Thursday

Today ended up being a very fun day.  This morning I had breakfast with my friend Maria and we did some shopping.  We had a great time.  I am glad we got to spend some time together.

This afternoon......okay, this afternoon was not a lot of fun.  I put away laundry, cleaned, and forgot the dogs were outside while I was working and they ventured over to the neighbors.  Luckily I have neighbors that like dogs.  Shaggy is a little stinker.  More on him later.

This evening we went to an event at Arlington's school.  Arlington's school is grades 3-5.  They were doing a students and staff basketball game.  Arlington has been talking about it for weeks, so we went to watch.  They had one kid from each class (not Arlington - she told me they picked someone who actually plays basketball in their class) and then teachers and divided into two teams.  It was a lot of fun and it was PACKED.  We had dinner there too - they had pizza before the game.  I have to say - our town really shows its support for the schools.  Every event we have attended, it has been very well attended.  It is nice to see.

 The game lasted until 7:45.  I am glad I had the kids get their baths before we went because they were pretty tired when we got home.

Tomorrow is Friday.  They are calling for snow this weekend.  Seriously - last week I had to dig out the shorts and it was 80 degrees.  This week, my flowers on the magnolia tree died because it was in the 20's overnight two nights in the row, and hasn't been out of the 50's this week.  Spring is so weird.

Shaggy has been with us for 1 week now.  He is still very cute, and still sleeps a good bit.  But when he is awake, look out.  He has a different personality from Scooby, and we are getting used to it.  He is sweet, but he is ornery.  Scooby never leaves our yard, and if he starts to, we are able to call him back.  Shaggy - no interest in staying in the yard.  He loves our neighbors yard because it has a bird feeder and there are seeds on the ground. 

Shaggy is an eater.  He eats his food and most of Scooby's.  Scooby doesn't eat much - once a day if that.   So if he walks away from the bowl, Shaggy is over eating his food.

We can't leave the water bowl out either.  Shaggy drinks like a fish and then immediately pees on the floor.  He has been much harder to train.  We are getting there.  He is having less and less accidents in the house, but sometimes he can't even make it an hour in the house before he goes to the bathroom.  And - like Scooby - he doesn't go to the door, or sniff around.  He just goes and moves on.  Scooby still doesn't go to the door, but he comes and gives us a nudge if he needs out.

Scooby is trained - he has been through 16 weeks of puppy school and we work with him non-stop.  But he also has a very laid back, "wants to be with us" personality.  Shaggy likes to roam.  He likes to run.  He loves to play.  And he doesn't seem to know his name - especially when we are outside. 

Shaggy is about 5 weeks older than what Scooby was when we got him, so he has some bad habits we are working through.  I see the advantage of getting a puppy as soon as you can. 

The great stuff  - Shaggy and Scooby LOVE each other.  they play CONSTANTLY and have a really great time together.  They lay together and don't like to be without the other.  Scooby adores having a playmate at his beck and call.  That was one of the biggest reasons we got a second dog.  Scooby is relentless when it comes to play, and he needs someone with more energy than we have.  And it has worked.  They play inside and outside for hours.  They play gently - no destruction or problems.  Scooby is very protective of Shaggy and is determined to show him the ropes.  They are going to be best pals.

So - there you have it.  Having two dogs has been the easy part because of how well they get along.  Shaggy is sleeping all night and holding it as well, which is a huge bonus.  But he is a bit tricky to train.  We would like to move on to teaching him to "sit" or come when his name is called, but we need to get him completely trained first.  Thankfully he is only a week away from puppy school.