9 for 9

Dembre in a down last night at our New Year's Eve party!

Happy New Year! Dembre turned 9 months yesterday! Here are 9 things for 9 months!

1. Dembre has grown up so much! In training sessions I have noticed that he thinks much differently than a little puppy! He has doesn't need food to learn new things and is thinks more for himself! He's not a puppy any more!
2. Dembre has hit yet another rough stage. He gets up out of commands without being released from them. He doesn't do commands quite as quickly as usual and tries to see what he can get away with.
3. Dembre is still doing well in public! He is very calm accept when we sit in one place for a very long time. Then he can't figure out if he's allowed to sleep or not :)
4. On the down side, Dembre is still having problems with licking and started to try jumping. His greetings are decent in public, but he need lots of work for greetings off leash at home
5. Dembre learns more all the time. He is good at picking up commands and pretty smart! Two days ago I was working on 'Up', which means that he has to put his two front feet on a wall, bench, table, etc.. Before now he wouldn't do it on a wall, but after some work he'll do it nicely. He's not proficient in all of the more advanced commands, but he's getting there. 
6. He just loves to play- with other dogs, by himself, any play at all. He adores his new squeaky toy and loves tennis balls, but most of all he loves picking up sticks when we go on walks.
7. Dembre has been in training with me for 7 months! 
8. Dembre is starting to realize that more is being expected of him. I hope soon that this hard stage ends and he can be easier to work with!
9. So much time has passed! I can't believe that in August or November that he'll be gone. I'm sure he's going to do great in training, but boy it's going to be hard to turn him back in. When on got him last May somewhere deep down inside I knew that the time would fly, but I never knew how fast. Even when I first picked up my fluffy, black puppy I was tearing up thinking about giving him up, but then it seemed so distant, like we had an eternity to go before we would go our separate ways. Now it seems so near. I'm not scared. I'm not trying to forget that he's not my dog. I just realize that, WOW, it could be only 7 months before he's gone, but then there's an upside! That little fluff ball that I got when he was eight weeks old might someday be a miracle for someone. I want the dog, someone else needs him!