It’s been a while since we’ve let you know how Marley is doing.  The short version is he is doing great!!  He is without a doubt the king of the house.  He is very active.  We walk everyday, he plays in the yard (he loves to chase after balls) and he spends lots of time with the kids.  He has found the garbage and he is very smart so even our attempts to latch the door where the garbage is have failed.   We always know when he was in the garbage because when he greets us at the bottom of the steps when we get home, he won’t go up stairs with us to the kitchen.  Of course he knows we can’t stay mad at him so he comes up a few minutes later with kisses and tail wags.  Marley has lost a lot of weight.  I have attached some pictures.  We haven’t had it at the vet since the end of September when he had his shots (he has been very healthy – yeah!!), so not sure how much but we think he looks great and doesn’t need to lose any more.  He does not like other dogs to approach him when we are walking and acts with what I call “fear aggression”.  So when we are walking we steer clear of other dogs and most of the people with dogs in my plan have gotten to know Marley (he is somewhat of a star in the neighborhood) and they are very good about keeping their dogs away from him.  The kids in the neighborhood love him and he loves all the attention he gets and will sit and let them hug and pet him for as long as they want. 

Unfortunately we lost our Josie (our other weim) in March.  She was 14.5.  We miss her terribly.  Although she and Marley got along fine, he never seemed to miss her.  I really think he likes being the only dog of the house so that is the way it will stay. 

We took Marley and Josie with us to the beach in November.  They really enjoyed it.  Marley was perfect for the 9 hour car ride.  When we got to the beach house we walked him around the house a few time on a lease and he knew the layout of the three story home and which door to go to when he had to go out.  He is really a very intelligent dog.  He loved the beach and the water.  He loved finding sticks and walking around with them and playing fetch. 

Marley was not too thrilled with the large amount of snow we had.  Even though he is a big dog he wouldn’t go out in the high snow (it came up to his chest).  So we dug out an area in the yard for him and Josie.  I think part of it was that because he can’t see, he just didn’t know what was going on.

His favorite things to do are snuggle on the couch with one of us, chew on his bones, play tug of war and play out in the yard.  When he is ready for bed at night he whines at the steps because he doesn’t want to go up to bed himself.  He loves being with us and if I am home he is usually always by my side.

He really is a great dog and we feel very blessed to have him as part of our family.

Visit Marley's Blog:  http://tristatemarley.blogspot.com/