Contemplative puppies

Reilly likes to think things through.  You can see it on his face.  Today, he's spent a lot of time trying to figure out why I don't understand that HE WANTS CARROTS when the refrigerator door opens.  That's why that big box is there, right?  Every time the door is opened, there he is at my feet.  When I don't provide the carrot, his expression changes from expectant hope to abject puzzlement.  Today he's taken to following me, trying to make his point.  I'm trying to explain to him, using the "empty hands" gesture that we use with The Boys, that I have no carrot for him.  He's trying to tell me he can see I have no carrot.  He wants to know why I haven't gotten it!  Now!  Poor guy.  He does need to learn, like we all had to, that we don't get what we want all the time. 

We haven't used the baby gate to the back of the house for a day or two now, and Reilly does not go to the back, other than an excited following of a big dog...until he realizes where he is, and comes back to the front.  The big dogs understand that Reilly isn't going back there, so they are using the back of the house as a puppy-free-zone, to escape puppy teeth.  Murphy is also towing Reilly to me when he's getting too toothy on his neck, so I can tell him no.    And Reilly is stopping when he's told now, although he might be back at it five minutes later.  Or one minute; his memory is about the same as a two-year-old people-puppy.  But definite improvement.

No pee accidents in the house during the day again.  I'm still not catching him quickly enough for his mid-day poop, but when he starts and I call, "Outside!" he stops and runs to the door.  He's got the idea just right already.  He just doesn't know how to ask to go out.  I'll have to show him that he can ring the bells, I think.  Not just ring them myself, but show him he can do it, too.  Something to work on this week.

Every day I am more impressed with this puppy of mine, more optomistic for his ability to do this huge job I'll be asking of him, and more amazed I lucked into the perfect puppy for me.  He's bonding well to me, preferring to spend most of his day sleeping near me.  As I type, he's lying on a towel at my feet.  I spent a good deal of today in the kitchen, drying figs, making grape juice (the grapes are prolific this year!) and pureeing peaches to try different muffin recipes out.  While I was in there, Reilly was, too.  It won't be long before he'll be getting to sleep in the back with us.  Once I can trust him on the carpet, he'll have free run of the house.  Then he'll start learning to leave yarn alone.

Actually, he's wanted to chew on few things.  We're still using my barn shoes as training shoes.  All he wants to chew on are the laces.  He's pulled around a few other shoes, but not chewed them.  He's grabbed the rungs of my chair a couple times, but not seriously.  The things he wants to chew on include Murphy's neck and ears, and my feet.  No matter what inappropriate things he tries to chew, he gets them removed and replaced with a toy or rope.  I'm sure he won't be so easily distracted when he starts teething, but I don't expect a dreadful teething, judging by the older dogs.  Jake was worse than Murph, but neither were as bad as any other breed we've ever had.  And both learned quickly that yarn or spinning fiber in any form was Not. For. Them.  I'll bet Sir Reilly will learn even faster!

Tomorrow we plan to get back to morning walks.  It was a long weekend, with that one-day drive to Georgia and back from here in North Carolina.  It's getting harder and harder to recover from doing that.  If it weren't for my sisters and dad, who try harder than they need to, to make things easier on me...even though they all have issues of their own...I probably wouldn't be able to do one-day trips.  But it's good for Mom, and it's good for Dad, to have us all manage to come home now and then at the same time, so we do and we will as long as we can.  Because family is important. 

Just a couple weeks until fall semester starts back up.  I'm going to hate leaving Reilly at home when I go to work this year.  But until he's ready, he can't go with me.  I won't be spending extra time there after my last class is out, that's for sure!  I've got lots of office hours scheduled in between classes for my students if they need me, and they can always email me.  Thank goodness for email!

Oh, I'll be taking Mr. Grows A. Lot to get another harness this week.  He's about grown out of his.  Again.  I've been looking at the collars and halters we have, and think I need to donate all of them to a shelter or a resuce.  None of my guys have been in the long enough to make them look used at all!  If I didn't want a particular type of harness for Reilly, he could be using hand-me-downs now. 

This evening, Reilly is totally involved in tryong to murderize one of the doggie stuffed critters....a squirrel.  I'll have to remember to keep a close eye on the stuffies with a pup in the house.  They don't last very long with puppies, and I can't have him getting to the stuffing.  I think I'll do a once-over in the morning on all the toys and see how they're holding up.  Bedtime early tonight, as we're walking in the morning before it gets hot.

Meg and Reilly