Approaching 4 months old

Yesterday, I took Dexter in for his final distemper shot. He now weighs 4.75 lbs! He is growing at a nice, healthy rate. We have been having some trouble with his ears, and it turns out he has an infection. Given that he had ear mites, and now an infection, it looks like we might be in for a lifetime of ear problems, according to the vet. We suspect a combination of the ear infection and the cat being secluded after surgery caused his week of naughty behavior. He has been been a little bit better behaved, but we are still having some issues with training.

He absolutely refuses to walk on a leash. He adjusted well to a collar, but the leash is another story. The websites suggested I attach a leash to him and let him run around with it, to get used to the feel. All he did was chew on it. When I try to get him to walk with it on, he firmly digs in his heels.

Another issue is potty training. With the exception of his naughtiness this week, he has been very good about not going in his crate, and letting us know when in the crate that he has to go. However, when out of the crate, he would never let us know, he would just...go. So about a month ago we attached low hanging bells to our door, and began ringing them every time he went out, in the hopes that he would make the connection, and use it to signal when he was out of the crate and needed to go. No such luck.

All in all, it is kind of frustrating, and any tips are more than welcome.

Luckily, he is so stinking cute that we can not get too frustrated with him. In fact, to celebrate his excellent behavior over the course of his distemper shots, I got him this:


His first tag! Our address and phone number is on the reverse side.

He was too small to get his rabies shot in conjunction with the third distemper, so he goes back for that in 3 weeks. Oh my handsome little guy is growing up.