So good news or bad news first.. let's take a breather before we begin, shall we?

So let's start..

Bad news.. in the past few days, Dogbert has reverted back to howling in the crate. We're talking pushing his body and breaking free. He is quite the Houdini and tearing the apartment into shreds. Literally. Crate training has definitely been testing our patience. Unfortunately our neighbors aren't too fond of our loud little dog;s anxiety. It's been tough but we appreciate all the support that is getting us through this.

Good news.. Sach is a natural born swimmer! He dove into the ocean when we met up with Ned, Morgen and Cooper. Although his salt water intake left little to be desired.. his runs and great personality with people and other pups made us proud! He's become very fond of soccer balls and is getting really good at fetching (when in the water, ofcourse.)

He also had his training evaluation this past Saturday. The trainer gave us some great ideas and really gave us perspective on bonding with our pup. For example, praise outweighs treats. Consistency - Structure - Affection. These are a few things that Marc and I need to practice on. The classes start on Saturday and hopefully the obedience will calm him down and make him more confident so that he's ok when he's left at home. The class is 6 weeks long and I'm happy to report that already we seem to have a lot of trust in his training! He knows Mals and is like a proud dad when he talks about the breed. It was really nice - he gave us a few great laughs when talking about his own Mals! "Remember German Shepherds think then react. Mals react then think. You can actually see them thinking AFTER they react." So true!! Silly dogs. =)

Ofcourse a blog is not a blog without pictures. Here is a photo of our "Working Dog." Marc was working at the office in Concord and decided to bring dogbert in. He quickly won everyone over and definitely was a hit!