Our family has been assimilated by Oly (formerly known as Pepper), resistance was futile! He came to us with a reputation as a "chewer", the only sacrifice so far has been a box of Kleenex and that was within a day or so of his arrival. We loaded him up with raw hide and a few toys and he has been good as gold. He knows what is his, and has a good suspicion on the things that are not. He likes to demonstrate his dominance over the cows, pigs, and chickens (from a distance) and as long as Mom's skirt is readily available to hide behind.
Oly likes to play hide and attack with us. He will go to the end of his run, crouch down in some tall grass that he thinks is hiding him. He waits for one of us to ease his way then he will jump up as if he is startling us and take off running to the other end. He also likes to go to the top of our open stairwell, hide behind the top newel post and spy on us. I'm not sure what his thoughts are, but he certainly has a good surveillance from that vantage point.
Oly has gone on a few road trips with us, Eastern Washington and Montana to name a couple. He is a wonderful traveler assuming his spot between Tammy and myself. There is no question that his world is in perfect balance when the three of us are together. He does not mind at all about going into his house for the times that we both need to leave. The only issue there is he lets us know his displeasure about being alone with his barking and howling. I'm thinking he will get over that with time and I can see a time when we will dispense with the need to kennel-up altogether.
As for people skills, we continue to work with Oly. If left alone to meet visitors (whatever age they may be) Oly is protective of his domain and family. On the other hand, if he is picked up and properly introduced and is given the chance to realize that there is no threat he warms up very quickly, especially if the person is willing to play fetch!
So you can surmise by this message that Oly has become one of the family. He is happy all times. One more thing, it has been a revelation to me to observe his personal routines. He is very specific about his mornings. He sleeps on his pillow mattress beside Tammy's side of the bed. 4:00 A.M. is a bit early for him but he will get up with Tammy to help get my lunch together, see me out the door then lay back down for a while until Tammy gets on the treadmill, lay there with his favorite toy and have a snooze until Tammy is done. Then he will go to his breakfast. If we have occasion to sleep past 6:00, you can bet he will have his toy in mouth and paw on our hand to let us know, come on, it's time to play!
To say that Oly is a joy and a pleasure to have is indeed an understatement.
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