking or spilling anything. I grabbed for whatever I could reach and ended up with a handful of scruff and another handfull of skin above the base of his tail. He started shrieking like a banshee. I know I didn't hurt him but he's a drama queen (just like the books say they are...)
I then hauled him to his crate.
I was going to put him in the little crate in our living area while we ate, but decided his crime was extreme enough to instigate his first experience being "banished" from the pack. Boy did he get it! He got (wordlessly and no eye contact) put in his crate in the bedroom and I SHUT THE DOOR (gasp! the horror!) and left him there until we were done eating.
Kansas always goes to lie down when we eat, and we were still puppy-sitting Pancho but I'd already crated him away. I didn't even look at Leo when I went back to let him out. I refused to acknowledge him or make eye contact with him at all until I was completely done cleaning up the kitchen. It's been a while since I've had to use that tactic. I only had to enforce it with Kansas a couple of times for really extreme behaviors before she got the message. We'll see if he tries any tricks like that again. I'm quite proud of myself, really, that I kept my head and remembered to take such measures. I didn't even lose my temper. ...and I still can't figure out how nothing got spilled or broken..."

9/14/06
"LOL! Leo still tries to crawl under the bed, and he can still fit, but he can't get out. He doesn't seem to realize he has to flatten out on his side to get out, because his spine hits the bed frame. So his new game is to wait until nobody is paying him any attention, crawl under there and then put up a huge fuss. Partly so Kansas will come play with him and maybe just a little bit because he's afraid he can't get loose. Usually, I ignore him, or I'll go make him lie down and figure out how to inch his own way out. If he takes too long or fusses too much, I'll slide him out, but he's just going to go right back in. He pulled that stunt on his daddy today- and DH was actually worried and panicking and buying into the whole bit. I just ignored them both, because DH wasn't listening to my reasoning, explanations and instruction."

I think things are about up to speed with when this blog was created now.