August 1st, 2007

I figured a time would come when I wouldn’t write about our little puppy everyday. I don’t want to take him for granted, but there are also days now where I don’t have anything new to say about him.

But this is a week where some new things have happened.

Nokes has been more calm, at least in my opinion, than I can remember in the past. After we got back from vacation, both Sarah and I felt like he looked older. Christine said that she swore he got bigger in the time he stayed with her, but we didn’t see that as much. Well, maybe a tad:)

He was very good for Rachel as well, everyone seems to love him. I guess the first time Joel met him he really fell in love with him too. You can’t resist, he is such a beautiful, smart, loving loyal dog.

He made it through our first vacation. When we came back, that first night he was a little turned around. He seemed happy to see us, but tentative at the same time. He was pottying in the house, and just some of the small things seemed wrong. But by day two he was basically back to normal at home.

This week, I have left him at home, alone, with a roam of the house out of his crate for 1-2 hour periods. If we go for longer times we usually crate him, but I am trying to move him into a house dog and not having to be in there all the time. Not that he doesn’t love his crate. We haven’t walled it off since we have been back, and whenever I leave the room, I frequently catch him sleeping in there, his little home. He is so cute.

Right before we left we had Nokes nuetered. He was not settling down when playing with Lady, and that concerned us for Christine’s sanity when we were gone. They say sometimes that calms a dog down. Well, I don’t think it has made that much of a difference with him.

But I will tell you, the day we took him in, I couldn’t think all morning. They have to put the dog under when they perform the operation, and I am always nervous about that. I have had personal experience with a loved one, and I just know the risks. I worried all morning, and I teared up when we left him. But the surgery went through without issue, he woke right up and was moving around like nothing had happened.

We kept an eye on things, but he seemed to heal up just fine and quickly. By the time we returned from vacation he was back 100%, besides what he is missing:)

Let’s see, what else. Well, Sarah gave him a new chew toy. It was presented as a gift for both of us. It was a chewy Spiderman 3 rope. There is a poofy part in the middle, with two tied ends. By the end of the night, he had trashed it. The middle was chewed into pieces. So, it was fun while it lasted for the very short while.

We are walking him on his choke chain now. We are very happy with how he walks, he does really well with keeping up and heeling, and if he gets out of line we just give a short tug and command “Leave It!” or “Let’s Go!” and that is usually enough to keep things moving. I haven’t noticed improvement enough to think that he can go back on the flat collar, but I do hope that comes. I dream of a day when we can walk him no leash, but because of our paranoia, we may never do that either way.

What is on the horizon for him? Well, in a month or so we will be taking him back to round two of the doggie obedience training. That is the largest thing, and of course, with me being off work this week, I get to enjoy him all day.

We love our Nokes very much. He has helped heal our heartbreak.

Here are some similar arcade posts

• Nokes was a very bad boy
• Having a beer with Johnson’s
• April 8, 2007
• Nokes’ 20 Minutes around the block
• The joys of driving US31 to Michigan

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