Unclear on the concept

Down at the lake, making friends. Who could resist those eyes?

Yesterday afternoon was balmy, and so we took both dogs down to the lake. Angus needs socialization!

Every person I saw, I walked up to and said, "Would you like to meet a puppy?"

Nobody said no. Two young women said, "Well, yeaahhhh!" like I was an idiot for even asking; they crouched down and oohed and aahed and scratched his ears like mad.

Some people had dogs with them, and Angus seemed wary of some, playful with others.  I handed each person a Charlee Bear and asked them to give it to Angus only if Angus wasn't jumping on them. We need to not only teach him to be friendly to everyone, but also to be polite.

One woman said she was thankful that I am teaching him not to jump; she said she was once bitten by a dog that jumped on her, and she is afraid. (She was not afraid of Angus, but she was a little more standoffish than her friend, who knelt down on the walking path to reach him.)

It was heartening to see so many dog-lovers--we stopped people with strollers and dogs, young men who had to take their earbuds out and ask, 'What?" to understand, young women, older women, people who didn't speak much English--and everyone was happy to say hello to Angus.

On the way home, we encountered one more couple. They had a small yippy dog that was flying around on the end of its leash; a good test for Angus, because it was a little nerve-racking. We chatted a while, and then I handed the woman a Charlee Bear. "Would you like to give him a treat?" I said.

"Oh, yes!" she said, and handed the treat to her own dog.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA NOT WHAT I MEANT but that was ok. Her dog deserved a treat too.  We walked on.

Angus and Greta

Angus had a great and busy day--not just the walk to the lake, but a robust 45 minutes or hour playing in the yard with Rosie, Greta and Gus. I had high hopes that he would conk out and sleep through the night.  But no such luck.

He is still having digestive problems, and he was up four times overnight (and so was I).

This morning I made him a slurry of white rice and ground beef in hopes that a few meals of that will calm his stomach down. I also wonder if the Charlee Bears are not agreeing with him.

We need to get our boy back on track. He needs to feel better, and we all need our sleep.