I should be doing all the things to sell my book, but it turns out that raising a puppy is demanding.  That said, do yourself a solid and read my book.  Seriously, read it.  Well, at least buy it.  You won’t regret it.

Out of all possible puppy behaviors, only one really irritates me: barking.  I know, dogs bark.  And for the record, Courage doesn’t really bark all that much or that loud.  She is quite disciplined.  There are times I will hear barking coming from the back of the house and when I go to check, it’s the neighbor’s dog and Courage is sound asleep on the lawn.  That said, she just turned four months old and has found her voice.

Oh, before I talk about Puppy Rolls, I should mention that Courage has officially graduated from house training.  She was the top of her class.  Well, she is the only dog in the house, but she accomplished the feat faster than Nika, my previous valedictorian.  Last night, I let Courage in around 10 pm.  She grabbed a quick bite in the kitchen, came into the TV room to say hi, then trotted off to my room and fell asleep.  She barely looked up when I went to bed an hour later and woke me gently at 6 am.  If only it worked that well every night.

Back to barking.  When Courage first started to bark at the neighbors, I would go out to the yard and tell her, “No” or bring her inside.  After a while, she got the message.  But knowing that she shouldn’t bark and not barking are two different things.  When I go out there now to remind her, the guilt is overwhelming.  Courage runs over to me and bows her head at my feet.  The problem is, she bows so low that she executes an entire summersault.  A Puppy Roll.  I’ve never seen that before.  I wasn’t sure if I should scold her for barking or just let myself laugh.

As it turns out, submission is not the only use for the Puppy Roll.  Courage has incorporated it into her play moves with me.  She will take a run at me, grab my arm that’s resting on the carpet, and Puppy Roll over the top of my arm all while maintaining her grip.  Ouch, BTW.  It’s really cute and endearing, but I have to wonder if there is a screw loose somewhere.

And for those of you who read about our version of Fetch, it’s still a thing.  Courage doesn’t like Blue to be inside the house at all.  Cheers.