Friends at last?!

It was a big night at our house last night.  Samish actually joined in and played with Langley when Langley was in full-on crazy zoomie mode.  I mean, even I want to take cover when Langley starts ricocheting around the room like a 20 pound pinball. Samish is only 10 pounds so I really can't blame him for being extra careful where wildman Langley is concerned.

Langley and Samish: two happy boys

It started with Langley getting a bad case of zoomies and Samish was a bit irritated by the flybys. He started chasing Langley and at first it was obvious that he wanted to give that big dog a piece of his mind.  But pretty soon he got lost in the pure joy of the figure eights they were tearing up and he was having a blast. Sadly, I didn't get my camera out until the very last 1/2 loop around the room, but even as short as it is, you can witness them playing.

 



After the racing and wrestling, we slowed things down and did some training together.  Langley was all business then but Samish was so excited that I was breaking out the treats he kept jumping high into the air and would land on top of Langley who was patiently waiting in a "down-stay".  Since early on when Samish first came to our house Langley did a full on belly flop on top of him in an attempt to get to a toy first, I kind of enjoyed watching Langley get a taste of his own medicine.

A happy and out of breath Samish, after playing chase with Langley

 

Crated in Crazy Town

Samish performing his well practiced, wide-eyed, pleading look

The adage that the squeaky wheel gets the grease is definitely true at our house.

After breakfast, which the foster dogs each eat in their crates, are very loud times at our house.  Yesterday was no different: Langley alternated baying with staccato demand barking.  Frodo yipped like the yippy-yapper that he is, and Tilly barked her odd little "hard livin' smoker's bark" from the kitchen.  Everyone wanted out and they wanted out NOW!!! 

Of course in hindsight I see how well they have trained me, but I had a headache and so scurried around, letting dogs out to the back yard for their after breakfast potty break and squirrel terrorizing time.  I ran back inside, poured a second cup of coffee and then was ready to run back over when the 3 of them were barking loudly at the door to be let back in.

So do you see what is missing from this picture (other than my backbone)?  SAMISH!!! When I let the 3 dogs in I panicked.  Where was Samish?  Was he behind the shed flushing out mice again?  Under the deck looking for something gross?  Nope.  Samish was quietly and patiently sitting in his crate, not making a peep, waiting for me to let him out.  He stared at me, wide-eyed and quivering, much like the look in the photo above, hoping that it was his turn to go outside and play. The poor boy was just not rude and ill mannered enough to get attention so I had forgotten him.

I'm sure there are some huge lessons here that I should be taking to heart but I'll have to do that later because the dogs are barking at me to let them out.

Is that a mouse hole?!

When you crate a dog who is overwhelmed (or in Langley's case, ticked off) a great thing to try to help them calm down is giving them something to chew on and then completely covering their crate.  Having fewer visual stimuli, the darkness, and probably just not getting to see outside the crate where they really, really want to be helps them pull themselves together.  Of course we aren't talking about dogs with crate anxiety or separation anxiety.  This is for your average dog.  Or a dog like Langley.

Yesterday I was cleaning out a closet and Langley was crated.  He could see the stuff all over the floor and see me pulling out even more stuff, and see Frodo stealing some of that stuff, and he wanted out. NOW!!!  So I used the old sheet-over-the-crate-trick and continued my cleaning project, which soon grew to a closet, an upstairs office, and one of my bedroom closets.  It worked like a charm.  He settled down and other than a little whining was quiet.  After about an hour of cleaning I had stuff tidied up and went over to take him out for a potty break and then some inside play time.  This is what Frodo and I saw.

Frodo, wondering where this little arched entry came from

Had a mouse come and eaten a perfectly arched hole in the bottom corner of Langley's crate?  Frodo and I were perplexed.

Peek-a-boo!

Nope.  No mice were involved.  Langley had quietly fashioned his very own little peephole in the bottom corner of his crate so he could lie down and have a good view of the corner of the room that I was doing most of my work in.  So the sheet did keep him quiet, but just not in the way I had expected it to.

Rainy Day Wear For Samish

We discovered something new about Samish during yesterday's day long downpour.  He has an iron-clad bladder.  This boy does NOT like the rain and refused to pee for long stretches of time.  After about 10 hours of this nonsense I put on my raingear, leashed him up, and stood in the middle of our spongey lawn with him. You would think I had taken him out to have an acid bath.  There was much moaning, leash pulling to get to the steps, etc. Even when I had some pity on him and walked him up below the fir trees where it was drier, there was no peeage to be had.  We stood out there a long time and when we came in the house, both drenched and shivering, Samish had won the battle.  Not a drop was leaked from his bladder.

