Here it is two and half months later and true to the breed, he has not let us down. 

Puppy antics are escalated to a whole new level when your 5-month old puppy weighs in at 74 pounds. Puppy kisses turn into full-fledged face washing, if you're not careful. Puppy nibbles can leave a mark. A leisurely jog in the yard feels like thunder rolling in. Therefore ...

...training is imperative.

​And train we do. Before he is pet, he sits. When he eats, he goes to his crate, sits, and waits (well, we're still working on that, but it's close). When he plays too rough with our little Jackador (37#) we tell him 'gentle' or 'easy' as we distract him. Now, don't get me wrong, Luna can take care of herself and has found vulnerable spots on Eric that can stop him in a second.  Plus, we have given Luna two 'safe' spots where Eric is not allowed to bother her. When Eric is all the way out in the west lot, he comes when called. We're still working on staying, which he does well if we're alone, still working on his short attention span and distractions. Oh, and he'll shake, too. And, lie down and turn around. Backing up is challenging as his tail still touches the ground.

We went through several toddler phases ... first, was chewing - not swallowing - baby acorns. Not a good idea. Second, rocks ... and they are all over our yard. While we did see some pebble sized ones in his poop for a couple of days, he quickly settled into bringing us larger ones - he's still teething. Third, sticks. Again, our yard is an organized ruggedness with many trees to keep him busy. Fourth, most anything on a table within his reach - remotes, Tom's hearing aids, coasters, coffee, and the list goes on. Funny, he doesn't really chew those things, he just likes to take them. He loves socks and shoes, but again ... no chewing, just sucking on them I guess as they are always wet.

We keep him in toys rotating Toy Box #1, 2, 3, and 4 to keep him entertained. It's funny to see him address a 'new' box ... he will paw and dig until he finds the perfect toy. Then, he empties the whole thing and chews - and this time he does chew - on the box, handles, whatever he can.

He loves to go for walks and thanks to my step-daughter, Amy, he has never pulled preferring to walk alongside me. Yes, treats are involved. Need a good training treat ... check out freeze-dried beef liver from Pupford. Eric loves them!

My DOH, Tom, often shares reels or other short clips of Irish Wolfhounds. We've had two rescued adults so I knew what to expect, but nothing could have prepared me for a bundle of awkward, clumsy, comical antics of a puppy. It didn't take long for me to find a breeder and after viewing several wolfhound videos sent to me, I shared the link to Irish Wolfhound puppies (marketplace.akc.org) and got the ball rolling. Tom, of course, was more apprehensive than I, but a day or so later while he was in the yard picking up dog poop, I wandered by when I heard Tom say, "His name is  Eric." 
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That put me into overdrive to prepare the house and yard for a rambunctious toddler who would be full of energy and in everybody's face. Our older dog, Luna and grandpup, Copper would need to make some adjustments to their ho-hum life of lolling in the sun and chasing FedEx and UPS trucks from one corner of our corner lot to the other - a glorious, hilly, tree-heavy yard that includes portholes in our stockade fence to let them see the world while contained!