Primco continues to get more and more confident. He is an absolute dream to walk - no pulling at all. A couple days ago we encountered a man on a bicycle. I expected a little aprehension from Primco, becuase he still sometimes sidesteps me when I come into the house carrying packages or a suitcase. But the bicycle man did not even cause him to look twice. And then shortly behind that was a woman walking a bycicle up the hill, and he wanted to go see her. I was impressed!
The next night was even better, though. We encountered a group of 4 children playing in the street, ages 3, 5, 6 and 7, plus a little electric kids-car that they were driving around. They all started squealling excitedly and wanted to come pet the "puppies". Primco enjoyed all the loving, despite the noise and many little hands. By the time we walked past that house and back again, we were "mobbed" by the kids about 8 times. The 3 yr old boy was very timid at first and would only pet the dogs on the butt, and pulled away quickly if a head turned in his direction. By the last petting session, the little boy was quite triumphant because Primco had licked him! It was very cute seeing the confidence build (in both Primco and the kids) each time they chased us down for another petting, hugging, loving session.
In the house he is still a little rambunctious when excited, and doesn't always stop before bumping into you, but that is just his own 3 yr old zest for life showing through! At first he was constantly by my side. But now instead of a 'velcro dog', I call him a 'slinky'. He lets me get out of site, but the further away I am before he gets up, the faster he comes running! He doens't want to miss out on anything interesting! Don't you need to add a 'slinky' to your toybox?
This first picture shows one exhausted 9 yr old Aspen who can barely keep his head up (notice the squished nose on the console), and one still very happy 3 yr old Primco. Just a little difference in stamina...
It took a little bit of hound wrangling, and a little bit of patience to get things organized with both hounds in the back seat. Despite the somewhat comical acrobatics, (obviously, this arrangement was not a long term solution for the 1+ hour ride home!) there was absolutely no "attitude" at all while they both jockeyed for position.
