Gus update (by request)

Gus is now 8 months old.  He just keeps growing, and growing, and growing.  I haven't had him weighed recently, but he was 53 pounds a few weeks ago, so I am sure he is over 60 pounds now.  (My previous Chow, Khan, was only 68 pounds full grown.)

He is "blowing" his puppy coat now, and over the last two weeks, I have brushed out two brown grocery sacks of (somewhat compressed) hair, and when I took him to the groomer for a bath and brush last weekend, she got an entire medium sized Shop Vac's worth of hair (uncompressed) when she was using the heavy duty dryer on him.  That is why he looks less fluffy in these pictures... a bunch of the puppy hair is gone but has not yet been replaced by his adult undercoat.

He is still very affectionate with me and my mom, and even with my brother and SIL (whom he only sees once every other month or so), and he is very well-behaved in general.  My only complaints are that he still has limited tolerance for brushing sessions and that I am having trouble convincing him that when he is barking at something and I tell him it is ok and to "hush", that he needs to stop barking.   He has SO much energy right now, though, that sometimes he just gets too wound up and races around the house at high speed and ends up running into me (he can knock me over if I am not paying attention!) or he gets too rambunctious with his play.  Ah, the "teenage" years!

You can see his size compared to the couch...

and his sweet face (and just-starting-to-grow adult mane)...

Lora

What a beautiful dog!  He looks like a fluffy teddy bear and so intelligent looking.  Best of luck with him!

He's so adorable! Thanks for updating us!

He's handsome!

Don't you want him to bark? Didn't you get him for companionship AND protection? 

You can give a little treat and say good boy, when he barks and then have him stop and give him another treat when he stops.

Oh, yes, I definitely do want him to bark, but I also want him to stop barking once I have come to see what he is barking at and tell him it's ok and to stop.  He seems to think he needs to continue barking (and it is often just a neighbor that he is barking at).

Yeah, that is basically the approach I have been using.  He gets praised for barking, then I ask him to stop, and as SOON as he stops (well, pauses) the barking, I give him a treat and more praise. Sometimes that works, but often he just goes back to barking as soon as he has gulped down the treat.  My new approach is to make him come in the house (if he is barking outside) or to come into the kitchen (if he is barking inside) to get the treat, since that pulls him away from whatever he was barking at.  That seems to be working a bit better, but still not consistently. 

Lora

Awww, he is so very handsome!!!  I cannot believe how big he has gotten so fast!  Its seems not too long ago you posted his first pics!

He is a beautiful boy. Thanks for sharing. 

Hi Lora,

I've been reading daily, but posting very little lately, because work has been very busy, but I just had to say ...Thanks for posting pictures of Gus! He's absolutely beautiful and getting so BIG. I laughed when you said he looks less fluffy because he still looks pretty fluffy to me...LOL!

While I'm here, I wanted to also say that I'm glad your surgery was a success and Congrats on the new car!

Kat

Thanks, Kat!  I wondered about you the other day... Glad to know it is just busyness keeping you occupied.

Lora

Too cute!!!