Grover and Maya take a hike

I took Grover and Maya on a walk today. We did the easy two mile route at Pleasant Grove. There was some ice on the gravel part of the road that never gets any sun, but the texture of it was so rough that I didn't feel in great danger of falling. If I had been walking dogs who pulled, it would be a different matter. 

I'm calling the new shepherd puppy Grover. We've just been calling him pup, hey you, or shithead, but it was time for something we could put on the web. There's a cute Muppet named Grover, but honestly it's just an adaption of the name of the park, Pleasant Grove, where we walked today.

Maya has walked with so many new dogs over the years, including many young ones like Grover. He tried to play with her while walking, and Maya does play with him sometimes at home, but she set him straight on the purpose of the walk, making it clear that this was not a playtime. He didn't pull, but he did a lot of wandering back and forth, often crossing behind me, which required quite a bit of leash handling on my part making it difficult to get many decent pictures. 

Grover has been surprisingly good indoors really. I crate him at night, but he's fine with that and often runs into his crate on his own accord. He did the submissive urination thing when he first got here, but that stopped after the first day really and his confidence has been growing by leaps and bounds ever since - too quickly maybe, he needs to remember that he is still just a punk pup. 

Basic facts, Grover is about 6-8 months old, pure German Shepherd Dog, and he's pure puppy. He has that adolescent pup's arrogant and unfounded level of self-confidence that makes him bark at everything he sees, human and canine, often while seeking shelter behind me. He needs a crash course in social skills, meeting as many new people and dogs as possible, as soon as possible. He likes everything and everyone, but he likes to bark at them first. This is one that I might take for a walk on the downtown mall, or into Lowe's, certainly to a brewery, if the temperature ever gets above freezing. The tip of his left ear is a little bit floppy. It stands erect, but the tip of the left ear sort of flaps in the breeze as he walks. 

He's been vaccinated and will be neutered sometime in the next couple of weeks after which he'll be available for adoption through Green Dogs Unleashed. He will definitely need training.