Charlie loves to chew on wood, especially the pieces of fence that my mom's lab/hound mix, Bandit, bites off or the pannels my dad has replaced because of Bandit's habit. Unfortunately I think he swallows a few pieces, along with anything else small enough to fit in his mouth.

Charlie loves to curl up against my legs like that when we nap too.
Very cute.

I've definetly considered obedience classes. I actually wanted to get him in some sooner, I just got caught up in my first year of college. Now that the summer is here I'm going to look into the classes at the local Petsmart. Thankfully it's close, since gas prices are getting so horrible.
My only concerns with actually taking him for classes is that he'll refuse to pay attention. He tries to play with every dog he comes into contact with and I think that might cause issues with him actually learning anything.

I know he's a smart boy. He's already learned several commands and such. He just prefers not to listen most of the time :).

Thanks for the replies.

It's been quite a bit since I've had time to post (don't really have time now, but I prefer procrastinating my class work). I'm just getting a bit concered with Charlie.

I figured when I adopted him at 7 weeks that he would have issues trusting people, since him and his 6 siblings were dropped off and put into an unfamiliar kennel. He warmed up a little to me and my family over the first few weeks, but now he's 8 months old and he still seems rather independant.

Charlie gets along great with our two lab mixes, and he even attempts to play with out 14 year old, arthritic and grouchy papillion mix, but with humans, it's like he wants very little to do with them.

He'll cuddle in bed at night, whine a bit when I leave for classes, and run up and greet someone with a wagging tail, but other then that, he tends to avoid everyone.

It also worries me for when I move out in a few years. I won't have any other dog with me, and most likely, won't get another one for a few years after I move out. I'm afraid he'll get depressed or something serious because of this.

It doesn't come off as typical behavior from what I've read here, but has anyone ever had a B like this? Or does anyone have any advice to help me bond better with him? I take him on walks, just the two of us, and I play a little with him when he is actually in the mood, but I'm at a loss of what else I can do.

So it's been awhile scince I've had time to post, so I thought I'd share a couple of things that happened the last few weeks.

About three weeks ago, I was sitting in my room, doing homework. Then I hear my mom scream my name, so thinking Charlie ripped apart something important, I went out to check. I got into the living room to see my mom dart across the room and Charlie sit down in the middle, staring at her. Then I notice what he has dangling from his mouth. Hanging out of one end was a small brown head, and the other end had a long limp tail.

Charlie caught himself a rat.

He looked up at me and had this proud look on his face, like he was thinking "look mom, I caught it all by myself!" I couldn't help but feel proud of him, as disgusting as it was. Getting the rat away from him wasn't easy either. My mom ended up darting into her room, and Charlie followed, jumping on her bed and going after her. After chasing him all around the house, I was finally able to pull the thing out of his mouth. He looked so sad after I took his new "toy" away.

Then, a few nights ago, I let Charlie out to go potty. After about 10 minutes I went outside to call him in, but he just kept darting around the backyard. After about five minutes of trying to coax him in, I went to grab him and drag his butt in. But, of course, as soon as I started walking towards him, he took off and picked something up off the ground as he ran. I could tell right away that it was a little toad. As soon as he picked it up he went into the house. At this point I was getting a bit angery. Figures he won't go in when I want him to, but when I don't want him in the house, he can't wait to get in.
I walk in and hear my mom scream. I go into her room and see Charlie sitting on the bed, and the toad dropped on it.

I guess Charlie just likes sharing his dead animals with his grandma.

He's such a little pain at times, but I can't help but love him :rolleyes: .

I think that dogs look much better when they have natural ears rather then cropped. I know that many dogs with floppy ears get ear infections, but if an owner took the time to clean the ears regularly, then many of the infections could be avoided without having to alter the dogs appearance.
With tail docking, I always remember what my vet tech teacher in high school, who is a licenced vet, told the class one time. When she was starting to work in vet offices about 40 years ago, the way they docked tails would be to take a puppy when it was just a few days old and twist between the joints until the end snapped off. It's just horrible.
Dew claws are a good thing to have removed, they get in the way. One of my lab mixes, Reese, almost ripped one of her's off one time.

That's adorable.
Charlie is, unfortunately, a morning dog, and likes to get up between 7 and 9. I perfer to wake up around 10, like a typical college student. Charlie will usually walk really close to me, so the bed shakes, then sit on the bottom corner on my bed or go to the door and cry until I get up to let him out.

@tanza:

Another question… why are you bathing him once a month? Unless showing, mine are lucky to get baths twice a year...

Right now, we're in the middle of redoing our backyard, since we just got a pool put in. So the majority of the back, where all our dogs spend most of their time, is dirt.
Charlie wrestles with our other two, and of course, all three dogs' favorite time to play outside is when it's damp out.

They all get quite muddy, so I bath him when his white areas start turning dark grey.

After I finished his bath I thought about using treats. It may be a lot of work to get him used to the bathroom and all, but it'll definetly pay off in the end.

I'm just afraid of him getting hurt because he slams himself against the tub so hard…. then again, slamming his head really hard against a wall while playing with a stuffed bear didn't seem to bother him.

I'll definetly try it, and thanks.

So I gave Charlie a bath tonight, and it was horrible. He started whining/squealing and jumping around. He slammed into the bathtub bottom numerous times, and trying to hold him with one hand and scrubbing him with the other doesn't work well.

When he was smaller, I would just take him into the shower when I got in and hold him close while scrubbing. He's just getting too big for that.

Of course, he looks very pretty and shiny now.

I was just wondering if anyone had any tips on how to keep him calm during bath time.
He doesn't get bathed often, maybe once a month. I don't want to medicate him or anything, just get him used to standing mostly still.

And for his ears, are baby wipes good to use?

Much thanks in advance.