Casey is my cuddly, not-so-smart pup who is almost nine years old.  I say not-so-smart in the most loving way, of course, as any mom would.  Once, after Jonathan took the fence down around the pool, Casey got ‘stuck’ behind the gate that hadn’t been removed yet.  Krystal saw his confusion and walked over and showed him the way around the gate.  Another time, we were at the cabin and the sliding glass door was partially open.  He went out onto the deck, then tried to come back and got ‘stuck’ behind the part that wasn’t open.  Again, Krystal came to the rescue and showed him the open part.  I read an article that said to place a towel over your dog’s head, and the faster they got it off, the smarter they were.  So i placed a towel over Casey’s head, and he sat there, smiling and wagging.  Krystal finally walked over and pulled the towel off of his head.  Bless his heart.  

Most of the time, he still acts like a puppy, with his favorite toys being squeaky or…his absolute favorite….a small, purple, cloth pompom ball he tosses around to himself.  Since we moved to the apartment, he is finally trying to grow up.  He just hasn’t mastered the art of being manly, even though he is valiantly trying.   He has always had a wide range of barking pitches, mostly in the high range.  When he gets really excited, like when we pull into the kennel, groomers, or vet parking lot, he squeals more than barks.  I’ve noticed his pitch is getting much deeper these days.  Our apartment complex has an off leash park that we walk to a couple of times each day.  That is where he is practicing his deep pitch barking.  When a dog walks by, he barks deeply, and has started scraping his feet on the ground, similar to a bull getting ready to charge.  I haven’t seen one dog take him seriously.  Bless his heart.

Maybe it would help if I took off his red with pink hearts bandanna.