perfectly Art-liscious

Some people are dog people, others are not. I am. And, Art is perfect. Already he knows how to come. He also knows how to fetch (though sometimes his preferred toy is a rotten apple or a pine cone instead of his blue rope toy, but whatever...) The cold weather has been a blessing - he has figured out that if he does his business quickly he gets to go back inside sooner, and he knows to go to the door if he has to pee. (He doesn't make a noise though and will pee on the floor if you aren't paying attention.)



He is gentle with the kids, loves to sit on their lap or chase them in the yard (we're still breaking him of the habit of biting coattails) and he LOVES his beds - if you tell him to 'go to bed' he runs over and sits in the bed! He has quirks like any good dog should - he does the Thumper-foot thing when you scratch his back - both sides! - and he doesn't like to eat or drink alone. (Forgivable - who does?) He's not especially fond of his leash yet but I hanker that's more because the ground is cold. Once he figures out what 'walk' means I imagine he'll be all over the leash like white on rice. And, he doesn't whine when we put him in his kennel except when he wants to pee. So far he is nothing shy of perfect.



I know it's probably an old wives' tale about the amount of black in a dog's mouth, but my Daddy always said, the more black in the pie-hole, the smarter the dog. Our last dog Tate had lots of black in his mouth, and the roof of Art's mouth is completely speckled black, so maybe there's something to it. To steal Laura's words, we ruff him. Very much.