He's growing up!

 We were getting ready to go for a walk today and I went to put on Booker's collar and it looked so small.  It would have fit him but I pulled out the regular adult collar that was just waiting for him to grow into it and....

I'm not sure whether I'm happy or sad!!  He is growing up so fast!

We headed out to the lake today and since we had the massive snowstorm followed by a warm up this week and it rained all day yesterday so I wasn't sure what the beach would look like.  I was so happy when we got there!  The beach was completely clear to walk on!

It was weird though, because there was a huge ice shelf right next to the lake so we couldn't see or access the water itself.

It was in the low 30's and usually there is a strong breeze coming off the lake, but there was no wind to speak of today so we did a solid 10K (6.2 miles) walk.

The dogs probably did a couple of miles more with all the running and chasing each each other that they did!

Booker is really starting to show what kind of dog he is going to be.  He is extremely high energy and very strong.  So far he shows little interest in being a fighter which makes me really happy.  An off leash dog came running at us full speed (we had put both of ours on lead when we saw the man with his 2 dogs coming) and was very loudly growling.  She stopped short and was just posturing (and ignoring the commands to come back).  Sisko, as usual, had no reaction but I looked to see if Booker showed any fear or any desire to fight and fortunately the answer was no to both.  He was curious and alert but otherwise had very little reaction at all.  

I had actually just gotten an email from the AKC this morning saying that now that Booker was 22 weeks old it would be typical for him to show fear and growl at strangers.  As we were walking a couple asked if they could greet them and Booker greeted them like long lost friends.  He was jumping and kidney beaning and could not have been happier.  We certainly hope this personality stays!!