Dog Park

Today was Loki's second trip to the Camino Real Dog Park in Ventura. We've decided to bring him there once a week. Upon entering the park, Loki was super excited and could hardly sit still enough for me to get the leash off of him.

Loki loves to play with the big dogs, but that also means he gets trampled over.

Loki looks vicious in this picture, but really it was the other dog that came into the park charging. Loki got beat up pretty badly today by this little fellow.

This time I brought Loki his own water.

Doesn't he look like a happy puppy? Look at that tongue!

Today's visit to the dog park was pretty different from last week's trip. Last week, he ran around a lot. Today, he got trampled over and a bit beat up by the other dogs. You could definitely tell that Loki was always on the defense.

Awww... I admit I felt sorry for Loki. But rationally, I think it's better to just let dogs be dogs rather than to intervene. Loki did not seem fearful or hurt in any way. His tail remained up and he never ran away.

A New Camera

We bought a new camera today (Canon S3 IS), and who else better to test it on than Loki!

Potty Training

It is with great disappointment that I admit Loki is not yet fully potty trained. He's almost 5 months old.

This is partly due to the fact that Yun & I feel guilty about confining him to his pen when we are home. That's when accidents occur - when we are both home and let him roam freely.

This is also partly due to the fact that we had to potty train him to go on the balcony first. Then after he finished his vaccinations, we had to re-train him to go outdoors.

For the first couple of weeks of re-training I let him pick his spot to go potty, except that he's not allowed to pee on plants or the sidewalk. And I've taught him the commands pee-pee and poo-poo, which he has learned reasonably well.

Today, we're raising our expectations. He's now supposed to go on the patch of green that is right next to our apartment, not the farthest patch of green on the other side of the apartment complex.

Doesn't he looks so sad in his pen?
But if I take him to the patch of green nearest our apartment and say either pee-pee or poo-poo, this is what he does:

Stubborn pup! The only way to get him to go on that patch of green will be to give him no other options and wait him out. That was the only way to get him to go on the balcony - to wait him out.

Poor puppy... his life will consist of his pen and that patch of green until he goes. Ack! Okay, no more feeling sorry for the pup.

Whoops!

How bad is it if you call your husband, "Loki-Boki"?

Camino Real Park

Loki had his very first visit to the dog park today. We went to Camino Real Park in Ventura, CA. We felt like parents bringing in their child to the very first day of school. Entering those double gates, I anxiously wondered,

Would he come out of his shell?
Would he make friends?
Would he play with all of the other dogs?

The first thing Loki did was greet all of the humans! He loves attention. He was pretty shy and timid at first with the other dogs, but after some time, he got around to sniffing the dogs. Finally, he felt comfortable with them and began running around like crazy. I guess he decided that it was his job to exercise all of the other dogs by giving chase. He kept going and going and going!

Look at Loki go!

After all of that running, you'd think that Loki would drink some water. Now, the dog park has a water fountain for the dogs, and all of the other dogs had no problems drinking from it. Loki, on the other hand, refused. What?! He's too good to drink out of a common pool of water mixed with dog drool? Maybe, we've spoiled him with the bottled water that he gets at home.

This little guy is definitely not camera shy. He (or she) came right up to me as soon as I pulled out my camera.

The only bad, terrible thing that happened at the dog park was I stepped in dog poop. Grr! Although I guess the probability of that happening is pretty high in a dog park. The problem isn't so much that the adults are not responsible pet owners, but rather that unless you are literally watching your dog every second, you wouldn't even know that your dog just pooped. It only takes a few seconds for a dog to poop and the adults are usually socializing amongst themselves.

Nineteen Weeks Old

Our pup is growing up! He doesn't look much like a little puppy anymore. He's finished all of his vaccinations. We've been taking him outside to poop & pee now. He's been really good about not going in our apartment, but goes in all of the "wrong" places outside. For instance, he likes to water the plants with his pee. Now, if we were intent on killing all of the plants, then I guess this would be a good plan. What a silly puppy!

Loki's New Favorite Game

Loki has discovered an amazing, new, terribly fun game. It's called, Make the Human Fetch! It begins innocently enough, playing with the colored squeaky balls. Then with his front paws, he sticks one or more of the balls under the couch. Then the fun part begins! He scratches and paws at the bottom of the couch until Vi comes along to fetch the ball out from under the couch. And we all know that Vi will fetch, because she doesn't want the couch to be all scratched up. Then repeat! And repeat! And repeat! Until Vi gets so fed up that she locks Loki up in the exercise pen.