Sterling's adventures in Northern California

Sterling came back up to Northern California for some handling lessons in preparation for Lompoc. He is staying with the god-mother of the litter, Lisa Stine and she will be chronicling his experiences.

Sterling is adjusting so well to all the changes! He has such a sweet and loving personality, he wants attention from everyone, all the time. He thinks he's a lap dog, but at 70 pounds, he's more of a lap-brick. He plays well with Q, the Italian Greyhound, and adjusts his level of bounce and paw-talk for Q's size. Not that size is something that Q is concerned about, if Sterling gets too rough, Q quickly takes him down and puts him in his place. All is forgiven quickly though, and they go back to playing tug and wrestling with each other. Andretti and Sterling are becoming good buddies, Andretti shows Sterling the ropes out in public as well as around the ranch. Sterling follows him around like an older brother; if Andretti is comfortable with something, so is Sterling.



A lot of running happens everyday, and Sterling is very good at it. Even through water, he loves to run. Now, if we can just keep him from crashing into things. 6 month old puppies are less than graceful sometimes.



This week we are working on several things, one of them being space issues. Greyhounds notoriously do not like to cuddle with each other, unlike some breeds like Golden Retrievers and Labs. Sharing personal space with other dogs can be touchy. All of Sterling's new pack are pretty good about sharing (toys, food, treats, beds, etc.), so Sterling has decided that in order to fit in, he will share everything, including his sleeping space. Good dogs!!!



As a side note, Sterling got a bath today. It was a good thing, as the water ran grey and silty from all the playing and running (a daily occurance with his sister Echo now). He is now squeaky clean and bright and sparkley. Fortunately he didn't hurt himself running back and forth on the freshly waxed floor with wet paws, although there were a few ice-rink moments when the only thing that stopped his wet-paw-skid was the wall or an unsuspecting bystander. Very entertaining!!!