Keeping Occupied: Adventures in the Yard and Beyond

Well, we actually managed to graduate from puppy school at the local kennel club (hard to believe, I know), and we are already signed up for the next puppy class, called life skills, but it doesn't start for another couple of weeks, so we have been trying to keep Marlee occupied in other ways.  Thank goodness for Petco and their Sunday puppy play times...even though sometimes Marlee is the only puppy there, she loves the attention and on the occasions that she does get to play with other puppies, she is in doggy heaven!

We've also been spending a lot of time outside.  Marlee gets into a lot of things in the back yard, but the most disgusting has been her recent habit of eating the cicadas.  Not just the dead ones, which are already gross enough, or their shells, which is equally gross....no, she likes to take them alive, listen to them click around in her mouth, and then chomp down on them and kill the things.  On the plus side, I have yet to come across a live cicada in my yard.  Marlee always seems to get to them before me.

 

Marlee and Mary practicing "high five"

To try and occupy her while we are in the yard, we play lots of games.  Sometimes we practice our tricks that we have learned, like giving a high-five.  Other times, we play with her toys.  She is especially fond of her fox squeaky toy, and carries that thing around all the time. It reminds me of a little kid with their blanket.  And of course, ever since our first puppy class, Marlee has always loved the tunnel.  We get it out and play every once in awhile.  The other day, she had a blast just hanging out inside the tunnel, avoiding the blazing sun :)

Marlee hanging out in the tunnel, with her favorite toy, the fox!

Occasionally, we take some rest time inside.  Usually, Marlee just sits around and chews on her bully stick or whatever other treat I give her to keep her from tearing up my living room.  But the other day, I realized she will stay occupied simply by looking out the front window.  She LOVES to watch things...cars, people, dogs...and so she will just sit at the window.  It reminds me of that song "How much is that doggy in the window?" because she just sits there and wags her tail without a care in the world.  I'm sure she will get bored of this eventually, but right now, it is incredibly amusing!  Notice she is still carrying around Mr. Fox, her favorite toy :)

All of the playing around has really got me thinking about how much she has grown in these last few months.  You know that moment when you look at your child (dog) and they seem to have grown taller practically overnight?  Yeah...I had that moment yesterday.  Looking back at her as a puppy, I can't believe how much she has already grown.  Onto bigger and better adventures tomorrow, but for now, I'll just reminisce.

Left: Marlee at 5.5 months; Right: Marlee at 6-8 weeks