Lerwick turned 8 months old on February 5! Of course we had to update his growth progress photos accordingly (see attached pics). 
He's 16.25 inches tall, by my measurement... not that I think my measurement is terribly accurate, since he wouldn't stay still long enough for me to mark the wall carefully. He weighs in at 23.5 lbs. So, he is 1/4" taller and 3.5 lbs heavier than he was last time we weighed/measured (somewhere around 6 months old)... and I think that is all hair!
Some of the issues we've been struggling with for a long time seem to have resolved themselves (or are well on their way)... and of course new ones are vying for their place!
Lerwick is no longer afraid to ride in the car, thank goodness. Sometimes he doesn't even wait for us to open the car door before he tries to get in.
Silly boy.
Lerwick is getting more and more comfortable around other dogs at the dog park (and elsewhere). He still doesn't run around and play with them, but he is no longer terrified of them. In fact, the other day, the neighbor's dog (Jack) got loose (a common occurrence, sadly), and came into our yard. Michael was out there with Lerwick at the time, for Lerwick's post-breakfast potty run. Lerwick actually played with Jack! I was shocked. God forbid somebody walks their dog across the street where Lerwick can see... but if a dog actually comes into his own yard, Lerwick wants to play? Bizarre.
We FINALLY got Lerwick's loose stools sorted out. We have been struggling with that since we got him. When we got him, of course, he had Coccidia, but a round of meds cleared that up. The loose stools continued, unabated. We switched his food several times, trying to find a brand that agreed with him, but nothing changed. Long story short, it seems Lerwick can't eat poultry (which was in all the ones we'd tried). Unfortunately, we finally figured it out right after we'd bought a 15# bag of TOTW Wetlands formula (duck or chicken, it's all the same to Lerwick... BAD). Oh well. He's on the TOTW with the lamb in it now, and doing just fine.
Lerwick is finally housebroken (knock on wood). Now if only we could get him to stop asking to go out when he doesn't really need to... and also get him to do both #1 and #2 in the same trip, instead of insisting on splitting them up over separate trips...
Our biggest struggle with Lerwick right now is chewing. This is a relatively new (and extremely frustrating) behavior. He was teething at 5-6 months, but even then, he chewed appropriate things. He has lots of chew toys of various kinds... but nowadays he would prefer to chew on shoes, furniture, door frames, carpet, etc. It is very frustrating and we are at a loss for what to do to stop him. Redirecting doesn't work (the minute we turn around, he abandons the chew toy and goes for the door frame or whatever again), nor does bitter spray (he makes a face, and keeps right on chewing). so, now we hide our shoes, and instead of following him around to make sure he doesn't have an accident, we follow him around to make sure he doesn't chew a hole in the wall.
Never a dull moment with these little guys, right?
He's 16.25 inches tall, by my measurement... not that I think my measurement is terribly accurate, since he wouldn't stay still long enough for me to mark the wall carefully. He weighs in at 23.5 lbs. So, he is 1/4" taller and 3.5 lbs heavier than he was last time we weighed/measured (somewhere around 6 months old)... and I think that is all hair!Some of the issues we've been struggling with for a long time seem to have resolved themselves (or are well on their way)... and of course new ones are vying for their place!
Lerwick is no longer afraid to ride in the car, thank goodness. Sometimes he doesn't even wait for us to open the car door before he tries to get in.
Silly boy.Lerwick is getting more and more comfortable around other dogs at the dog park (and elsewhere). He still doesn't run around and play with them, but he is no longer terrified of them. In fact, the other day, the neighbor's dog (Jack) got loose (a common occurrence, sadly), and came into our yard. Michael was out there with Lerwick at the time, for Lerwick's post-breakfast potty run. Lerwick actually played with Jack! I was shocked. God forbid somebody walks their dog across the street where Lerwick can see... but if a dog actually comes into his own yard, Lerwick wants to play? Bizarre.
We FINALLY got Lerwick's loose stools sorted out. We have been struggling with that since we got him. When we got him, of course, he had Coccidia, but a round of meds cleared that up. The loose stools continued, unabated. We switched his food several times, trying to find a brand that agreed with him, but nothing changed. Long story short, it seems Lerwick can't eat poultry (which was in all the ones we'd tried). Unfortunately, we finally figured it out right after we'd bought a 15# bag of TOTW Wetlands formula (duck or chicken, it's all the same to Lerwick... BAD). Oh well. He's on the TOTW with the lamb in it now, and doing just fine.
Lerwick is finally housebroken (knock on wood). Now if only we could get him to stop asking to go out when he doesn't really need to... and also get him to do both #1 and #2 in the same trip, instead of insisting on splitting them up over separate trips...
Our biggest struggle with Lerwick right now is chewing. This is a relatively new (and extremely frustrating) behavior. He was teething at 5-6 months, but even then, he chewed appropriate things. He has lots of chew toys of various kinds... but nowadays he would prefer to chew on shoes, furniture, door frames, carpet, etc. It is very frustrating and we are at a loss for what to do to stop him. Redirecting doesn't work (the minute we turn around, he abandons the chew toy and goes for the door frame or whatever again), nor does bitter spray (he makes a face, and keeps right on chewing). so, now we hide our shoes, and instead of following him around to make sure he doesn't have an accident, we follow him around to make sure he doesn't chew a hole in the wall.
Never a dull moment with these little guys, right?
Lerwick also has the run of the house... well, apart from the basement, which we are reserving for our cat, Majo, for her "Fortress of Solitude" (so she can get away from Lerwick when she wants, and also so we can keep him out of her litterbox). We are also crating him at night, and whenever we leave the house. I'd like to be able to give him the run of the place, but he just isn't ready for it yet. 
