Oliver's first birthday!

Oliver has his first birthday on March 14, 2009.
He celebrated with his auntie Kara and Uncle Howie as well as cousins Wakefield and Angus. The kitties did not come out for the festivities.

From Olivers 1st Birthday Mar 14 09

I baked some 'doggy friendly' cupcakes for the dogs (complete with Paul Newman organic heart shaped dog biscuit on top) and they really loved them! Oliver even managed to grab two unfrosted cupcakes off the counter while we weren't looking.

On Trial

So we finally enrolled Oliver in Doggy day care at Metropet.
Before being accepted to doggy day care, he had to do a 1/2 day trial to be sure he would get along with other dogs. This is what he looked like before and after his half day trial:

Before



After




Looks like Oliver had a great time!

Big Biscuit!

While visiting North Conway on our ski trip, we picked up a big treat for Oliver at his favorite pet store in the white mountains, For Your Paws Only. He got a huge black & white bone shaped cookie!



Oliver stared at it a bit before devouring it!

Saturday Play Date

Oliver had a play date this past Saturday with his new pal Dingle. Dingle is an Australian Shepherd that lives in North Kingstown. Oliver loved the ride in the car on the way to Dingle's house.


Once he arrived, there was sniffing all around. After a brief skirmish, Dingle and Oliver became fast friends. We all jumped in the car and headed towards Ryan Park in North Kingstown. When we got there we discovered the baseball fields were all locked.


So, we all hopped the fence and Oliver and Dingle had a great time chasing the tennis ball. It was a bit chilly but all the snow and ice was no match for these two.

After tiring of running after the ball, we hopped back over the fence and decided to take a walk around the lake.

Up until this point, Oliver hasn't really been off leash. This was to be his first real journey off the leash. With trepidation, we unhooked the leash. Oliver was a really good boy; he stayed with Dingle the whole time.

We spent about an hour walking on the path around the frozen lake. Oliver and Dingle had a great time sniffing everything.

Afterwards we headed back to Dingle's house and they sniffed and played some more. All in all a very successful day, and a day that Oliver is looking forward to repeating!




See entire album

Jingle Bells

Oliver got some great things for his first Christmas!

Auntie Kassia gave Oliver a monogrammed LL Bean bag filled with toys and treats! Oliver loved the rope toy! He is also looking forward to the homemade dog treats that mommy and daddy will make with the recipe and cookie cutter!

Auntie Kara and Uncle Howie got Oliver his very own fleece jacket - also monogrammed. Oliver really enjoys wearing it outside while playing in the snow!

Link to album: Oliver's Christmas Gifts

Oliver thanks everyone for the great gifts!

Snowstorm Cherry = popped!

Well today was Oliver's first big snow storm. I have to say, he loves the snow. It's currently about 10" deep and he is jumping around in it and prancing around like a snow bunny. His eyes light up even looking at the snowflakes falling outside of the window.


There's just one problem however -- the snow forms these "balls", and they attach themselves to the hair on his feet, legs, and stomach. The balls of snow intertwine themselves into his hair so we are unable to simply pull them off. We tried dipping his feet in warm water but as you could guess, that didn't go over well. The hairdryer seemed to work well but poor Oliver could only stand a whopping 4 minutes of it and that barely melted one snow ball. This is how he looked when he came in last:



So in order to alleviate some of the cling on snow balls, Matt went outside and made some "trails" in the snow for Oliver to run in. That lasted all of about 12 seconds -- he did use the trails but then bounded happily into the deep show and laid down.

Ridiculously cute!

Oliver's Weekend

So today will be Oliver's fifth full day with us. Boy has he come a long way!!
< begin potty talk>
We can now tell when he has to go to the bathroom, so we have time to take him outside. Several times now, he's actually gone to the door! He still doesn't really *like* to poop outside, but at least he's doing it. He tends to only go right at the base of the stairs -- leaving lovely landmines for us to step in (and we both have already done it!)
< /potty talk>

Oliver took a trip to Petco on Saturday. He was really good on the leash in the store. Oliver got some new toys, and a stylish t-shirt. The T-shirt is a little too big so he'll have to wait a few weeks to wear it!

On Sunday Oliver had a visit from my mother and her husband, my grandmother, waynes daughter Lana and her son Brandon. He got along well with everyone. He's really good with kids - - either that or he only likes to bite us....

Today, Oliver's going to the vet fir the first time. Hopefully he'll be a good boy for the vet and will be given a clean bill of health. Stay tuned!

So how do I get this thing to poop outside?

So, here we are... day numero dos.

Speaking of number two, how do I convince Oliver that the grass is a GREAT place to poo?
I mean, it's soft, smells nice, and absorbs most messes easily. Heck, if it was more socially acceptable, I would probably try it out myself.

For some reason poor Oliver just doesn't like it. I'm sure it's because he is not used to being outside since he has been primarily in a crate for the past 8 weeks. The morning dew is wet and chilly too. That's a little tough to get used to for the little guy.

Anyway, I've had my fair share of running down the deck stairs while Ollie proceeds to drop his poo on the way (usually deflecting off my running legs). It really is a sight to behold. All you can really do is smile :)

I just have to make sure not to wear my good pants around the house for the next few weeks (PLEASE! Let it only be a few weeks!!)