Ossi's First Christmas

Ossi's Christmas present from Doggie G-Maw Susie...
an Ossi-sized blanket!













Ossi has officially made it through his first Christmas at the B-Dawg/L-Dawg household. We all made a road trip up north to visit the fam and he did very well in the car, although he wasn't a big fan of his doggie seatbelt.

He was great in the hotel, only barked once Christmas morning to let us know he was still there and that he had to go O-U-T! And, in addition to his new Ossi-sized blanket (which he loves) he also got doggie treats wrapped up like sausage links from Great Aunt Winnie and Lenny the Hippo from B-Dawg and L-Dawg. Lenny got his new hippo name because it turns out Ossi kind of digs on Lenny Kravitz, and now so does the hippo.

Now, not only is Ossi a celebri-dog in the Twin Cities, he's a big hit up north too! He met his cousin Angela and his cousin who's not really his cousin Betsy. He LOVES, LOVES, LOVES Angela because she took him on lots of walks and wore him out. He also met a new girlfriend in Angela's neighborhood, a small chocolate lab named Sophie. They played and played and Ossi pushed Sophie into a big, icy puddle of water. It must be love. Watch out Sugar!
Ossi also pretty much remembered his manners when meeting Great Doggie G-Maw 'Rene and Uncle Mikey and Auntie Ann. Except for when he stole Uncle Mikey's pack of gum. Fortunately, he was busted before he got through the wrapper.

Ossi hopes you had great holidays too and that you didn't get busted with gum. Merry Christmas everyone!

Betsy, Anj and Ossi

Ho Ho Ho

All Ossi wants for Christmas...
well, on one of his many walks he met his *new* girlfriend Sugar (turns out his old girlfriend, Lucy, doesn't really like him all that much) and he was admiring Sugar's Gentle Leader training collar. As Ossi and Sugar were having a sniff-fest, B-Dawg and L-Dawg learned about how great the Gentle Leader is in getting dogs to stop pulling on their leashes. So, while Ossi probably wouldn't appreciate it one bit, there's a distinct possibility that *someone* is getting a Gentle Leader all wrapped up in paw print paper.
In the meantime, happy holidays to all...

...and to all a good night!

Ossi Has A Snow Day!

It finally happened...winter has officially arrived in the Twin Cities. Over the past few days we've been dumped on by six plus inches of heavy, wet snow. And Ossi is *loving* it! One of the funniest things we've ever seen is Ossi frolicking in the drifts, his short little legs disappearing in the snow. Everyone watching us walk past has cracked up laughing because all they can see is a little dog torso and a long tail moving through the fluffy white stuff.
After a brief trip to the post office today, Ossi and L-Dawg took a walk by Minnehaha Creek. It was truly a beautiful winter wonderland and we'll definitely be back.
But first, B-Dawg and L-Dawg have Intro to Doggie Training class tonight. It's the pre-requisite to the actual dog training and it's humans only. Geez...we didn't realize we'd have to get a degree in dog training to get Mr. Wiggle Butt to come when we call!! Can you fail Intro to Doggie Training? Now I'm nervous.

Ossi's latest thing is to hop up and curl into B-Dawg's chair during the day when he's not around. It's kind of cute because we know he's doing it because he misses B-Dawg while he's at work. It's not really cute though because we don't want him to wreck the chair. He knows he's not supposed to be up there and usually hops down as soon as he's busted. However, upon being busted the other day, he just sat there and looked at L-Dawg like, "What? I'm not doing anything." So...here's a picture of Ossi being cute. He doesn't get any pictures on B-Dawg's chair. It would only encourage him.

Settling In

"Cartoon" Ossi takes a play break












Turns out we can't start dog training class until the beginning of January so I guess Ossi won't exactly be learning gentlemanly manners for his Holiday visits and visitors. He's getting to be a better listener though. He will sit (mostly when B-Dawg tells him to and just when he's not distracted) and we're working on "wait" when we cross streets. We've been making lots of new doggie friends around the neighborhood on our twice daily walks too! Ossi's "girlfriend" Lucy lives across the street (though it seems Ossi likes Lucy better than Lucy likes him), his buddies Toby and Thor live right down the street and his new pals the Three Wise Labs live just a block away. When summer comes we'll be going on doggie playdates like nobody's business! In fact, his pal Toby was adopted just one week before Ossi was adopted and has taken a galloping adventure through traffic as well!

While he's soooo happy to go on walks and to play in the yard, Ossi is most content laying out on the rug with both "his people" there. We're all hoping this doesn't get boring for him as the weather is getting colder and colder and L-Dawg is becoming less and less excited about zero degree walks across icy streets. However, we're all keeping that good ol' holiday spirit and (as you can see) Ossi is learning to put up sparkly lights!

Ossi in action! Trying out the new Nobbly Wobbly toy

So...the meeting between Ossi and his little buddy Dylan didn't necessarily go so hot. Apparently there was a little "boot in the nose" incident that may or may not have cause Ossi to decide to show Dylan who was boss. There was a little nipping at and some growling but no one lost an eye so we'll try again another time. Ossi did, however, step on the window button in L-Dawg's car on the way and close his own head in the open window. There's a little bit of B-Dawg in him after all. Ha!

Ossi starts doggie training class this week and B-Dawg has been trying to give him "hints" in advance of the class so he'll have a leg up (no "doggie pee" pun intended) on the competition. We switched to new dog food because he was *not* a fan of the first stuff we tried. We did a day of half-old/half-new to "transition" him, but I guess that wasn't enough because on the way back from his two-mile walk at Nine Mile Creek he barfed in the car. Then he decided it was a good idea to lick the windows from top to bottom and "clean" them to make up for "un-cleaning" the seat. So, Ossi was one pooped out puppy with a tummy ache today. And to add insult to injury, he decided to hop into Nine Mile Creek instead of drink out of it so he was Ossi on ice too. All that together added up to this...