She can crawl!

The dog that is.

Our last Lab, Indy had a number of useless tricks. One was "Paws on the Tree". As named, it meant we said "Paws on the Tree" and he ran to a tree in the back yard and well, put his paws on the tree. Craig and I thought it would translate to other tall objects, such as crosswalk poles - maybe he would even learn to press the button. Nope, "Paws on the Tree" was reserved for the tree. And when Mom and Dad cut down the tree, Indy would not put his paws on any other tree. In his world, that was the only tree. Another trick was teaching him to crawl on his belly. Unless your dog is in the army, or is required to get into small places, this is another fairly useless trick. It has no purpose, except to get praise or treats.

Molly has a smaller repertoire of tricks. I taught her to shake a paw - her very first trick! She can also spin around. She has not figured out how to roll over. Maybe she has, and just doesn't feel like it. You never know with a Lab. They are very independent. Other that these two tricks, she can sit and lie down. Sometimes this is optional.

Today we were playing on the floor with Lily. Lily love love loves the puppy. We are trying to teach her the sign for puppy, which involves patting your leg and saying Puppy. This works really well, because every time we do it, Molly comes a runnin. Even when we don't really require the presence of the dog. Molly is coming around to the idea that there is a little person in her world. She really wants to play with Lily, and does the classic play stance: butt in the air, head on the floor, tail wagging, all with a giant doggy smile on her face. Lily doesn't understand this yet, but she will! I digress. As we were playing on the floor, Molly was trying to be still, but was having issues. I told her to give me 'soft paws' that is, paws without squeezing her nails into your palm. Her version of a doggy handshake. Considering how dogs usually 'handshake', I am ok with this...

She was trying so hard to give soft paws, she kept creeping forward on her belly. When I clued in to what she was doing, I told her 'crawl, crawl, crawl' and she kept doing it. So now the dog can crawl. Perhaps she will be able to teach Lily while we are here.

Lily is soooo close to crawling. She has figured out how to turn in a circle while lying on her belly, and tries to get one foot under to push up. My mom thinks Lily will be crawling before they get back from the coast. In a way I can't wait, but it makes me sad too, because she is growing up so fast. Some days I look at her and she looks so old. Where did my tiny baby go?