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Holly’s personality is starting to gel.  She loves life.  She loves to play.  She wants to lock into joy every single second.  I get the task of bringing reality into her world.  Life can’t be about chase and catch, continous outdoor play and an eternal ball in your mouth.  It is quite a dance we have and I’m not sure if I’m in the lead. 

The temperatures have been chilly this past week.  Holly’s outside time, and mine, has had to be limited.  She’s quite tolerant of the cold, likely because she is so focused on her backyard play and challenging herself to collect three toys at once, but I have seen a quivering foot get held up in the air and when placed back down, another one goes up.   Boden’s hand me down winter coat and neck gator, plus the new booties Kooper gave her for Christmas have served their purpose.  They all sit on the shelf in the entryway within easy reach when we need to get suited up.  Holly’s been very tolerant of wearing her winter weather gear.  After our last walk, we came home with one less bootie.  Not to worry, Boden has hand me downs of those too.  She’ll have some mismatching boots on but I don’t expect any meltdowns from her about it.

Holly is 14 months old today.  Her exurberance is not lessening up.  I still play the puppy card when her friendliness is off the charts.  We visited Home Depot the other day and were cause for a jam at the check out lane.  Noone seemed to mind too much, leastwise the smiles and grins led me to think that.  The lady helping me with Holly while I tried to locate my credit card and keep track of hats, mittens and a dog leash, asked if she could take a picture of Holly.  She mentioned something about their website but I didn’t think too much of it, I had credit card issues to figure out.  Later that same day, Lana sent me a note and picture about Kooper being in Home Depot for the first time and getting his picture taken, posted on their Facebook page.  Kooper has a way of turning heads and melting hearts everywhere he goes!  I told her my experience earlier in the day and lo-and-behold – Holly appeared on their Facebook page too!   Now Lana & I have a goal for them to be together for a picture and posting!   I’ll carry my credit card in my jacket pocket for that one.

Holly started school again last night.  CGC – Canine Good Citizenship.   She is going to be challenged with some of the requirements but all of them are so good for her, and I, to be challenged in working on.   The excitability, jumping,  leash pulling, stay, come, recovering quickly from an unexpected loud noise, and not getting anxious when separated from me, amongst other things.  The goal is to have a dog that can manage themselves appropriately in a public setting.  It’s good Holly likes routines because we may be repeating this course a number of times.

One of the CGC instructors commented last night, giving reassurance to me after Holly had a hyper-happy explosion –  she said, ‘it’s ok.  you can’t train friendly,  she’s got what you want her to have.’   Immediately I felt myself calmer and less frustrated and I was better able to enjoy class with my friendly dog.