Kismet has been with us for a month now, and fits in like it was meant to be. We are in week two of obedience training. She sits on cue, lies down with an authoritative thump of elbows, and does “touch” to a stick, from which she’s learning to jump to touch and also to push shut the fridge door. “Settle” is a tough command still, sitting or lying quietly on leash when there’s a lot of activity going on around us (specfically, other dogs).

Kismet and Taeva exhaust each other, thankfully, so everyone’s getting a good ration of exercise and play. You may notice that most of my Kismet pictures are of her asleep, which will give you a good indication of what we’re doing when the camera’s off. This past Saturday she was so wrung out, she slept where she landed, at one point asleep belly-up under a chair, with upright paws propped against the chair-rails!

In the hot weather we had lately, I’d draw an inch of water in the bathtub once in a while, for the dogs to stand in to get paws cool. Kismet is fascinated by running water, and summoned up the bravery to jump into the tub on her own. She remains curious (aka nosy) about the shower. That said, on the beach this weekend, Kismet waded in withers-deep but didn’t swim. We may need to be around other swimming dogs for her to really make the water connection (my swimming is apparently not dog-like enough, as she paced my laps but didn’t hop in).

Our visit to our day-to-day vet went fine, about a week ago. We have a cardio-specialty follow-up in about a month & will let you know what we learn. All well with us, she’s terrific!

Week two with Maisy has gone really well. She is walking well with the gentle leader. She has stopped barking and jumping up in the window when I leave for work in the morning. We are registered for a Beginner Two class. She is very attentive and responsive, so I’m sure she will do well. She is still meeting family and friends and loving it all. We are having a great time.

It occurred to me that Casey’s first family might check the web site for news, even four years later, so we think it’s time for an update! Casey is a wonderful creature. We are eternally grateful that he is not a counter surfer or a garbage hound. We are also grateful that he is truly a beta. He loves all dogs, gets a little confused if they don’t play the Lab way, but manages to have a great deal of fun with all dogs, large and small. He has an indoor voice, and an outdoor voice, and we love the way his chin wrinkles when he’s getting ready to bark. He actually deserves (and has) his CGC, something we didn’t think could be in the cards when he first came home. He walks on loose lead (a big WOW), still has all the tricks he came with (high five, give paw, give the other paw), and has learned a few more! All his commands are by hand signal. He’s gentle with our ancient cat, though he’s pretty jealous when the attention isn’t all coming his way. He has wrangled his way into the hearts of the entire family. Watching him take a walk led by a toddler is so sweet (we are right nearby in case he sees another dog or a squirrel)! He very quickly discovered water, spends hours a week with us romping in whatever woods we happen to be near, and naps on the sofa depending on his whim. He is very, very special.

Maisy is adjusting to the daily schedule very well. She sits now and watches me leave in the morning instead of jumping up on the window sill and barking. She has also learned the joys of a Kong which helped with the separation process in the morning. She improves on the leash, with the gentle leader, almost every walk. She is getting better at responding to her name when we are out in the yard. We made the rounds of meeting family and friends last week. She loved meeting everyone and was very well behaved. We are having a great time getting to know each other. I think we are a really good match and I’m very happy to have her.

Thanks NEARR,
M and Maisy