B'Day Breakfast

The hens should be very grateful to Oscar as I will always be opening them early from now on as he gets me up at 6am! But what a beautiful start to the morning it was! After giving the hens their food, treats and cleaning the coop it was back home to shower as we had to be in the village cafe at 9am as it was Party Girls birthday!
There were 7 of us to celebrate with her, 8 if you include Oscar! We all had eggs on toast with Hollandaise sauce and either spinach, ham or salmon! I asked for half a portion as it was massive - unfortunately they took this to be one piece of toast but still 2 eggs and loads of salmon! I had a lovely chat with The Angel who I discovered had had IBS since her twenties! I also caught  up with Stylish Woman, a little older than the rest of us she suffered a brain aneurism about a year ago. She is now on her third shunt as she then had hydrocephalous. Amazing to see her out and about with such confidence.
After a play with Oscar on the football pitch it was home to look at Argus on the internet!  We both choose the same  vacuum cleaner and I also got an airer and The exile a toaster and kettle. Fortunately for me I ordered first and got both, unfortunately for her I had taken the last cleaner! She had to order one from Plymouth with delivery tomorrow! We then set off to Launceston to pick up our goods! To my delight there was an M7S food hall on the same site and a Pets World  where I bought a huge bed for Oscar! The ones I had seen in other shops had been expensive and frankly nasty! This one was the right size and stylish and portable being of washable fabric and grey with neon yellow piping! I also got him a light up ball and more pate to squirt in his Kong!!
Once home there was time to eat out food from M&S then go look round The Exiles house - it looks so huge being empty of furniture! Oscar loved racing up and down the stairs and round the garden! She lives in the terrace further up from me and they have 3 levels without the attic conversion I have and bigger gardens - so wish I had known this before I bought mine! 
Then it was off to my first puppy class! The Exile took Oscar for a walk as I attended the class. Oh how good it is going to be! I learnt so much in just this first session! How to rank treats so that Oscar will get the equivalent of a penny chew for small steps and the millionaire dollar payout for great achievements! We had an assortment of treats that we had to rank from high reward to low - apparently I was the first person to correctly identify one of the treats as dried liver - the first person ever to do so - not bad for a vegetarian eh?! I also learnt that 30 mins brain games is the equivalent to a 2 hour walk and that dogs need both physical and brain exercise! She said over exercising a dog will increase its endurance but will not address the energy level and manic episodes, in fact they will promote  them! More games for Oscar then! She makes her dogs, of which she has 6, 4 collies and 2 terriers, work for their food, thereby engaging their brains! I learnt about Snuffle mats, fleece rag squares in which you sprinkle their food so they have to snuffle it out from the crevices! Also furry rabbit ears are great for clearing out and preventing worms! I can't wait for next week when Oscar gets his first session! There are only 4 of us and the other dogs are big working dogs like Oscar - a Labrador, a Collie and a Rhodesian Ridgeback! They all sound as if they need more work than Oscar! I asked her about oscars reluctance with leaving and entering the house and she thought maybe he had had a bad experience in a doorway - not to either of our knowledge! I thought afterwards maybe it was because at The Exiles the dogs were not allowed in the house, so maybe Oscar was confused and wary about walking in. He's very good at sitting and staying but then when I want him to come for what he is waiting for he just sits - he needs the " Come get it" command recognition! The first task next week is not to take food from the palm of our hands till told to do so - the others just laughed in derision that their dogs would master this in one session , Oscar can already do this!!! Good boy Oscar - star pupil awaits him, I hope!!