Another Fun Day

Yesterday I spent my morning like I bet most people are these last few days leading up to Christmas. I was shopping. For my mom. My mom has accumulated a lot of knick knacks over the 30-40 years and I'm sure a lot of them are gifts I picked for her. This year I wanted to give her something she would actually use and enjoy and was having a hard time. I ended up getting her software for her one sewing machine (she loves to sew). But after witnessing some truly spectacular grid-lock and the best *cough* sarcasm *cough* driving I've ever seen, I was ready to unwind. That morning I'd promised to take Olivia to the park and I planned to make good on that promise.

I went home to get her and headed back out to town. I'm not sure our walk was relaxing... Olivia was trotting along cheerfully which forced me to power walk, but we had fun together. She found a stick (she loves sticks) and really enjoyed sniffing out all the smells. I had a good time watching her enjoy the park so much. This all caused me to come up with an early New Year's Resolution:

To take Olivia out for walks at the park, etc. more often.

It's not something I really think of because Olivia and Fern get so much exercise running around our farm. Unlike a lot of dog owners, I can just open the back door and let them run free instead of having to walk them every time they have to go potty. But it's not about exercise. It's about spending time with my little Olivia, putting the phone away (except to take photos), and enjoying being outside playing together.

After the park we headed to Petsmart to make up the first two classes of the Advanced class that we missed. Olivia's trainer was so excited to see her, and Olivia was excited to see Debra as well! We worked on sitting when meeting a friendly stranger, loose leash walking going into heel, waving, and touch. We go back on Friday for week three and Olivia FINALLY will get to meet her classmates.

happy to be back in class

Last night after we got home and took care of the horses my parents, Olivia, and I (Brian's in NJ for work) went to the local five star hotel for the Christmas caroling party (they allow well behaved dogs in the hotel bar/lobby/lounge). Olivia wore her Christmas dress and got to have her photo taken (again) with Santa. Everyone fawned over her and everyone wanted to tell me how their sister's boyfriend's great aunt's nephew's uncle has/had/is getting a Boston. It's so funny to me that it seems every where I go with Olivia some stranger(s) comes up to me to tell me about their experience with Bostons (or sometimes with Frenchies). We had a great time, although my arms did hurt a bit from holding Olivia all night. There were a lot of people and I didn't want to risk her getting stepped on but she was also tired. Olivia weighs a whopping 15.8 lbs now!

Field Trip!

So I was inspired by my fellow pet bloggers in the Blog Paws community to take Olivia on a field trip to our local park. All the other pet bloggers seem to take their dogs on outings and hikes and Olivia stays home and plays in the yard or goes to puppy class at Petsmart. So I planned yesterday to take her for a walk this morning before it got too hot (you know how those smushy faces get HOT).

here we are!

We actually saw one of the pet parents from Olivia's class (without her dog, a beautiful female Standard Poodle named Onyx) so that was fun to see a familiar face. I was really impressed with the park (I'd never been before), it was clean, there were poop bag dispensers and notices to clean up after your dogs, and even the water fountains had a dog height waterer (not that Olivia used it, I brought along her Popware for Pets collapsible bowl).

poop bags! get your poop bags!

dog height water fountain

We ended up walking two miles, good practice for the one mile SPCA fundraiser walk we're doing in about a week and a half. Olivia had so much fun smelling the new smells and seeing new sights. It was also really good real life experience for practicing her "Leave it!" and "Drop it!" commands. Also, I was proud of her for not mauling (with puppy kisses and toe nails) the little boy and his mom who asked if they could pet her. I swear, Olivia has never met a stranger! lol

Olivia took a break on a bench

i love her shadow, it's so cute :)