If I hadn't let the humidifier leak out all over my phone...

...I'd have some great shots of Tag for this post. But alas, filling the humidifier late at night isn't always the best option, when you can't see that it's not sitting properly in the base, and thus leaking all over your phone which is sitting right next to it.

But IF I hadn't let the humidifier leak out all over my phone:

- you'd see some fun photos of Tag running up & down a little hill which we discovered in downtown Cleveland, surrounded on all four sides by chain link fencing, a parking garage, and a stone & wood wall, which makes a PERFECT morning fetch spot. After our daily game of Green Bone, we'll often go get a cup of coffee & maybe run an errand or two at CVS.

- you'd see video of Tag greeting folks at the hotel, without his vest, and being very good and focusing on the walk when he does have the vest on.

- you'd see a photo of Tag & his new "uncle" Ben (a violinist & guitarist in the band), who, after a couple walks with us, some trial time with him in his room, and some otherwise getting-to-know-you bonding time, took care of Tag for a night & a day while Angie and I went to Tiffin, OH to visit with her grandmother on our day off. Tag & Ben got along famously, Tag even rode on the company shuttle and went to a dinner party at the home of the parents of Jared Stein, our musical director, who live in Cleveland. The report was that Tag was excited and very curious for about 20 minutes, then mellowed out & hung around the general group for few hours, getting potty walks from various cast members every half hour or so, and playing scoutmaster to "Crackers," our wardrobe supervisor's Jack Russell Terrier, as they explored the house hither & yon. And then, for the last couple hours of the evening, he hung pretty close to Ben, always checking in with him ("Is it OK if I go play with so-and-so?" or "Are we going home soon?"). He was a very pooped pup that evening, and we got him the next day, after he and Ben had been out for a morning walk & fetch, and after helping Ben practice his guitar. Apparently Tag is a very patient music critic...

Tag's doing great. NO potty problems, anymore. We'll see how the adjustment to Toronto goes. But he seems to have figured out the routine. And we'll limit how much he drinks in the evenings. We don't restrict water altogether, but we limit it a bit, after 10p or so, letting him have some drinks, but not just sitting & lapping it up... And Tag was VERY patient for my first time trimming his nails, during which I only took off the sharp edges, but enough to give us both practice with the event. No struggles, no argument - went great.

Tag definitely prefers walks and running on grass to concrete. We take him for plenty of walks on the concrete sidewalks, but he's not pulling so hard forward, as he would in a run, so it's easier on his pads. With time & practice, of course, he'll build up the callouses on his pads, so we're just trying to give him lots of opportunities to do just that by taking him on city walks. But when we go play or run about, we always try to look for grassy spots.

The other day, after a long walk, he held up his right paw, like there might be some pain or sensitivity to it. I checked it out on the street & everything looked fine. When we got back to the hotel room, I laid him on his back and gave all four paws a thorough going over, checking for any kind of reaction to pressure, any cuts or burrs or redness/swelling, and still couldn't find anything except for some mud and street dirt. I left him in his kennel for a couple hours, and when I came back he'd licked both front paws perfectly clean. I actually wonder if he was just complaining that his otherwise perfectly clean coat was marred by dirty feet!

At any rate, I've kept a close watch on him, and I don't see anything like that again, nor do I see any limping or sensitivity. He may have just been bidding for some attention. Which, as you can tell, worked very well...

For a long time, Tag wasn't allowed on the hotel room furniture - the bed or the chair. But because Cleveland's hotel room is a little small, and we have King size bed, we started letting him on the bed ONLY when he's been invited (the two times he's gotten up on his own, we give him the "Off" command and guide him back off the bed, not inviting him up until much later). And that's only in the morning, if we're just waking up, or at night, reading in bed. He doesn't sleep with us - he's usually at the foot of the bed, on the comforter which we take off.

The cast has all been very good about "respecting the vest" and not giving him affection while he's on duty. And we've had very good hospitality from businesses in he area, when he accompanies us with his vest, except for one bowling alley/ restaurant which refused to allow Tag to stay with us. Nicole will give a full account, as she's been walking me through the steps of protest. They called the police, who were very nice, but who also required us to leave, which we did very peacefully. However, letters of complaint have been filed with the US Department of Justice, the Ohio Attorney General's Office, the Ohio Commission on Civil Rights, the Cleveland Better Business Bureau, the Cleveland Police Department, the Cleveland Bowling Association, and City Councilman Joe Cimperman (who met us while playing with Tag out on the lawn near City Hall and was very smitten with him and, had he not had an arm in a sling, would have gladly joined in the games).

We took Tag to the vet for his pre-border-crossing exam, and he did very well. Weighed in at 44. 2 lbs., about the same as when we got him in St. Louis 3 weeks ago, so as per Nicole's instruction, we're upping his food intake from 2 cups a day to 3. Although he's got a teenager's long, lanky legs, his grace and fluidity of movement seem to be improving. And his testing the boundaries has abated a bit, during training. It's 85-90% reliable that any particular behavior will be performed on command. It's also probably 30% reliable that, especially at the beginning of a training session, he'll gladly perform a spin or a backing up without a command as well, however. But his self-discipline, that way, does seem to be improving.

We're working on getting him to follow my hand and eyes toward the blue dot, to go tap it & return, wherever he is, putting the dot further and further away. Today, we'll start working him out in the hall at distances greater than the room can afford. Just to see where he's at in terms of understanding the concept, I've occasionally tried tucking the blue dot so that it's hanging out of the bottom drawer in a chest, or hanging out from between the mattress & the box spring. I'm not making a habit of it, but just to see - and he gets the idea right away.

He had learned the idea of putting the ball or bone directly in my hand, while playing fetch, but he seems to have forgotten that, lately. I'll need to go back to practicing that inside for awhile, and then try to move the lesson outside. And hand-targeting is on our to-do list as well....

So - in the absence of any fun photos or video, I hope this little narrative will help everyone get a better sense of how the boy is doing. Oh- and we've also been working on Tag's voice. Of late, he has started to sound like Forest Gump, I don't really know why. But, in a good Tom Hanks-esque bayou drawl, try it for yourself, "My name's Tag. People call me Tag. Sometimes we play Tag, but I'm always have to be It. Thass just how it is...'Cause o' my name an' all..."

It's a work in progress, anyway...