6/24/08

Hungry like the wolf.

One thing I certainly notice since we've brought home Ollie is that he LOVES to eat. If you watch him eat, some might think we never feed this dog! Ollie get two meals a day, and a handful of treats. So he's certainly not starving. I also read that Golden's tend to be piggies and can gain weight very easily. I swear that every person that comes into this home is automatically on a diet. We monitor the amount he gets and makes sure he's at a healthy weight. So why does he inhale his food? I will get footage and you'll see. I worry that he's not getting the nutrition out of the food because it goes through him like a hot knife through butter. I'll have to figure out my next method of portion control. Right now, our routine is that i pick up his dog bowl, walk to the garage where his food is. I scoop two cups of RoyaL Canine for Goldens, tell him to sit, then stay while I Set the bowl down. Here is a shot of his pathetic look of desperate hunger.


















Here is a shot of his mug and the look he gives when he's hungry and the picture next door is a close up of the drool that drips from his mouth during those 5 seconds of waiting for my "ok" command. Below you will see the pools of drools that form because I might have made him wait 2 seconds longer that usual. Good thing our kitchen floor is doggy drool friendly.

Mother's Day 2008

Mother's Day 2008

Mother's day weekend was spent up in San Francisco at the beautiful Crissy Fields.
The whole clan headed up there for a picnic and some sun. What a gorgeous weekend we picked to have this activity! Ollie was so excited to see so many other doggy friends. Most were off their leashes and running around. I didn't want to take a chance that Ollie might dig his teeth into any wiener dog, so I kept him on his leash most of the time. Here he is with mom and the Golden Gate behind them. Ollie is always up to something or another so I made sure he had plenty of toys and chew sticks to keep him busy. Once the sun got a bit warmer we headed to the water where Ollie was true to his retriever self and dug right into the fetching part. Bill and I would toss the stick around in the sand and eventually Ollie would head straight into the water. THE BAY WATER!
He's got mad swimming skills when it comes to diving in and fetching ANYTHING! This dog LOVES the water, no matter how cold it was!


Not only is Ollie a great swimmer, he's super smart. As the day wore on, the sun got hotter and started to heat things up. We were wise enough to bring hats and tents to cover ourselves, but Ollie found the best place to cool off. Not only did it give him shade, but with the kid's messy eating habits, he was in for some dropped treats as well.Here is Tyler trying to finish his lunch. One bite for Tyler, One bite for Ollie. Oh yes, I got that on film! Don't think I didn't smell the food on Ollie's doggy breath!
Ollie also seems to be very popular with the little people. I don't know if it's their short stature? Their interest in all things furry? Or just that Ollie is always smiling that draws the little kids to him like white on rice. Here is a little boy that came over to our area and was obsessed with feeding Ollie anything he could get his hands on. Ollie was not a fan of the handfuls of grass that was fed to him. He opted to just lick cookie filled kid hands.
All in All, it was a fun fill day of swimming and fetching. Ollie went home tired and ready for his dinner. Which of course is always a treat to come home to.