Big Clown

Here is a brand new photo of Bender clowning around this morning. I love how his pink lips are kind of human looking. He has several distinctive poodle traits including being a clown and his manner of walking (he bounces).

He went to the vet last evening for a well-baby check-up. He now weighs 41 pounds. As a puppy, his whole self was deep, dark bittersweet chocolate and now his face and his knee fuzz have kind of turned to milk chocolate--he is very cute in real life. His beard does need periodic cleaning and his feet are immense in comparision to the rest of his body. They are just about as big as Zach's feet but the rest of him is smaller (he is only 4 1/2 months old, so there is still a lot of room for growing into them).

I saw the hand doc yesterday for my finger and I have to go to physical therapy for my hand now. I have visions of me standing on my bad foot on a trampoline, clutching a squeeze ball in my left hand and catching balls thrown at me in my right hand.

Although NOT good for my physical therapy (he trips me), Bender is wonderful for my emotional health. We spend about 30 minutes every day just cuddling and he too seems to relish our special quiet time together.