August started off with my 6 month birthday! I met up with some brothers and sisters from my litter, and brother Ole’s raiser gave me some birthday doggie cookies to take home. π
I made it through my first full hooman meal on the inside of a restaurant. On her way out, the mommie at the table next to us told my raisers that I had been better behaved than her kids, and everyone giggled, and we felt good. π
I had lots of socialization & environmental enrichment this month: a trip to self-storage and a ride on the cart (motion, new surface, ab strength), walking on bags of ice (a reminder of cold surfaces), aluminum foil, hot summer days, some new tug toys, trips on BC Ferries, walk-throughs in repair areas of apartment building, and trips to the Farmer’s market.
A couple of trips to human doc and physio offices, the vet for toothpaste and weigh-in (47.7lbs on Aug 10!), and back into Costco – where it was my job to advise on Tuna selection and chill while my other raiser did the bulk of the shopping. π
My raisers like to be thoughtful and spontaneous! Keep me on my toes but comforted. A fun news story one Sunday morning inspired a same-day overnighter trip to Victoria for 2 days! My raisers heard about the Mars Water Bomber’s flight and made a training mission out of a desire to satisfy their curiosity. I braved this thing called a 2 sailing wait, a ferry ride, a new park where I tried to ignore people and dogs, and then the roar of the Water Bomber plane and the CAF Snowbirds! I was rewarded with a night in the Empress Hotel and lots of decompressing sniff breaks around their beautiful gardens. My favourite is still puppy yoga when the world gets a bit too much, it helps me downregulate.
I joined Miss Krista’s field trip to learn dog-dog walking and practice metal-grill foot bridge crossings. Whew! The dog part was hard, and I pulled too much, oops. But as the baby in the group, I was really proud to show the older guys how to bravely go up & down those stairs!
Miss Chelsea helped me out and held a bonus class on appropriate behaviour during dog play with 2 graduated PADS helpers. Thanks, Thorin! He showed up while on Vacay from the North.
I rounded out August with a sleepover at Gogi’s house!
Submitted by: Victoria
