Puppy Report Reboot! (Hopefully not the Michael Bay kind)

Here I am again, attempting a hard reboot of the Puppy Report.

When I first started this blog, I had just gotten the titular Great American Buffaloo.  My first dog, a 50-60 pound furry orange tornado.  It was a stressful experience, no less so because most of my regular friends were out of town for the summer (the vagaries of archaeology...I found myself in a dearth of fieldwork that particular summer, with only two short weeks at Hopewell Culture).

So this blog was a forum to vent about the experience.  To get out all the odd thoughts, like whether I had made or horrible mistake ("seriously, I can't handle this dog.  WHY IS HE GROWLING AT MY SANDWICH??").  Eventually, that stress settled down (meanwhile, I got a bit busier in the "things to do" sense), and the frequency of my posts dropped off quickly.

Since those days, Buffaloo has grown for an exuberant and willful puppy to an exuberant and willful young dog.  He has mellowed, and our rapport has developed.  He still has his quirks, of course.  He still enters what I call "Stealth Mode"* (or sometimes "Commando Mode", although that makes it sound like he isn't wearing underwear.  Which implies he sometimes does wear underwear.  And that would be silly).  He has to be sequestered in the kitchen virtually never (as opposed to nightly, once upon a time).

He has taken to rummaging through backpacks**.  Someone tends to keep food in her backpack, and I believe this has trained him to hunt (specifically for Brown Sugar and Cinnamon Pop Tarts).  In general, he likes to work for food-I have several items that do just that-kibble dispensers and little hiding things.  But he targets backpacks with a vengeance.  He has even ignored Blueberry Pop Tarts and crackers in his hunt.

But all that aside, he is quite the good boy.  We still work on being a better boy, but aren't we all works in progress?  We don't really run like we used to (either of us).  Ever since we moved, we have not been able to find routes we like (well, I haven't found ones I like.  I suspect he doesn't care).  To compensate, I take him on bike rides on occasion.  I hitch him up with a harness and he trots along.  It can be a bit harrowing, but we have a good technique from all the running.  He actually spends a fair amount of the time pulling me (channeling his sled dog heritage).

So here we are, all caught up.  Moving forward, I'm intending on approaching this differently.  You see, the lack of running is part of a larger whole.  I feel in some ways that I have stopped...let's say "challenging myself".  I've fallen into old comfort zones, and this forum will be an effort to address that.  It will be Buffaloo and I doing things.  Old things, new things.  Fun with Buffaloo.  We will see how it goes.

*Stealth Mode:  the style in which Buffaloos stalk their intended playmates.  They slowly creep forward, lowering their body to the ground to lower their visibility.


**Allegedly.  There is some evidence accumulating that a certain Shih poo named Roxie is responsible.