Ole day 17 in Shelly's opinion

Shelly has finally decided that Ole is part of the pack. How do i know? She played with him today. Shelly's MO is after about 2 weeks , if she finds a new dog acceptible , she plays. Today Ole and Elmo were chasing each other up and down the hallway and all of a sudden , there she was joining in . It sounded like a herd of elephants racing up and down the hall way. There was no tension in the play , just joy . Very cool to watch and fun. She's still a nun with a ruler, but the edge is gone, Ole passed whatever her test is. She did the same thing with Elmo when I brought him home almost 3 years ago, only it took exactly 2 weeks to the day.
Last night before we left the puppy class, Donna and I weighed Ole . He weighs 33 lbs! He is BIG for 14 weeks. He certainly doesn't like to miss a meal. He looks very lean and streamlined and his coat is beautiful.
He was good on the morning power walk. There were a lot of skaters, bicyclers, and skate boarders out and he basically ignored them. Today was garbage pick up day and He had never seen or heard the trucks before. He was a little unsure of them and held back so we stopped and let him observe them. They make a lot of noises not heard on the farm. He wasn't sure what to make of them so we followed the truck for a little while at a distance comfortable for him until he was comfortable enough to pass right by it without a backward glance. We'll have to do that again next garbage day and see what his reaction is. When he was calm and relaxed near the truck I massaged his neck and back and quietly praised him.
In the early afternoon, Abner had to go to Home Depot so Ole and I tagged along. When we got there I found a piece of cardboard and wedged it in the bottom of a shopping cart. Abner picked Ole up and placed Ole in the basket. Ole lay down in the basket and we wheeled him inside the store. He seemed to enjoy the ride and certainly got lots of attention from everyone we passed. At one point he had 5 different big old construction guys petting him up . He loved it. That was his big excursion of the day, and what a great place to get a puppy socialized. Maybe wouldn't work so well for a really timid puppy but for a more confident pup it was good. We saw two other dogs there , a sweet aussie that Ole liked..they sniffed at each other through the side of the cart, and a burly looking pit bull whose owner walked by us at a distance. The rest of the day involved a basic short training session, Off, Stand, crawl, turn ,and Bang your dead. We practiced his fetch and he and Elmo played. Shelly didn't join in this time. He's pretty good on the leash, tends to stay at my side or slightly behind me.
After dinner they all got raw bones outside. Everyone was HAPPY with that.