Milou in Action

As the incredibly adorable puppy that she is, Milou is prone to fits of playfulness that could melt even the grinch's heart.  

Milou chasing her tail. I'd never actually seen a puppy do this in person before her. 

Milou running in what we call "Crazy Dog Mode"

Even with a bum thumb, Puppies make you feel like everything is right in the. Somehow, I need to turn this bundle of fluffy energy into this by August:

 

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This pooch is crazy talented. I know Milou is smart enough to learn it, I'm just not sure we're smart enough to teach it.

She had her first puppy class today and was really, really good. They had us work on having her calmly tethered next to us on her bed, the come command, letting us examine her all over and sit, down, and roll onto her side calmly. She did really well with everything but "come" because she had to pass another dog's bed and every dog kept stopping to smell it. After watching them all sniff, she had to have a look herself. Part of me also thinks she's too smart for some of this, they said to treat her every time she did something good and after she realized there were cookies to be had she kept sitting in front of us. Smart doggy = manipulation so we have to make sure she knows we're in charge.

We're also starting her on a raw diet, which has been going pretty well. Today she devoured two chicken thighs with such skill that you'd think she'd been eating raw her whole life. Perfect nutrition is a tough balance to achieve if we're making the raw food ourselves, so we're thinking of ordering some from my friend's breeder. It should run us about $2.68/lb shipped which is steep but much better than we could do here in LA. Most pre-made raw food here is about $4-7/lb and that's just much too expensive. 

Regardless of what we're feeding, she's growing well. She's put on 1-2 pounds and has gained some length so she's right on track. She should gain about 10 pounds this month and be up to about 36 pounds by 4 months. That should leave her at 55-65 pounds by a year, a small but respectable size. 

Overall,  Milou is a lot of work. She loves to chew fingers and hands as much as she loves to chew toys. She has to be on a leash, in her crate or in our arms at all times. She's consuming but we adore her and we're really enjoying watching her grow up.