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Orion is 16 weeks old today.  He is a very friendly puppy, and likes meeting people.  He is starting to learn to be gentle with his mouth though he has a ways to go yet.  He is getting the concept that when I say “Ouch” I am warning him that I am going to stop playing with him if he doesn’t lighten up.  (The last time we had puppies, they learned bite inhibition from each other, and I hadn’t realized how lucky we were.)  A couple of weeks ago we went through a period when stroking or cuddling Orion was like trying to stroke or cuddle a piranha, but we seem to be past that now.  

Orion is very good in his crate, and gets his meals there so he continues to think that the crate is a Good Thing.  When I take him places, he goes into his crate quite willingly, and is quiet as long as he is in it. 

At night he has graduated to a large corner of the bedroom which includes the attached bathroom and is fenced by a puppy pen.  It contains a dog pillow and his crate and all his toys. He sleeps or rests quietly from seven pm to five am.  I only take him out in the middle of the night if I have a very bad night, and want to try to sleep past five. During the day I open up the panels to include more of the bedroom and my office.  He is housebroken in this area as long as he goes outside every three hours.  The rest of the house:  not so much.   

Everything is a toy.  Fortunately he likes his dedicated toys, but even so I have to redirect him multiple times during the day from “my toys” to his toys.  We play a form of fetch with his soft toys but he loses interest quickly if I use a ball instead.  He likes to chew on marrow bones:  unfortunately, the sound is the same as the noise when he chews on wood furniture, so I have to check when I hear him chewing.  He also likes ice cubes, and I give him one when he seems particularly mouthy.

I try always to be aware of what he is doing, and when I check on him he usually decides that I want to play.  I try to check on him by sneaking up on him but he is a very alert puppy so that seldom works.  For a while I was sure he slept with his eyes open:  with that face fluff it is hard to tell.

He is apparently convinced that he shares my air supply, and throws a fit if he realizes I am leaving him.  Recently, I’ve been giving him a few treats in a Kong in his pen before  I quietly leave the house for two or three hours and that seems to be working.  Although he comes when I call now, I don’t expect this to last through adolescence so I put him on a lead whenever we are outside of contained areas.  He sits on command and is learning “leave it.”

I’d love to be able to groom him better, but he still wants to play with the grooming tools.  At least he now allows me to pick debris out of his coat, which is a major victory since most Colorado vegetation wants to come home with you.  Despite his disreputable looks, his coat has a nice feel and is softer than it looks.

Today he met a friend’s six month old Collie puppy.  Orion was quite concerned when she bounced at him, and spent a lot of time watching her from behind me and my friend.  River was actually quite gentle considering she is used to playing with puppies her own size.  She finally resorted to laying down in an effort to reassure Orion.  We’ll try introducing them again in a week or so when the weather is better.  I thought he would be a little bolder with River considering how he torments our elderly Collie.