I'm getting to be a big boy...

Jake is about 50 pounds now at 6 months...and is finally getting a little less "mouthy," which is good because I was getting tired of playing the part of tasty drumstick.

 

Right now I'm working on getting my paperwork together to take the licensure exam for clinical social work here in Tennessee. I think if you can figure out their paperwork, you should automatically pass the test. Getting my graduate school paperwork together made more sense. Nothing like red tape to chap your ass. My job is not what I thought it would be--at least not yet, but I'm not going to jabber about that here...maybe later when things are more in order there.

 

But back to Jake...he is so different from our other dogs. He is a fearless goof...and always chomping on poor Pepper's neck, who eventually has enough and reads him the riot act in capital letters. Two minutes later, it starts all over again. But he's getting less wild and more lovable now--thank goodness. You can see a bond when he looks at you now, rather than "man, your arms and ankles look mighty tasty!!"  I know we'll look back when he's a lazy old man and miss his craziness, but sheesh, I'm hoping all of our beautiful woodwork isn't gone by then.

 

Going from two dogs to three dogs is like going from two dogs to 10 dogs...it's complete chaos in the house unless they are asleep. Monster puppy is bounding through the house chasing poor Yuki and Peanut, Pepper is barking because Jake won't respect her space, and Petey just gets fed up with Jake landing on him because he's such a goofy clutz.  If Petey and Pepper start barking at the same time, they'll team up on Jake (which doesn't phase him in the slightest) and if Jake starts running after the cats, they all decide to run after the cats.  It's getting better, but good Lord...sometimes I shove bones in their mouths to get 5 minutes of peace. Oh, and forget watching TV...they can be silent all day and do nothing but wrestle and fight for the 1 hour of programming you've waited on all week--like True Blood. Thank God for DVRs.

 

With all that said, you'd think I'd be ready to give them away, but I wouldn't change a thing.  Woof!

hydrangea from the backyard

The inevitable...

It was going to happen sooner or later. Jake ate my Blackberry. It is somewhat mangled--missing keys, others jammed and about 40 percent of the screen is AWOL.

Jake is a lovable monster--an ankle-biter, a chewer, a destroyer--a 41-pound puppy bounding through the house like a bull in a china shop (a bull on crack). If we survive puppyhood, he is going to be one heckuva great dog.