So back in the crate he went for the night and blessedly, it was not raining this morning so he tore out and took what seemed like a 5 minute pee off the side of the deck.

Well, this will just not do.  If this California boy is going to be a Washingtonian, he is going to need to learn to pee in the rain.  My bright idea of the day was that maybe a warm pullover for when he goes outside might make things seem less awful.  I pulled out my ridiculously large supply of sweaters and coats and selected a Samish sized assortment, including the brand new red microfleece that I had bought at work the day before.


Outfit number 1: the new Goldpaw fleece

With his supermodel good looks, Samish played the part well, giving me a good variety of poses and freezing himself in holds with a vacant look like he was trying out for "America's Next Top Model" or something.  The fleece was warm and cozy and fit his chest well, but seemed a little long to me so we moved on to the wool sweater.

Coat 2: Chilly Dog's "Little Monster"

 

The sweater was cute (I thought) but too snug, especially when trying to get it on and off.

 

Coat 2: Samish shaking his head in shame

Apparently, Samish did not share my opinion of the sweater and was a little ashamed of my sense of taste.

Coat 3: RC Pet in cantaloupe

The third and final option was a cantaloupe ensemble by RC Pet.  This lightweight, easy on/off jacket seemed to be perfect for what we needed.  However the chest was snug and the velcro barely held shut because it was a size 8 and Samish is a perfect 10 (in more ways than one, he will assure you.)

It seemed that as far as ease, comfort, and coverage in the drizzle the brand new red fleece was going to be the best bet so we put that back on and photo shoot complete, Samish tore off to wear in the coat and do some hunting while the weather was still good.  I couldn't find him for awhile but finally heard him under the low (12-18" high) deck.  Apparently he needed to test the coat to see if it impeded his flexibility.

Samish's coat after giving it a good workout in the back yard.

The next test will be to see how it holds up to the washing machine.



Death to all piggies

 Like any good terrier, Langley loves going through the motions of killing things.  Today I brought a new stuffed pig home from work and he started right in.

First, a little taste testing



Then a little showing off to Frodo

 

 



And then finally, down to the floor for some good old fashioned death shakes.

Play Time

Samish has been pretty overwhelmed by how excited big Langley gets when they are together.  Thankfully most of the newness has worn off and so they are both more comfortable hanging out in the same room together without it becoming a big production. Sometimes though Sam gets fed up with Langley's attempts to play and the video below was one of those moments when he'd had enough.

As tough as Samish was trying to be, Langley still thought it made for a pretty fun game and by the end of the chase, Samish was still wary but actually started to enjoy himself a bit.  I didn't catch it on video but he would drop into a tentative play position and Langley would tear off for a couple loops around the room.  As soon as Samish figured out he wasn't going to get smushed by Langley, he kind of like the power of being able to send Langley's 20 pounds careening around the room.


Samish, sitting comfortably after sending Langley careening around the room

We cut that short though while everyone was still happy and before Langley lost all self control in the pure joy of the zoomies.  So out came the stuffies and the dogs both enjoyed tossing them around and doing a few squeakie death shakes.  Langley and Samish even played tug for about 10 seconds but unfortunately I missed filming that rare moment.

So it's good news all around.  Everyone is getting more "together" time in the living room and Langley is learning to share and play at a level that other dogs can tolerate.

Fall Photo Shoot

We are having a gorgeous day here in the Pacific Northwest and when I saw the pretty maple leaves piling up on the deck around the Western Sword Ferns I decided to get some nice seasonal photos of Samish.  It would give us a chance to practice his "sit" too.  It went great and he was very patient, but every dog has their limit of what crazy human schemes they will put up with.

A contemplative Samish

 

Samish the dreamer

 

An intensely serious Samish

An "all done" Samish

Having fun - TOGETHER

Langley gets so excited when he meets new dogs that it can be a bit much for the new dog - especially a dog as little as Samish.  It's taken a few weeks but we've finally gotten to the point where we can all enjoy play time together, thanks to the newness of Samish having worn off for Langley. It's been great to see that Langley can get used to new dogs since that means we will be able to continue having a second foster dog in our house.

