Sunday, October 31, 2010

Approaching One Year

Gosh, it's hard to believe how fast the time goes! Trapper will be a year old in November. He has had quite a few adventures over the past couple of weeks, mostly not with us. We took a little trip to Wildacres in North Carolina, and Trapper spent some time with Drake, and David, as well as a nice play date with Melisa and brother Duke. Apparently he was pretty good, or at least they were kind enough to not tell us:)

Yesterday we took Trapper to a Serbian Folk Dancing Show. The music was very loud, lots of jumping and stomping, an accordion, a violin, drum, and a clarinet I believe, and he did quite well. Sat in front of our seat, and although I tried to take a picture, it was too dark. He is so big he stretched out in front of three seats! Every time we go somewhere like that, I try to imagine how he will ever fit on an airplane, but as our fellow puppy raisers have noted, somehow they do fit.

As time passes, I realize that I no longer have to say "no" as often, he mostly listens to commands, and all in all is turning into a very nicely behaved young man. I even made the bed this morning and he didn't eat the foam overlay! That in itself is a big accomplishment. He made a small move towards the towel yesterday, and after a brief "leave it", he walked away. Could it be?

He has a long list of things he no longer does, like chewing, mouthing, stealing (almost), and I realize that all of these changes eventually happen over time and repeated consistent instructions. He is still Velcro, but in a good way. It's a lot of work raising a puppy, and those first months are exhausting trying to keep up with the little tyke. I chuckle when I read the blogs of other raisers with their new puppies. But one day, they "get it". He even likes the cats, and they like him. Of course, from what I'm told, that's when you get the letter to bring your puppy in for training.......and then you get to start all over:)

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