I awoke to a familiar and unpleasant smell. I had decided there was no need to block off the stairwell to the attic - big mistake. During the night Oscar had paid a visit to both cats and left a little present for both. Milkshake got a pee and FatCat a poo! That explained why fatCat had come up into the attic. Milkshake was bizarrely in FatCat's room sitting by the poo as if to say "Look what that dog has done! Get rid of him!" What a way to start the day!
The day did get better - morning visit to the hens and the baking of a loaf of bread restored my equilibrium and filled the house with a more pleasant aroma! Come the afternoon I paid a visit to The Exile who was looking after The Readers dog Buddy from one door up from me. Oscar loves Buddy, although he has an unfortunate obsession with mounting him, or any other dog it meets! I think  it's something to do with rescue dogs - they all seem to have an obsession. With my previous dog it had been food, with Kess it's chasing sticks or balls. Well the two of them raced round the garden at immense speed with multiple mountings! The Exile is a little hacked off with Buddy as he barks incessantly, and cannot be let off the lead as he will follow a scent and disappear for hours! The good news is that she passed her interview with the language school. The school is an American based company and she will be teaching English to children or adults from anywhere in the world - but not, she avows, with the effusive manner of the Americans showed on the training videos! The job is not particularly well paid, but she gets to chose the hours to teach a week and if she doesn't take a day off in the month of her set hours she gets increased wages - but one day off and she loses the increase for the entire month! It will pay the bills until she finds another job! 
With Oscar suitably exercised it was home to eat and then off to Puppy Class - nightmare! The other dog was there and he was just full of energy, a polite way of saying manic and out of control! Both her owners were with her and they were a  gentle, lovely couple and obviously embarrassed at their dogs behaviour, but then that was why they were at the class. I think they would be happier and more successful in 1.1 sessions. The owner of Lupin was beside herself in the carpark afterwards, at both the behaviour of this dog and of the trainer! She too is exasperated at her incessant recounting of tales about her dogs!  I am coming to the conclusion that puppy class is the worst place to try and teach a puppy skills! Way too much going on and as usual bowls of treats everywhere you look! The skills she outlines are good however. Tonight it was sit, lie down, stand and down! Also recall from last week which I had missed! 
There were two worrying bits of information. The first being the tightening up of the law on dangerous dogs. If your dog is off leash and jumps up at someone and they report this, your dog is declared dangerous and is registered as such and can never be allowed off lead. That is the least of the consequences - which can be read here and could mean losing your dog and being banned from ever owning a dog again.
The second was the risk of dognapping at a very popular beach for dogs. I went to the beach at Seaton on Boxing Day one year with my sister and it was a veritable dog fest! All types cavorting around happily, mostly off leash. Well it seems people park close to the beach and entice dogs with food, grab them and whisk them into their car and are off. Given that Oscar thinks everyone is his long lost friend I won't be taking him there till his recall is 100%!