Our wild child is seven months old and 80 whopping pounds. Millie is amazing with her strength and speed and how fast she learns. The biggest problem is that she is just so big and our house, although not extremely small, would be classified as a “starter home” on HGTV.  And, we have stuff. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not hoarder-type stuff, it’s just a lot of regular stuff.

She’s already cracked the glass in my pride and joy, my replica curved glass curio cabinet. I was so upset and it was something that I was afraid would happen. The curio sits in my entry hall and when people come through the front door, there isn’t a whole lot of room for people and a large dog who is trying to wag her tail off and jump up on the poor unsuspecting visitors.  The night before she cracked it, I was laying in bed thinking about different ways to maybe safeguard the glass from her wicked tail, but, that’s all I did, think about it. Unfortunately, the next day in her excitement to greet my son and his dogs, she beat her tail on the glass one too many times and it cracked. Now the glass in the bottom third of the cabinet is wrapped in two layers of bubble wrap and I am avoiding people coming in the front door if Millie isn’t corraled somewhere other than the entry hall.

One of the things we’ve begun working with her on is walking on a leash. I tried last week using only her halter but she pulled so hard I was afraid I couldn’t control her. Although I didn’t want to, we have changed to a training collar.

A training collar is a combination of a regular leather collar and chain. When the leash is attached to the chain, it pulls the collar tight around her neck. It doesn’t hurt her although she sounds like she’s choking but it does slow her down.

On Labor Day, the Great Hunter (and it’s getting to be his “time of the year”) and I took Millie to the Katy Trail. The Katy State Park is the country’s longest recreational rail trail. It runs 240 miles, largely along the northern bank of the Missouri River, in the right-of-way of the former Missouri–Kansas–Texas Railroad from St. Charles to Clinton, (southeast of Kansas City.)

Millie did okay and she got more well-behaved the longer we walked. After having Molly and Lily and their quite laid-back life, it’s hard to have a “wild child.”  I’ve forgotten what it’s like to have a puppy and a very large one at that. She is definitely a hand-full. But we’re trying. And we love her.