Sorry for the silence around the holidays! My husband and I have been very preoccupied with work, work and more work. However, that hasn't stopped me from doing a large amount of progress with Ace's training!

He has become such an amazing gentleman; it's truly remarkable how fast he learns. Because I have opted out of joining the weekly "obedience" classes in my city (truth is, they use the Old School methods of fear and leash-pulling, which I abhor), I have made it my personal mission to socialize the heck out of Ace as well as groom him to be a model canine citizen.

Things are going superbly! He has overcome his initial leash-tugging and excited vocalizations when seeing another dog. His recall improves day by day, as I push him to respond in more distracting environments. He's learned a variety of cute party tricks to impress Ben's co-workers, as well as vital behaviors like losing his food aggression around raw meat, and "leaving it" for real.

WRT the food aggression, this has been a mostly uphill battle but the end is in sight. Oddly enough, he is completely okay with the cats and humans sticking their hands into his bowl and mouth when he's eating kibble. He only reacts when it's about raw meat. Initially he would bare his teeth and make all sorts of growly noises to tell cats to back off (he was not reactive towards humans). I have worked enough with him now to completely ignore the presence of cats when he's dining on his raw dinner, even when they're hovering a centimeter from his nose. The only "aggression" left is when I stick my hand in his mouth to take out whatever he's eating. He growls about 50% of the time; I'm working on getting that to 0. He is fine with having his ears, tail and paws tugged, his face grabbed at, and his nose flicked when eating - all things he used to be sensitive about when eating raw.

So all in all, great progress! I look forward to seeing him mature and become better at anything he puts his mind to, every day. Ace is the best dog I could have - smart as a whip, but he won't let me get that sense of accomplishment without really committing myself. What a great symbiotic relationship. :)