Thank you!! The misadventures have continued unfortunately. He has conjunctivitis--the vet said that's just a catch-all for some sort of little cut on his eye. It was a little red yesterday morning, but very hard to tell it was different than his right eye (it's his left). I thought I would just watch it, but over the next two hours it got worse. He's my little buddy, so of course I packed him into the car and took him to the ER. It was a busy, depressing day there. We waited patiently while a lot of critical cases came and went. Eventually, we left with antibiotics. That was the ticket, because it looked way better after the first application. When he gets excited it starts to looks worse and the vet said its because his blood gets pumping, but I'm treating it for seven days. We've got quite the night time ritual--he has a tiny scrape on his pad, so I put something on that, he's still using up the last of his ear drops, he's got his eye gel now, and he takes two little probiotic chews. He's STILL got diarrhea on and off. Every time I take away the boiled chicken and rice it comes back, so I'm still tinkering with his diet.

Other than all his little things, he's doing great. Even though it doesn't sound like it! He jumps around and plays with his toys (he's got a lot of toys). The scary lethargy and puking has passed THANK GOD. We just went for a long walk in the snow. sometimes he stops to grab at the leash, but otherwise he walks right along side me. Training him has been tough. He's a very different kind of dog and he's been sick, so we've had a difficult start. I've been conflicted about how stern and rough to be with him, since he's just a baby and he's been adjusting to his life with me as fast as he can. He seems to have hit his stride, because he has learned sit and just today he learned paw and down. He doesn't have those down quite as well as sit, but we are getting there. Come is really hard. He's very independent, so he doesn't just come bounding over when I get excited for him so we've got to work on that. He still doesn't have an official name!! Everyone calls him meatloaf, but I don't like that. I think he needs a better name to suit his complex personality.

The diet is the biggest hurdle. Right now, he's on his puppy food mixed with a prepared raw chicken dog food.

Thank you guys so much for listening to our story. It means a lot to have the support. This week he went to the groomer (just for the experience, I knew he'doing get dirty right after). The woman that worked with him loved him. Apparently, she has trained German shepherds for years. She offered to give me tips. I was apprehensive, because they're such different breeds but I'm always willing to accept help! She was so in love with him, she researched the breed and then she tried to convince me to give him up. Everything she learned, she learned from watching one night of Russian fighe videos on YouTube and translating the descriptions. That was really stressful, because I was starting to really doubt myself, but it passed. She did a great job with grooming him, though. It was just a little puppy thing. A sanitary trim and a bath. I'll attach pictures of him afterwards.