Christmas in May!

Way back in April, we introduced Dempsey to the mailman. Part of our socialization homework was to introduce Dempsey to people in uniforms, and the mailman was at the top of our list. No mailman-chasing dogs for Helping Paws!

Dempsey now knows the mailman as a nice man who occassionally gives him treats. And now, he has another reason to like the mailman: He brings toys! We mail-ordered some new toys for Dempsey, which arrived the other day.

His favorite is what we call "orange moon ball," for its cratered appearance. It's a little plastic ball that you fill with treats that fall out when your puppy plays with it. When he first got it, Dempsey played with it like any new toy: taking it to my lap and trying to power-chew through it:

It only took a few minutes for him to figure out that a much better way to get the treats is to drop the ball or roll it around. He now sometimes carries orange moon ball to the top of the steps and releases it -- dropping and rolling in one easy step! Smart puppy! Climbing the stairs is a lot of work, though, so Dempsey more often just rolls orange moon ball around with his nose: 

I'm happy: Dempsey is getting pretty big to fit comfortably in my lap. It's cute when your 3-year-old son wants to sit in your lap, not so cute when he's 18. I suppose pretty soon I'll have to tell Dempsey "no" when he wants to sit in my lap. Puppies do grow up so fast. :-(