Master of the stairs

Yesterday Swing hit another milestone, she concurred the stairs!  She was able to go up the steps within a day of arriving but I've been carrying her down the steps since they are long and kind of steep.  But she's grown a lot in the last week so yesterday morning I decided not to block the stairs (many reasons none the which involved the old dog, who insisted on staying downstairs to chew on his rawhide instead of joining us upstairs like he normally does).  I can see the steps from the bathroom and after Dodge ran up and down them a few times (he was checking on Dirk, or rather checking to see if he could steal Dirk's rawhide) I knew the Swingster wouldn't be able to resist the temptation, she's becoming more and more interested in exploring EVERY corner of the house and there are a lot of places she has yet to visit.

Here is how it played out... she steps down one step and all I see is her butt (and a cute one it is BTW).  Within a second she is back at the landing.  Next attempt has her disappearing only to reappear in about 5 seconds.  I think she took one step and realized that she wasn't a brave as she thought she was (it's about 17 steps to the bottom and it's an enclosed staircase with nothing but those plastic guards on the step).  Back up on the landing to contemplate the feat.  Then she disappeared and through the sound of the shower I swore I heard her making her way down the steps.  All of the sudden there was the distinctive "thunk" that the boys make when they hit the landing... Houston we have touchdown!!!!  I finished rinsing the soap out of my hair and just as I pulled back the shower curtain this little head appeared at the top of the steps, way to go little girl!

I couldn't help it, I lavished her with praise, told her how brilliant she was and we played tug with the towel and wrestled on the bed for a minute.  Of course I had to let her go down them by herself when I headed downstairs to get the coffee ready for my trip in to work.  She is very methodical in her form and doesn't rush down the steps like Dodge does (sometimes he runs down them without putting his back feet down, pretty amazing to watch), I'm sure that will change with maturity and growth.

The next big task will be being able to jump up on the bed by herself.  She's trying but she needs another inch on those legs.  At the rate she is going I think she'll be leaping on to it in the next week or two.  Ah the puppy phase, love the training opportunities it presents, loath the house training which is coming along very well.  I hope all of her siblings are doing well and the owners are thrilled with this group.  I think they are special and once again thank Amy, Laura and Mary Ann for the wonderful opportunity you've given me to own a dog like this amazing little girl.  Many of you know that I love my boys, she's been a dream and I'm enjoying having a little girl.

Yes, she has started a hole.  Time to cover it with a paver!

She's a mover and a shaker and on this particular day she was having a blast running around in the back yard.  Who can blame her, the weather was perfect!

Until next time...