More Doggie Class Excitement

Hiya! Mom's been slacking, uh, busy with other stuff, so we've got a few doggie classes to catch up on...

Last week, in my class we did this thing where we were supposed to get all excited, and then calm down all of a sudden. Now I will admit that I've got certain 'triggers' that get me all bouncy and excited (people ringing my doorbell, fr'instance), but Mom jumping around with squeaky toys isn't one of them...


Yeah, um...


Calming down wasn't really too tough. Some of my other class-mates were more easily excited, and so the class was focused on them...


Which was just fine. I got to pose for Mom a lot:

Hi Mom!

Heh. My class meets on Friday afternoons and we are outside for most of the class, so we get a lot of people walking by, and while the other doggies were working on being calm (really, I've got pictures of a calm labradude!), I have a lot of visitors. Strangers were coming up and petting me and telling me how beautiful I am. Heh. I know I'm pretty, but it's always nice to be told so, especially by complete strangers. Being around strangers has not been one of my strong suits (talk about things that get me excited!), but with a liberal application of turkey hotdogs from Mom, I had a great time on Friday! I LOVED people telling me how pretty I am! I was even approached by a little kid, and I didn't get all spooked (but I did get a lot of turkey hotdogs). Since Mom was feeding me turkey hotdogs, and Jessi was working with the other doggies, there aren't any pictures of this, but trust me - I was GREAT!!! Who knows, maybe I'll be a Good Citizen one of these years!

Speaking of 'good citizens'.... Oh. Wait. Calm labradude picture, first, so you don't think I'm lying. Cooper was totally getting the calm thing down!


Oh, and labradude water art...


Heh. That's some talent, dontcha think?

Okay, so on to the 'Good Citizen'. Let's just say that Mom's latest plan to get Abby to pass is to soak her shorts in beef juice. Oh. Wait. I didn't say that. But don't be surprised if Mom accidentally drops a cheeseburger in her pocket right before Abby's test. Heehee.

But seriously? Apparently Abby was TOTALLY BANANAS in her class today. Look at this face:


Does that look like a good citizen to you? Looks like a crazy citizen to me...

They started off with a little 'play session' that Mom couldn't get good shots of because of the lighting, but here's an idea of what goes on behind closed 'good citizen' doors!

That blonde blur is my 'good citizen' sister going bananas on Indie, the sweetie pit bull.

And then a few moments later, Abby looks like she's a good citizen, right?


Well, that lasted about 2 seconds (if that...)...

Bye!

Yeah, um... So, let's move on to later in the class.... Abby was being Such A Doofus that Jessi had to 'handle' Abby in the 'greeting another person with a dog' exercise. And even then, Abby had a tough time keeping it together.


Notice her inability to stay seated? Yeah. Let's just say that Little Miss Fluff Brain had a wee bit of a Tough Time today. However, she did have One Shining Moment when she was supposed to 'stay' while Mom walked away from her, and then back to her...


So, I guess that's progress. Notice the complete lack of other doggies? Yeah. That's probably why Abby was able to 'complete' this task.... *ahem*

The rest of the time? She was trying to contain her Innate Goofiness...


All of which is why Mom is thinking about slathering herself in Eau du Hamburger moments before Abby's test.... Luckily Abby's got another week of 'practice' before the Big Test Day.

The class was not a total loss, however. Jessi brought her dog Lulu today, and Lulu is a serious cutie. She's been to our house before, and she's total funballs to play with. Lulu is the little teeny dog in the middle there.... She's a 'Bug' - a Boston Terrier/Pug mix


Lulu totally holds her own with the other doggies - notice how she's grinning at Abby's attempts to chase her?


Heehee. And, Jessi definitely loved having Lulu around:


Awww. Isn't Lulu a cutie?!?

Anyhoo, if any of you have any suggestions of how Mom can keep Abby's attention during the Good Citizen test (you know, meat clothing, blue cheese perfume, etc.), please let me know, as I think she's gonna need all the help she can get!

Oh, and in other excitement? We've been going to the park a lot (but Mom hasn't been taking pictures for some reason, although she promises to do better...) and playing frisbee in the backyard.


Never a dull moment!

Heehee!

*kissey face*
-Fiona and Abby the Hippobottomus

My Sister the Super Spaz

Before our Granny retired, she was one of Those School Teachers - you know, the teacher whose class you prayed to not be placed into. Mean Mrs. Marshall she was called. And one of the things Mean Mrs. Marshall would do to kids who stepped out of line was make them eat lunch with her, rather than with their friends. Why do I mention this?

Well, when Abby got to her Canine Good Citizen prep class today, she was being a Super Spaz. Yeah, really. Abby. I know, hard to believe, huh? Heehee. Because Abby was all spazzy, she had to go sit with the teacher!


However, I am sure that Granny never used Vienna sausages to get her students to behave. (Although, if Granny's students were eating the school lunch, maybe she did!) Jessi worked her magic, and Abby started to pretend to be act like a good dog. BTW, I am not trying to suggest that Jessi is Mean; I'm saying that Abby, like some of Granny's students, needed a little, uh, up-close-and-personal attention to behave like a good doggie.



However, Abby had to stay with Jessi for quite a while.

Not that Abby minded. Abby first met Jessi when Abby was 10 weeks old, and has never forgotten that Jessi is The Original Source of Turkey Hotdogs.

Abby as a 14 week old suck-up.

But I digress... Jessi got the wild beast that is my sister to calm down, and Abby went from Crazy Puppy...

To suck-up puppy (yeah, so she's a year and a half old - she'll always be a puppy!)....


She may be bigger, but that just means she's a bigger suck-up! Heehee.

Look at her, all good citizen-y in training!


But as soon as she got back to Mom?

Goofy puppy.

Heehee.

Meanwhile, the rest of Abby's class was, well, less goofy.

Zoe and Denver just hanging out like REAL Good Citizens.

Hefner, being the handsome standard poodle that he is.

Banjo, the Cavalier King Charles spaniel, being a good little doggie.

Okay, enough of the Good Doggies. Let's get back to my little sister and her class today. She and Mom had to approach another doggie/person pair, and Abby (and the other doggie) had to sit while Mom and the other person shook hands. Let's just say that A LOT of Vienna sausages were involved in this process...

Yes, Mom is shaking hands with the wrong hand, but her right hand is covered in a Vienna sausage/dog slobber combination...

Yeah, um, Abby's got a little more work to do before she's ready to past that part of the test! Heehee.

Then, Abby had to attempt to do the same thing that I did last week. She had to sit in the middle of a circle of doggies and attempt to pay attention to Mom... Emphasis on 'attempt.'


Mom had to dispense a whole bunch of turkey hotdogs to get this:


And you'll notice when Abby was one of the doggies walking in the circle, she kept trying to eat Mom's fingers off in an attempt to get at the turkey hotdogs...

Heehee. I think Abby's got a fair amount of work to do before she's ready to be a Good Citizen, but Mom is hoping that with Jessi's miracle-working abilities, Abby might be ready to pass the test in a few years, ah, in a few weeks. Or maybe Abby is just being a goofball to get the extra turkey hotdogs... Hmmm... I must ponder this behavioral cleverness... Heehee.

Okay. Enough about Abby and her ability to snarf down turkey hotdogs and Vienna sausages. Let's get to a few funballs shots from us at the park yesterday morning...



Good times! And yes, I've got the greatest sister in the world. Even if she's a goofball!

*kissey face*
-Fiona and Abby the Hippobottomus

PeeEss: Mom would like to thank Jessi for getting some pictures of Mom during our doggie classes. She'd also like to thank Jessi for molding us into the fine, upstanding doggies that we are today!

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)