The ups and downs of life with Langley

I think the most trying thing for me personally with Langley is that he's a 2 steps forward, 1 step back kind of dog.  This makes me crazy.  While I realize the overall movement on our path of training is forward, I am a linear person and those one-step-backs discourage me so much.  I try my best to stay even and not get so excited when he does something wonderful (like today when he went to the door when he had to potty) or get dejected when he seems to immediately ignore the epiphany that I was sure he just had (like when he peed in the middle of a dog bed 15 minutes after letting me know he had to go out.)  But it's tough - that's how I roll.

Playing with a JW Cuz and rolling in a horde of toys on the couch 

But then, just when I am at my most frustrated he does something sweet and hilarious - like when I was busy doing rescue paperwork on the computer and looked down and he was lying on his back right next to my chair, all 4 legs straight up and chewing on a toy.  Or, like in this photo (sorry for the blur - Langley's not one for staying still for a photo) or video where he just happily plays by himself, rolling around on the chairs and couch with a favorite toy and then falling off accidentally and opening a can of whoop ass on the toy because he's pretty sure it pushed him off.

He's a hard boy not to love.  And the more you love him, the more frustrating he can be.  But I suppose that is how all relationships are.