Spring has arrived!

Winter is finally over- hooray! But spring greets us with a thunderstorm and LOTS of rain today... not really the way I like to start off such a wonderful season (or a Monday morning, for that matter)! But, hey- it could be worse. It could be SNOW. Things have been busy, busy, busy for the last few months. We are now very settled into our new home and are just absolutely in love with it. The boys just love having the backyard and it's so nice for them to be able to burn off so much energy! I have missed taking them for walks and regular hikes during the winter months, but since it's been so mild for the last few weeks, we've managed to get plenty of outdoor time. I've gotten in the habit of taking either Jackson or Lance for a run after work. We usually just go about 4 or 5 miles, and luckily there's a path down our street that cuts right through to our old neighborhood. I've noticed that the boys (Lance especially) have digressed a little bit in the obedience department when it comes to leash walking. He was really great when we were walking the boys every single day, but when it was cold, they would go for weeks and weeks without a leash walk (thank goodness for the backyard or they would have never gotten exercise)! I'm trying to work with him a lot, but it's frustrating. He pulls- a lot!

Jackson is a lot better, but still has a horrible habit of getting overly excited when we pass another dog. And really, it's only bad when the L&J are together- much more managable when I just have one of them out with me. Lance continues to get insanely excited when he sees a squirrel or rabbit (or a robin, even) and is on constant "watch" over the backyard. He loves to just lay in front of the sliding glass door and observe. I always say that he's "watching over the backyard" for us. He also looks out of the windows on either side of the front door, since there's a lot of action with people walking down the street.

Jackson doesn't seem to see the appeal that Lance does (and isn't nearly as vocal), but he's always interested to see what Lance is squealing at when he sees something.

I'd love to have Cesar Milan come to our house and treat the boys how to behave around other animals, period. We also have an issue of them getting overly excited when people come over. They don't act crazy when one of us walks through the door, but anyone else- forget it! Most of our friends and family love dogs, so it's not a big deal, but I'm a little worried when someone comes to the door that is not so keen on being jumped on. Again... something we are continuing to work on.

Other than that, the boys are just great. They are still growing and, as you can see, are pretty handsome young men. Although Lance looks a little silly in the photo on the right- but he is a big goofball.

We'll be taking them to get their new vaccines and next check-up very soon, so I'll be interested again to see how much they weigh and how the vet thinks their development is going overall.