Montana
Montana in the living room looking out into the apartment courtyard.  Sometimes there are people swimming in the pool, and sometimes there are dogs playing in the area next to the pool.  He definitely could not be trained as a guard dog, and I have doubts if he can even be a watch dog.  When people pass by the wall-size "window" in the living room, he doesn't bark at them.  One week after I got Montana, Anastasia and I went to the vet to get her combination vaccine.  The vet asked about Montana.  I told him that he hadn�t coughed at all for the last two days, and for the two days before that, he only coughed once per day.  The vet said kennel cough usually takes about a week to cure, and it�s all right for him to meet other dogs now.  Dr. Ravis had been asking me for several days about when could Samson meet Montana.  So we arranged for the two dogs to meet that weekend.  That afternoon after Anastasia and I came back from the vet�s, I saw Montana looking into the courtyard like always, but this time Salty the Golden Retriever was playing fetch with his owner.  Penelope had met Salty once before, but she barked at him, so we didn�t let them get together again.  Salty�s a two-year-old male, I don�t know if he�s neutered, but I think he was too hyper for Penelope.  So that afternoon, I took Montana down to see Salty.  I asked Salty�s owner if my dog can play with his dog.  He thought Montana was Penelope, so he asked me if I�m sure my dog would like to play with his dog, then I had to tell him that my old dog died and this is actually a new dog.  He said his 18-year-old cat died recently also.  At first the two dogs kept sniffing each other.  Then Salty had enough, and he just wanted to play fetch again, but Montana kept sniffing him.  So I threw the ball trying to get Salty to fetch to break the dogs up.  Both Salty and Montana went after the ball, and Montana caught it and brought it back to me.  Before this, Montana showed no interest in fetching or in any of the toys I had for him.  But a few seconds later, Montana and Salty started sniffing each other again.  Then Montana growled at Salty several times.  I tried to break them up again by throwing the ball again.  Montana went after the ball once, but he wasn�t interested in it after that, just trying to sniff Salty and growling at him a few more times.  After ten minutes, I took Montana back to the apartment.  Salty�s owner was not the first one who thought that Montana was Penelope.  One of the managers thought the same thing, until the other two managers told him that Penelope had died a month earlier. Montana waiting for me right outside of the bathroom whenever I�m in it, just like Penelope did.  Even though Montana�s such calm dog, especially for a dog this young, I�m really not ready to adopt another dog until Christmas.  Right now I still miss Penelope a lot.  If I adopt a dog now, especially a liver/white Springer, I would just compare him too much with Penelope. 
To exercise Montana, at first I tried to get Montana to use the treadmill because it was so hot outside, and Montana already pants so much when inside, I didn�t want him to get heatstroke when we exercise outside.  But when I put him on the treadmill, he freaked out.  His legs just buckled, and I grabbed his collar trying to get him to walk for two minutes.  It didn�t work, so I gave up.  So we�ve been walking one mile everyday around campus.  About a week after his second bath, I had to give him his third bath because we got caught in the rain while we were walking, and whenever his fur gets wet, it smelled like urine again.  But luckily I didn�t have Anastasia with us, so she didn�t get soaked by the rain like we did.  That weekend, we went to campus again, but this time we found a lot of people in semiformal clothes because it was graduation weekend.  So I decided to get away from the crowds and walk toward the graduate student housing area.  When we were walking past a grandfather pushing his little grandson in the stroller, Montana suddenly walked off the sidewalk, and huffed (half bark) at them.  Usually when we walk past somebody on the sidewalk, he wouldn�t take a lot of interest in them, not like Penelope, who would pull me toward them wanting them to pet her (but not everybody likes dogs).  I think Montana was worried about the stroller, not about the little kid.  There are usually some little (under five-years-old) kids around, and that day was no exception.  We walked by several two or three-year-olds, and Montana glanced at them, but didn�t really take notice of them.  Although Montana�s very gentle dog, he�s a little afraid of loud sounds.  When I take him out potty every morning, when we hear the dumpster truck dumping out the trash, Montana would get scared and run three to five feet to the end of the leash.  And also he jumped once when somebody slammed their big car door in the parking lot.  At first we exercised in the afternoon like I did with Penelope, but it doesn�t get cooler until sundown, so I decided to wake up early and exercise him in the morning before the students come on campus for classes.  Also another thing I found out about Montana is that he�s allergic to freshly cut grass.  One time I had to take him out potty when they were mowing the lawn.  And Montana started scratching himself a lot after that.  But it wasn�t as severe as Penelope�s allergies, and Montana didn�t get an ear infection because of that (when Penelope walked on freshly cut grass, she would get an ear infection pretty much immediately).  That continued for two days until I gave him his second bath after we got caught in the rain after our walk on campus.
While Montana was in the living room looking into the courtyard, Anastasia was sleeping under the sun next to the bedroom window.  For the first few days, Montana was always at that same spot looking at the cars, but since Montana found other entertainment spots, Anastasia was able to nap there again.  When Montana walked into the bedroom, I thought he would walk over Anastasia and make her move, but I saw him sitting on the side so he wouldn�t disturb Anastasia.  They certainly get along well.
That Saturday afternoon, I took Montana to see Samson, Dr. Ravis� Bassett Hound.  Dr. Ravis had been so excited for the dogs to meet, because the two are the same age.  Samson is also a neutered three-year-old.  Dr. Ravis� daughters have an almost three-year-old and a two-and-half-year-old Labrador Retrievers.  But they weren�t there that day to meet Montana.  Samson and Montana met in their front lawn.  Then we decided to take the dogs out for a short walk.  Dr. Ravis commented on how nice Montana walks.  But I really don�t think Samson walks that badly for a three-year-old.  I remember that Penelope was all over the place too until she was about nine.  But Dr. Ravis also said that Montana walks funny.  I told him that I thought that Montana might have arthritis, because whenever he gets up after a long nap or after sitting at one place for too long, he would stretch.  Penelope did the same stretch when she was older too, and later I found out that they do that about two years before they would start limping from arthritis.  Then after the ten minute walk, we all went inside to have a drink of water.  The two dogs drank right next to each other and had no problem. The two dogs pretty much just sniffed and licking each other�s face.  Samson tried to get Montana to chase him, because Samson plays a lot with the two Labs, but Montana didn�t want to play.  The two boys are about the same weight, but of course Samson is a lot shorter than Montana.  But Samson is actually the dominant one.  Montana showed Samson his tummy twice, and Samson mounted Montana three times and Montana didn�t even care (Samson was neutered a long time ago, so it probably wasn�t a sexual thing, but rather just showing Montana that he�s the boss).
Samson also took Montana a tour around the house.  They are looking out of the French door that looks out to the front.  This is the spot that Samson sits everyday when his parents go to work.  Here he can see everything that comes and goes on the street.
Dr. Ravis has a beautiful wooden patio/deck in the back that faces the woods, and Montana loves it.  He kept looking at the squirrels and birds on the trees.
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