Keenan Black Labrador Retriever Mix Male 2 Years Old ID#2771

May 21, 2020

Keenan is rounding out almost two weeks with us.  There has not been a single accident!   This farm boy has got city liv’n down pat.  What is the theory?… Two consecutive weeks makes a habit.  Keenan mastered his house training perfectly.  Each day, we separate out his outside runs by just a few minutes.  He has no issues making it through the night.  In fact, most mornings are now greeted by a chorus of doggie snores.  Keenan is tired at the end of the day.  He is exhausting our Lucy Lab.  No more all night puppy frat house parties either..( first couple of nights Keenan played with toys ALL night long, until I smartened up and hid them at bedtime ).  Keenan now conks out at night.  He rolled right off the couch the other night.  He keeps us laughing.

This past week, Keenan has met all six of our rescue cats.  Three of them are now sleeping with the canine creatures..as the felines like to call them.

The other three pretty much ignore Keenan.  More importantly, Keenan has tried to be brotherly to ALL of them. Gentle and curious.  No issues whatsoever.  This is huge!  Way to go Keenan.

This past week, he has almost mastered the command “lay down”.  He already had “sit” under his belt.  His crazy-man barking is getting a little better.  We are still working on it.  I remind myself of Rome, which was not built in a day. We learned that Keenan can spell.  Keenan gets so excited about a WALK, we started spelling it.. but after a few times of discussing W*A*L*K amongst the two- legged folks, he figured it out.  We now just say “W” amongst ourselves to be on the safe side.  He is SO smart.  On his last walk, he met a Doodle, “Penny” and her boy Conner.

Conner and Penny are super good friends with Lucy, and my daughter, Taylor.  Keenan was extremely well behaved with both of his new friends, and was rewarded with lots of belly rubs.  Keenan loves the attention.  He will do great in a home with other animals, and kids, especially since he is endless energy.  I am still amazed as to how fantastic he walks on a leash.  He is upstaging my sweet Lucy on our walks.

Keenan definitely has learned what the word “no” means.  As with any typical two year old, understanding the meaning, and choosing to follow the direction, doesn’t always fit into the doggie master plan.  Keenan likes to go on mad-tears around the property, and through the house with ALL the toys when you turn your back.  I am super ok with him eating all the dog toys..  We have A LOT, and even an occasional stray sleeper.  So far, he has not even eyeballed any furniture.  Yay Keenan.  Whoever invented the Kongs was a genius!

Keenan’s newest behavior of note is morning greetings.  Before he goes outside to do his business, he now greets me in the morning as if we haven’t seen each other in a hundred years.  Lots of wiggles, wags and kisses.  I wish my teen could take a page out of his book.  The dogs really make you feel appreciated.  He is appearing to be settled in and content.  We have had some mild weather lately.  He was happy just to go in the backyard with a bone and lay under the big Maple tree and chomp away .  He looked very relaxed.

This coming week, we are going to continue to work on his teething, and working on the command, “Stay”.  I think “stay” is going to be a tough one for Mr. High Octane, but we will work on it.  We are also going to try to work on the game of “fetch”.  Keenan thinks it’s only the game of chase the ball, and have dummy Foster Mom, Dad, and Sister actually go, and retrieve the ball.  He’s either very cunning, or has a wicked sense of humor as he has US running all over the backyard.  I am so happy to see Keenan-Beenan doing great.  We will try to curtail some of his chewing, but overall, he has made tremendous progress.

May 9, 2020

Hi Y’all from Keenan.  Keenan is just completing his first full day here at our house.  He was very confused, and thirsty after his long ride up from the South.  What a champ riding in the car..  He will definitely be the teacher to our 7 year old Lucy-Lab, who is still nutsy on car rides.  He was the perfect gentleman.  What a smarty-pants!

Keenan is FASCINATED with TV.  Our farm boy has never seen the inside of a house..  so EVERYTHING is an adventure!  He has mastered the stairs, and so far our good boy has not had one accident.  Yay Keenan.  Talk about a fast learner.  He is following around Lucy’s every step.  He didn’t eat much last night, but ate everything he could sniff out this morning.  He is definitely finding his stride.

Since he smelled like a barn, poor Keenan, ….poor house, … Sir Keenan got his first bath today.  The stuff of champions!  He didn’t want to actually climb into the tub, but with some encouragement, he had a very luxurious tubby and now smells dapper.

He’s really such a good boy.  Keenan and Lucy got alot of fresh air today.  They are getting along great.  I haven’t heard a peep out of either one of them in the last hour.

I’m thinking this household will get some sleep tonight.  Nothing like fresh air to tire out the kids.  Also!!  Keenan got his first piece of mail today.  A surprise box came for him full of goodies!!  Toys, treats, new collar- red- perfect for his black coat, leash etc!!  It was overflowing with gifts.

Keenan was a real sport and shared some of his toys with Lucy.  Probably only fair, ..  last night.. guessing it was about 2 a.m. when Lucy jumped into his new bed, Keenan decided to jump into her box of toys and proceeded to systematically take out each and every toy out and play with them.    Lucy must have 40 plus toys.  It was a LONG night…  All is fair in love and war.

For the time being, Keenan is in our den behind baby gates.  We have multiple cats that pass by.  This way they can all see and smell each other. So far he is curious, but no extreme reactions. Fingers crossed.   The cats are not overly interested..  more or less rolling their eyes at me..    they love our Lucy, so they will break him in.  Attaching some pics of our first day’s adventures..  I’m sure you will all agree Keenan-Beenan is very handsome.  Tomorrow we will be working on some simple commands. Oh!! Almost forgot, next to living Animal Planet on the TV..  Keenan has discovered that he LOVES couches!!  Fantastic invention!!