Burrito Wrangling #23

Burrito Wrangling Update # 23: I'm very excited to report that Murph voluntarily climbed onto the couch that Mila was sleeping on, and squeezed his giant body behind mine and fell asleep with his head on top of her feet! This is a HUGE step for him because he didn't even do this before the original altercation. I suspect it was largely because he wanted to be near me, but the fact that they both slept while touching for a good 30 minutes is amazing. Mila eventually got up and had to drag her feet out from underneath his giant snoring head. They have been doing very well together, with their play episodes coming and goings but a clear increase in frequency. In the mornings they both tend to be the most excitable and happy, but Mila's starting to learn some self control which is great for me. Trying to get ready for work when you have a deranged puppy snapping her sausage-shark teeth at you and climbing on her brother's head to bite his Flaps of Destiny is a challenge. The constant treat-based training is going really well, but I have had to cut back Murph's food so that he doesn't gain any weight. I also purchased a slow feeder bowl (the Kyjen 2872 Slo-Bowl Slow Feeder) so that Murph will take a bit longer to eat and it's really amazing. He seems to love "hunting" for his food; Mila tried it and got mad because her short-sausage snout didn't fit into the grooves as easily and she attacked it like the hippo-shark she is. I'm still giving them tripe in the mornings when they are together to enhance their overall feelings towards one another (Bison Tripett from Amazon - it's worth putting up with the stench). I've been doing some target training with Murph as a confidence building exercise (see Sophia Yin's website for info on this) and hope to start doing more training with both of them once their dad gets here next week and I'm less overwhelmed with keeping both of them entertained (YES he is finally moving!!). I'm extra excited because we've also got our veterinary behaviorist appointment scheduled for next Tuesday, so I'll be sure to update everyone afterwards! My goal for the appointment is to get Murph's medication type and levels evaluated (he's on Prozac) and to see if there are any different Burrito-wrangling methodologies that I should be employing to keep them happy and safe #burritowrangling