Are you sick of dog pictures yet?

"All right, Diana, go to the blackboard and write one hundred times, 'I will not change my dog's diet.'"

Okay, well, I've never owned a dog before, and I was unaware of that basic rule, and more unaware of how sensitive some dog's digestive systems are. He's a big dog, with a big appetite, and we're trying to put some weight on him, and he went through the five pound bag of Science Diet that I got at the shelter in about 2 1/2 days. So, I grabbed some Purina until I could get to the feed store and buy some more Science Diet...

The price of that lesson was $29.99 for the steam cleaner. Eeewwww

Oh, and Febreze is some wonderful stuff. It really does remove smells.

So, yes, Zeus had a bit of a yucky accident, but I can't blame him since it was pretty much my fault. Generally speaking he's been very well-mannered with just the occasional lapse that has more to do with him testing me than plain misbehaving. I've been working with him a lot, which is part of the reason I haven't posted in a while. He's keeping me pretty busy; we go outside to train two or three times a day for anywhere from ten to thirty minutes at a time. He enjoys the heck out of it, and he's picking up the training amazingly fast. Damn, but this dog is smart.

One of the Dog Boys came by the other day to see Zeus, and he was extremely impressed. And Zeus absolutely adored him. Zeus has been barking at every other stranger who's come near, but this cop must exude some sort of dog-sense because they hit it off immediately. I was impressed at how well he handled Zeus and how well Zeus listened to him. I've seen him handle his own K9, but it was amazing to see him look at Zeus, say "Sit" in a calm voice, snap the leash once when Zeus didn't immediately sit, say "sit" again in the same calm voice, and then see Zeus's butt plop right down on the ground.

I'm trying to talk him into helping me train Zeus once he gets the basics down. He agrees that I should train Zeus as much and as far as possible; he was really impressed with how well Zeus listened and how non-flighty he was, and said that it'd be a shame to waste that much potential. [Insert the glyph of The Diana beaming with pride at her dog.]