Rochester, Ollie, and Chateau

I want to apologize in advance for my lack of pictures this week for everyone except Ollie.  Not sure what happened there.

So yesterday my sister held a birthday party for my nephews.  I was originally planning on taking 2 dogs (I thought 3 would be way too many to handle, and definitely not all 4).  I was going to leave Hardy behind, because he always goes and I thought the fosters could use some outside interaction.  I decided Chateau would be the other leave-behind because of her heartworm situation.  I didn't want her to have an opportunity to get too riled up.  So I was planning on taking Rocky and Ollie.  Well, at the last minute I decided to leave Rocky behind too.  I was just afraid that with so many people he'd never met, plus there would be kids running around, that his fear of people would really upset him.  So I just took Ollie with me.  And let me just say, he was the most well behaved dog I could have ever imagined.

 

We started our trip early Sunday morning.  I put Ollie in the backseat (I have a sheet back there to protect the fabric).  About an hour into our drive, Ollie started to get whiny, so I let him jump into my lap.  I was also getting a little sleepy at that point, so I decided to stop for some Starbucks.  Luckily we were passing one with a drive-thru, so I didn't have to leave Ollie.  Well the girl at the drive-thru window just fell in love with Ollie.  His little tail was wagging, and I helped him stick his head out the window so he could get a head pat.  She also offered him a Pup-uccino (a cup of whipped cream), which he enjoyed very much.

Ollie enjoying his Pup-uccino

We eventually made it to my sister's house.  She has a dog of her own (named Molly) who happened to be out on a potty break when we arrived.  She was very excited to meet Ollie, and he was very excited to meet her.  Even though Ollie did his business outside, I made him wear his diaper just as a precaution.  It ended up not being necessary, as he didn't even attempt to mark his territory.  I was quite impressed!  The party was pretty busy, including 4 kids.  Surprisingly (or maybe not...I'm not a kid expert), the kids were not particularly interested in the dogs.  They acknowledged them but didn't try to play with them.  They were too busy playing with each other.  But Ollie and Molly really wanted to play.  I had Ollie on his leash, and my sister had Molly on her leash as people were still arriving and we didn't want any escapees.

Ollie and his new friend Molly

Ollie's not quite sure if he wants to play

When it was time to eat, my stepmom took over Ollie watch.  She is in love with Ollie, and continually teases my dad that she's going to adopt him...my dad refuses (they already have a dog at home).  At some point, my dad ended up holding Ollie.  I know he enjoyed it, even though he denies it.  He even commented how well behaved Ollie was being.

Dad and Ollie bonding

Ollie surveying the party

Almost immediately on the way home, Ollie was whining about being in the backseat again.  But I didn't want him on my lap for the whole drive, so I let him sit on the passenger seat.  It wasn't his ideal situation, but he accepted it and just took a nap for most of the trip.

Ollie hanging out in the front seat

In other Ollie news: he's gotten very good about going to the back door when he needs to go outside.  We need to work on him realizing that I can't be there immediately, but we're progressing!

I don't really have much in Rochester news.  He's still doing great.  He's still getting better about being more independent in the house.  The other night he decided he wasn't going to listen when I told the dogs to come down to bed.  I was too tired to argue, so I decided he could sleep on the couch for the night.  Well I woke up at some point, and of course Rocky was laying right next to me in my bed.  The little stinker.

I have some big news for Chateau...her heartworm watch ends this week!  So get your applications in, folks!  A dog this well behaved and this good looking is not going to stick around long!  Not to mention she's housebroken!  She's also getting her energy back, and boy does she have energy.  I think I'm going to take her down to the trail and take her running this weekend.  I bet she will love that!