The smiley one and the ankle biter

Caleb has added huge smiles to his progress. He has the happiest face I have ever seen on a puppy. He smiles so much after we come home. I am still trying to figure out a way to capture it on film. It really is just the cutest.

We are making huge progress with him. He comes up to us so much more now for attention. We still have issues with approaching him and he won't come for pets when called, but on his terms he is quite anxious for love. He gave me a huge treat last night when he sat down right next to me on the couch and nudged me for love.

He really is doing astoundingly well. We are so very proud of him.

Now, as for our little peanut. Lily is fabulous with the hubster and I. She is all about the love. She comes when we call her. She will sit in our laps and hang out. She's pretty much assimilated herself into our lives completely. The only thing we have to figure out how to deal with is her extreme hyperness. She bounces off the walls. We have been exercising her but she is still almost always wound up.

The other day a friend of mine came over. When she was walking out of the living room Lily charged out of the kennel and grabbed the back of her pants trying to bite her. As my friend put it, a mosquito would do more damage, but that's not the point. And as she and I further talked the damage could be far greater with a child. The second time she went at her my friend turned and looked at Lily and told her no. Lily backed off immediately.

My friend hadn't see the dogs since the week we brought them home. Her impression was that Caleb has made the most progress. She said he is fearful but curious. Where as Lily is just fearful and that her way of dealing with the stress is aggression. And she's right. We haven't had many people over since we got the dogs. But what we have seen is Caleb who avoids them but his tail is wagging and he's content. He'll go up to them for food but otherwise is just simply a little cautious around them. Lily on the other hand will sit in her kennel and growl at them the entire time they are at the house. And apparently, if given the opportunity will charge them. The hubster said she had done it before I was just off somewhere else so I didn't see it.

But, as in the case of my friend, as soon as she let Lily know her behavior was unacceptable Lily did back off. So she can learn. And she does listen.

It's just a matter of patience. And things will be just fine. They have come so far in so little time. We know what we need to work on and we are aware of the issues. We aren't in denial. We have more company coming on Wednesday. So it will be interesting to see how it goes. They know what to expect and the problems we currently have so they are prepared to help us along.

Anyway, I look forward every night to going home to my puppies. Our house is just so full of happiness. And I wouldn't change a thing.