Lessons Learned

Do NOT try and put Baxter's Sherlock Holmes coat on when we're both half asleep.

Do NOT accidentally brush his butt where the scab is healing.

Do NOT buy a carrier bag that he can't burrow into like a dog cave.

Do NOT deal with the scab healing on his face IN HIS DOG CAVE.

Do NOT believe your apartment is clean. Baxter, at least, is a walking lint brush.

Do NOT play with Baxter within ten minutes of leaving the apartment. Baxter will cry his little heart out and upset Billy the Dog two floors down.

DO let him meet men on his own time.

DO keep his harness on him when a man first walks in the apartment so you can walk him easily into another room.

If you DO work a matt slowly with your fingers, you can get it out.

DO say good boy more than ever possibly imagined.

Dogs are kind people magnets. At least on my block

Bill Berloni is right about everything all the time.