Linus: Unshelled

Yesterday afternoon, as quick as turning on a light bulb, Linus became happy and cuddly and playful. I was puttering around the house and he approached me with his tail held WAAAAY higher than I'd every seen it up to that point. I started talking to him and his tail started wagging away! I petted him and told him how good he was and that tail just kept on wagging.

I then took him and Oliver the Min Pin out for a potty break, and his tail stayed high (a sign of happy contentment/confidence). While we were wandering around in the grass, Oliver, who is a busy little bee, was zipping all around at the end of his leash, jumping and playing and generally amusing himself. Suddenly, Linus went running up to him, jumped goofily a few times, and play-bowed! He then went zipping around at the end of his leash with a silly expression on his face. He was honestly frolicking like a foal, and I couldn't stop laughing. He has kept his content, "normal dog" mood ever since.

We also got a surprise email from Kansas about him! It seems that he's been hiding his talents...Linus knows a trick! The Kansas people told us that he will "turn" on command, and they are right! If you tell him to "turn", he'll immediately walk in a complete circle (always clockwise, it seems). It's a pretty good trick! We shot a quick video of it and sent it to my sister. No, you can't see the video because I'm in it and I said so. (Unless you are the greyhound people, or a VERY privileged friend - just ask and I will send you the link in that case.)

There are a few last-minute administrative hiccups in the adoption process, but the flight is booked for early Sunday morning and I am confident that everything will go smoothly.

Oh, and I didn't mention it before, but Linus has not had a single accident in the house! All in all things are going very well with this amazing boy.

More later!