Happy New Year, Olive

Olive and the Tree

Olive and I had a good Holiday season. I do believe that Olive got more presents than I did! It was our first Holiday season together. Every year I take an “official portrait” of my decorated tree; this year I included Olive in it.

Among the presents for Olive and/or border collie themed were a jigsaw puzzle that clearly show three border collies (I hope to get it assembled soon so that I can post a photo of the completed puzzle), a toy dog that resembles a border collie, a set of tennis balls, a nylon peanut butter flavored bone for Olive to chew on (she loves it), and several dog “puzzles” that mostly involve the dog figuring out how to get the food placed inside.

Olive under the table at Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve was at my house. Olive was of course there for the celebration since it's her house after all. For Christmas Day Olive joined the family for dinner before I left her with my sister to drive down to Norwalk to visit my aunt and uncle.

For New Year’s Eve I ended up having Olive staying at Candlewick Kennels, where she frequently goes for day care. That meant I could not pick her up until January 2 as the office was closed on New Year’s Day. I celebrated the New Year at the Ashokan music/art/nature center, got some sleep at a hotel in Kingston, left the next morning for a vegetable omelet and coffee as is my usual habit at a diner on the way home, then spent part of the day at an antique show in Glastonbury. I ended up buying a set of crystal decanters with a silver plated rack for my dining room. Later in the afternoon I met some family members for dinner at a restaurant, and finished the day at a delightful party attended by a number of friends who are part of the local opera community. Fantastic food, even better music!

I picked up Olive the next morning as soon as Candlewick opened. She seemed no worse for the wear. We got our holiday decorations boxed and put away, and began settling in for the winter.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

 

At obedience class last Sunday one activity involved polite walking around a dog’s food dish intended as a distraction for the dogs. At first Olive performed magnificently. For round one the dish was empty. Olive didn’t even seem to notice it. For round two, a small amount of dry food was put in the bowl. Again Olive ignored it, paying full attention to my direction. For round three, some cooked chicken was put in the bowl. Olive smelled it, but behaved perfectly. Then came round four……….when I saw what the distraction was to be, I wanted to cry foul! BORDER COLLIES CANNOT RESIST TENNIS BALLS!!!!

Olive made a beeline toward the tennis ball. I pulled her away but she was obsessed with it. The instructors seemed amused. When they declared that activity over, Olive was not about to quit. I took the ball and hid it under a box. No use—Olive wanted that tennis ball. Finally one of the instructors took pity on me and took the tennis ball away.  After several minutes Olive finally decided that the tennis ball was gone and settled back to class business.

 Now, I don’t think that was very fair of the instructors; do you?