Well, Lerwick is at the stage now where his outward appearance isn't changing much from one month to the next... but there are big changes going on internally! Fortunately, they're all for the better. These changes are also all related to his neutering, one way or another. One of the obvious, direct results, of course, is that Lerwick no longer humps the poor cat. 
Some of the other changes are more subtle. For example, I am sure the neutering contributed to Lerwick's newfound tolerance of other dogs. He used to be terrified of other dogs. Now he wants to make friends.
Then there are the completely unexpected changes. Over the course of one week (the week directly following the surgery), Lerwick went from having to be crated at night or when we left the house, to having full access to the house 24-7. It was funny how (and why) it happened. After we had Lerwick neutered, he wouldn't stop licking the surgery site, so we had to get an e-collar for him. Well, we discovered he couldn't fit in his crate with it on! We were therefore forced to make some changes to our confinement methods. We closed him in our bedroom at night, and when we left the house to run errands. With the cone on, all he would do was lie there looking pathetic anyway, so it wasn't really a problem. However, when we were finished with the cone, I decided to keep on with the new routine, to see if he would still behave without the cone on. He did. And then one night, I decided to try leaving the bedroom door open. I expected to get up the next morning to find the living room destroyed (especially the armchair he liked to chew), but nothing was out of place. We've been letting him have the run of the place at night and when we go out ever since, and there hasn't been an incident. He reserves his bad behavior for when we're home, it seems.
Speaking of bad behavior (and the armchair), I am proud to report that I have successfully stopped him from chewing on the armchair altogether. It is the only furniture he has ever gone after. It is also the only furniture the cat has ever bothered. I had long suspected there was something about the material of that chair that was somehow particularly satisfying to chew/claw. I hate the chair, but we do need to keep it around until we can get something better... so in a last ditch effort to save the chair, I wrapped it in an old bedsheet. I figured I could just keep replacing the sheet whenever he and the cat destroyed it. Well, they haven't touched it since.
The sheet doesn't look great... but better than a chair with chunks missing out of it (he got the arm pretty good).
Now that Lerwick is much less anxious around other dogs, the dog park is no problem for him now. He mostly ignores the other dogs there, but every once in awhile he'll run around with them a bit. His favorite thing to do at the dog park, though, is to chase the Holee Roller we have. We only get it out when there are few dogs there, because other dogs have a tendency of stealing it. He will chase that thing until he is totally exhausted... but he's not very good at bringing it back to us. That's ok... we get exercise too, chasing his ball!
The funny thing is, even though he is clearly hot, tired, and thirsty... panting away... he just won't drink from the water fountain or the water bowls at the dog park. We've tried bringing his own water bowl/bottle, and he won't drink from that either. We kept saying we should bring a cup full of ice cubes for him to crunch on the way home (he LOVES ice cubes), and finally on our most recent trip, I remembered to do so. And wouldn't you know it... Lerwick decided to drink from the communal water bowls that day! And not just a little, either. He drank from all of them, quite a bit. Mike decided it was a momentous occasion worthy of a photo, which I've attached... along with Lerwick's 10 month age progression photo (Mike is holding him), and a photo of Lerwick sitting beside me at the dog park. That's the first time he ever actually sat still at the dog park, too.
After that trip to the dog park, we went to the nearby Petsmart to see if we could track down a trainer we'd heard about from a random encounter with another Sheltie owner several months ago. We didn't know the trainer's name... just that she owned several Shelties herself. We walked in the door, and the trainer flagged us down from across the store. It wasn't her usual day to work, and we just happened to catch her there. Talk about luck! She has 16 years experience, and when she isn't training at Petsmart, she does agility training, and her specialty is herding dogs. She has 5 Shelties at home, plus a Border Collie, and she brings them all to that Petsmart to have them groomed... so we even got a great new groomer out of the deal (we have not been happy with the ones we've tried up to now).
Well, this post has gone on much longer than I anticipated, so I'll cut it off here, and just let you get to the pictures already (if you haven't already skipped ahead and looked at them)!
