I'm a GOOD GIRL

Just ask my Mom. She told me so about a million times on Friday, so it Must Be True!

Note from Mom: it is true. Actually, both girls are good girls; goofballs, yes, but good girls nonetheless.

I had MY doggie class on Friday, and I did all sorts of stuff that Abby has to be able to do to be a 'good citizen'. But first, we worked on Mom's turkey hotdog delivery technique. She gets better and better each week!


And Jessi (the woman who is teaching Mom to feed me turkey hotdogs) brought all sorts of funballs things out for us to do...


While Jessi was getting us sorted out, I checked out my fellow classmates:

Kaley the Weimaraner:


Her older brother Hunter, who, as an old dude, takes frequent rest breaks - no dummy him! Here he's ready to be tempted by nommy treats:


And Cooper, the labradude (who reminds me of a mini-Dexter):


Along with the funballs stuff, we had to do Scary Stuff! Like, we got pet by other people while their doggies sat there with them (!!!). BTW, there are pictures of Other Doggies, because Mom couldn't (obviously) take pictures of me when she was doing stuff with me, and Jessi could only take so many pictures of me while still trying to teach the class. So here are some of my classmates...

Cooper the labradude and Kaley the Weimaraner:


Despite the lack of pictures, I promise you, I did Very Well (just ask Mom) with this whole exercise and was much more focused on Mom's turkey hotdogs, ah, Mom than the other doggies. I even let the people ruffle the hair on the top of my head while sitting there patiently! Go me!

Then, we did an easy-peasey exercise. Mom had to sit on the grass and keep me amused while the other doggies did their best to distract me.


I was so good I didn't even get distracted by the labradude, despite his best attempts to steal hotdog bits out of Mom's little pouch of turkey hotdogs and cheese.


Cool, huh?

Then, we went inside. It's hot, and so we spend half the class outside, get some water, and then spend the rest of the class inside. We played a lot of 'follow-the-leader' (again, no pictures, because Mom can't take pictures and walk at the same time... I don't think chews gum at the same time, either!).

In all fairness, Mom tried, but with both of us moving, she decided it was a bad idea....

See? Yeah....

Anyhoo, after walking around the store sitting and lying down and eating turkey hotdogs, we had an Obstacle Course!!!

We had the full aisle at the back of the store, and Jessi had been all sneaky-like and put out some obstacles - a frisbee with tennis balls, some rawhide chews, and a bag of treats, and Mom went to one end of the aisle while we stayed at the other end, and Mom had to call me to come to her without me being distracted by the obstacles. Lemme tell ya, passing those tennis balls was TOUGH!!!

Anyhoo, since Mom was busy calling me, she didn't get any pictures of me, but here's Kaley attempting to avoid the rawhide chewies.


And Cooper trying to avoid the bag of treats...


Again, there are no pictures of me because Mom was trying really hard not to laugh while trying to convince me to leave the tennis balls and come to her. Hey.... Tennis balls that don't have Abby Cooties on them are Pretty Tempting!

We had a good time, and Mom was very happy with how I did. And, I'll admit, I had fun. Of course, I always like having my own time with Mom - especially when she's handing out the turkey hotdogs!

Thanks Mom!

*kissey face*
-Fiona (and Abby the absent-from-this-post Hippobottomus)

My Sister is Such a Suck-Up

Seriously. Abby is a total suck-up. Wave a few Vienna sausage bits in front of her snooter, and she'll fake being a good dog. Look at this....

Suck-up. Total suck-up.

Let me back up. While I am enrolled in a happy-go-lucky doggie class, Abby is enrolled in a AKC Canine Good Citizen prep class. I could go on and on about how my sister is so NOT a good citizen... I mean, she steals my bully sticks, she has to have everything I have, and she's a bed hog. But apparently the AKC doesn't grade her on how she behaves with her loving older sister.

Tuesdays Abby goes off with Mom and learns how to suck-up pretend to be a good citizen, while I get to stay home with Dad and have some quality Abby-free time! Mom thought it was "only fair" to take pictures of Abby's class, since she took pictures of my class.

Abby's class has a bunch of well-behaved dogs. Like Zoe, the Swiss Mountain dog:

And Hefner, the standard poodle:

In the back is Denver the mutt, who is also a well-behaved doggie.

And Indie the pit bull:


And then, there's my sister....

Derrr....

Yeah. Um. Apparently Abby was the 'demo dog' for showing people how to deal with dogs who can't walk without pulling. Because Jessi knew Abby would pull....


Needless to say, Abby didn't disappoint! Heehee. Although... in all fairness, Abby finally got it...


Although I'm sure there were lots of turkey hotdogs involved. And I'm sure Jessi depleted her Vienna sausage supply to get this....


I don't think Abby ever quite got to Zoe's level....

See how she's all calm, and lying down in the middle of Petco with no humans frantically waving at her? Of course, as Mango suggested, as a fuller-figured gal, Zoe is quite adept at lying down and doing nothing. Abby? Um, well, let's just say she still suffers from puppy-brain-itis.

She's a goof-a-doodle!

