Dog update: 5 mo old Leon is already mostly potty trained after a week or less with me. He knows the commands no, sit, stay, down/lie down, “go to bed” (his crate), and the names of his 3 favorite toys: moose, stick, ball. He follows me everywhere, spends much of his waking time teething on things, but he mostly listens and knows what’s not ok to chew on. He eats meals in his crate and goes there after coming in from doin his business to receive treats.

I can’t close him in his crate and leave his eyesight for long without him going apeshit but we’re working on it incrementally. He sleeps in the bed with me for now, and only occasionally gets scolded for playing too rough when he’s excited. He’s half pitbull so I’ve gotta make sure he knows it’s not ok to snap at people no matter how good their hands smell.

He’s incredibly strong already and sometimes wins a grip contest against me. Many times I can’t pull the cloth ball from his teeth if he doesn’t want me to.

He’s got the prettiest coat I’ve ever seen. The kind of sparkling, soft, short hair that hardly sheds at all, dries in a minute flat after a bath, and stays super clean so as to need very few baths to begin with. He’s a handful and I’m generally more of a catlike person, but he’s the best dog I could ask for.

pictured below: playtime on the doggy run I created in my yard, naptime in the house, and just today he’s begun using the kitchen chairs like people