Zeus guards the door from evildoers.

The other dog boy came by this afternoon to see Zeus. And we both made the mistake of having him come into the house to see the dog. He'd followed me home from the gym and tried to walk in the door behind me, and Zeus went nuts. "Intruder!!"

I feel safe in my house. I really do. I have absolutely no fear that anyone will ever break into my house and harm me. Unfortunately, Zeus got a small bite in on dog boy's hand. Sigh. I felt awful, but he kept saying over and over, "It's no big deal! It's not a bite if it doesn't need stitches." Luckily dog boy is fast, and used to aggressive dogs, so Zeus barely managed to catch the skin.

I continued to apologize, but he just told me that Zeus was "artwork," and was wonderfully aggressive and would be excellent for police work. "I'd love to have that dog," he said.

Okay, so I admit I'm about to bust with pride over the compliments, but of course all that potential is useless if he isn't trained. Moreover, I really need to be able to call him off and control that aggression before someone who isn't used to getting bit gets bit. But dog boy kept telling me that would come as Zeus progressed with the obedience classes. "Just work him every day--ten minutes a day would do it." Well, we do work every day, and I just have to remind myself of how much he's learned in just two weeks. He really is incredibly smart and is doing quite well in doggie school. Unfortunately it's raining, so I expect that tonight's class will be cancelled.

But other than biting a police officer [cringe!], Zeus has been really delightful. He absolutely adores me, and is a wonderful companion. Definitely a sanity-saver for me. I think that with work and persistence on both our parts he'll end up being a terrific partner. And I learned a lesson too. I learned not to ever second-guess myself on how to handle my dog. The bite was my fault--handler error, not dog error. I should have introduced him to a new person outside, while on a training collar (Zeus, not the visitor.) I won't make that mistake again.