Riding in the truck standing on the center console.
















Enjoying the sun in a giant field.

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What lately has perplexed us most is that Colber has no qualms in getting up close to us in the truck. He likes to check out the windows and bury his nose into the crooks of elbows, but the favorite is (like Buela) to stand on the center console and watch the world go by.

Meanwhile, when in the house, coming near us is like a stealth mission and unless we have food we are to be avoided.

He still likes to hide under dog beds and pillows, though we have removed the large dog bed so that forces him to hide in plain sight with the collection of three smaller beds. I have also watched him nose the couch cushions to the floor so he can use those to hide his nose. This morning when D got out of the shower Colbert wasn't under his usual pillow. D thought nothing of it until a little blonde Corgi head popped up out of the blankets and pillows of our own unmade bed.

The fur on the tip of his nose is slowly growing back, developing a velvet quality and the patch of foot pad has healed beautifully. Which means he is back to roughhousing with our crew. Even Corona, the standoffish chichi mix is goading him into playing with her. Must be because he isn't as rough as Buela and is smaller than she is. You can't imagine how funny it is to see a usually reserved princess dog start clapping her forelegs to the floor and pawing at his little bear cub face. I feel like I have to have the camera permanently in my hand because the by the time I get the camera and turn it on all the action has stopped and the pups have all gone back to sleeping in sun puddles. I will have to work harder on my reaction time.

Happy faced Colbert

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Per D.....

So, a significant milestone happened today. Over the past couple of weeks, when wrestling on the floor with the dogs, Colbert has become less and less evasive and more willing to get near me. While my hand is touching another dog he will get right up to it and sniff it, until I would direct my hand at him in a playful manner and he would back up. Then he stopped moving away and would just let me flail my fingers at him. He would always be tense while I would scratch his head after cornering him to prevent his escape.

Anyway, today we were all playing on the floor and he let me scratch his head without running off. He even responded when I scratched him at the base of his tail—contorting his body in the standard way a dog will when you find their sweet spot. He's so happy when he plays with the other dogs.

Playtime is over now, and he's back under his little fort: a dog bed that he wears as a hat. He spends most of the time underneath something. Last week he even walked with it on top of him to his food bowl until the bowl was underneath the bed as well and then began to eat...while under the bed.

I'm anxious to see how much more he improves with more time.

-D

Our house guest this weekend: My co-workers beagle; Charlie.















One of many 'forts'.

Friday we went to Wannamaker Park.

After a short walk around the neighborhood with Colbert catching on relatively well. We went for the short drive and walked the mile long paved trail culminating in a short stint at the dog park. Walking on a leash with him is still a struggle, as he is still looking for a way out versus looking forward to see where he is walking. The result of all this struggling, besides a very tired puppy, is that he unfortunately ripped an piece of the pad on one of his toes, into a flap, about the size of the top of a pencil eraser. We have wrapped his foot up in a piece of paper towel with some bandage tape. The vet's office is in our future...

D thinks that Colbert realizes that we are giving affection and he knows his name and such, and that now is the time to start making him come to us instead of us going to him and petting him through his anxiety.

Colbert will now huff at the the other dogs in play as well as stand in the middle of the floor while decimating a rawhide. Otherwise his usual actions are running from one safe spot to another in order to hide under a dog bed. He particularly likes Max's dog bed which is large enough for him to hide under completely and light enough to run around the room wearing it as a cover. Friday night he used it to eat his dinner in peace, I wish I had a photo of him wearing his dog bed, draped over his bowl, while he ate his dinner.

He still sleeps under D's spare pillow between the bed and the nightstand. We call it his fort.