Some of the other changes are more subtle. For example, I am sure the neutering contributed to Lerwick's newfound tolerance of other dogs. He used to be terrified of other dogs. Now he wants to make friends.Then there are the completely unexpected changes. Over the course of one week (the week directly following the surgery), Lerwick went from having to be crated at night or when we left the house, to having full access to the house 24-7. It was funny how (and why) it happened. After we had Lerwick neutered, he wouldn't stop licking the surgery site, so we had to get an e-collar for him. Well, we discovered he couldn't fit in his crate with it on! We were therefore forced to make some changes to our confinement methods. We closed him in our bedroom at night, and when we left the house to run errands. With the cone on, all he would do was lie there looking pathetic anyway, so it wasn't really a problem. However, when we were finished with the cone, I decided to keep on with the new routine, to see if he would still behave without the cone on. He did. And then one night, I decided to try leaving the bedroom door open. I expected to get up the next morning to find the living room destroyed (especially the armchair he liked to chew), but nothing was out of place. We've been letting him have the run of the place at night and when we go out ever since, and there hasn't been an incident. He reserves his bad behavior for when we're home, it seems.
Speaking of bad behavior (and the armchair), I am proud to report that I have successfully stopped him from chewing on the armchair altogether. It is the only furniture he has ever gone after. It is also the only furniture the cat has ever bothered. I had long suspected there was something about the material of that chair that was somehow particularly satisfying to chew/claw. I hate the chair, but we do need to keep it around until we can get something better... so in a last ditch effort to save the chair, I wrapped it in an old bedsheet. I figured I could just keep replacing the sheet whenever he and the cat destroyed it. Well, they haven't touched it since.
The sheet doesn't look great... but better than a chair with chunks missing out of it (he got the arm pretty good).Now that Lerwick is much less anxious around other dogs, the dog park is no problem for him now. He mostly ignores the other dogs there, but every once in awhile he'll run around with them a bit. His favorite thing to do at the dog park, though, is to chase the Holee Roller we have. We only get it out when there are few dogs there, because other dogs have a tendency of stealing it.
He will chase that thing until he is totally exhausted... but he's not very good at bringing it back to us. That's ok... we get exercise too, chasing his ball! The funny thing is, even though he is clearly hot, tired, and thirsty... panting away... he just won't drink from the water fountain or the water bowls at the dog park. We've tried bringing his own water bowl/bottle, and he won't drink from that either. We kept saying we should bring a cup full of ice cubes for him to crunch on the way home (he LOVES ice cubes), and finally on our most recent trip, I remembered to do so. And wouldn't you know it... Lerwick decided to drink from the communal water bowls that day! And not just a little, either. He drank from all of them, quite a bit. Mike decided it was a momentous occasion worthy of a photo, which I've attached... along with Lerwick's 10 month age progression photo (Mike is holding him), and a photo of Lerwick sitting beside me at the dog park. That's the first time he ever actually sat still at the dog park, too.
After that trip to the dog park, we went to the nearby Petsmart to see if we could track down a trainer we'd heard about from a random encounter with another Sheltie owner several months ago. We didn't know the trainer's name... just that she owned several Shelties herself. We walked in the door, and the trainer flagged us down from across the store. It wasn't her usual day to work, and we just happened to catch her there. Talk about luck! She has 16 years experience, and when she isn't training at Petsmart, she does agility training, and her specialty is herding dogs. She has 5 Shelties at home, plus a Border Collie, and she brings them all to that Petsmart to have them groomed... so we even got a great new groomer out of the deal (we have not been happy with the ones we've tried up to now).
Well, this post has gone on much longer than I anticipated, so I'll cut it off here, and just let you get to the pictures already (if you haven't already skipped ahead and looked at them)!
I know if Lerwick could speak, he'd heartily agree. As it is, he gives you all a happy, piercing Sheltie bark and whole-body tail wags. 
The rest was a very nice surprise.