Happy Halloween!

Halloween with Mokey was pretty laid back. Of course, she instantly adored everything pumpkin and didn't seem to mind all of the extra treats. She even tolerated my sisters gorilla mask - we let her sniff it before hand and her inquisitive look as my sister put it on seemed to say: Why is she covering her head with that smelly black thing? Its fur isn't even as soft as mine!

Mokey sat outside with us for part of the trick-or-treating festivities, far enough back so that she could observe the sights and sounds without being mobbed by small squealing things. For some reason a 6 month old Leonberger doesn't inspire swarming of small children but a 9 week old one does. Go figure. Which brings up the fact that most children really don't know how to greet a dog - to them, I suppose a dog is no different than a stuffed animal. Even better, a moving stuffed animal. But you won't find many dogs naturally tolerating the dragging and hugging that goes along with that role. No wonder most dog bites involve kids. Oh well, Mokey did just fine; though I felt really mean telling acouple kids that no, they could not touch her. :( She did get to say hello to a couple trusted children who didn't try to grab and smother her and therefore scar her for life ;) Ah puppy-hood, such a tender phase. What really cracks me up is when people give me the 'are you serious?' look when I tell them why I don't just let every child on the planet grab Mokey and give her a hug. Somehow, people just think puppies are thrown into the world ready to go, when in reality socializing them takes effort and requires lots of good experiences - not screaming, grabbing ones. lol.

This week we had one day of such warm weather that I got Mokey's swimming pool out and filled it up for her - not completely full, since it's a rather large kiddy pool and I a) lack the upper body strength required to empty it and b) didn't want her to drown if she fell over (which was highly likely). While Chase observed from a safe, dry distance Mokey had fun charging the pool and catching her float toy. She's the first dog I've had that actually pounces things. As in, Nala from the Lion King quality pouncing. Chase has gotten rather used to her surprise attacks but it still cracks me up to see her try it on inanimate objects - like pumpkins, pools, her treats, leaves. . . she's a very goofy pup - just part of her appeal.