Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Puppy In Progress

I wonder what color Alphini will end up as he grows? In the sun his reddish undertones come out more and his nose looks more pink.Alfie sitting in front of a tree, sunlight giving his curly coat a reddish cast

...But in the shade he's more of a chocolate.

Alfie in the shade, this time his coat looks a dark chocolate/mocha color

...See what I mean? The last time I brought him to church one of my young students asked, "Didn't he used to be black?" I thought that was kind of cute -- to me he still does look blackish from a distance. I know for sure his eyes are changing color...they used to be green but now, they're more golden.

Of course as far as I'm concerned, he could turn tie-dye and I'll be fine with it as long as he learns his job well! Here we're practicing around some obstacles at a shopping center. I was surprised that he seemed to get the idea that we wouldn't both fit through the openings between the posts (he certainly could have done so on his own!) The first time, since there was an open path on his side, he led me around pretty well (oh -- besides stopping for a long investigative sniff in the bushes -- oops!) I turned him around, curious to see what he'd do when confronted with the obstacles again, but this time with no clear path around on his side. You could almost see the little wheels moving in his head as he sized it up, stopped, then looked up at me with this quizzical "Okay, now what?" look on his face. I love it when you can tell they're thinking and trying to figure things out!

7 comments:

L^2 said...

Every time I read your blog the comment I want to leave is: "He's SOOOO cute!" LOL

My Stella's eyes were yellow-green when she was a tiny pup, but by the time she was about six months old they had darkened to their current gold/amber color. Her fur also got a lot darker as she's aged, and from the puppy videos I've seen of Willow, she got a bit darker too. But their pink skin has always stayed the same. :-)

No matter what color he ends up, it sounds like ALfie is well on his way to being a fantastic guide dog.

Katrin said...

WOW he is getting so big!!! Very nice video!

Lisa and pups said...

WOW - WAY TO GO! that's great! He's uber smart and it shows.

Ooooh, he's like one of those lenses that change color. Light in the dark so you can see and dark in the light so you can see too!!! How funny.

Erin said...

I love how much you guys get to teach them! How cool!

Sierra Rose said...

Oh smart sweet Alphie!! You have magical colors my friend!

Hugs and snaggle-tooth kisses,
Sierra Rose

Infrequent Flyers said...

He's a luscious brunette!

Clive said...

Great video - he's learning so much so quickly.