All my harassing aside, apparently Abby is doing pretty well. She's less of a spaz than she used to be, and can (occasionally) walk calmly on a leash. Mom's got a lot of stuff to do to get Abby ready to take her test, but she's still got 4 weeks, and maybe my little sister will learn how to be less of a doofus. At least some of the time...

But enough about Abby. Let's see some pictures of me, dontcha think?

C'mon, Mom... would ya throw the frisbee already??

Much better!

So, I've been playing frisbee bitey-face with my sister...


And just some plain bitey-face...

Like my Jaws of Doom? Heehee!

And I've been checking on the squirrels...

Hmmm. No squirrels here. For now...

And really, I love my sister. Even if she steals my bully sticks... I mean, if I didn't have Abby, I wouldn't be able to do this:


Heehee!

*kissey face*
-Fiona and Abby the Hippobottomus

Doggie Classes

Hi! When we left you, Abby and I were zooming around the park, carefree and enjoying the halcyon days of summer.

Now, we're all serious-like.


Kinda.

You know, as serious as we can be.


Which isn't particularly serious. Did I mention that my sister is a goofball?

*ahem*

Abby and I are back in Doggie School. You would think that by now, we know how to be doggies, but apparently, Mom wants us to work on the finer points of Being A Dog. Heehee. Actually, Abby is signed up for a Canine Good Citizen prep class. 'Good Citizen!' As if! She's my little sister, and lemme tell ya.... Actually, she's enough of a suck-up, that she might just be able to pull it off. However, the class is being taught by Jessi - the woman who teaches Mom how to feed us turkey hotdogs - and you would think Jessi would know Abby well enough by now to know what a pest she is! Heehee.

Anyhoo, Mom didn't get any pictures of Abby's class, because Mom was too busy trying to make it look like Abby actually belonged in the class. Mom and Abby came home with a long list of things Abby is supposed to be able to do for the test. Let's just say that Abby has a bit of work to do! Mom says she'll try to get some pictures, as there's a very handsome standard poodle in there, as well as a statuesque Swiss Mountain doggie girl (I think the Mango would swoon!) and some other well behaved doggies.

My class meets on Fridays, and I made sure Mom brought the camera. My class has 4 doggies (including me). There are two Weimaraners:

Kaley (on the right), who is the youngster of the pair, and her older brother Hunter, who is 10. I didn't spend a lot of time getting to know them, as we were supposed to be focusing on our parents, and not chatting with each other, and these two were trying to be Good Doggies.

Of course, that didn't stop me from socializing with the other doggie in the class, a Labradude named Cooper.

Hi Cooper! I'm Fiona!

Here's another picture of Cooper:


He's still a young labrapup, but quite the handsome little fellow!

And here I am, looking quite studious, if I do say so myself!


Before we got into the lesson part, Jessi gave me scratchies and smoochies.


I mean, how could you not give scratchies and smoochies to a face like mine? Heehee!


The first part of the class was out in the parking lot, and I was able to show Jessi how good I am on a leash, and how I can pay attention to Mom even when there are other doggies walking around near me. When Mom has turkey hotdogs, that is!

After we did stuff in the parking lot, we all got water, as it's hot here. I know people in the rest of the country are dealing with 100+ degree temps, but for us, 85 is pretty hot - especially when you don't have central air conditioning, and when you are doing doggie classes in hot parking lots....


Hunter decided he had had enough of the heat and called it a day. Those of you who know us, know that we have a special fondness for senior doggies, and we didn't blame the old guy for taking a nap!


We did all sorts of fun things in class, most of which involved Mom feeding me turkey hotdogs and cheese at regular intervals.


By the time we were getting ready to move inside (we're doing the classes at Petco, so when we go inside, there are all sorts of distractions...), Mom was getting pretty good at feeding me turkey hotdogs! Another 5 weeks, and she should be a real pro!

When we went insides, we did all sorts of things, like trying to stay focused while Jessi walked around squeaking squeaky toys (um, I didn't do so well with that...), and while adoptable doggies were being taken out for test drives, and while all our classmates were walking around. And then we had to do scary things like lie down and let all the other doggies in the class walk past us (good thing Mom had a big supply of treats!). I was doing pretty well with things, until I got a little, erm, distracted at the end of the class...


Hey, I was focusing on treats, and not on the other doggies. That's good, right?!? Besides, if they didn't want me to lick them, they shouldn't hang these things at snooter level! Heehee.

Apparently, Mom was "very pleased" with how I did in class today. Me? I was very pleased with Mom's lack of stinginess with the treats! I had a fun time, and I'm looking forward to 5 more weeks of Mom learning how to feed me turkey hotdogs. (You'd think she'd have learned by now, but apparently she needs regular refresher courses!)

When I got home from learning how to be civilized around other doggies, I decided to celebrate with a little bitey-face with my sister!


Heehee!


I'll keep you posted on things, but I will say, the cool thing about these classes is that Abby and I each have our own special time with Mom, since we are in different classes (and we get a break from each other!).

*kissey face*
-Fiona and Abby the Hippobottomus