Ole day 7

I've been keeping a chart of Ole's pees and poos. Not because I've lost my marbles but because it's a good way to figure out his elimination schedule so I know when to get him outside. So far so good, as he hasn't made a mistake or rather we haven't allowed him to fail in 5 days..Yea!!!! I notice that he is starting to head out on his own accord, so now i am going to make sure that he only goes potty in the back of our meager yard next to our wood pile. This morning after his breakfast and while Elmo and Shelly were eating I practiced the fetch game with him. I have a ball on a rope that he really likes, I tease him with it a bit and then toss it a foot away. He pounces on it and I move away calling him to me. If he comes I hold onto him and praise like crazy & wait for him to drop it on his own. When he does, I say "Drop it", get him to sit and we do it again. I keep the sessions very short to keep up his interest in the game. If he doesn't come I give his dragging leash a little tug toward me to get him moving in the right direction.
My friend Tracey was out on the beach in front of my house this morning with her 3 pugs Bamboo, Tiki, and Mango and her good friend and walking companion Erin who has a little Aussie. I sat with Ole on the bench in front of the house and waited till they walked up so that Ole could see and meet his first pugs. He was very interested as he'd never seen dogs that look like that before! They however were quite blase' about the whole thing as they are beach dogs that have seen everything. The rest of the morning involved Elmo wrestling and once again Elmo had to lay down the PAW reinterating to Ole that his magnificent pommeranianish tail is NOT a chew toy and he will not tolerate being pulled around by it. Ole would never even consider doing that to Shelly as would be the kiss of death. We worked on his sits and downs and played the "OFF " game, then headed out on a field trip to the pack and mail place to send off some goodies to his Wisconsin clan. We sent them a bag of bully sticks , other assorted goodies and some Ester C for Duke, Ole's older brother who has a miserable case of Pano. Ole enjoyed meeting Kay who runs the Beach Pack and mail as she gave him a nice bisquit after he sat and lay down for her. He also scored some attention from a guy that came in and admired Ole's floppy ears. He agreed that Ole's ears look kind of like a comb over, something that Dr. Keith pointed out yesterday when he was giving Ole his once over check up. I then took all three dogs to Noahs Pet Market because Ole was almost out of food. He's been eatin' real well since he got here , doesn't like to miss a meal. Elmo got a bit frisky once we were inside Noahs and challenged Ole to a wrestling match. There's nothing like walking 3 dogs on leashes while 2 of them are wrestling! With the help of Megan, we made it back to the car,headed home and after giving Ole lunch I spent some time replying to emails and doing office work. Continuing my goal of socializing Ole to as many people , places and things as possible, we got back in the car and drove to La Jolla and i stationed all 3 dogs and self in front of the Vons store in La Jolla. As expected, Ole's irresistible charms and comb over ears attracted attention from a variety of people but no children were to be seen. A guy who was collecting signatures for political purposes suggested that we go to the Childrens pool as on Saturday a lot of people congregate there. On the way we stopped at a very upscale doggy boutique and ran into one of my old clients from 7 years ago. She and her husband have Jackson a very handsome and sweet Labrador. He wasn't with them but they remembered Shelly from her assisting in puppy class. Shelly was very sweet with them , and it seemed like she may have remembered them! Ole sat beautifully for them and got lots of praise. They left before I did. As we walked back to the car we saw Jacksons owners in a Chic jewelery store. I spend all my money on dogs.
Then it was off to the childrens Pool where Ole Meet some really cute children. One was a little hispanic girl about 5 or6 who was wearing a glittery tiara and fancy matching necklace. She got him to sit and was very sweet with him. Elmo really liked her little brother probably because he had food smeared on his face and hands. They met 5 or 6 more children and then I held Ole up on the seawall so that he could observe all of the seals on the beach. I'm not sure what he thought about them as they kind of looked like slugs moving across the sand. In the middle of that, a group of Japanese tourists started snapping photos of Shelly and she panicked when the cameras flashed. I quickly got her calmed down but decided we had all had enough socializing for one day. Home we headed. The biggy for socializtion however was at home. Ole and Elmo were playing in the front yard and a very nice lady in a wheel chair and her husband stopped at the fence to see Ole. I brought him out and he sniffed the wheel chair all over and then looked up at her and kissed her hands. She has cats at home so that was probably part of the attraction. He spent has time with my friend Donna's cat Maikai and has developed a healthy respect and interest in them. I don't want him chasing cats so he will be visiting Mai Kai on a regular basis for cat respect training.