Ok, it' been a couple of weeks (again). So lots to write about...

Unbelievably, this past Saturday was exactly 6 months from the day we brought Maggie home. Going back through the blog photos and thinking about how this poor pup was afraid to walk anywhere and we were carrying her around, it's hard to believe how far she has come. Watching her on a walk outside now - assuming it's not too windy and there aren't any sprinklers running nearby - you'd think she was like any normal dog. She looks so happy prancing around the neighborhood - and seeing Maggie happy makes us happy!

We took Mags to New Buffalo again this weekend, and on Sunday went to the dog park. She was a lot more interested than the last time we went. She didn't do her "go crazy and play" thing, but she was definitely thinking about it. She made a few moves like she would but always backed off - hopefully this weekend she'll finally commit. But any day where Maggie gets to go for a car ride is a good day in her book. And due to the never-ending construction on I94 she got extra car time on the way back home.

We've been trying a few new things with Maggie that seem to be helping her.

We've been taking her with us whenever we'll be in another room for an extended period of time. That means after breakfast she comes back upstairs with us while we get ready for work.

We've been doing that for maybe three weeks. On Tuesday our schedules were a little off and Maggie was still contemplating eating her breakfast when Kat got in the shower and I headed out for work. Kat heard something, and sure enough, Maggie had worked up the courage to just come upstairs after finishing her breakfast. That's really the first time she's just done something like that on her own so it was great to see.

Today she did the same thing again - twice really. This morning we were both upstairs and left her downstairs with her breakfast. Sure enough, I heard the little clink-clink of her tag and there she was! Then tonight, Kat was upstairs while Maggie and I were in the family room. I got up to go to the bathroom, came out and Maggie was gone. She'd gone upstairs to find her mom all on her own. We're hoping this is the beginning of her starting to feel comfortable to walk around the house on her own. Up until now she's only ever moved from point to point when told.

Also now that our basement is finished we've been taking her down there. She's starting to learn "let's go to the basement". Right now she only gets it if we're going down there while we say it and she can follow us. If we point and say it while we stay here then she gets confused and goes upstairs. But before even if we were going that direction she'd go upstairs so at least she's starting to figure it out.

It's great in the basement because she doesn't have a bed there so there's no clearly defined area for her. She doesn't exactly get up and run all around, but she moves around in a larger area than her bed allows which is a good thing.

Also, she's become the master of the Kong. You can see it in a couple of these pictures. We got this thing around the same time we got Maggie. It sat virtually untouched for months. At the most she'd hit it once. If a treat came out she'd hit it again, but the first time she hit it without something coming out she'd give up on it.

Now she's a riot to watch with it. She's using her paws to grab it and shake it back and forth and will nose it all around the area in front of the couch in the basement.

She's gotten where she's very relaxed in the basement and we think she enjoys being down there with us. She sprawls out on her side which I'd say indicates she's pretty comfortable.

We bought Maggie a 6 month birthday gift at our favorite little pet store - Beachtails - in New Buffalo. It's walking distance to our place, the people - and their dogs - are super nice, and they have all of the things we buy for Maggie (ie. good quality, non-Chinese stuff). It's similar to Kriser's here, but we do all of our shopping up there now. Kat does her best - every weekend - to support the new local business :) And I don't need any excuse to avoid the B.S. sales tax around here - but I digress...

We were so excited to give her this gift, since she's done so well with the Kong. Here's a picture. Basically it's a hard rubber ball with a portion "scooped" out. We knew with some frozen peanut butter in there we'd have all sorts of entertainment watching Maggie chase the ball around.

As it turns out, Maggie is too smart for that. We put the ball in front of her, full of anticipation of the entertainment to come. She nosed the ball once, brought it back to her, and then used her front paws to hold it in place while she spent the next 10 minutes eating all of the frozen peanut butter. She didn't let the ball roll around at all. It didn't really turn out as expected, but at least she's smart and comfortable enough to do that. 4 months ago she would have just watched it roll away and then taken a nap.