Taboo (the name we decided upon for the energizer puppy) has now learned:

• to sit (most of the time)
• to take treats nicely (without biting off a finger or 4)
• to walk on a leash
• how to sit for rides in the truck
  
• to play with the other rescue dog, Shelby, that shares our yard
• how to chase butterflies, dragonflies, leaves and airplanes flying around
• that even though flowers smell yummy, they are not to be eaten, dug up, gnawed or peed on
• learned that Mommy and Daddy’s shoes are not chewy toys and that socks are not to be chewed upon ever, but especially not while they are still attached to toes and feet
• that the huge Rottweiler next door really won’t eat him and likes to play
• that the washer, dryer and dishwasher aren’t going to eat him either, but don’t like to play
• that pizza crusts/steak scraps/etc may magically appear in the food dish for good behaviour (he constantly checks his food bowl for a ’surprise’ now and if there isn’t one there, he barks and looks at the fridge LOL!!!!)
• that Mommy and Daddy get angry when the garbage is knocked over and thrown around
• to drag his bed out of the bedroom and into the hallway when we wake up in the morning
  

and…

• how to catch… AND EAT.. little garter snakes… (I found half wiggling around in his mouth and half on the ground…. ugh.  Over the fence the half went when Taboo wasn’t looking!)

We also found out from my co-worker/animal rescuer when she talked to the neighbour of the previous owner that he just got back from a week’s vacation in the Rockies…

He left the 3 month old puppy ALONE WITH NO FOOD FOR A WEEK while he was on vacation.  He also didn’t seem to concerned that the puppy was “missing” when he got home.

Thankfully, the town the man lives in, is over an hour away, so I don’t have to worry about him coming to take the puppy back to starve to death.  Not that I think he’d even bother to do that much.

I just don’t understand people like that.  It does explain some of the puppy’s gulping of food though and the snatching of treats and food begging though.  Poor thing never knew if he’d get something else to eat before!