Sunday morning. Niko and I are haninging out on the deck as I type this. Eddie is wandering around the house somewhere. Last night after teh big walk with our friends we had dinner of barbecued Diestel ground turkey and ground veggies with peanut butter. Eddie ate off his plate and seems to be getting used to the idea of civilized dining. He left a small bit for Niko to finish off.

Last night after after dusk Niko and I were sitting on the deck by the front door with Eddie settled in his spot on the threshold. After a while of tentative approaches on the deck he came and stood by the bean bag bed on which Niko was lay. He sat with his feet almost touching it's edge and after about 15 seconds Niko calmly and somewhat stiffly rose and moved to the other bed futher onto the deck and closer to the me and the front door. Eddie settled comfortably onto it and we all sat in peace for some time listening to the birds call.

Niko and Eddie both spent the night out on the deck after going for another short walk to the end of the driveway. I made a point of going in and out of the door several times during the course of the next few hours with Eddie finally not bothering to get up when I came out. He is clearly becoming more comfortable. The temperature was in the lower 20's F but despite several invitations neither dog wanted to come in. I did close the gate around 11pm which Eddie did not seem to mind at all.

I opened the gate around 7am whereupon Eddie went out briefly and then we all went back to bed until about 9. I was having coffee and bagel and listening to Tilla barking at something on opposite hillside when Eddie came up to the front door to retrieve me. He led me around to the corner of the house where all three of us listened to Tilla for a while. She came over briefly and then I sent her home. Niko came inside and a bit later was standing by the front door to go out when Eddie came up on the other side of the glass and stared in at Niko who was directly on the otherside. They were almost nose to nose. After about 15 seconds I said "Hey Ed" and he took off. I'm pretty sure he could not see Niko or me through the glass.

A bit later we had our morning walk, Eddie very happy and more relaxed. I'm growing more convinced that he is functionally blind after seeing him run into another 1/2 inch diameter willow branch. I know he can see light and dark but I'm alomost positive he cannot see any detail.

So after typing this for about 1/2 an hour he has settled somewhere else. I'm now cold despite my warm clothes. I'm just amazed at the capactiy for dogs to handel cold. All I can say is that I which I had fur.

after sitting here editng this mess for antoher 15 mintues, Eddie is approaching us on the deck and doing his tentatative approach and retreat. I know he prefers the nice beds on the deck to his under deck den. He is really making great progress. His list of nasty and nice is starting to reslove it self. He ahs made great progress over the past week despite my early blunders trying to pull toward the house by his lease and the attempt to hold his collar. I am still seeing hte effects of that trauma and hopefully with time he will grow to trust me more. Right now he still keeps a much larger distance from me around the house than out on walks.