Bath Time

Here is Oliver AFTER his bath and blow dry.

Last weekend I took Oliver to a fantastic place called "Country Pet Wash" in Mtn View. This is Ollie's second bath with me, so I think he was getting used to things. Though he isn't a huge fan of getting a bath, He's still a trooper.

You can check out my review of this place on Yelp: http://www.yelp.com/biz/pet-wash-country-mountain-view#hrid:EtbmL5EAeOGtQlaJe4EhkA

One thing I've noticed about Oliver, is that he's a patient dog. He'll sit there and wait for me to wash his entire body. Then blow dry him from head to paw. Then he lets me trim up any loose ends like gnats and "danglers" from his back side. At the end, I spray him with some doggie cologne and he smells delicious! I know it's a bit much to pamper your pooch this way, but I actually enjoy this bonding time with him. Sure I can drop him off at the local groomers and pay $50 bucks for a wash and blow. But to lather him up with bubbles, brush out his boy parts and trim his nails is priceless!

This is the water bowl they have for all their doggie customers. I think we need one at home.

No Greasy Chicken for Ollie.

This weekend I visited my friend Sarah and her family.

Knowing her husband Matt was a big fan of dogs and hoping the kids would get a kick out of him, I decided to make an appearance with Oliver.
Here we are in the back yard with Alexandra and Cameron. It was a warm Saturday so the kids decided to head out back with swim gear and make a splash in the pool. The day was going great.

Oliver was such a trooper while the kids decided to squirt him with the water guns over and over again. The grown ups decided to have lunch in the house while the kids and Ollie played in the back yard. After the third time of Cameron asking for a piece of chicken, Sarah questioned why he would want a third piece?! for a small kid, three pieces of fried chicken usually results to a big tummy ache afterwards. So Matt asks if they are giving the chicken to the dog and low and behold. The kids were feeding Oliver drumsticks of fried chicken. I don't know how many the dog ate but it was enough to make anyone sick.

Not thinking too much of it, I left the house later that day and took Ollie home to rest. Later that night, David and I went to bed as usual till EARLY Sunday morning.

Oliver isn't a barker at home. So it hard to know when he needs to go outside because he just walks to the door. I need to teach him a trick to let us know he needs to go outside. Because poor Ollie couldn't hold it any longer. He had several poo accidents on the kitchen floor through out the night. At 3:30am David woke up to the smell of the diarrhea mess and a very sorrowful dog with his tail between his legs. David is a light sleeper, so he ended up cleaning the mess with a mop at 3:30 in the morning. I woke up a half hour later to all the racket being made. I go out to the kitchen still sleepy asking what is wrong? "Your dog was running for the border."

Awww Poor Ollie! I felt so bad for him. So for the entire morning, I stayed up with Oliver while he puked and had gassy diarrhea every half hour. So since we didn't have a doggy door, I stayed up to let him out and clean up any puke that he barfed up. His stomach started settling down later that morning and he was on a strict diet of water and bland food. Of course the endless belly rubs made things all better. That greasy chicken went through him like a hot knife in butter.

Old Tricks

Ollie is up to his old tricks again.
He has chewed up the most indestructible toy he owns. His Kong Bone is suppose to be the toughest toy he's got and take a look at the destruction ensued.
I find bits and pieces of red Kong strewed all over the house. David thinks he does this to destroy. but I was told by the vet that this form of chewing is a great stress reliever for dogs. It helps them unwind and relax. I'm just waiting to see traces of red Kong in his poo.

Dog Park

Over the weekend, we brought Oliver to the local Dog park. We really wanted him to get friendly with other dogs while we seeked dogs owners with answers to some of our dilemmas. The evening started off well. Oliver met many other dogs his size in the big dog park area. He sniffed around and marked his spots where needed. Unbeknownest to us, this place was littered with tennis balls for all the dogs to play with. Once he got a hold of one, the fetching obsession began. I will admit our fault in fueling it, but Ollie does get obsessive and possessive of the balls.
As we are tossing the balls around, two little pugs(who should really belong in the small dog park)keep running up next to Ollie to catch the ball and play. Ollie, being so concentrated on retrieving the thrown balls, shows his true colors of not wanting to share this game with the other dogs. Immediately we have concerns. Though Ollie is not possessive of his food, treats, other toys. He's really possessive of tennis balls. Next thing we known, Ollie is in a full on fight with the pugs, and barks turn into squeals and yipes. We ran towards the commotion and broke up the dust ball. We immediately separated Ollie from the other dogs and took him for some cooling off period. What a disaster. The pugs were fine, a little shaken up, but up and running right afterwards. We are working on this bad habit. Hopefully we aren't banned from the park.

"I didn't do it!"

Chewie

Oliver Stanley giving me the tongue.

Ollie is chewing up his toys. I know it's a great stimulator for the pooches to chew on things, but since his first toy Mr. Cow, he's gone through a bunch of other toys. I mean, at least two dozen toys that had to be thrown out because they were chewed up. His favorites are the soft squeaky animals or soft rubber toys. He chews those up in a flash. We introduced the Kong to him, but he's not too interested. He's a fan of the ropes. Which we find remnants of all over the house. And of course the tennis ball. He LOVES tennis balls. So here are the two issues we are facing right now.
1. Chews up 99% of the toys given to him. We have yet to find a indestructible toy. We bought the following toy, pictured below. It claims that it's rated at a 9 of being a really tough toy. It lasted a whol 10 minutes till Oliver ripped it a new one and pulled all the stuffing out of it.

2. After CC's suggestions, we still CAN'T get him to give up his toy (especially tennis balls) from his mouth. Unless we are literally holding a piece of chicken in our hands, this dog holds on for dear life! I'll be online checking out some new tricks to get him to give it up.