Samish and Langley practicing "sit" next to each other

After Samish, Langley and Frodo do some training exercises together to get used to hanging out in the same room together I broke out the stuffies.  Frodo is a stuffie addict who is rarely allowed to be near one as he can shred them with almost just a glance it seems.  Langley and Samish have caught on to this and were not about to share with Frodo.

Frodo, looking at Langley's stuffed blowfish longingly

Poor dejected Frodo. He has been denied stuffie time.

Checking to see if Samish is more lax about stuffie guarding than Langley

Nope. Not really.

Samish was REALLY getting into playing with this stuffed pig.

Finally! He scored a stuffed rabbit when Langley moved with his blowfish to the dog bed.  Feeling sorry for him I even let him nibble on the rabbit ear for awhile before putting all the stuffed animals up.

Channelling Tigger

Langley loves playing with his food toy games and stuffed animals.  I mean her REALLY loves it.  Often while I am loading the food toy, he bounces 4-5 feet in the air repeatedly until I'm finished.  It really is quite amazing to see and it is tough to not burst out laughing when I watch him.

I've been trying to video tape him for a long time but every time I turn to face him to take the video he plants his butt on the ground.  We've worked so much on waiting patiently for things and he knows that the toy won't be given to him until he settles down so me turning to  him always ends the bouncing.

So I finally, kinda-sorta took some tape of his bouncing.  Forgive the shakiness as I had to keep moving to keep the bouncing going but you'll get the picture.  Isn't he cute?!  There's part of me that thinks maybe I shouldn't be delighting so much in this overly exuberant behavior, but honestly, how can one not be sucked in by such joy?  I figure he knows to calm down when it counts so we are going to call that good.

Anyhow, here it is: bouncy-boy Langley, awaiting a kibble loaded Kong Wobbler.

Team New Rattitude NW and the 2013 Calendar

It was exciting to see all the familiar faces featured in the newly released 2013 New Rattitude Rat Terrier Calendar.  Former fosters Dunham, Ursa and Catty are featured on the March page.

Current New Rattitude boy Skittles, fostered in Yakima WA graces the back cover.



 And there are 4 NR NW dogs in this collage. In the middle row, right side there is Langley and Huckleberry. Then bottom row, left side is Boushey and Maggie.

To see all the great photos in this calendar, many former New Rattitude foster dogs, visit www.newrattitude.org/events.htm and to pre-order a calendar head over to www.newrattitude.org/shop.htm - all orders in October will only pay $1 for shipping.

A big thanks from all of our volunteers and foster dogs to everyone who participated in the contest and a thanks to all of you who plan on purchasing one or two or more of these great calendars.  As always, proceeds will all go to help New Rattitude's homeless rat terriers.

Wasting time on a blah, rainy day...

The rain has finally arrived in the Pacific Northwest and it has definitely made some changes for our 2 California boy foster dogs.  Samish, who previously would stay out happily hunting for as long as he was allowed, looked at me in shock the first time his paw hit the spongy lawn.  He now can finish a potty break in under 45 seconds.

Langley discovered that with the rain come a whole different set of smells and bugs (and worms) and so he is pretty overstimulated with the change, making his potty breaks last much longer.  They get limited to 5-10 minutes (since I'm standing in the rain with him) and then we have to wait in the crate for 30 minutes and then try it again until he can finally focus on the fact that he needs to unload his bladder.  The leaves and fir needles dropping from the trees add to the visual stimulation and boy, talk about overload. 

Also doesn't help that the fir cones are dropping from the trees with regular "thunks" which sends Frodo tearing around like a banshee and works Langley up.  Frodo loves fir cone season.  He doesn't have to wait for a person to throw him a cone - they just magically fall from the sky.

So here's what the 4 housebound pooches did today to pass the rainy day:

Samish found his favorite lap and kicked back for some snooze time

Langley played with his new stuffed animals.  Apparently he likes the flavor of blowfish though as there were definite attempts to rip that baby open

And a few more stuffies.  And don't think he just laid there pondering the flavor of water bottle stuffed pork. No, this and the blowfish photos were 2 out of 53 taken that weren't a blur.

After Frodo attempted a quick decapitation of Mr. Bunny he was once more banished to the other side of the fence.

And sweet old Tilly got a new bed that we are hoping will be somewhat Tilly-proof.  That means, she won't feel the need to eat it and it will stand up to her love of digging in her bed before lying down.  To distract her from the sherpa fabric she got a roasted kneecap to chew on. This may just be the bed to pass the test.

