Part of the Family - Finally

(Auburn, WA) Before we left Argus today, we decided to take time for one last play session in the field. We're really glad we did as today was the very first time Boogie was included in any play.

At first, like usual, Wazzu was ignoring Boogie. So Mike came over and started wagging Wazzu's tail right in front of Boogie. Wazzu did her very best to ignore all this even when Boogie started biting her tail.



So then Boogie started teasing her and egging her on doing his very best to get her to play. At first he was pretty careful.



But he started getting a little closer....



and a lot braver as time went on. As you can see, Wazzu was keeping an eye on him but wasn't all that concerned.



But finally she just couldn't resist and did a big play bow. This totally made Boogie's day!



After the one play bow, Wazzu was done. But it was a huge start. And that's all it took to make Boogie think that he'd now been accepted into the doggie part of the family. So now he decided he was big enough, brave enough, and tough enough to play the big dog games. So he decided to play with Sparkie and Slugger who were being allowed to run together all out for the first time since Slugger's surgery.

I actually don't think Sparkie and Slugger had any idea that Boogie was including himself in their play. But Boogie thought he was quite the "big man on campus."









Boogie's attention span wasn't all that long or maybe he thought he'd gotten the big dogs under control. Whichever the case, he went off to do other things. I took close to 100 pictures of Sparkie and Slugger playing and noticed a real pattern. See if you can catch it.





Yup, Sparkie is on top in every picture! Even when Slugger has given up and is just lying there panting, Sparkie is still biting him. I'm thinking pits get a really bad wrap! Poor little Slugger is the one being picked on.



Time to check on Boogie and see what he is up to. Looks like he has finally figured out what terriers are really bred for!



He only dug for a couple seconds but he was obviously very proud of himself.



He didn't look nearly as happy or brave this afternoon when he went to the vet to get his puppy shot. I've never seen him so still - I didn't know he could be so still as he moves more in his dreams than he did on that exam table.

Mike and I say that every morning when Boogie gets up he looks so much bigger. And I think we're right as today when the vet weighed him he was 9.75 pounds. Slow down fella! We were told he'd only get to be about 15 pounds. He's well over halfway and he's only 13 weeks old. Yikes.

Debbie
7/30/07