Saturday, April 14, 2012

Of Cheeseburgers and Clickers and Things

Okay, well, we won't fire Mom yet.    Yes, we got cheeseburgers!!!

But before the cheeseburgers, Mom hauled us off to Dog Training Class.  Something about how Abby was relapsing, and how it would be good 'bonding time' and blah-blah-blah.  All I heard was 'turkey hotdogs' - and that was good enough for me!

So off to doggie class we went (yes, both of us!), and discovered that we were the Only Ones There!

Abby immediately sucked up to Jessi while I checked out the new training area...


After deciding that the training area was acceptable, I decided to see if the treats were up to snuff.


Jessi then suggested to Mom that she try 'clicker training'.   It sounded interesting, and, of course, there would be treats involved, so really, how bad could it be?

And it totally rocked!  First, Abby was put in the car so I could get some one-on-one training time.  The clicker-thingy got my attention...


Here I am, showing off what I learned for the day!





For those of you who get this via email, here's the link:  http://youtu.be/xP0ldI6_Q_8

And if you are wondering what the point of learning to 'crawl' is, the short answer is that there is no point in crawling - but it stimulates my mentals and gets me to focus on what I'm doing.  For the record, we're also learning useful things like going and lying down in a certain spot, barking (and not barking) on command, and stuff like that.

After that I was totally worn out, so I got to rest in the car while Abby did her thing.   Abby didn't crawl, but she did lots of stuff like lying down and then getting into a 'sit' from lying down (this is not actually as easy as you think...) and lying on a dog bed when commanded to do so, and stuff like that.



We had over two hours of class time, and our mentals were TOTALLY FRIED by the time we were done.

But our day wasn't over!  After leaving Petco, we went to the Magic Cheeseburger Window!!!!  Mom came through for us!

There it is!  The Magic Cheeseburger Window!
The Magic Window dispensed a Cheeseburger, and Mom drove home in a hasty-but-legal fashion so we could dine on our Celebratory Cheeseburger!

Nom, nom, nom!

Don't worry Mom!  I just want the cheeseburger and not your fingers!
Happy birthday, Mom!  Now that we've had our cheeseburger, we have officially celebrated your birthday!

We ended the day with a little bitey-face.




And then we totally sacked out after our Big Day!  Apparently this was part of Mom's plan...  And now she's perusing her book of dog tricks...  Hmmm....

*kissey face*
-Fiona and Abby the Hippobottomus

14 comments:

NAK and The Residents of The Khottage Now With KhattleDog! said...

Khlikhker=Siberian

FAIL!!!!

Hugz&Khysses,
Khyra
PeeEssWoo: But YEA fur the Magikh Cheeseburger Window...is there snow to top it off?

Molly the Airedale said...

Nice crawl, Fiona! The hotdogs helped, huh.
I'm so happy that you got cheeeezeburgers!

Love ya lots
Mitch

The World According to Garth Riley said...

Way to go! Awesome crawl! Crawl is actually one of our favorite tricks to do in tricks demos because it's so darned cute!!! It's also a great way to stretch out doggie hips, so it's good for you.

Our favorite tricks books are the ones by Kyra Sundance. 101 Dog Tricks is awesome. Plus it's been really fun to get our trick dog titles. Check out domorewithyourdog.com. Have a great time with your tricks!

Anonymous said...

Awesome. I love this post. Working on a crawl with juno cuz its good for hip dysplasia!

Frankie Furter and Ernie said...

I guess I should teach that CRAWL thingy to ERNIE. He will do ANYTHING fur Turkey Tube Steaks.

OH the Magic Cheeseburger Window!! You are soooooo lucky!!!

Mogley G. Retriever said...

What, you did not put out an immediate all points news flash?

Attention, if you misbehave, you can go to the pet store, get treats, get attention and then get rewarded with cheesburgers!

I am going to try that, all day today!

Your news would have been an announcement worthy of the emergency broadcast system. You should have had a scroll along the bottom of the TV set for such an important announcement.

Mogley G. Retriever

Two French Bulldogs said...

Good job, no wonder it was cheeseburger time
Benny & Lily

Dexter said...

Momma says that crawl is actually good for the strength and timbers in your buttock region. I think she just likes to say buttock.

Slobbers,
Mango

STELLA and RORY from Down Under said...

Howdy Fiona and Abby, your training sounds and looks fun, fun, fun. Glad you got to have your cheeseburger and end off the day with bitey face action. Love your header photo too!! No worries, and love, Stella and Rory

Kari in Alaska said...

My pups have only had cheeseburger window once!

Stop on by for a visit
Kari
http://dogisgodinreverse.com

3 doxies said...

CLICKER training????? Are you fur reals! Amamzin' what hoomans will comes up withs fur their shear amuzement in training.
At least ya'll gots a burger fur doin' all dats hard work. My brain kinda hurts afters wtchin' your brains bein' fried...hehehehe.

Puddles

bichonpawz said...

Awesome crawl Fiona!! We have never actually met a real Hotdog Goddess before!! Looks like clicker training could be fun!! xoxo Chloe and LadyBug

Unknown said...

Ooh - Abby - I'm so excited for you!! Clicker Training is like the Magic Door to a Whole New World! :-) I can't wait to see what other tricks you learn - we just LOVE watching training videos and seeing how you learn things.

Btw, we are so impressed that your human is taking you back to doggie school - we meet so many people who think that doggie education ends with puppy class and we think it's such a shame - partly because their doggies would be so much better behaved and so have a much fuller life where they can go to so many more places & do so many more things - but partly also they miss out on so much fantastic bonding & fun time together! :-)

Me & my human are training class junkies - Hsin-Yi says when I finally die, it'll probably be in training class! Hee! hee!

Slobbers,
Honey the Great Dane

Jed and Abby in MerryLand said...

We were having fun imagining scenarios in which you might need to crawl to make a stealthy egress from your estate, or from a room in which you no longer choose to be confined. Although if you could remember to do it, that's actually the safest way to get out of a smoke-filled room, too, if you can't run straight out the door really fast. But we were thinking of more fun things like sneaking out of the house in the dead of night for some critter hunting, or sneaking up on your mom and surprising her with a wet nose in a sensitive area of her anatomy. Anyway, it sounds like you ladies had a great personal training day at group rates. Mama loves a bargain.

Jed & Abby