The Who Me? Look

Micky will be six months old in a little over a week. Do you know what happens when puppies (Labrador ones especially) reach this age? They test boundaries. They have gotten the hang of certain day-to-day activities and commands, so they start to push a little bit.

But by and large, they are still pretty sweet. You know, charming you with their ability to lay down and do their commands. This is Micky after he slid from a sit into a down with no command, then straight into his model puppy pose. He's ready for his closeup.

Contently playing with their toys for hours at a time.

Seriously, if Micky has a real chew fest happening, he will sit in one spot for 45 minutes going to town on a nylabone. This kong only has one treat left; he'd already gotten two out. He can't quite figure out what to do since the others came out when he vigorously jawed on them.

But back to the testing boundaries. This has been a long week for Micky Sweetface. A week ago today he got neutered. And instead of an Elizabethan collar (yes, that is what the vet calls it), he has internal sutures. Which means no running, jumping, playing fetch, aggressive play, stairs or walks in the neighborhood. Have you ever tried to keep a puppy from running when they see the cat next door (leash is a must) or jumping when the plumber comes over (puppy bear hug, with one hand reaching to open the door)?

To compound this misery, it rained yesterday. Mick is not a fan of bathroom duties in the rain. Yet, I think the rain makes him feel sort of cooped up.

So that's my attempt to explain to myself why he jumped up on the couch and chair several times yesterday. Stealthily and quietly he just hopped up on the furniture. Oh, and used the chair to jump real quick-like onto the top of his kennel and pull down the stuffed soccer ball on top of it. And then after I removed the soccer ball, he did it again in search of treats. There were a lot of very strong nos in our house yesterday.

Who me? Why I'd never do that!

Several months ago my Grandpa Mike, who has owned and trained many a dog in his time, e-mailed me that Micky already had a sweet, "why, I would never do that" face. I think most labs are just born with it. The ability to melt your heart while doing or after doing something extremely naughty. After Micky jumped on the chair for the second time (I only actually saw him do it twice), my very loud NO! scared him so much he was a sweet and lovey as he could possibly be. To the maximum. All sweetface and cuddling up, trying to give kisses when we wouldn't relent.

He knew he'd done something wrong, he didn't want to disappoint us, but darn it, there was a treat up there! An apple flavored one at that!