Day 163 - Sunday (Long long day):

This morning we got up and both E and I took Finster for the loop walk. E got to see Finster lift his leg to his favorite pole on the walk, which horrified her. :) With E along we slowed the pace down a bit which Finster didn't seem to like. During the loop walk he is on the leash for about 1/8 of a mile and then off the leash for about 1.5 miles through the field and woods. For about a mile of that he was out ahead of us due to our slowness. Generally he stays behind me for about a mile and then leads by about 10 feet through the woods. Cesar says the dog should never lead unless given permission which is probably good advice especially for a large dog; getting pulled by a dog during a walk sucks.

After the walk we rushed around to get ready for church. We made record time and all 3 of us were ready in 30 minutes. Finster stayed in the car during church (it was a nice cool 60 degrees) and then got out at the in laws afterwards. I took him back to the pond for a drink/swim and then walked around the fields and yard until lunch. For lunch I locked Finster in the garage with his food. I put his whole lunch in his food ball. After lunch I went out to check on him and he had his lunch and then some dessert provided by the garbage can. It looked like he ate some chicken wings and such, sounds good. I cleaned up the mess and gave him a little scolding (I actually caught him in the act). I went back in for my dessert and then came back out after about 10 minutes to find him munching on the spilled garbage again. I gave him another scolding and cleaned it up again. When Finster is really bad like this the worst scolding he gets is a "no" and I put my hand over the top of his neck (like a mother biting her pup). I barely squeeze at all so it doesn't hurt him at all. He knew he was bad and went to lay down on the entry way carpet. After about 20 minutes I came back out to check on him and this time he left the garbage alone :) it worked. He stayed away from the garbage for the rest of the day!!
In the afternoon we all took a walk around the yard with Erin and Sparky included. Finster is such a pain when Sparky is around. He pulls like mad to walk with Sparky when he's on the leash and he tries constantly to play with Sparks when he's off. I've taught him that whenever another dog is around it's play time, so I have to work on him being calm and not expecting to play with every dog in sight.
During the walk Finster got to play with Sadie (the neighbor dog) for about 10 minutes. Sadie was quite aggressive with Finster. I don't think she sees many other dogs so she probably isn't very socialized. I split them up after a while because I didn't like the way she was playing.
One good thing did happen during the visit with the in laws. After the walk Finster went to the pond again for a drink/swim and then came up to the house. We were all sitting on the deck and I told Finster to stay "Off", no one (but me) likes a wet dog, and he did. He came up on the deck twice in the 20-30 minutes that we sat and chatted. Sparky was even on the deck but Finster still stayed off.
At 4 I had another baseball game. E got to watch Finster. He did pull her over once trying to get to Sparky and barked at Sparky once but E squirted him with a water gun and he didn't bark again ;) He did ok at the game. E said he tried to play with Sparky a few times, but it was tolerable. I'll deem it a success because he didn't get sent to the car.
After the game we went back home to my parents house (I told you it was a long day). Finster chased their two dogs around a bit and played with my Pa. He is getting much braver with my parents two dogs. Fred still owns him though (the 10 lbs miniature fox terrier) and Tilly, well, she still humps him. He looks absolutely massive next to these two dogs.
We finally made it home at 9pm, Sundays are tiring. Finster was exhausted without any naps. He slept in the basement pretty much the whole time until 11. E and I finished up Heart and Blood : Living with Deer in America which is the book that we bought E's dad for Father's day. It was the most beautifully written scientific book I have ever read! It was so interesting to learn about one of the most prevalent large mammal in this country.