Amber was officially two years old on the 7th of March. We have been told that lab puppies are essentially maniacs until they are two. Others have said, “At LEAST two.” And others have laughed, saying, “Well….”
We have been watching for signs that Amber is maturing and inching her way to ‘doghood,’ rather than ‘puppyhood,’ but so far, no dice.
Recently, she tried to bring two new toys into the house: a broken turtle shell with the remains of the poor turtle still inside, and most of a deer head, essentially clean, thank goodness.
She presented herself at the door after her morning run with cow excrement all over the right side of her chest and face, having joyously rolled in it ‘somewhere.’
Not so recently, but still very fresh in our memory, she got skunked, resulting in a bath in our master bedroom tub after midnight, using hydrogen peroxide, baking soda, and dishwashing detergent, then trying to get her rinsed off. Our bedroom still has a slight waft of ‘skunk’ as we enter….
One of the things I really enjoy is trying to play ball with her. I say, TRYING, because she doesn’t really get the idea of fetching the ball, bringing it back to us and letting us throw it again. She wants to get it the first time, then run around the house in a victory lap or six, then play tug of war. I was trying to get a picture of her with a ball in her mouth, but the minute she sees the camera, she drops it.
We’ll continue to look for signs she is taming down some, but it may be that the people who said, “Well….” were the ones who really knew of what they spoke.

