Well, it's official - Maggie now knows "Get busy!" means to get up and head for the door. Three times yesterday she did this, so it wasn't a one-time fluke. She still doesn't get it when she's upstairs, but eliminating just one place where we had to stand her up and pick her up is great. Actually, I think when she's upstairs she knows what we want - but she's really not a morning dog so she just doesn't want to move. I can't blame her.

Possibly even more amazing than her standing up, was that she wanted to play in the yard. Maggie has played in the yard by herself before, when we had a bunch of snow. At that time I tried to play with her then by running around the yard. It didn't go well. She put her ears back, tail down, looked at me like I was insane and ran to the door.

Yesterday, she ran up to me with her front paws down, butt in the air and ears up - lunging, jumping, running around. I thought I'd go with it and we've discovered a new game. Maggie now loves to play tag in the yard. The game is this - Maggie wants to get up on the deck, and I chase her around as she tries to get around me to the deck. She's pretty fast when she wants to be. Once she gets up there, she comes back down to the yard for another round.

This is a HUGE step for her to play with us. What a difference a day makes! We can't wait to see what surprises she springs on us today.