Doggie Update

Things are going well with our new furry family members. Thank you for all your advice and comments, I really appreciated them. We've also been in touch with the rescue organization and they reiterated much of what you wrote. There's still been a bit of growling every now and then, especially when they're playing outside, but never at us or Landon and never escalating, so I'd say that's going very well. The dogs love laying around our feet and following us around the house. They're extremely tolerant of Landon (as I type he just crawled over the middle of Rosie while she took a nap, but we are still working on teaching him the difference between petting and grabbing because it's not only the dog's responsibility to get along with the little master of the house). They're doing well with their commands; they've got sit and stay mastered and we practice them often - making sure they know we're the ones in charge. PetSmart told us they'd be perfect for the Intermediate class in August. The introduction of Lilly hasn't gone quite as smoothly but we're working on it. Last night and this morning we had several successful interactions with the dogs remaining in "sit-stay" on the floor while Lilly came down and walked the perimeter of the room eying them suspiciously. We're taking it slow with them, but I think once she learns to relax around them, they'll relax too (they were both fostered in homes with cats and did fine- though I'd imagine those cats were very used to having canine friends around). Luckily the house is big enough for each to have his own space.

We've settled on Tex and Rosie for the names and have been calling them so since yesterday morning. A lot of people seem concerned about confusing them, but as rescued dogs we have no idea what their original names were and their foster gave them their new names only recently. We wouldn't change Hope if she'd actually been Hope for 6 years, but it's only been a couple weeks. What's important is that these are the names we use and these are the names they'll have forever. They already respond to them, even individually, and are just generally thriving in the Lag Liv household. We go on two long walks a day, both dogs on their leashes, and Landon in his big wagon - we're quite the caravan on the sidewalk :)

I've basically stopped studying. That's not good, there's still topics I need to, you know, START, but I'm tired of leaving my house to go stare at outlines. So I'm "studying" at home, amidst the madness - I'm sure you can imagine how well that's going. I did pack for my drive to Houston tomorrow and packed Landon for his, JP, and the dogs journey to Houston on Thursday. They're going to meet me up at my parent's lake house for two days of relaxing, splashing, and watching Rosie jump in and out of the water. There will be minimal brain usage and lots of fun had by all. I can't freaking wait.