Some time last week, or thereabouts, Gimli turned a year old. When you bring home a shelter dog there are lots of question marks, the birthdate often being one of them, but Gimli was so young when we got him that we can be reasonably certain, at least within about a two week span, of his birthdate. Shortly after we brought him home we counted the weeks back and decided on a date for his birthday—October 26. But October 26 came and we were insanely busy, and the 27th wasn't any better, and, come to think of it, the whole week was bad...so we ended up "celebrating" today. And by celebrating I mean we stuck a hat on his head and made him pose with a brand new toy that he was just itching to tear apart, so basically torturing him. With all the best intentions, though.
So here we are at one year old. And what does that mean for Gimli? Well, really a puppy is a puppy for the first two years or so, thus we are not expecting any sudden forays into adult level self-control or anything, and we plan to continue training, both for proofing and learning new tricks, for about his entire life, so really the one year mark is just a human social construct and it means nothing. But here's an update on where he is now:
At one year Gimli:
is still insanely energetic
knows 27 commands and tricks without fail
is learning 5 new tricks at this time
lays calmly in my lap for weekly nail "trims" with the Dremel
tolerates baths and tooth brushing
can now sleep outside of the crate at night and during day when we are home
loves fetch beyond all reason (like really, truly loves fetch...can go for probably ever)
still destroys toys without mercy
has started testing us with attitude
has started jumping up on the counter, but...
makes up for it all by climbing into bed with us in the morning for a snuggle
