I hope everyone had an enjoyable Labor Day weekend. Ozzie and I watched the kids this morning as they begrudgingly with their back pack and lunches in hand walked to school! (Sigh..) We had a nice weekend filled with good friends and good food. Of course Ozzie accompanied us, going to Uncle Peter and Aunt Lydia's house on Saturday and a BBQ at Uncle Lenny's on Sunday! Let's say he had his fair share of food! He lavishly dined on some fillet Mignon that Auntie Lydia gave him and Uncle Lenny and Uncle Vinnie kept his plate fill with Roast Pork Loin at the BBQ ( no hot-dogs for this hot-dog! ) He almost had an Oreo cake to himself if it were not for the fast reflexes of Uncle Lenny! ( good catch Len! ) Well now it time to undo some of those calories! We must get Ozzie into shape for the upcoming Therapy Dog testing! I have my doubts if he will pass because there are 10 steps of the test he must complete and there are 4 of them he is a little shaky on! Especially step number 4 walking on a leash! Yep that may be his undoing! When you have to push and drag one's dog is that considered walking? Well we have to September 19 th so we will be working it! In the mean time I am open to suggestions if anyone out there can give us some tips on walking on the leash please leave a comment! Alright I just downed my last sip of coffee. Come on Oz let's go for a stroll....oops too late he already is REM stage of his morning nap! Maybe later?!
Yesterday Ozzie had a wonderful time with his friend Knuckles! Knuckles came over to get acquainted and Ozzie was a most gracious host! As I had mentioned in a previous post we met Knuckles mom, Debbie through the MidAtlantic Bulldog Rescue. She has been doing therapy work with him, visiting patients in nursing homes and going to libraries where they have reading to dogs programs for kids. Oz and Knuckles make quite the pair! Knuckles is only 30 petite pounds next to Ozzie's massive 74 pounds! They are like David and Goliath! They had fun hanging out on the deck and sharing a biscuit or two! The picture I captured of the two of them looks like Knuckles just told Ozzie some Bulldog joke that was hilarious! Feeling inspired by the work that Debbie does with Knuckles I will see if we can register for the next therapy dog certification test. There are still some elements of the test that we still haven't mastered! Like "down" and "stay"! Probably important commands....but maybe they will let him slide a little since he does the "cute" command so well!
We were lucky to receive Ozzie is such good health. At 2 years old he is a vigorous strapping example of a Bulldog. He did however test positive for Lyme's disease with a high bacterial count so our vet put him on doxycycline for 21 days. He had no outward symptoms and has completed his meds so he is in the clear. It's been a damp summer to say the least and ticks and mosquitoes have flourished! Oz does need to lose weight however! He should weigh in around 65 pounds or so and currently is tipping the scale at 74.6 pounds. When he went to the vets for a recheck on Monday he was down a whole pound! So give credit its due! It's a challenge to get him to slim down especially since he detests to do any walking. If he could he would request the town move the fire hydrant from our corner to in front of our house! It is simply exhausting! Maybe with our new goal for training for the Canine Good Citizen's Test we can work on the walking thing! We thought his would be a good challenge to segue into therapy dog training. A new friend we have made through the Bulldog Rescue, Debbie, is involved with her bully Knuckles, as a therapy dog and visits hospitals and the like with him! Knuckles ( that is him looking dapper in his hat ) has also participated in reading programs for children at local libraries. The kids get to read their hearts out to a nonjudgmental Knuckles who attentively listens. ( maybe while taking a snooze or two! ) This has got to be a win win situation for all. I hope I can get Ozzie to cooperate with me on this one. I think he would be idea for this except for his lack of desire to walk with me! We will work on this and report back our progress. In the meanwhile if you want to read the comments left by Don and Melinda on the Ozzie birthday post you will find some very sage advice on bulldogs and a laugh or two. Thank you for your words of bully wisdom!
