Introducing...Remi! (Updated with Video!)

We're calling him "Remi" for short, but his full name is "Remington."

So far, he's very good.  I was really nervous, because I didn't know what to expect with a dog, but he's been very sweet and *knock on wood* appears to be fully housetrained already.  He must have been a surrendered pet, and not from a puppy mill like we thought, because he waits to do his business outside, stands and waits by the front door when he needs to go out, and understands some commands ("Sit" and "Wait").

He also took straight to his dog bed and crate, as evidenced here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y65mBnC-4D0

(Why didn't I just post the link to YouTube earlier? Duh.)

The crate remains a favorite hangout, especially when we're ignoring him by doing selfish things like eating in another room (I mean, the NERVE).  He whines until he realizes we're not coming back to rescue him, then he just gives up and goes into his crate, like, "Fine! Be that way, you guys!"  I'm also trying to train him to go into the crate and not whine when WE say to, not just because it's fun for him or we're making him mad.  We've done a couple of hour long practice sessions, and he seems to be getting it (with the help of his Kong for bribery).

I think he has a bit of kennel cough, though.  He's been coughing and sneezing, which was exacerbated by pulling on his leash.  The Lawyer and I already ran out yesterday morning and got a harness, but on his first night, he managed to wake himself up with coughing.

We had put him in his crate, taken off the lights in "his room" (The Lawyer's sunroom, which we partitioned off with puppy gates), and walked away (kind of like a baby).  He barked for about 10 minutes, then fell asleep.  Unfortunately, two hours later, I heard him start hacking and coughing.  That time, he woke himself up and did not put himself back to sleep.  Since we didn't want to annoy the neighbors (downfall of city living!), we ended up bringing his crate into the bedroom when he wouldn't stop barking. He slept through the night after that, and was OK yesterday.

Other than that, he's a little squishy delight.  I was worried that he might not like me, since he showed blatant favoritism to The Lawyer when we visited at the shelter.  He seems to have changed his mind, though, as he generally jumps around a lot when The Lawyer is present, but will come straight to me if I walk in the room.  His favorite thing seems to be to position himself either partially or fully up against my leg or foot and to sit there quietly or go to sleep.  In contrast, when I went back to bed yesterday morning, The Lawyer said he paced the room until I came back, refusing to sit down or snuggle with him.  Oh, well.  We'll work on that.  He has to get used to Mama and her fatty comfortable thighs not always being nearby to sleep on.

For now, though, this is the little monster sleeping near my feet.  (He tried to jump onto that pillow to sleep, but slid off and had to settle for the floor instead!)