Teaching Ole good dog manners

Three days ago I arrived home in San Diego, Ca. with Ole my German Shepherd puppy. My sister in law Marye who has a farm in Wisconsin German Shepherd Sammy had a litter of 9 puppies and she saved the calmest and friendliest one for us. He grew up sleeping in a horse stall in their barn but he was born February 1st in the kitchen of their log cabin on a freezing Wisconsin night.

My husband Abner and I already had 2 dogs and it was kind of crazy to get a third but well here he is and he is wonderful. I'm a professional dog trainer by trade and Shelly my 11 year old Shepherd mix and Elmo my 3ish Pomeranian mix have been my dog class and private lesson assistants for almost as long as they each have lived with me. Shelly in particular is my best dog ever for teaching good dog manners to puppies and adolescents. She however, retired herself from classes 1&1/2 years ago and Elmo has been filling in ever since. I knew I needed another big dog to fill her impressive paws but was reluctant to go the 3 dog route as 3 is A LOT more work. Besides, Elmo just can't do what Shelly does. Other dogs don't tend to take a 17 pound Pom x seriously.

The trip from Wisconsin was a big adventure with a lot of firsts for Ole. First long car ride, first elevator ride, first plane ride, first escalator , rode in a carry on bag and met a hundred new and interesting people. He handled it all like a pro, calm and interested not afraid. He was only concerned once when a 3 year old moppet kept staring at him. He had never met any small children before so he growled! Big red flag for me , so I made sure that he met every child we passed and luckily we sat next to an exuberant 18 month old on our first flight . By the end of that ride he was pretty blase'about young kids. Oops, we have to go to Costco for socialization practice . more later