Update from RLRR puppy Digger

I'm a little overdue in writing but I've been a very, very busy little puppy the past couple of weeks; my new forever family has been exposing me to all kinds of new firsts. Starting from the day I said bye and thank you to my foster parents Susie and Matt for giving me excellent care and training my first fifteen weeks, I went for a two hour ride to my weekend home on a large lake. I tossed my biscuits twice on that trip but have had many more trips without doing so since then and have adjusted to riding in two different vehicles so far. I'm looking forward to riding in L's convertible but I have to be a bigger boy so I don't have accidents in the car. They're a little fussy about that apparently. ;-)

At my lake house I learned how to navigate stairs on the big deck. They were pretty scary at first but now I bolt up and down them like I've been doing it all along. There is also a very, very big lake that I didn't know what to make of but I learned it was safe, and even kind of fun to walk out onto the permanent pier. Now that I've been up there a couple of times, I can tell it's going to be a favorite place of mine to hang out.

I took J out to the end of the pier at sunset this past Friday night and he shot a photo of me (looking adorable of course) as I sat at the end of the dock. My first weekend up there, two weeks ago now, it was sunny and warm and I got to go for a ride in the next door neighbor's boat. I've become very attached to L and she to me - attached is a picture of me curled up with her on the rear seat and you can see B, my neighbor and boat driver. I really like Bob too, and his poodles Brandy and BJ.

This past weekend L and I were out in the yard playing Frisbee fetch when my Frisbee rolled into the lake. I dove right in after it. The humans around looked rather surprised, I might have even surprised myself. Getting out was a little more difficult for me but thankfully L was there to help me. Unfortunately, it was pretty cold already so I think I'll hold off doing that again until the water warms up. ;-) Jim promised to buy me another new Frisbee to replace that one cuz none of the humans around were about to go in after it as it floated away, and he promised to build me a ramp so it will be easier for me to get out of the lake after I swim. He also promised we were were going to go sailing but it hasn't been all that nice for that so maybe next summer.

My primary home in Stoughton is a 1900 Victorian and I have lots of rooms to explore and lots of toys to play with. I'm doing really well at eating and letting my family know when I need to go outside. L is really working with me to learn new tricks. (I am very good at sit, lay down, shake, high five, crawl under, jump over and am working on roll over right now.) She's figured out I'm really, really smart. She thinks that if I'm not kept occupied that I'll get into things - I don't know where she gets that idea but I'm gonna let her keep thinking that way cuz she keeps buying me lots of new toys to keep me occupied. ;-) J takes me for walks and repeats many of the tricks L teaches me. They are working with me to focus my chewing on things they give me rather than all the other neat things I've found.

Last night I helped J replace the transmission pan and fluid on his Corvette. He'd put cardboard down to lie on and when he went to get rags and wrenches I moved his cardboard to the backyard. When he went to retrieve the cardboard I grabbed his rags and took those to the backyard. When he crawled under the car I helped tugged at the hole in the knees of his jeans until he told me I was about as helpful as last weekend when I was walking across the in-ground pool cover while he was trying to secure it. Well, I don't know about him but I just had a ball. Eventually though he insisted the work needed to get done so I played with sticks, stole his wheel chocks and did some digging in the yard. Our yard is nicely fenced in so I have lots of room to run around and be me and not worry about getting lost or having others move in on my territory.

Last weekend I also got to meet L's parents and explore their big beautiful farm sitting high up in the bluffs. We hauled wood out of the woods for winter heat, went for a walk and played some ball. I really like Grandma and Grandpa and they really like me too. After we left there we stopped to see her brother's farm just a few miles away. Another new place to explore, oh boy. I also got to meet J's parents at the assisted living facility suite they live in. Boy, I sure got a lot of attention there as well and will probably be a frequent visitor to see them, too.

I think that's about it for now. Thanks to ARVSS and Susie & Matt again for treating me so well and being so careful to assure that I found a good forever home. I'll write again, and enclose more cute photos of myself so you can see I'm happy, healthy and doing well.

Yours truly,
Digger