Angus' Super (Bowl) Sunday

"Are you looking at my feet?"

I think that of all our dogs, Riley was the best walker. Toby was great, but he'd rather be running after a tennis ball. Boscoe was completely obliging, but on hot summer days he never felt like going very far and, quite honestly, he was a pretty lazy dog, for a border collie, and he was just as happy sleeping.

Rosie walks well, but she gets cold easily (she has any number of fleecy jackets, none of which seem to make much difference) and her paws are sensitive to road salt and sometimes she just gives up and makes it clear she wants to go home.

But Riley! Riley would walk as far as you wanted in any kind of weather. Doug nicknamed him Tercel, after my old Toyota Tercel, which plowed doggedly through snow and ice and kept going no matter what, always got me where I was going and back again. One Memorial Day weekend, when everything was closed, I drove that car to Duluth from the Twin Cities with a cracked head gasket. I just kept stopping every few miles to pour water into the radiator, and steam billowed out as I drove, but we made it just fine. That was the Tercel, and that was Riley.

Riley was a walker, happy to be in motion. And I think Angus will be a lot like Riley in that regard.

Riley was always happy to be trudging along wherever we took him.

It was seven degrees below zero this morning when I walked the dogs--first Rosie, then Angus, because we got snow overnight and the footing was treacherous and it just felt safer to walk one dog at a time. There was no wind, and beautiful blue sky and fresh pure snow and brilliant sun that actually felt warm on my face, but the air was cold cold cold.

Rosie got cold on the walk; she didn't turn back, but I could feel her shivering. She has short thin hair and she is, after all, from Missouri. But Angus! When it was his turn he just trudged along happily, walking like a dog much older than he is, steady and firm and with that little strut of his. He's an old soul, I think. We could have gone a lot farther except for the fact that by then my face was starting to freeze.

Doug went shopping and ran errands and came home with two big chew toys, and Rosie and Angus spent their afternoon quibbling over one of them, ignoring the other (even though the toys were identical).  I read on the couch and at one point both dogs hopped up with me, and Angus curled up at the bend of my knees and put his little head on my leg and I cannot think of a more pleasant way to spend an hour.

He is eating robustly and gaining weight fast. I did the puppy weight calculator based on his new weight (20 pounds) and his new age (13 weeks as of Tuesday) and came up with the staggering number of 83 pounds.

He is already so bulky I have trouble holding onto him.

Here is proof that he came down the main stairs on Saturday. He has not even thought about attempting it again:

We are in no hurry. He is already growing up much too fast.