Pictures can speak a thousand words...

This is what our day was about...building a bond. After the most amazing second night a puppy has ever had...he went to bed at 12 and didn't wake up until 6 and then went back to bed until 9, man I love him...anyway after starting the day off great I really tried to go out of my way to make Tripper a positive thing in the lives of Rocky and Casey. 

How you might ask? Food...duh. For Casey I just had her lay down and while feeding her let Tripper climb all over her. For Rocky it wasn't quite as simple. First of all Rocky doesn't like food like Casey, so I decided to use pieces of hot dog, which seemed to work. But instead of working on physical contact...we worked on just looking at Tripper without growling.

The three of us Rocky, Tripper and I went into the  (small) laundry room and gave Rocky a piece of hot dog every time she either looked at Tripper without any tension or  actually let him touch her. And as you can see from above...everything has to be on Rocky's terms. Though she acts like a tough guy most of the time, she's a sucker for a good game of chase!

PUPPY PROGRESS: Going along with yesterdays...everything is new to a puppy...today Tripper figured out Kongs (you know the red toys that you stuff food into) Yesterday I tried stuffing his food in there, he licked it twice and then ignored it. Today I put some cheerios in there and as he pushed the Kong around the room and pieces just feel out... though I'm not sure he understood why they fell out...he certainly is now very interested in the Kong.

TRAINING CHALLENGE: STAIRS!!!! As much as Tripper really wants to follow us everywhere...he's really intimidated by an entire flight of stairs. He can easily manage the stairs in the living room and outside (only 4 of them) the big set of stairs really stress him out. We'll have to work on that tomorrow.

**Side note** We left him alone for the first time today while we went to see a local rendition of Oklahoma (which was awesome) and not only did he not pee while we were gone (4+ hours) but gave Mike and I the cutest hello...talking, crying and carrying on just like Casey and Rocky. It looks like he'll fit into the family just fine!

Day 3