One Tired Spotty dog

Well I have one tired spotty dog today and no pictures or video of what made him so tired. :-( Today we went up to my old stomping ground to pick up our raw food order from my friend Krissy. She usually picks up my order for me so I don't have to make that drive during the week and that gives us an excuse to take Steeler for a walk with one of her dogs. Usually her old girl as she seems to like Steeler and she doesn't like all dogs. Steeler had a great time! After that we stopped by the nursing home to see my Grandmother. Steeler stayed in the car for that visit as he moves too fast for my Gram. Actually he would be fine going for a visit - but since he makes my grandmother a bit nervous I decided he could take a nap in the car.

Then Steeler and I met my friend Ann who is dog sitting this weekend for Maetteo - an intact male Italian dog (I forget what she said he was - basically an Italian water dog). So - anyone that knows me would be reading this and saying - Wow ... Jenn took Steeler for a walk with another intact male dog - I wonder how much valium she needed? LOL - well the answer to that is NONE! Maetteo is a super sweet well mannered little boy! Steeler actually actually played with him! I wish I had gotten it on video. We went for our walk at a park near my house that I had driven by several times but never checked out with the dogs. It was a nice walk - not a long one - but there are places were the dogs can swim - and while we did run into a few dogs - it wasn't super crowded and mostly dogs were on leash. It seems like it would be a great place for training around strange dogs.

What I found very interesting about this walk with Maetteo is that Steeler never once reacted to him in a negative way. Usually we have a little bit of leash fustration to deal with and there was none of that today. We did run into a small white dog on our leash and I was able to actually move Steeler off the trail a couple of feet and have him focus on me and take treats! Usually we have a bit of trouble with this - I think because we usually run into big dogs that are straining to the end of their leash. So clearly I need to get some more practice in with smaller calmer dogs. We did have a bit of a reaction at the end of our walk while we were at the car to a yellow dog - maybe a golden mix. A couple of "let's go" and moving away from the dog got Steeler back focused on me and then I was able to move closer and c/t for looking at the dog and not reacting.

Ann thinks Maeteo's Mom would be up for some play dates - so maybe Steeler will have another walking buddy. I can't tell you how pleased I was with Steeler today! What a good boy! He's so dang cute when he is tired too!