Mavis is now nine months old! She’s closing in on a year so fast that I almost want time to slow down. I’m also excited to see her become a dog, you know?

New Things

• Mavis graduated Adult Level II training classes with flying colors! She is now phased out of training at Petco because they don’t have any classes higher than Adult II, haha.
• She took her Canine Good Citizen Test and missed the mark on just one behavior, which was having a stranger touch her paws. This is important for therapy work (because people will be touching her if she’s a therapy dog!), so we are working really hard on paw touching before we re-take the CGC test.
• She’s going to be a big sister!

Hard Things

• She loves playing fetch with a ball, but if it rolls underneath something, you would think the world was ending. She whines, cries, scratches, and barks until she gets that ball back.
• When it’s cold out, she goes #2 on our back porch. Yuck.
• She still jumps on the couch from time to time (when Malcolm taunts her… he is a bad influence on her, ha!).
• I recently had to run into Walmart while Jimmy and I had Mavis in the car with us, so I left her in the car with Jimmy and he said her little body shook the entire time I was in the store because she missed me. Poor gal. I missed her just as much!

Other Things

• I can’t wait for it to warm up in Pittsburgh so we can do more training outside!
• Mavis still hasn’t gone into heat. I think it’s normal for the first heat cycle to begin any time from six months to a year, so I expect it to happen soon.
• Her growth seems to have slowed down.
• She is still doing great with not being in a crate and not chewing things.
• She still gets along wonderfully with basically any dog she meets. She wants to play, play, play all the time.
• Sometimes I just look at her and just kiss her little face. She’s so cute and truly brings me so much joy!

Favorite Things

• Hol-ee Roller Ball
• Fruitables Treats
• Kong (with peanut butter!)
• Meal Dispensing Toy
• Dogwood Chew Stick
• Feeding Puzzles
• Homemade treats

There you have it, that’s Mavis at nine months! Our puppy is turning into a dog before our eyes! We love the dog she’s becoming and can’t wait to see her be a big sister in the fall!