BlaringSmelly

Today started like any weekday. Little did I know today would turn out to be one of those days that things just don’t go the right way.

I came back around 2pm to take Mango to his afternoon walk. Mango chose a nice grassy area to poop. After he was done, I reached into the bag only to find I used up the last poo bag this morning. Realizing I had nothing to scoop Mango’s poo, I felt like one of those dog owners I hated so much for not picking up after their pets. Walking away from the crime scene, I was embarrassed as hell. After quickly taking Mango home, I returned to clean up. Picking up cold poo is so much worse than picking up fresh warm ones.

After work, I took Mango to Seattle Center. Maybe it was the evening traffic noise or the stormy weather, Mango was quite jumpy and nervous to follow me. Half dragging and half pulling, I managed to get close to Seattle Center before Mango’s collar suddenly snapped open. Mango was loose and he took off running away from me.

Holding on the other end of the leash, I couldn’t believe what just happened. Horrible thoughts flashed through my mind of Mango being lost for good, Mango being hit by car, or Mango becoming a stray dog. My first reaction was to chase after him. Then I remembered there’s no way I could out run him. Out of desperation, I squatted down and made a cheerful call. At this point, Mango was already half a block away. Amazingly, he heard my call and stopped running. I yelled out “Mango come!” and started cheering like I was having so much fun with him. To my relief, Mango put on his smiley face and started running back to me like he would do during our recall exercises.

After securing his collar, I was kissing and hugging Mango regardless of passerby’s strange looks. Holy cow, that was too close a call. I was so thankful he responded to my call. I recalled Diane stressed the importance of recall exercise. Diane was right. I can not imagine what’s going to happen if it wasn’t for the training. I’m so proud of my little guy.

Mango is one awesome little dude. He did exceptionally well at Saturday’s training. That afternoon, he faced the scary doctor at the vet and took a shot like a man. And in the evening, he continued making us feel that we are making progress with his nail trimming. To acknowledge his awesomeness, we took him to the Sculpture Park on Sunday.

The weather wasn’t great but at least it wasn’t raining when we were at the park. There were lots of photo opportunities. Mango’s training was put into use as we commanded him to seat still and watch camera while taking pictures.

Previously during a trip to the Arboretum, Mango proved himself not a fan of water. This time was no exception. He approached the beach, saw the water, and was ready to leave.

We also used the park’s busy surrounding to train Mango to perform commands with distractions. For a 4-month pup, Mango did well with noises and pedestrians all around him.

Ktula and I had fun watching schools of salmon and unknown fish swimming by the shallow water under the deck.