Pazzo is now 7 months and over 60 lbs.  He is still very inquisitive.  He has lost most of his puppy shyness and is more than willing to now investigate new noises, sights, or situations.  Pazzo of course at this age has also begun to test boundaries as a teen would do. I have gone back to training sessions to reinforce who the pack leader is. 

He has developed a bit of food guarding however.  As long as we hand feed or hold the bowl he is fine but if I just set the bowl down and then come back he growls at who ever approaches.  I have been working hard with Pazz to help him get over this as this will definitely get him dismissed from advanced training. 

Pazzo came to us with entropian; an eye disorder in which the lid turns in which can cause corneal damage if not corrected.  Staples were used to stabilize the lid until he outgrew the need at around 5 months.  There was no need for surgery for Pazz.  He also did not bother the staples during the time they were in.  He did not then need the cone to keep him from scratching at the staples.  Some dogs will not react well to the staples and paw at them until they are dislodged.  I think each dog will have to be raised on their own as to what measures are needed to correct the entropian. 

With Pazz we started with the least restrictive environment and adjusted accordingly.  For us it was easy as Pazz seemed to not to mind the staples at all.  The staples eventually began to fall out so we went to the vet and had them removed so that one wouldn't catch on something and tear out.  We did have to use an ointment of some type for about two weeks to help with some tearing after the staples were out.  There seemed to be some irritation at first.

I hope this answers some questions I have gotten about Pazz and entropian.  As with special children, start with the least restrictive and move on from there.  I would spend some concentrated time (two or three days) correcting any pawing or watching for other problems and then go on to the next level. 

Pazz did have to use a cone for about a week after he was neutered.  All went well with that and he is now well past recovery.

I will try to post more often on the progress Pazzo makes and how we get along with his training and moving closer to advanced training.