Wednesday, October 31, 2007

A Halloween pupdate

No, there's no costume for Luka this year; he's cute enough without one. Scary is how quickly he's growing and getting near strong enough to pull me off my feet if he so chooses. At almost 5 months, he's a big boy; all bony elbows and long velvet ears. Most of his growth this past month seems to have been in the torso; he's gotten longer rather than taller and looks like some sort of hound dog rather than a Lab most times.

His favorite spot to perch is still in the windowsill behind the couch. I took his photo there this afternoon while we waited for some trick-or-treaters to arrive. None ever did and it's just as well because there's no candy in the house. I'm not sure what's going on with the kids in the neighborhood, but we haven't had trick-or-treaters for a few years.

Keeping this pup exercised enough to behave himself is still a challenge. I'd have him at the dog park every day if he didn't get filthy dirty at every visit. There's an acre of grass, but the dogs romp and play in the dirt at the entrance. Most days it's near midnight by the time I get around to a good long walk with him and we wander through the quiet neighborhood and slip into the park to watch the moon and listen for screech owls or the neighborhood great-horned pair.

He's a great shoe thief and gets an inordinate amount of joy from removing the laces on a pair of sneakers. He's been scolded for that so many times, but it only seems to add to his joy at doing it.

13 comments:

Mary said...

Laura,

Luka sounds like a wonderful young lad. And the fact that you and he enjoy late night walks, enjoying the quiet and screech owls, tells me you are the best of friends.

Shoe laces are his fancy? LOL! Hey, at least he doesn't steal panties.

LauraHinNJ said...

No Mary, we won't talk about that.

;-)

KGMom said...

I just love watching this pup grow. He is a champion handsome specimen of a lab.
Velvety ears--oh yes.

RuthieJ said...

What a cute face! His fur is so shiny. I bet it's really soft too.

LauraHinNJ said...

RuthieJ: He gets lots of baths.

;-)

KGMom: He is handsome, but needs to grow into those ears!

Unknown said...

He has such a sweet expression on his face. What a good boy!

Jayne said...

What a sweetie! He has a look as if to say, "Me? I would never harm your shoes mommy."

Ruth said...

I love labs, in spite of their shedding. We are considering getting another pup now while our dog is feeling better but it will have to have a lab face. No trick or treaters?! What do the children do? I assume there are children in your neighbourhood.

dguzman said...

My gosh, he's getting huge!

JeanMac said...

He's so beautiful,Laura. Tough to scold him with those eyes:)

Anonymous said...

Wow, he IS getting big. He looks like a lover, not a fighter!

Cathy said...

Awwww. I love the imagery of your midnight forays into the deserted dog park - the soft call of the screech owl sifting around the two of you. Neat. And then the flourish at the end. A happy shoe thief. Dogs are so wonderful.

LauraHinNJ said...

Cathy: No, we don't visit the dog park at midnight. We have to slip silently into the *no dogs allowed* park around the corner. One of these days the cops will catch us there and that will be the end of that. Can you guess the kind of town I live in that the cops don't have better things to do?

lol!