Harley meets Auntie Marianne

This morning I filled Harley's Kongs with his breakfast. He loves the hunting game. I'm going to start making it more difficult for him by asking him to wait in his kennel and spacing out the Kongs throughout the kitchen, dining room and living room. I want to challenge him. I got samples of some large breed puppy food and gave it to him this morning. He seems to really like it. It's about $53 per bag. I'm not sure how many pounds the bag is but it is huge. It would last a long, long time. Even though it's more expensive it will save in the long run by Harley not having joint problems and needing to go to the vets. Eating the new food made his poop a little watery but that's to be expected.

Harley napped until it was time to go see Auntie Marianne. We got there right around 12:30pm and I walked him out in the yard in case he needed to do his business. He was too excited smelling new smells and hearing new sounds and seeing new places to do his business. After walking him for about 5 or 10 minutes, I brought him into the office. I kept him in the kitchen because it had vinyl flooring (in case he had an accident). I brought everything I needed to clean up in case he had an accident.

Marianne and a client came into the kitchen. Harley was so excited to see them. He was okay but needs to learn how to sit upon greeting someone. I'll have to start treating him to do that. I did forget to bring treats though so I couldn't do it today. He did sit though when asked to sit. Marianne's client's mother came in the room and Harley got even more excited. I was glad that he was getting to do so many new things and see so many new people. Oh, when we came in he had to go up 4 narrow stairs. He did just fine. After Marianne's client left we went into her office. She got Harley a present - a bandanna! He looks so cute with is bandanna on. He tried to bite it some but let it stay on most of the time without any fuss.

Two more of Marianne's friends (collegues, office mates?) came by the office and met Harley. He did pretty good, again just the jumping issue. I definitely need to trim his nails. He can scratch very easily. Marianne gave him some treats (Iam's dog biscuits) and let him play with the tissue paper that the gift was wrapped in. He loved tearing that apart. It kept him busy for a while. The bandanna kept him busy for a while too. He took a few seconds to get used to it.

I was very pleased with how Harley behaved. There is definitely room for improvement when he greets people but overall he's a lovely little puppy. I used to be ashamed of how my other dogs behaved around other people. I was proud of Harley. I want him to meet as many people as possible so I can work with him on greeting people without jumping up on them.

There is a parade downtown tomorrow and we may take him to it. He'd get to be around a lot of people, other animals and many, many sights and sounds that he's never experienced before. If he got overwhelmed we would just leave. I'd like to try him out with all the commotion though because as a therapy dog he'll have to be used to distractions.

Only two days until puppy class. I really think he'll just get out there and start playing with the other puppies this time. It will be so good for him to be handled by so many other people. I could work on the jumping up issue in class too. Using click/treat to get him to sit should work. I'll have to ask everyone to require him to sit before they greet him or give him a treat. Puppy class is so much fun.

Since we've been home, Harley has been in the bathroom on the cool floor sleeping. David just went in to take a nap and I may do that too. Harley will have to go in his kennel and finish his nap in there. I don't think he would mind doing that since he's worn out from all the excitement of today. I'll talk him out for a walk later this afternoon or evening. Maybe I'll be able to get David to go with us. That would be fun.

I was so busy watching Harley today that I forgot to take pictures. I'll have to bring him in again and get some pictures of Harley and Marianne. Well, I'm yawning now, so it must be nap time. Time to get my puppy and retreat to the bedroom.