Door bells #2

Well, with some patience, I finally caught Bender in the act. Due to the muddy dog pawprints on the window, the darkness (it is 5:30 am) and the angle of the photo, you can't see that Zach is standing just outside waiting to come in. Bender had just been out 5 minutes earlier, so it was clear that he was not signaling that he wanted to go out. This is further supported by the fact that, when I opened the door to let Zach in, Bender sat and waited patiently for his big brother to come back inside.

He is too cute and waaaay too smart!

Door bells

I have trained Bender to ring a bell when he wants to go outside. He has become rather proficient at doing so. I had to laugh the first time he rang the bell and I opened the door, only to have Bender sit politely while Zach came back in. Bender has now hit the bells three different times to let me know that Zach was ready to come in. Bender simply sits at the side of the door (on the inside) waiting for Zach to come back inside.

I am continually amazed at how smart this dog is!

Hand Signals

Bender is remarkably smart. Once he had "sit" and "down" mastered with the clicker, I only had to run through the hand-signals three times with verbal command for him to respond to the hand-signal by itself in a reliable fashion. The boys can do synchronized responses to hand signals without me saying a word!

Here is Bender chewing on what used to be an empty water bottle (he got to do this at a friend's house and now finds this crunchy toy to be the best of the choices). He has real toys, he just seems to prefer the bottle these days . . .

Curly Hair

Bender's coat is starting to show more and more curl. It is also growing in length. He has very curly hair on his knees and elbows. This (otherwise lousy) picture does do a good job of showing his curly coat.

Boys at Play

Here are Zach and Bender together on the driveway. The size difference is such that Bender can run beneath Zach (often to the frustration of the latter). This was all very cute until Bender pulled his characteristic move while Zach's leg was lifted--Bender got his head peed on and looked at me like "How did THAT happen?" The other evening in the rain, Bender just stood under Zach so he could stay dry (I couldn't get to the camera fast enough!) Bender now weighs more than 15 pounds.