At 4 months, Macey is making great strides! She’s bigger, faster, stronger…and eternally curious. Over the past couple of weeks, some of her puppy fur is being replaced by her long and wavy adult fur. Similarly, a few of her puppy teeth have been replaced by adult teeth. Her legs are longer and she appears more like a little dog than a tiny puppy.
After her four month visit to the vet, she now sports a jingling rabies tag on her collar. The vet recommended a different food brand for her going forward. She gobbles it down with equal zeal, however.
Macey now weighs 25.5 pounds. Her mother was 70 lbs and her father was 80 lbs, so we expect her to grow to somewhere in the 70+ lbs. weight.
Macey is still doing her “little dog” tricks, but is now working on retrieving a Frisbee and polishing her skateboard skills. As of today, she hasn’t actually caught a Frisbee in the air, but that could be only a few days away.
For several months, I worked with Macey doing her skateboard skills inside the house. She was making steady progress, so I took her to the skateboard park one mid-morning. Three or four older skaters were there at the time…grinding their boards making quite a bit of noise. Macey was intimidated by all the noise and flying boards that day. We hung around a while for her to get used to the activity.
Darla and I took Macey to the skateboard park early today…before the kids get there. She was much more relaxed and willing to do her tricks.
Over the past week or so, I have been letting her ride her skateboard in the driveway in front of our house. Working with her outdoors seems to have been a good decision. She loves kids and is easily distracted by them!
We still have a long way to go, but Macey is honing her skateboard skills each day. We tried letting her go down one of the ramps, but she bailed quickly.
We teach Macey most of her tricks, but she learns a few of them on her own. We’ve been noticing our back door open a little while after letting Macey go outside. We thought that possibly we weren’t shutting the door properly. Darla and I were sitting in the hot tub a few days ago and, to our amazement, watched her open the back door. It wasn’t an accident!
Skateboard Park June 28
These two videos show Macey continuing to develop her skateboard skills. She has a relatively short attention span right now. At this time of the year, small puff balls from the area aspen and cottonwood trees blow across the concrete. She’ll jump off her board to chase one down. Other skaters, kids yelling, or other dogs in the area get her attention. Still, each day she improves!
