Alex

Trudy and Bill,

Have to tell you the latest about Alex. Alex now goes out in the morning

and checks over his territory (smells) to see who was around while he was

sleeping. We leave the back door almost closed and when he is ready to come in

he pushes it open and comes in. So I decided he needs to learn to close the door. About 2 weeks ago I started teaching him how to close the door. He knows what I want and just wasn't getting it closed tight. This morning he went behind the door which he does and pushes it with his nose. Now he has learned that if he leans against

the door and pushes with his body the door will go closed and that is what he did this morning. He is amazing. Now we have to think of something else to teach him.

Sunday evening while walking, a family saw him and wanted to pet him. They thougnt he was beautiful and loved him. We still are getting raves about him. He is a special dog and we love him so much. When he and Dar are out especially in the morning (Dar working in the garden) Alex is roaming around looking for

chimpmunks or whatever he smells, but he keeps coming back to check on Dar. He doesn't let us out of his sight. If I'm inside, he comes looking for me when he comes in. Also when I play the piano he lays down and goes to sleep. We are still working on the wanting to jump and give a kiss when he meets someone. He

sure loves people.

Thanks again for letting us have this wonderful dog. He still is a puppy to me.

Roberta