Tuesday, August 23, 2011

My Sister the Good Citizen!

Yup, it's true! Hard to believe, I know, but it's true! Abby passed the Canine Good Citizen test today!


Heh. Does that look like the face of a good citizen to you? Awww. Okay, I won't harass my little sister too much. I'm actually pretty proud of the little goofball!

When Mom came home after Abby's first class with the list of things Abby had to be able to do to pass the test, Mom and Dad were both pretty skeptical. I mean, the test requires my inherently goofy sister to be, well, less goofy. Personally, I didn't think there were enough Vienna sausages in the world to make that happen, but Jessi (the turkey hotdog lady) did an amazing job in instructing Mom on how to administer Vienna sausages (and blue cheese!) in such a manner that Abby could contain her inherent goofiness. Jessi did a great job in giving Mom homework assignments, and suggestions of things to do that might "help Abby succeed." Heehee. That sounds all stuffy-like, but it's true - without Jessi, there's no way Abby could have passed this test.

Of course, Mom didn't get any actual photos of Abby being tested because Mom was 'handling' Abby, but here's a pre-test photo of Zoe and Lulu, Jessi's dog. Lulu was there to, uh, observe. For the record, Zoe is a Greater Swiss Mountain dog (and at 130 lbs, is the biggest doggie Mom has ever walked) and Lulu is a Bug - a Boston Terrier/Pug mix.

And to celebrate after the test! Heehee.

And and just so you know it's official...


I guess that means Abby is now certifiable, huh? Heehee!

*ahem*

Oh, and Mom had a Winning Day all around, because not only did Abby pass her Good Citizen test, but after the test, Mom saw this:


See, when Mom took me to my 'special Saturday doggie class' last Saturday, there was a Mustang car show going on VeryClose to Petco. And Mom was MIGHTY tempted to take me to the car show, instead of the class. But since Jessi had arranged it so I could go to the class on Saturday (instead of my regular class on Friday, where I would have been the only student), Mom skipped the car show.

But when she saw the car after Abby's test, Mom knew that she hadn't "missed" anything - she saw the only car she needed to! And she took about a zillion pictures of it.... For those of you 'not in the know' this is a Ford GT. Ford only made it for 3 years, and a grand total of 4038 of them were produced. Mom first saw one down in southern Utah (and laughed because the Highway Patrol rode alongside the car for about a mile while the cops oogled it), and has been enamored of them ever since. Mom figures these two cars were probably two of the 'stars' of the show:


But enough of that. If you want to see the zillions of pictures, ask Mom and she'll email them to you. Seriously, she was like a little kid and got pictures of EVERYTHING - the interior, the engine (that was actually signed), the front, the back, the exhaust... I've mentioned that she's crazy, right?

So enough of that and on to me. When Mom was doing all this work with Abby for the Good Citizen thing, I did a lot of the stuff, too. Mom hasn't figured out how to train one of us at a time, so when Abby was practicing the 'down' while Mom walked 20 feet away, I was practicing, too. And I've been working on 'loose leash walking' in my own classes, and we've even done the 'meet and greet' thingy in my own classes. So, now Mom's thinking that maybe I could be a Good Citizen, too.... Hmmm. I'll have to think about this one.


In the meantime, I've got another doggie class on Friday, and I guess Mom will talk with Jessi then about whether I'm "ready" to be a Good Citizen. If Abby can do it, how tough can it be?!? And I know Abby got a lot of blue cheese while preparing for the test, so I might be up for it.

Other than that, we've been playing at the park a lot. We've have a number of different doggies 'join' us while we are playing, and it's been fun. This short little sausage looking thing is Katie, and was much quicker than her little leggies would have you believe...


Katie's Dad was worried she'd 'interfere' but we had no issues - we have fun with other doggies!


And, of course, Abby and I have plenty of fun just with each other!


*kissey face*
-Fiona and Abby the Hippobottomus and Canine Good Citizen

20 comments:

rottrover said...

Congratulations, Miss Abby, Good Citizen!! We're very impressed!
Dad will really like seeing those Mustang pictures - he's a big Ford guy!

Keep it up, girls,

-Ruby

Anonymous said...

Way to go Abby!! Congrats!

And Fiona-I bet you can do it too-now that Mom has been trained properly! LOL

Kellee the Caffeinated said...

Congrats Abby!!! So proud of you!!!

Is that a Greater Swiss Mountain Dog in the class? In the picture with the Boston? We never see those! That is what our Hunter is. Well she is half. Her mom was all Greater Swiss and her dad was Lab/Rottie.

Anonymous said...

Congratulations on your accomplishment, Abby! Your happy-toothy smile says it all. I'm sure you've made your Mom and Fiona very proud.

Just don't pretend to forget everything you've already learned, ok?

Sierra Rose said...

Yay Abby!! Way to go my friend!
Sounds like the CGC was a breeze! I still need to go for it....
Looks like some sweet cars! Very cool on the limited edition!
Nice parkie fun too :)

Sweet hugs!
Sierra Rose

Chewy said...

excellent congrats to abby the hippobottomus!

Chewy canine good citizen

Anonymous said...

Congrats to Abby! Fiona, we know you can do it!!

Wonky Girl said...

Congrats on the CGC. Poodles are so smart!

BZ Dogs said...

Congrats to Abby!

Sweet car. :)

Shane Kent Louis said...

Congratulation Abby! keep it up! :)

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bichonpawz said...

Big Congratulations to Abby! Great job! Those cars are REALLY great! Love them! Looks like lots of fun park time! Xoxo Chloe and LadyBug

Molly the Airedale said...

Congratulations, Abby! We are so proud of you!

Love ya lots,
Maggie and Mitch

Dexter said...

I find that difficult to believe. Clearly there were dollars exchanged in return for that certificate. How else to explain the hippobottomus getting dubbed a good citizen?

You need to get to the bottom of this.

Slobbers,
Mango

Frankie Furter and Ernie said...

CONGRATULATIONS ABBY !!! I (Frankie Furter) KNEW you could do it!!

Anonymous said...

Ditto what Mango said... but, what does this "good citizen" thing even mean? Do you get free food at restaurants? Parks named after you? Airline miles??

brooke said...

Congratulations Abby!

Dog Foster Mom said...

Congratulations! That's a huge accomplishment. Great job!

Bocci said...

Congrats to Abby!

Kari in Alaska said...

Good job Abby!

Kari
http://dogisgodinreverse.com

Road Dog Tales said...

Congrats to Abby (and Vienna sausages) on passing her CGC! Maybe she could be the spokesdog for Vienna sausage! BOL

That is one awesome car and our Mom is pretty enamoured with Mustangs, too - ever since high school about a billion years ago. But she's never had one. If she did, she would probably get speeding tickets every day! BOL

The Road Dogs