Puppy Love

I'm overwhelmed with love for my dog at this moment, and trying to encompass it within a FB status just wasn't cuttin' it.

By now you can see that I love to make lists. This post is no different.

Ten Reasons I Love My Dog, Luke:

1. We have a bed for him set up in the dining room under a table. When you're sitting in the living room and look over, you can see him. I love it when I look over and he's looking straight at me. This happens a majority of the time I glance over at him. He's always watching me to see that everything's okay. 
2. He is extremely smart. It's so much fun to get to show off all the tricks he can do when our friends and family come to visit. At this point in training, he's mastered sit, shake, speak, up, down, turn, praying, and probably a couple others that aren't coming to me at the moment. We still work on "go to bed" and "drop it" on a regular basis. "Stay/Wait" is also on our list of to-do's. Oh, also a BIG training point for us right now is toning down his excitement when guests come over. I'm pretty sure this will get easier with time, as his puppy-ness eventually simmers down, but no sense in not trying to work on it when we have the opportunity.
3. He's head over heels in love with Husband and I. I don't have specific instances to provide as examples, it's just a certainty I have. He is happiest when both of us our home and we're all together. 
4. Every once in a while, he'll get up from his bed in the dining room and come over to where I am on the couch and rest his head on my leg so I can pet him. He's just ridiculously loving.
5. He loves to go on car rides. He doesn't try to get in the front seat, he doesn't try to jump out of the window, he doesn't bark... He's absolutely perfect. In fact, I often forget he's even in the car with us. That is, until I glance at the side mirror and see him with his head out of the window, ears blowing in the wind, happy as a clam. 
6. When we go on walks, he's the kind of dog that will want to sniff/lick any dog we come to. All the dogs we pass in yards will bark or growl at him, and he doesn't even flinch. He's very non-confrontational.
7. He's friendly to every person that we meet. He loves our family. He is a little rough with kids, despite the fact that he absolutely adores them. He just doesn't realize how much stronger/bigger he is than they are. He is getting better, and I'm excited to see how he is when we have kids.
8. His guard dog skills have vastly improved in the past 2-3 months. There's a noticeable difference between his normal, everyday bark and the bark he gives when the doorbell rings or someone knocks at the door. He also dislikes when my car horn beeps (like when I remote lock the doors) and when my cell phone rings and the ringer is turned on. He's just started barking to the cell phone yesterday, but he did it again today from a dead-sleep. We're hoping that, as time progresses and he becomes less interested in his surroundings at night and more interested in getting sleep, we'll be able to let him sleep outside of the crate. This would make him a much more effective guard dog and would make me feel a lot safer when Husband works nights.
9. He's 100% potty-trained. Hallelujah! 
10. Although my cat hisses/swats at him more often than not when he passes by, he still tries to lick her and sniff her every chance he gets. He's just such a sweet dog, no matter who he meets or how they treat him.

I'm kind of obsessed with my dog, oops. He's just kind of wonderful.

following "shake" command