Blaze has been doing so well at home for the past three days!! I took him to meet his vet on Monday (he isn't due for shots, but figured I'd get them off to a good start) and everything checked out fine. Got his flea/tick/heartworm medication on, and the vet showed me a strategy to assert my dominance over him, which I really liked, since I wasn't having much luck with the "turn back on him or walk away" approach. Blaze would just happily run along and nip me all the while.

Soooooo, time for plan B. What the vet did was gently flip (I said GENTLY..) Blaze until he was on his side and just hold him down with minimal pressure until he stopped fighting and trying to get up. No ugly tone of voice, no yelling.. just hold him down until he stopped fighting. When he stopped, the vet slowly released the pressure... if he struggled again, hands go back down. As he stayed quiet...the hands come off.... and then Blaze can only get up when we say it's ok. Once he's up, lots of cuddling and puppy kisses and we move on. I must say the change in Blaze's behavior is remarkable. He still nips and bites, but he knows what the consequence will be and he's doing less of it. I actually saw him literally stop himself from leaping on my toes as I was putting my shoes on... I saw his little mischevious head eyeballing my toe.... he wound himself up to leap... and then he started-- and sorta fell sideways to stop himself. It was the CUTEST thing I have ever seen. He's learning.

And.. my favorite part-- he has started frapping!!!! This is my FAVORITE corgi behavior-- it's so hilarious... he frapped all around the sofa, around the kitchen table, into the kids' bedroom, stopped to pant pant pant pant in the living room, then he was off like a rocket yet again.

I do have a question, though. Do you keep the dog food out all day and let them eat at will, or do you pull up the food after a certain period and then put it back down at "dinner time" or "breakfast"?? All my food bag (Science Diet) says to do is feed a pup this size about 3/4 cup of food a day, but Blaze doesn't eat all of it at one sitting. Advice/suggestions??