A really lovely day (so far)
Well, it's only 1pm, but I have already had a really nice day.
Yesterday was my last day of work, and I was supposed to be going camping with my mom today, but she threw her back out : ( and so we had to cancel it. It's really a shame, because this is easily the most gorgeous day we've had all summer, and the whole weekend is supposed to be just the same. It's in the mid-seventies with a nice breeze and a clear blue sky, and not a hint of humidity. Really lovely.
So since it is such a nice day, I thought I'd take Angus for a walk. We are working on socializing him and improving his manners in public, so we headed into Depot Town. We are working our way up to downtown Ann Arbor, but I'm not quite ready to take him somewhere with so many people and other dogs quite yet. Well they were setting up for some event in the park, so there were a fair amount of people milling about, and Angus was really good. I sat at one of the cafes, and had a really tasty tuna melt and an iced tea, and Angus chilled next to me, standing up about half the time but not pulling or causing trouble. Several people walked by, and he did not throw himself at any of them, and accepted pets quite civilly.
He did jump up into one boy's arms tho, and although the boy was already playing with him and seemed to think it was great having a dog as tall as him put its paws over his shoulders and wash his face for him, it is still something we need to put a stop to. He hasn't shown even the slightest hint of aggressive behavior, but when you have a 90+ pound dog it's really important that he learn not to lunge at people or jump on them, even if it's just to leap into their arms and savage them with kisses. It's not his fault that he's so big, and it's not fair that he can't be as exuberant as a smaller dog could be, but that's just the way it is. People are frightened of big dogs, especially big jowly dogs with square heads, and he needs to be an ambassador for his breed and large dogs in general. He's doing really well so far, we just need to break him of the jumping up habit... he seems to have an uncanny knack for telling dog lovers, he doesn't jump up most of the time when we're meeting folks- he's just done it a few times and all of them have been obvious dog lover, so we haven't had any bad reactions yet, but he's going to have to stop doing it all the same.
Anyway, it's a perfect day, and I am drinking tea and unwinding while the dog and cats all enjoy an afternoon snooze. It's just peachy ^_^
Yesterday was my last day of work, and I was supposed to be going camping with my mom today, but she threw her back out : ( and so we had to cancel it. It's really a shame, because this is easily the most gorgeous day we've had all summer, and the whole weekend is supposed to be just the same. It's in the mid-seventies with a nice breeze and a clear blue sky, and not a hint of humidity. Really lovely.
So since it is such a nice day, I thought I'd take Angus for a walk. We are working on socializing him and improving his manners in public, so we headed into Depot Town. We are working our way up to downtown Ann Arbor, but I'm not quite ready to take him somewhere with so many people and other dogs quite yet. Well they were setting up for some event in the park, so there were a fair amount of people milling about, and Angus was really good. I sat at one of the cafes, and had a really tasty tuna melt and an iced tea, and Angus chilled next to me, standing up about half the time but not pulling or causing trouble. Several people walked by, and he did not throw himself at any of them, and accepted pets quite civilly.
He did jump up into one boy's arms tho, and although the boy was already playing with him and seemed to think it was great having a dog as tall as him put its paws over his shoulders and wash his face for him, it is still something we need to put a stop to. He hasn't shown even the slightest hint of aggressive behavior, but when you have a 90+ pound dog it's really important that he learn not to lunge at people or jump on them, even if it's just to leap into their arms and savage them with kisses. It's not his fault that he's so big, and it's not fair that he can't be as exuberant as a smaller dog could be, but that's just the way it is. People are frightened of big dogs, especially big jowly dogs with square heads, and he needs to be an ambassador for his breed and large dogs in general. He's doing really well so far, we just need to break him of the jumping up habit... he seems to have an uncanny knack for telling dog lovers, he doesn't jump up most of the time when we're meeting folks- he's just done it a few times and all of them have been obvious dog lover, so we haven't had any bad reactions yet, but he's going to have to stop doing it all the same.
Anyway, it's a perfect day, and I am drinking tea and unwinding while the dog and cats all enjoy an afternoon snooze. It's just peachy ^_^