Living with Leo

I've been trying to give Leo some new life experiences to see how he handles them. He has learned to jump into the crate in the van without hesitation. He has been to the vet for vaccines and blood draw and was good with that. But at home, he's been mostly kept outdoors with Theo during the day and then he comes indoors to his crate in the office at night. There's only so much social exposure I can give him right now, but here are few new things he's done.













We met and played with a friend's Bernese Mountain Dog. Sully is 16 months old, so he's still a puppy too. The two boys spent a little time feeling each other out, but they finally started to play.

We met Clay's mother and her cat. It took a long time for the dog to lift his head and actually see the cat up on the counter. He didn't show any aggression. The cat hissed and he turned and ran. That's the perfect response.

He went hiking with Della. That was a good experience because he had only been out walking with Theo. He tried to play with Della as they walked. She didn't reciprocate and just shook him off. Stupid puppy. She must have been thinking that her own puppies were much better behaved at this point than this shepherd pup.

He took another walk, with Serena this time. He pestered her less than he had Della. Maybe it was Della's maternal instinct that seemed to invite it more. Serena was fine with him but really had no use for him. Too small to play with unless he's on the opposite side of a fence where they can run and bark.

He played with Della indoors in the evening and tried to play with everyone else in the house as well. Trooper ignored him. Theo felt he had done his duty during the day and stayed away from him. Arby looked at him like he was insane. Maya gave him a look and a growl that said "no way." But Della engaged with him for a little while. He tries to climb up on her, she tosses him off, and he's learned to jump backwards very quickly. One thing I'll say for him, when a dog told him "no" he respected it and moved on to the next, hopeful that out of the all the dogs around here, someone would surely play with him.

And finally today, he went hiking with Maya. He tried playing instead of walking and Maya set him straight on that. But he continued to pester her so I pulled him back next to me and let her take the lead on her own. He's a good boy. I can take him out from the house without a leash in the mornings when taking him out to Daneland, and in the evenings he runs directly to the door to come in. He has a lot to learn yet, but he's coming along.