Despite what Olive may think, I have determined to keep up her training. The "click and treat" method used at "Tails U Win" works well, so that I plan to continue with it. The winter made it a bit difficult to work on something I think we should master--recall even when we are outside. I want to be able to take Olive off leash and be sure that she will come right to me when I call her name. She does that most of the time, though she acts as if she never heard me if she is distracted by a squirrel or whatever. This is something I want to have solid before taking her for training as a herding dog. Now that spring is here, we can do some serious work on this.

Unfortunately, we were set back by a freak snowstorm that hit Connecticut Saturday night, came and went during Sunday, and lingered into today. It seems more like February than April.

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Sunday morning my friends Sara and Harry called me and suggested a play date between Olive and their new puppy, a male Berger Picard named "Rory". Berger Picard is a herding dog from France. Rory is about Olive's size right now, though he will weigh around 75 pounds full grown; a little more than twice Olive's weight.

Although Olive was a bit possessive with toys and seemed a bit protective of me when I put her leash on she and Rory seemed to get along well. Rory does not seem to have quite gotten the idea of chasing balls, something Olive loves to do. A few photos of the two below.

  

I was glad that the two of them seemed to get along well, though not surprised. Olive gets along well with most of the dogs in my townhouse complex and took very well to my friends Kathryn’s and Mark’s corgis, Peabody and Archie. At Candlewick day care they tell me that she has a good time with the other dogs and gets along well, though she seems to be more interested in playing with humans and sometimes tries to herd the other dogs. One reason I try to get her to Candlewick once per week is that it gives her an opportunity to socialize and interact with other dogs. If Olive and Rory get accustomed to each other I think that would be a positive thing for both of them. I am hoping that many more play dates are in their future.

I suspect that in her previous life in New Hampshire Olive lived with another dog. There is a woman in my townhouse complex with three dogs including a large black Newfoundland. Olive gets agitated when she sees the Newfoundland; perhaps she thinks that the Newfoundland is her old housemate? Unfortunately the woman seems intent on keeping her dogs away from other dogs including Olive, so I cannot test my theory by seeing how they interact.

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Speaking of Candlewick, they often post photos of dogs in their care on their Facebook page. Olive was there last Tuesday and was featured.

 The Facebook caption read “Olive taking a close look at the camera!!”

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All indications were that Olive got along well with cats. When I walk her and a cat comes nearby she will ignore the cat. In one case a cat came up to us and laid down on the ground; Olive merely sniffed and left the cat alone. So it was a surprise to me this morning when Sara called me this morning and told me that Olive had gotten rough with one of her cats and injured him; the cat had to be taken to the vet. This could only have occurred when a door to the upstairs where the cats were was accidentally left open. Olive being inquisitive ran up the stairs though she was only up there for a few minutes. Apparently a few minutes was enough for Olive to hurt the cat. Sara was very reasonable about the affair and will keep me posted on the cat's condition. I am quite concerned. If nothing else it is a wakeup call that Olive is not as good with cats as I had thought. From now on she will not be allowed out of my sight when away from home.