It’s nice and cool this morning. Sammy greeted me excitedly to tell me he slept well and was hungry! So hungry he wolfed down all his wet food without noticing the pill. We’ve been walking and having so many adventures I’m not surprised his appetite is strong. Day’s off to a good start. After breakfast, a nice long walk around the complex, hitting every dead end and extension. We ran into the White Dog again, who barked at Sammy before he barked back. His tail was wagging furiously, so he wasn’t upset with her – just wanted to meet. But the White Dog’s owner wasn’t into it, so we went in another direction. Sammy only barked a few times, but he was very keen to follow them. Sammy’s behavior on the retractable is good enough to start practicing off-leash. He is still willful, so when he wants to go somewhere really badly he pulls, but the other 95% of the time, he understands his safe radius and happily stays within it. He’s even learning words like “this way” and “car” and adjusts his behavior quickly. While some dogs have a lot of trouble following directions, Sammy has no trouble knowing which way is up.