Welcome Home Oliver!

We are so proud and please to announce the newest member of our family.Oliver "Big Ollie" Dog. On March 8, 2008 My brother Billy and I drove to Homeward Bound in Elverta to Pick him up and bring him home. The past week of waiting for Oliver to come home was the longest week ever! We arrived at Homeward Bound early this morning with so much hope and excitement. Along with A crate, a bed, a brand new collar and leash, and of course several chew toys, I also had to think of a name for the dog, and thought it was a great idea to make it a contest at work! After several great suggestions, David and I agreed with "Oliver" or as he's now known around the house as "Big Ollie". We walked in the front office area and told the folks we were here to pick up "Oliver" aka "Chandler". Oliver pranced out excited and happy as a clam! Even though Ollie had underwent neutering and ear surgery, this boy was full of energy and spunk! My brother looks at me and asks, are you sure this is your dog? I looked at him with a little hesitation and said "Yeah, I think so?!". Ms. Jody then explained the medication Oliver is currently on and suggested we take him for a walk before taking that long drive home. Still a bit nervous, I tried to elude confidence that i knew what I was doing. So we proceeded. Here are the boys. Billy, Oliver and my little cousin Tyler all excited to take a little walk down to the pond. Billy had bit of a difficult time leading him. Oliver was all over the place, since walking on a leash was not his first choice. It was certainly fun to watch! As you can also see, Oliver had to have a cone around his neck so that he doesn't scratch up his surgery wounds on his ears. Poor thing, it was not fun for him either. After our long walk to burn off some steam and we headed back to Tyler's home to drop him off. Back at Tyler's house, his little sister Haley was so excited to see Oliver! She was all over him! Though she stood a bit shorter than him, he was happy to lay down and let her rub his tummy. He sure was a softy when it came to little ladies! I have a feeling he will be breaking lots of female hearts. When it was time to head home, Miss Haley was not too pleased to see him go. I did promise to visit real soon so that she can spend some time cuddling up to him. After two long hours in the car, Ollie was fantastic. Very calm and quite. He seemed very comfortable in the car, which is always nice for us to not worry about car anxiety. Once we arrived back home, Ollie was greeted with excitement and open arms to David. We guided him in to check out his new home and he was the best guest! I proceeded to show him the back yard and even gave him some water to quench his thirst. Ollie wandered around and just made himself at home. Here is Ollie and his favorite toy, "Cowie". Since coming home, Ollie has had this squeak cow in his mouth pleading for us to play with fetch with him. He's such a retriever! As for his first weekend home, everything went very smoothly. We discovered that Ollie, may have been house trained before.No Jumping on the furniture, or the bed. He's got great manners but needs some coaching on his walks.He tends to pull and tug. Ollie loves to be brushed and rubbed after a good meal. On Sunday we gave him a quick bath and a long jog in the park, Ollie was pooped. With my Cesar Millan book in hand, all the training is paying off. Ollie has become our little angel.