General update.

Not much to report from the past few days, as we've mostly stuck to our regular routine. I did make it out to the pet store twice to work on his dog reactivity. The first trip went very well -- he calmed down quickly and was able to show off his training in close proximity to the other dog. During the second trip we had a lot more failures because a big dog kept popping out from around corners unexpectedly and setting Cai off. We'll keep plugging away.

His left ear is a bit floppy today. Oh no! I've heard that it can happen temporarily while they're teething, and I guess he's at the age to start losing his baby teeth. I haven't found any yet.

Blurry cameraphone tugging

 Cai's appetite has gone up again and he's eating a lot but is still skinny. I started hydrating the Real Meat food with water to make it easier for him to chew, and adding canned food to make sure that he finishes absolutely everything. I guess he's going through another growth spurt.

Whee!

I've had a little more success with getting him to bring the toy back to me after "winning" in tug by sitting on the floor and waiting him out. I make absolutely sure not to lean toward the toy or make any other motions that look like I might want to take it. After a while he gets bored of chewing on the toy on his own (sometimes it takes quite a while...) and comes over to me to say hello. I praise him excitedly and pet him in his favorite ways. Thanks to this he's started sometimes bringing the toy with him when he comes over. After a few seconds, if he's relaxed and I can get the end of the toy without reaching toward his mouth, I can restart the game. Even if he doesn't bring the toy to me, I'm still happy to see him leave it on the floor and come to me for attention instead. We're definitely headed in the right direction in terms of forming a working relationship.