Hunter had a very big day today... he went to Petsmart for his first "grooming". I say the term in quotes because he was really only washed, blow dried, and had his nails trimmed. We wanted to make sure that he got accustomed to service handing- such a fancy term right? The whole she-bang was only $11.00 and Hunter was a champion. As horrible as I feel saying this, it was kind of nice to have some time to ourselves.
I went to the grocery store without feeling guilty about not spending time with him. I made Sam a BOMB omelet and bacon for breakfast. We picked up the house and vacuumed without having to work around the little guy. And you know what, we were all a LOT more relaxed this afternoon. Sam's patience for Hunter's teething has been restored, which is good, because I think he was getting a bit short-fused.
After we picked Hunter up at Petsmart, and by the way he looks SO freaking precious now that he's clean and brushed, we took him to the dog park in Irvine. True to most things in Irvine, the dog park has an official name- Central Bark. Our neighbor, Matt, suggested we take Hunter there after his encounter with a Great Dane on Tuesday. He said there's a small dog section and it would help Hunter get acclimated and socialized. We took Hunter for an hour yesterday and kept him on his leash the whole time, and the other dog parents assured us that he would be fine off-leash when we were all comfortable. Today was that big day- we let him off leash. And he was GREAT! He actually ran around and left our sides... that is a HUGE accomplishment for him. He is a bit of a mama's boy. But he went for it and actually had a great time. He was totally exhausted after an hour and a half.
Sam and I really enjoyed interacting with the other dog parents. There were some really nice people that came up and introduced themselves, and were able to set our minds to rest that he's going to be okay and get the hang of the whole socializing thing. Sam and I did make the observation that while Hunter was running around there were several people who bent down to pet him. That was not as common as I'd have thought. It was also really interesting how many people come up to us and tell us how handsome he is. Another example: we are pretty frequent visitors to Petsmart and some of their employees know Hunter by name and are constantly telling us what a handsome boy is he, and how well behaved he is. So this is my question, is this normal? Or is our dog really as awesome and special as Sam and I (in our biased way) think that he is? Time will tell.
We got home, Sam put him out of the car, and he immediately lay down to go to sleep. And you can see the cute little bandana that they put on him at Petsmart. We took it off at the dog park just in case someone tried to grab it and drag him across the yard. :-) As soon as we got home, he took a BIG nap while cuddling with Mom.
And then, when we got up to start dinner, Hunter found his new bed... SUCCESS! We bought him a bed to "grow into" that will hang out in the living room with most of his toys. His crate stays in our bedroom, so he doesn't really have a place of his own in the main part of the house. The hope is that this way he's got a place to relax and rest that's not the floor or the couch. Hopefully he'll enjoy it and start using is more frequently. For now, it seems that he would still rather cuddle in our laps.
Since we brought Hunter home I have noticed spots appearing on the carpet. Now I purchased some Nature's Miracle Pet Odor and Stain Remover, so I couldn't understand how Hunter (who hasn't had too many accidents) could be leaving spots. 
