I just discovered that Rocky is now tall enough to put his front feet up on the kitchen counter and sniff along the edge. We have been 100% faithful in the no-human-food-to-dog category and yet we have noticed lately that Rocky shows a real interest when we have dinner or eat something in the living room. He doesn’t drool like a regular dog but he knows what smells good. This morning, I was making coffee and I took a cookie out of the tin to have with my coffee and put it on the counter. I turned around to deal with the boiling water and when I turned back, there was Rocky with his paws up on the counter, sniffing at my cookie. I let him know I was NOT pleased and he shrank suitably down to the ground. When Uma did this the first time all those years ago, Peter in his alpha dog way let her know she should NEVER do this again, And she never did, ever. You could leave anything out on the kitchen counter and she would never touch it. We may have to inflict the alpha Peter on Rocky to ensure this doesn’t happen again either.

In another category, Rocky’s teeth are coming out and back in again fast and furious. I noticed yesterday that his lower left canine baby tooth was still intact even though the adult tooth was coming in, so I had Peter take a picture of it. Of course, it took 10 tries to get this one picture - thank goodness for digital. I think he’ll feel better when all the teething is over with.

Finally, I like to read the paper at the dining table because I can lay it out flat and its nice and orderly. Rocky sometimes tries to put his front legs on my lap or chew on whatever sweater corner hangs down. I try to shoo him away and toss his toys for him to go fetch. At one point, I knew he was lying under my chair (or under the table because he is too big for under the chair) and he was chewing on his toys. It wasn’t until I got up that I saw he had corralled them all under there. It’s nice to know he likes to hang out with me.