Stuffies: to die or not to die, that is the question

Since I work at a pet supply store my dogs tend to get to test every new toy that comes out or starts being carried by one of our distributors.  Our dog toy basket is overflowing with fun, and the dogs of course are completely blase about their good fortune. 

When I head to the wholesale warehouse for a will call order I always wander the aisles, checking out what's new.  Invariably there will be some new, incredibly cute line of stuffed animals and I let out a deep sigh because stuffed toys do not enter this home.  House terrier Frodo is 10 pounds of teeth and it's just like letting him eat cash (which he's done before).

Typically I soothe my craving for cute stuffed dog toys by buying them for a friend's foster terriers who for some reason always respect the stuffie, at least for a week or so. 

However, I've been watching Langley with his food toys and rubber squeaky toys and unlike Frodo, he prefers to toss toys in the air and chase them around to tearing them open and killing the squeak.  So today when I went to the warehouse to restock my freezer with raw food, I decided to take a chance and buy a couple of the GoDog stuffed toys that I love but can never bring home for my dogs.  Would they be quickly eviscerated or would they instead survive to endure endless death shakes?  That was the big question.

As I guessed, Langley did great.  He tossed his new bunny around, took it through several rounds of death shakes, and then threw it some more.  In this video you see him getting the bunny for the first time.  And for those of you feeling sorry for Frodo, who watches all the frolicking with a sad neglected look from the other side of the fence, he was given a roasted beef kneecap so he doesn't deserve any of your pity.

Samish gets some skillz!

As you have already read here in previous blog posts, Samish is a hunter extraordinaire.  However, he also was over-interested in chasing the mice and squirrels he was hunting beyond the fence line so we've started doing some training work.  Happily, as his temp foster mom had told me, he is very treat motivated so getting him interested in lesson time is not a problem.  Below you see a video of us doing some work on the "come" cue.  We'll need to work on him not bouncing off of me before completing the "come" but hey, this is great for a little guy who needed to be always on leash (even in fenced areas) and pretty oblivious to humans when he was outside.

 

Another lesson we are working on is "sit".  We do some group lessons with Langley and Frodo, trying to get Langley used to being around another dog calmly.  Both Frodo and Langley were great at sitting and waiting patiently for their treat but Samish was in everyone's face as well as snout in the treat bag so we needed to work on some patience and manners with him.

He's doing a great job.  For now we are just strengthening his connection between the behavior and the reward but soon he'll need to drop the barking to get the treat. Below is what Samish's current method of trying to get a treat is:

Crouching low, growling and barking and pretty much demanding that the slow human hurry it up

 

And then here is how he has to act to actually get the treat.  It's a bit of an reset for him to think this way as he's cute, little, and used to telling you want he wants and when. That hasn't been working for him here though so he's quickly learning what does work.

Still pretty intense, but sitting nicely and quietly, hoping it will earn him a piece of kibble.

 

He's learning quickly and is going to make someone a great companion.

 

 



Toys, toys, toys!

Langley loves to dig through our dog toy basket regularly to change up what he's playing with.  Well today he discovered an old favorite, his puppy kong rope, that he hasn't played with since July.  He had a blast swinging that rope around the living room, which greatly disgruntled Frodo and Samish as you hear in the video. 

The music isn't to make this episode of toy play sound dramatic, we just tend to always have classical music going in our house during the day as it seems to take everyone down a notch, including me. 

After he finished with the rope toy he spent some time digging through to the bottom of the toy basket and testing out multiple squeaky toys he hadn't seen for awhile to check if they were any good.  His favorites are actually the JW medium size Cuz squeaker toys that Frodo has desqueaked and the squeaker is inside, turning the toy into a rattle.

On the hunt for the perfect toy

One thing about Langley is that he is not destructive at all with his toys.  Unlike Frodo and Tilly, our house dogs, Langley can play with a squeaky toy and not feel the need to kill it.  He can flip around a plush toy and leave it intact.  Go figure?!

Big Little Successes

When working with a dog who has some significant issues (or a person for that matter), a caretaker needs to change their measuring stick of what constitutes "success".  Tiny steps forward become amazing accomplishments and the 2 steps forward, 1 step back pace has to be not just endured, but celebrated because, hey!, that is a net forward growth.  Without this perspective one can quickly burn out and the big negatives start overwhelming the tiny little positives that are happening - so much so that pretty soon the caretaker can miss that anything positive is happening at all.

