Left Coast Observatory

My attention has been absorbed by a new addition to our family: a bull-mastiff puppy.

Now when you think puppy you might picture a cuddly, helpless little mite. Not this one. Gren is a year old and (eighty) 80 pounds of muscle. He needs all that muscle to hold up his enormous head. Since he'e still just a puppy he's got some more growing to do.

He's a good little doggie. Smart and full of pep. The thing is, since we can't physically constrain him very easily we have to outsmart him or gain his respect so that he can fit in with human society. Unlike a cat he's big enough to wreak some real damage if he's not controlled.

So we are trying to learn how to communicate with him, and he's trying to learn how to meet us halfway. So far so good. In a couple of weeks he's already got a few basic commands down, and we can see that he's intelligent enough to do whatever we need him to do. Just making that clear and consistent is our mission.

We took him up to the river last weekend and it may be the first time he's confronted a large body of water. he was a little freaked out by it. He wasn't sure about getting into the water himself, and seemed awful worried about us when we went in. It was kind of embarassing when all the other dogs were jumping in, and even little human babies showed no fear.

I hope he comes to love the water, because it's a very efficient way to exercise a big dog. And sometimes it's nice when he's tired. we all get some rest.