Thank you, John! He is definitely maturing into a gorgeous boy! And very loving. I definitely have my work cut out for me, though, with some aspects of his training. His social anxiety and dog-reactivity are very high, but we're making gradual, careful progress on it. He's fine with smaller dogs and with dogs he knows well, but anytime there's an unfamiliar dog that is of an equal size or larger than him, his front end looks very ferocious and alert and like he's ready to take 'em down... but the tucked tail and quivery hindquarters show that it's all a big show based on fear. He also seems to need to bite something in this state, he will often grab a stick or a bottle or the hem of my jacket, anything he can reach when he gets really escalated, and just clamp on it. I'm debating whether or not to start carrying a rope toy or retrieve dummy or something to just stick in his mouth in these instances, so it's something appropriate and that I have directed him to instead of whatever he grabs for himself, (especially when it's me! Want to make clear that is NOT appropriate no matter how stressed he is!) but am undecided on whether that will help or not.
I think he was probably low man on the totem pole in his litter, based on the notched ear and scars he came with, and then the hound incident around Christmas probably didn't help, but he's young and intelligent, and so with a lot of careful training and work and time I think we can help him grow into a confident and stable adult.
I've taken to having him wear a seat-belt harness and riding shotgun in the jeep with me where ever we go, so he can see everything, and I will often just go and park in the vet's parking lot, or pet supply stores, and watch traffic come and go from within the safety of the vehicle. When he's lunging and snarling at the windows as people and dogs pass by, I ignore him and/or leave the vehicle and stand outside it, (he's very bonded to me and hates it if I leave him behind,) and when he's observing calmly with no noise or twitchiness he gets rewarded.
Several times a week I also take him to places like Pet Food Warehouse (I used to work there and all of the staff are very understanding and dog-knowledgeable,) and Tractor Supply and other places and just walk him around in there, working on being around other dogs but not having to interact. Then with my trainer and some of her trainer friends and their dogs, we've been working on being actually introduced to other dogs. Once in a while I'll do Petsmart, but usually only late at night on a weekday so it's less crowded and busy.
He'll come around, he's already made a lot of improvement though we've a ways to go as well.
We love him, and I've seen worse. He's going to be an awesome dog, in time. He's already a great pup, social issues aside, and I've all confidence in his mind and potential.
Facebook page.
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or the owl pellet that he tried to eat, a few paces away, that was probably the remainder of the rest of Mr. mouse... I chose not to take pictures of those! 
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