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

A Very Happy Birthday!

Thanks to everyone for all the wonderful birthday wishes! I had a Most Excellent birthday!

It started off with a e-card from Granny and Grandpa, and a very nifty gift certificate to Drs. Foster and Smith - home of the sweet potato treats! Thanks Granny and Grandpa!!!

After that, we headed to the park for some quality tennis ball time. The weather forecast was for thunderstorms later in the day, and we wanted to get in some zoomie time.


After the park time (and some quality time with Dad, watching golf), Mom had to run a couple of errands, and she thought that maybe I'd like to go to that magic window that dispenses cheeseburgers. Well, duh! Of course I want to go the the Cheeseburger Store!!! So Abby and I hopped in the car, and we went to The Magic Window, which did not disappoint!


Abby was very interested in the contents of the bag, and being the good sister that I am, I shared all my birthday goodies with Abby. Because, of course, when it's her birthday, she'll be sharing her goodies with me!


C'mon Mom! Cut it up already!

In no time we were rewarded with bite-sized pieces of a plain junior cheeseburger!


After the cheeseburger (which was Most Nommy!), we had some frisbee time!


After the frisbee time, Mom broke out The Hat.

Seriously. The Birthday Hat. Oy. Dad was armed with lots of treats, and I tolerated it, to humor Mom. I mean, she did take us to the Magic Cheeseburger Window....

Oh, please, maybe if I hunch down lower, the floor will swallow me up...

There, are you happy now? Actually, it wasn't too bad - Dad had lots of treats for me during this whole ordeal! And I don't have to wear this silly hat for another year; the next time it comes out, it'll be Abby's turn to wear it. Neener-neener!

So, we had dinner, and Mom and Dad watched some teevee (there's some bicycle race or something going on that has their attention). A while after dinner, Mom declared that it was Cake Time!

Cake!!!! I watched Mom make the 'cake' yesterday. A friend of Mom's had sent her some doggie-specific recipes, and Mom selected a peanut butter-carrot recipe. But we had no carrots. So she substituted apples - which was totally cool because Abby and I both like apples. So yesterday Mom made the batter and baked it in a muffin tray (the idea being that she didn't want particularly big servings, AND she doesn't have a small cake pan...). They looked pretty yummy!


(Don't mind the tray the silicon muffin pan is sitting on - it's Mom's 'junk tray'). When they came out of the oven last night and cooled off a bit, Dad and I tested one, and we gave it a combined two thumbs and four paws up!

Today, Mom 'iced' one - she mixed a little low-fat cream cheese with some peanut butter and frosted one. And put a candle on it!

I turned 3 today, in case I forgot to mention it!

Bring on the cake!!!


Mom's wearing a long-sleeve shirt, BTW, because the predicted thunderstorms did come in, and it went from 80+ degrees to 60 degrees in about an hour.

C'mon. Enough with the photo ops. Let's EAT!

Finally, we got some cake!

And, yes, I shared!

It was Most Excellent cake! (And yes, there are leftovers!!!)

Thanks for a wonderful birthday, Mom and Dad!!! And thanks again for all the wonderful birthday wishes!

*kissey face!*
-Fiona the Birthday Girl and Abby the Hippobottomus

TheCheeseburger Dispensary (and Mom's Birthday)

Thanks for all the birthday wishes for Mom! She may be older than dirt, but she's still our Mom, and we love her, no matter how ancient she is.

We're waiting for our cheeseburgers...

Speaking of cheeseburgers, I have a slight bone to pick with Mom. Okay, so it was her birthday, right? And since she had to go to the store to get a couple of other things, she decided to buy her birthday cake. Okay. Fine. But on the way home from the store, Mom drove to this building we've driven past a million times before, rolled down her window (okay, she pressed a button - who actually rolls down windows anymore?) and then drove to another window where some guy handed her a cheeseburger! I want to know why was I not told about the cheeseburger dispensary before yesterday?!? WHY? We've driven past this place a zillion times, and Not Once has Mom stopped at the cheeseburger window. I mean, a window that hands out cheeseburgers, and we've NEVER stopped?!? Never. Ever.

The only upside to this whole thing is now I KNOW where this cheeseburger dispensary is, and lemme tell you, there is No Way I'm going to let Mom drive past this place again without stopping to be handed a cheeseburger. How cool is this world that you can drive to a window and be handed a cheeseburger? I think the humans may finally be on the right track....

Okay, so back to the cheeseburgers. Mom didn't get the greatest pictures in the world, (something about how she couldn't take a good picture while trying to not have her fingers eaten; I have No Idea what she is talking about...) but we did get our cheeseburgers.

TaiChi said that she used to get cheeseburgers All The Time. And I don't think she was lying. I think Mom and Dad have been holding out on us. I should have believed TaiChi's stories of cheeseburger stores. At least now I know they are All True (and not just wild tales of The Old Days, or the wistful fantasies of an old poodle)!

Oh yeah. So for Mom's birthday, she got a cake, and Abby and I were quite helping in staging the photo....

Watch out, Mom.... You're gonna drop the cake...

Mom decided that she couldn't get us to sit next to her while holding a burning cake. Sometimes I think opposable thumbs were wasted on her. So she shooed us away and took a picture where she wasn't required to actually HOLD anything.


Heehee.

To celebrate Mom's birthday, Mom and Dad went out to dinner. Without us. Really. You would think they would want to celebrate ALL their special occasions with us, but apparently not. However, they went to someplace where they came back smelling like raw fish, which was pretty cool because we got to give them lots of kisses and smell all that yummy fish! Maybe next time they'll take us... We could pretend to be service dogs. Really, we could. Maybe. Okay, maybe not. Nevermind. Maybe next time they'll get their sushi delivered to the house so we can, ah, help them eat it. You know, in case they order too much or something. Heehee.

Of course, to celebrate Mom's birthday, we also engaged in some bitey-face for her entertainment...

Heehee.

But seriously, the best part of the day was discovering that the tales of the cheeseburger stores are more than just myths! :-) Happy birthday, Mom!

*kissey face*
-Fiona and Abby the Hippobottomus