A vocation for Oscar?

After several weeks really of rainy weather, we were delighted to see the sun today. However it didn't last too long and by our afternoon walk time, there was a sense of imminent rain. You could almost smell the rain. I decided to take Patch's advice and use Oscar's harness with the retractable lead and it worked really well. With only one other dog walker around we were able to practise recall on the long lead and I was delighted with Oscar's obedient response. I used my voice and also the whistle, as I can't always keep my voice light and happy. The whistle I thought was very effective, he would look up to see where the sound was coming from and then immediately run towards me. Long may that continue. Mind you I think he is the kind of wee dog that does things well until he gets confident and then, he takes his time about it. Ho hum.

The highlight of today's walk was really on the way home. Sometimes we come through the Red Cross village and Oscar has already made friends with some of the residents. Today we met a young lad we have only seen once before, but Oscar obviously remembered him. There was no way he could stroke Oscar so instead I lifted the puppy up and Oscar nuzzled into his neck (he's good at that) and I was humbled by the expression of joy on the young boy's face. Oscar was wagging his tail furiously and obviously sensed the emotion. As we said our goodbyes and turned round, there was another wheelchair waiting for us. Oscar was in his element, and as I looked at the faces of these young people I realised just how much good this wee puppy can do - just by being himself!

Hi Mags a really nice blog it is so rewarding to see the look on these youngsters faces and can understand how proud of Oscar it makes you fell but also how humbling it is.

He's doing a great job for dog-human relations then I see Mags Whistles are great! I used one once and Rocky came darting over! I say used once, because I then dropped it and guess who /chewed/broke it?! lol