Ole enjoys a trip to F.I.

Ole is getting sooo big! He still hasn't grown into his feet though. I haven't weighed him for a couple of weeks and it would be interesting to know just how much he weighs at this point. When I put all 3 dogs in the Mini Cooper Shelly takes up the whole back seat, Elmo lays on the floor in front of the front passenger seat and Ole wedges himself on the front passenger seat. We must look like a clown car when they all get out.

Today I took all the dogs to Fiesta Island and they had a terrific time running in the sand and investigating all the smells in the brush. Some horses had been there before us so I had to drag Ole away from their left behind poop. He wanted to dine on it...just like at the farm he came from in Wisconsin.

After Fiesta Is. we went to my studio and put in a few hours work on the big art piece. It's starting to look good if I do say so myself! Donna and Ginger came over while we were there and we hid some scent for the dogs to practice their nosework skills with. Ole got to go last and he found a bag of treats several times. He loves his scent work, but then Ginger Elmo and Shelly do to. After Donna and Ginger left I spent 2 hours working on the art piece and then closed up shop and took the dogs home where i fed Ole lunch and Shelly belatedly ate her breakfast. I then put Ole in his crate with a bone for entertainment , turned on the calming dog music tape and left the dogs home while I rode my bicycle back to the studio to work some more. I came back home at 4:30 and got their dinners ready. Abner came home and after feeding and walking the dogs, I packed up Shelly and Elmo and the 3 of use headed off to La Jolla to teach my beginning obedience class. Ole and Abner stayed home and later went for a training walk down Mission Blvd.

My Tuesday night class is a good one. There were 2 Australian Shepherds- Rusty and Oso, a Bull mastiff- Chip, a golden retriever-Tripp, a black standard poodle- Marley, and a lab- ish mix named Sally. All really nice charming dogs with fun owners.

Elmo was the demo dog and he on his game tonight nailed all his commands perfectly. Ole was very happy to see us all when we got home. Apparently he was less than stellar on the first half of his training walk with Abner. He got better as the walk progressed. Leash work takes a lot of time and practice, and Abner wants immediate results. Patience is the name of the game.