Time
flies when you're having fun! It's hard to believe that our "monster
puppy" is now 3 years old!
He's turning into a very nice dog in spite of himself, learning the best that
Scooch and Boogie have to share
and coming up with new ideas on his own. Since I didn't create a web page
for his 2nd birthday,
here a few highlights from the last two years:
Shadow
was the star of his obedience class in 2005, taking 1st place in the mock
obedience trial on graduation night.
As you can see, he wasn't nearly as happy about it as we were!
Shadow is our "tattle-tale". If Scooch and Boogie bark at something,
Shadow runs to find me and barks until I go to see what the others are barking at.
Shadow
loves to play catch, and in his efforts to get us to play with him constantly,
he puts his toys wherever our attention is directed at that moment, even when
I'm watering the yard!
If I'm brushing my teeth, he stands up to drop his squeaky gator in the bathroom sink.
If I'm loading the dishwasher, his red ball is dropped in while he pre-cleans the dishes.
If we're preparing dinner, his
green ball gets rolled across
the kitchen island.
If we're in the hot tub, his blue and yellow dolphin
might just happen to go swimming with us.
If I'm working at my desk, yep, you guessed it . . .
Shadow rewards me every time I scoop poop by placing one of his toys beside the poop bucket for me to throw to him when I'm finished. I guess it was a natural progression, but recently, if he makes his "deposit" after I've already picked up after the others, he wants to be sure his is taken care of. So he runs to find me and barks and bounces until I realize that he wants to show me something. I walk outside and find that day's favorite toy sitting beside his pile. As soon as I have the scooper in hand, he collects his toy and places it beside the poop bucket for me.
Did I mention how much Shadow loves to play catch? Well, at the Wheaten Meetin' in March, we won a gift basket which contained a frisbee that looks like a turtle. Every so often I take it out and throw it for him in the back yard. When the game is over, I wash the slime and mud off of it and store it somewhere up high and out of sight, or I'll never hear the end of it. I played frisbee with him not long ago, and several days later, I was in the middle of a rush order for a regular client. Shadow wanted to play . . . imagine that! But something was different, and I couldn't quite figure it out. He didn't put his toy under or on my desk or chair, but after a very short time, he put his red ball and an orange dragon in front of the closet door in my office, and started barking his head off. I stood up and walked over to throw the toys out in the hall and close my office door so that I could think, but he wouldn't leave the closet door. Thinking maybe he left one of his other toys in there earlier I opened the door. After a cursory sniff around the floor, Shadow looked up at the closet shelf . . . exactly where I hid his frisbee on Tuesday, but this happened on Friday. You'd think that isn't anything too unusual, except that, knowing how intense he is in his quest to get me to play frisbee with him, when I hid the frisbee, he was getting a drink of water, and I went into my office and closed the door to the room - he had no way of knowing I had put that toy in that closet!
Shadow does have his quiet and peaceful moments:
He and Boogie enjoy napping on our bed.
Scooch, Boogie and Shadow all enjoyed being outside in their x-pens while we were on an RV trip to Breckenridge.
Our new home is on the plains outside Colorado Springs, and as you can see, it's a little windy here!
Shadow's a delightful, intelligent and affectionate dog, and as he matures,
we're seeing more and more that he has all his ducks in a row!
Visit Diane & Bill's personal web site