The first special needs dog that I worked with, this was a HUGE struggle for me.  Every step back set me in a panic that she was never going to be able to be rehabilitated.  Now, with many difficult foster kiddos under my belt, I am for the most part able to remind my self of where we started and where we are now and pat myself and the dog on the back.

Langley is doing so much better but still has a long ways to go and recently we've been kind of stuck at the same level with not much progress and a little backsliding.  It has been getting tough to have a "glass half full" outlook.  However over the last 2 days we've had a couple breakthroughs that remind me that those little steps forward are still there.

After 3 months of Langley never being out of the house/back yard area during daylight (it sent him into overdrive anxiety mode and shut down his ability to focus) this morning Langley and I ventured into the side yard and even took a stroll into the middle of the front yard. With a little nudging he was able to refocus on me and even perform behaviors on cue while we were out there.  Now it was just 2 minutes total that we were out of the back yard, but those two minutes felt like a giant accomplishment.  And in the next weeks I look forward to the forward and backward steps that we'll be taking as Langley makes his reentry into the outside world.

The second big event this week was Langley 5 am - in the dark walk that he gets each morning typically follows the same route to avoid him getting over threshold.  Well, this week Troy tried to vary the route they followed and Langley didn't have a problem.  He still was a little ramped up as he always is on these walks, but he didn't completely come unglued.

Unfortunately I didn't get any photos as both events were spur of the moment decisions by me and Troy to push the envelope, so you'll have to make do with a previous cute photo of Langley.

Unsettling

I was going to do a post about teaching a dog to settle and some of the ways that Langley and I are working on this, but honestly, Langley and I really suck.  I mean, we keep plugging away at it but neither of us by nature are settled and laid back so together we are not so good a team.

Everything Langley does has a certain level of intensity.  When he is training he can be a pretty amazing dog but even practicing "sit" and "down" with him it's hard not to laugh because he performs the actions like there is a race to see who hits the floor fastest.  He could be walking across the room and I say "down" and all 4 legs fly out and he slams his body to the ground and then stares intently at me, waiting for the next cue.

Anyhow, since Langley is a little ADHD and can find focus (on me) difficult at times, for settle I try to use some kind of stationary toy or chew for him to sit in one place and just stay and work on it calmly.   Today I loaded the Ruff Dawg Pickle Pocket (sorry - in an earlier post I mistakenly said that Starmark made it) with freeze-dried bison lung and we got started.  Now mind you, Langley's settle looks like what I imagine for some dogs would be the cue "unsettle".  But it's about the baby steps, you know?  Below shows several photos of Langley "settling".

Langley being still and settled - part 1

Another attempt at still and calm - part 2

Trying a new location - nope, not working

Finally, we have achieved "stillness" but aren't even close to relaxed and settled

So my final advice to you is never ask me for instruction on how to teach a dog to be calm and settled.  Instead, I suggest you go to youtube and watch Kikopup's series on teaching a dog to settle.  Here's the first video in the series called "Capturing Calmness".  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wesm2OpE_2c&feature=plcp   I know that I'll be watching it for a refresher course.

Samish and the Fence

I stayed up late last night and this morning, in a sleep-induced stupor, I put Samish out in the fenced backyard without a leash on.  It actually went pretty well and after running around awhile he came back up on the deck and went inside.  But it was also pretty cold out so that may have been the reason.  I decided to try it later in the morning.

Big Mistake. With the warming day, Samish was feeling like he wanted to explore.  He really, really wants to wander.  Sweetest little dog ever and plenty connected to people, but put him outside and he seems to channel some epic explorer.  His hearing shuts off and it's just him and the perimeter of the yard, looking for a weak spot. To catch him it took a good 20 minutes of following him around, crawling around shrubs and through cobwebs and a minefield of turds in a part of the flower beds that I am obviously missing when I scoop.

The photos below document his tour of knotholes in the fence.  At one point he decided he wanted to go in and I breathed a sigh of relief, only to have him tear off the deck for one last look through the fence. 

He is definitely going to need a family who is okay with close supervision of their furry family member.

Checking to see how sturdy the gate is

Looking through a knothole to check out the neighbor's yard

"Maybe there's a hole in the fence back behind here."

Psyching me out that he's ready to go inside

Nope, he had another knothole to check out

 

 

 

 

Stuff to stuff it!

Just about everyone who has a dog living with them knows what a Kong is, but very few people really use the Kong to its fullest. 

