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.

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

...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!