New Year, New Ossi

A handsome Ossi fresh from
the groomer


















Ossi's first dog training class went okay. The nice trainers at the Golden Valley Humane Society noticed that he was a "leash puller" and insisted on giving the Gentle Leader collar/harness a try. Ossi hated it. That might be putting it mildly. His utter disdain for the Gentle Leader completely distracted him from actually learning anything during the class because he spent the whole time trying to get it off. To make matters worse, it didn't fit properly because his head and neck are weird sizes. So, as much as we were admiring girlfriend Sugar's Gentle Leader collar, we will not be investing in it. He has, of course, behaved very nicely since the class as if to say, "See...I'm not so bad. Please don't make me go back where they put that thing on my head and tried to force feed me treats." Oh yeah...they kept telling us to reward Ossi and give him treats, treats, treats to keep his attention and for positive reinforcement. However much Ossi loves treats (and he does love treats) he is not always a food motivated dog. If something else is catching his attention, no matter what the treat, he'll ignore it and seems to figure it will be there later. B-Dawg and L-Dawg will have to find a nice middle ground with the Humane Society trainers so we can all work together to teach Ossi some manners in a way that works for him so he'll actually do it.

Today, Ossi had his first grooming appointment at the Paw Spa and he looks handsome and smells go-oood! As soon as L-Dawg came to pick him up she could hear his tail thump, thump, thumping against the side of the crate he was hanging out it, so I knew he was okay.

Ossi playing tug with his Booda Velvet Bone
his "I-Was-Good-At-The-Groomer" treat