Happy 10 Month Birthday to Levi!

Yesterday Levi turned 10 months old!

Here are a few recent things in the life of Levi... (sorry there aren't 10, I'm short on time and have to get back to studying)

• He loves sleeping in his crate a lot more lately.  He goes in there to nap all the time now rather than just sleeping on the floor.

• He also really loves sleeping on this old bolster bed that I had for Kobe.

 

Now don't get the idea that Levi sleeps a lot.  It's really that I can only catch pictures of him when he's sleeping since otherwise he is going non-stop.

• He loves chewing antlers.  I heard that these were great dog chews and better for their teeth than sterilized bones which can break their teeth.  They don't sell antlers anywhere locally so I had to get them online.  Levi loves them and they last forever since he just grinds down the ends when he chews it.

• Levi has a new found joy of shredding toilet paper.  Now it has to be put out of reach when he is left alone with access to my bathroom.

• He has become a kong pro.  I try to make his kongs really difficult but he unstuffs them like it's nothing.  These kongs were some of my masterpieces.  A couple have food kibbles that were soaked in chicken broth, smushed into the kong and then frozen with cheese at the opening.  Another one has applesauce with some liver treat surprises mixed in that was also frozen.

• He loves sticks!  On every walk he has to find a couple sticks to carry.  The bigger the better he says.

For his 10 month birthday I got him this Hide-a-Squirrel dog toy, similar to the Hide-a-Bird toy that he loved so much.

I added a couple extra toys to give him more things to pull out.

I call them his "squirrel babies."  He loves them and often can't decide which one he wants to play with.

Here's a video of him receiving his present for the first time.

Fetch on the Green Belt

A few pictures from a recent game of fetch on the green belt as well as practicing our down-stays.

Back to Tahoe

Levi and I made a quick getaway to Lake Tahoe on Monday since I had the day off from school.  The weather was gorgeous - mid 60's and sunny.  A nice change from 50 degrees and foggy in Davis. I was planning to do a half-day of snowboarding at Heavenly and then take Levi snowshoeing to the place where we went last time.  I only ended up snowboarding for about an hour though because the slopes were really icy and it wasn't much fun (thank goodness for a season-pass).  Then Levi and I headed out to the snowshoeing trail which was packed with families unlike last time when we were the only ones there.  Thankfully all of the families were just there to sled and play in the snow so we quickly passed them and were all alone.  We had a great time (especially Levi), although I did have some frustration trying to get a decent picture of Levi and I together.  The good news: my new gorilla-pod is super easy to use.  The bad news: Levi + snow + sticks = a puppy that doesn't want to sit still for pictures even if bribed with hot dogs.  Oh well, it made for quite a few funny outtakes (including several photos of just the snow).

The start of our journey

Having a good roll in the snow

There must be something interesting in there

The first of many failed "group pictures"

"What's taking so long mom?"

Yummy sticks everywhere!

blurry, but such a happy pup

Levi pouting due to 1. being tired of pictures  2. sun in his eyes  3.  I took his stick away and put it next to the camera so he would look at the camera

Toys

When Levi was younger he never destroyed any of his toys, but in the last couple of months he has become a destruction monster.  He now thinks it is so fun to rip appendages off of his stuffed toys.  Sometimes the toys can survive for a short time sans ear or tail, but then they often develop a fatal injury and off to the garbage they go.  I'm hoping this is only a phase he is going through.  I really hate throwing away a toy he played with for only a day.  Maybe I should start practice my suturing skills on his injured toys to bring them back to "life" for a short while. 

Levi with a couple of his recent "victims".  The poor reindeer is missing both of his antlers in addition to the couple of holes he has.

Thankfully we are well stocked on toys right now so we can afford to lose a few.  I am now at the point where there is no more storage room under my bed because it is all taken up by toy containers.

In fairness to Levi so nobody thinks he is too spoiled, most of the toys in the large toy container were Kobe's old toys that Levi inherited.  ;-)