Sorta Light Day For Wally

I thought he deserved another break and since I needed to go to Petco anyway, I brought him along. No surprise that he enjoyed the outing, sniffing everything like he's just come to his most favorite place ever in the whole world.

No dogs in the store, though, and I was hoping there would be so I could do a little socialization work. But I did get to do a lot of work with trying to control his excitement and having him stay under control. He did a pretty good job overall, considering the situation. We mostly worked on simple stuff like positions and stopping when I stopped.

He did show interest in people going by, sniffing them as they passed and not shying away or shrinking back. I rewarded him for that and it is a part of socialization so we got a little of it in.

At one point, I think I overstimulated him. I found another cute little ball with some interesting colors while also being "floss" for his teeth (not that he'll likely chew on it, but I figure if I play with it with him and making him bite and pull on it to get it from me...) and I was telling him to get it and getting him excited, and he was slipping around on the floor trying to change directions and get the ball and looking around! He was just super excited and wound up - eyes all big and just didn't know what to do with himself.

Of course, he loved being around the food aisle and sniffing the bags of treats. I don't know if this counts as object discrimination, but he got to pick out which treats he liked best. He kept showing interest in one pack first and most often, so that's the one I bought for him. When I gave him some, he certainly liked them.

So it was a kind of a light day. No "formal" training, but threw some in and he got out of the house and to explore a fun place. He was pretty tired from all the excitement.

Grooming Day: A Pampered Wally

Pretty much a light, fluffy day for Wally. We really didn't do much of anything today, just let him sniff around and get loved up on by his "friends" the little girls that like him so much - and outside of that, just a lot of walks and enjoying the nice spring day.

Later on in the day, he went in for a grooming. He got bathed and got his nails clipped. Perhaps, this wasn't so "pampered" for him, especially since there was a HUGE black dog also getting his nails clipped and his paws shaved. Wally isn't keen on big dogs or black dogs, and this dog was both! I'm not sure what breed she was. Added on to this is that Wally isn't so keen on going to the groomer anyway. I guess he knows he's going to get left behind, or perhaps it's the smell.

However, he's always wonderful so whatever issues he has with the place, it never translates out on the groomers or any other dogs because they always love the way he behaves and working on him.

Afterwords, he was all excited of course and got to love the rest of Petco! He even met a therapy dog in training that he wanted to play with and the other dog was interested too. Even more interesting is that he was named Wally as well! This dog (the one we met) looked a lot like a dachshund and was very gentle. It was good to see Wally acting good around the dog and enjoy the interaction. Before leaving, I got him some new shampoo and a couple bags of treats. I have to get used to the feel of petting short-haired dogs, as stupid as that sounds. Call it years of having a fluff ball!

Below are some pictures of what he looks like now. Forgive any "psycho" looks. It can't be helped!