Gotcha plus six months

Hard to believe that it has been six months already. Atticus and I are still getting acquainted and there are still surprises.

At first Atticus was afraid to ride in the car. Giving him plenty of good places to go seems to have taken care of that. Now he will jump in when I pat the seat then go back and sit or lie on his blankie while we drive.

At first he didn’t make a sound except when the vet looked into his ears, then he made a high pitched yip. One day when he was biting one of his squeaky toys, he started to sing with it, a rather strange throat sound. Soon he started using a variety of vocalizations, including a big dog bark when someone comes to the door.

Although he got a puppy cut back in April, I groomed him with a slicker brush daily. Now his fur has grown out and is curly and shot with white, sort of a bankers gray with solid black on his ears, paws, and tail. Looks like there is a downy undercoat coming in, should help with cooler weather coming. The hair on his tail is coarser and glossy, seems to grow faster than body fur.

I’ve been having his toenails clipped about every six weeks. Looks like he will need to have the fur trimmed around his eyes fairly regularly. I do like his shaggy look, between that and his getting up to 9 pounds, he looks more substantial. One of the surprises was that long, coarse whiskers grew out and he has a cute beard.

I learned that little dogs chill easily and can start to shake. So he now has two sweaters, a white cardigan and a green pullover that can be layered. He likes to play in water but is not terribly fond of bathing. Before we got the sweaters he was reluctant to go out when it was cool and rainy. Now when I get his sweater out, it is the same as getting the leash and harness, he is excited because it means going out.

He likes meat but is not a foodie. His big motivation is play and his toys. Between what he picked out at Tractor Supply and the pet store, he has a nice collection. He does like to shop! Some mornings I get up to find that he has shopped from my shoe rack and tool box and created an interesting display of objects on his floor blankie.

He loves to play tug games, will only release just as his back paws leave the ground. He also likes to run, will often take off and zip around in circles and figure eights in the back yard as well as chasing toys.