One socialized pup!

Last night, Max and I decided we needed to socialize the dog some more. So we set out on an adventure to the Drive-In theater about 1.5 hours away, near Allentown. We waited for Max at the Fresh Grocer while Max bought us dinner. Orent and I did a lot of great training with heavy distractions (lots of people, cars, buses). He did so good. He barely got distracted by anything, and was super focused on me. Also, I was focused heavily on him. So focused, in fact, that I looked at my phone and realized that my meter had expired. So I said a quick and urgent sounding "let's go" and we jogged back to the car one block away, where a PPA person was there finishing writing me a ticket.

I said "I"m sorry, I was training my dog, and I lost track of time. He's going to be a service dog, so I have to train him in all different places. I'm really sorry!" The PPA guy was really nice! He gave me a slip saying he'd rescinded the ticket. As thanks, I let him pet the puppy.

So, thanks Orent. You got me into, and out of, a parking ticket!

Then we found Max and were on our way. After getting stuck in horrible traffic, and then coasting along for about 45 minutes, we realized we accidentally drove to New Jersey. Whoops! Must've missed a turn!

Well, it was getting dark, the dog was grouchy in the back, and we were hungry, so we stopped in some small Jersey town, found a playground and took the dog out to play.

The park was great! There weren't any kids, so we could let to dog play going up the stairs, across the shaky bridge, and down the slide. The ground below the playground (not where the picnic benches were) was made out of torn up tires, so it was very squishy to walk on. Orent didn't like walking on it, and we had to work hard to make sure he didn't eat the little bits of toxic tires. Success on that part!

Here are some videos of Orent walking around the playground after the sun set. It's funny that his eyes and his reflective collar are basically the only things you can see.

Orent goes across the shaky bridge:

Orent goes down the slide! Check out the crazy eyes towards the end:

Also, I'm happy to report that Orent officially has a hobby - chasing the frisbee! It's his new favorite thing to do, now that it's not so hot. When he's all riled up in the morning, we take him into the hallway and let him run and run and run and chase the frisbee until he's tired out, then we all go back to bed.

Here's a lovely video of Orent playing with the Frisbee, and then getting too tired to play any more (sorry it's so dark!):

After it got too dark to stay and ensure he wasn't chewing old tires, we decided to go get ice cream. We found this great place that had 24 flavors of soft-serve (!) and five girls under 10 who all wanted to pet the puppy. He was SO GOOD! He only jumped up once or twice, but all the girls had been told to stop petting him if he did that, and they were good too! The funniest moment came when the 2-year-old went squealing by, running as fast as she could, and Orent popped his head up and followed her (with his eyes only). It's like he thought she was a toy!

So much socialization for a little dog in one day. He slept the whole way home, and most of today.

And now, to close out, a comparison shot of Orent when we first got him...

And now...

Look how much he's grown!