I work at a natural pet store and am honestly horrified by the amount of crap that Kongs typically get stuffed with.  Just about anyone who buys one assumes that their stuffing options are either peanut butter or "Kong Whiz" as I like to call the chemical laden aerosol gunk that is sold as a stuffing for them. The reality is that if you are giving your dog a Kong full of peanut butter it won't take long for them to get obese, and it also is putting them at risk for pancreatitis. Just because this is a treat, doesn't mean it has to be unhealthy.

A nice fall themed stuffed Kong: Pheasant with chopped honeycrisp apples

Really, the sky's the limit when it comes to things you can stuff in a Kong.  At our house where I'm doing a lot of training with my foster dogs, I want to keep the calorie intake down because they are getting treats during training time. So I use a lot of fruits and veggies and to hold them all in I use a mixture of rehydrated Honest Kitchen Preference (a dehydrated fruit/veggie food) mixed with some all meat canned food.  In the photo above you see a Kong that is layered with chunks of honeycrisp apples and then a mix of pheasant canned meat and Preference veggie mix. Sounds pretty fancy? I stuffed them in less than 2 minutes - easy-peasy.  Use a high quality canned food, if you choose to use it, and if you use a large Kong, try a low-cal canned food like Canidae Platinum or Wellness Core Reduced Fat.

Put your Kong in a cup to keep it stable during stuffing. Start by putting some chunks of food in to keep the wet food from mushing out the bottom of the Kong. Then add some wet mix and tamp it down with a small spoon.  Add more chunks of fruit/veggies and repeat until it's loaded. And the final trick to extend the length of time the Kong will distract your dog? Freeze it. In fact to save time, it's great to have 4-6 Kongs, stuff them all at once and keep them in the freezer so they are ready when you need your dog to have a fun distraction.

Other great wet stuffers: plain yogurt, unsweetened applesauce, mashed bananas, pureed pumpkin or sweet potatoes or other type of mashed squash

Great chunky stuffers: frozen green beans, chopped apple, banana slices, carrot slices, chopped snow peas, frozen berries, broccoli...

Langley, working calmly and quietly on a frozen Kong

And I know that everyone thinks of Kongs when thinking of stuffing toys but there are other great ones out there.  The Tux by West Paw Designs is made in the USA, and is a great design for snub nosed dogs who have trouble with Kongs.  Premier/Petmate makes the Squirrel Buddy which is pretty similar to the Kong, just cuter.

Another Langley toy test: The Teaser Ball

I brought home a Jolly Pets Teaser Ball for Langley to try out and for a couple of days he totally ignored it.  Then today he discovered it and it was pretty hilarious.  He probably played with it for a full 15 minutes, which is pretty amazing for this boy with a very short attention span.  He even left a bully stick lying on the floor to play with it.  High praise!

Langley is used to food toys that easily give up the treat once you discover the trick behind him.  However this toy, is designed to NOT give up it's treat - the soft green ball inside.  He tried everything, sticking his snout inside, chewing on it, trying to paw it out, and yet still the green ball refused to come out.  I love at the 30 second point of the video where he stops, sits back and stares at it, trying to regroup and figure out his next plan of attack.

As always, Frodo our house dog makes a cameo on the other side of the fence, gazing wistfully at the toy and wishing he could play with it.  Just so you know, Frodo actually does get a turn with the toys.  I'm not THAT mean to the poor cranky beast. We just make sure that the play time is upstairs and out of Langley's sight.

Another side to Samish

Poor Samish.  When there is a foster dog at your foster home who takes as much time as Langley does, it's tough to get blog time.  While Langley whines and whistles and bays for attention, Samish is content to find a soft spot and kick back until you have time for him. It is a really nice change to have such a sweet guy in the house.

Samish, getting his snuggle on...

In our earlier post about Samish, I talked about what an avid hunter he was outside - so much so that we feared he'd get out of the yard while on a chase and now I need to leash him when he's out there. One would think that a boy who is that intense outside would be intense in the house as well but that's not the case here.  When inside Sam turns into a laid back mellow boy and his greatest love is getting some lap time.  When I'm on the computer he's happy to just lie across my lap as I type. If you are reading a book he is just over the moon to stretch out beside you and have a long, warm, snugly snooze. 

Getting tired of the photo session and wishing I'd let him sleep

It's tough not to fall for this sweet little boy.  While he will need a kid free home due to some stiff joint problems in his hips, and will need someone who can carefully supervise him at all times when he is outside, even in a fenced back yard, he is worth his weight in gold since he's such a personable, undemanding little guy.