Scattered Thoughts on Guard

1.  Guard can now climb up on chairs and tables.  I'm pretty sure I have pulled him off the kitchen table about 800 times this morning.

2.  We have discovered that Guard and Coal are at about the same level with their mental development.  We knew that border collies have the same intelligence level as toddlers to small children, making them the smartest dog.   I find myself treating them the same and giving them the same instructions:  stay, leave it, drop it, good girl/boy.  Greg pointed that out to me the other day.  "You're treating Guard like a dog."  Too bad Guard isn't as obedient as Coal.

3.  We had a crazy night in our house last week.  We usually read scriptures and say prayers before bed, but this night we were doing good to get prayers done.  As we knelt down by the couch to say prayers, Guard had his arms folded, but then ran off.  He came back carrying Greg's scriptures.  He plopped them down in front of Greg and said, "Uhh!"  Greg looked at me and smiled.  He opened the scriptures and read a few verses.  Then we prayed.  And Guard put the scriptures back.  Thank you, Guard, for helping us remember what we should be doing.

4.  Whenever Guard wants to go outside (which is constantly!) he goes into his room, gets a hat and puts it on.  He walks to the back door, pats his head (telling me he has his hat on) and then bangs on the door and says, "Uhh!".  Sometimes if I'm lucky he puts shoes on as well.  However, the shoes are always on his hands instead of his feet.

5.  Guard likes to clean up.  He will put away toys, help me with laundry and stack newspapers. Of course, he gets out about 10 times more than he cleans up, but I appreciate his help.