Anything Abby Can Do...

Heehee. Let me just say that I love my little sister. But what are little sisters for if you can't harass them? I think Mom's brothers would totally agree with that. But I digress... You know how my sister has been in this super-intensive doggie class for 6 weeks to learn to be a Canine Good Citizen? And how Mom has spent TONS of time practicing with her so she'd pass her test? And how she passed her test on Tuesday? Well, I think it's pretty cool, and I'm proud of her. Because, frankly, she has a puppy brain, and it's amazing she can learn anything.

*ahem*

No, really, I'm proud of her.

In the meantime, while Abby has been toiling away in her CGC prep class, I've been in an 'Adult 2' class - way more fun and games, and far less 'serious stuff.' Well, today was the last day of my class, and when it turned out that my buddy Cooper wouldn't be at class, I got to play with Lulu...


And Mom asked Jessi (the Turkey Hotdog Goddess) what it would take for me to get ready for the Canine Good Citizen test. After a bunch of yammering, they decided to do a 'practice test.' And I did just fine. So fine, in fact that since Jessi didn't have a class right after my class, Mom asked if maybe we could do the real test. You know. Since we were there, and everything.

And guess what?!?

I passed! So just like my sister, I'm now officially a Canine Good Citizen! And I didn't have to do a 6 week prep course to pass, either! AND, Mom didn't douse herself in Vienna sausage juice. Neener-neener! So yeah, anything Abby can do, I can do better! Or I can do it at least as well as she can!

Heh. Actually, I'm NOT going to rub my non-Vienna sausage-scented results in my sister's face; we are both Good Citizens, and that's cool with me!

Besides, I can still put the smackdown on her whenever I want!

Heehee.

Anyhoo, this does not mean that we are now all edjumacated and done with stuff. In fact, now that we've got Mom trained on the blue cheese/Vienna sausage dispensing, we want to keep going to school - why stop when we've finally got her trained? Besides, I'm sure Jessi has Super Secret Vienna Sausage Dispensing Techniques that Mom is now ready to learn!

Thanks, Jessi! We all think you are PAWSOME!!!


And for those of you who are Lulu fans (and really, who isn't? I mean, she's a Bug - how can you NOT love her?), here is a gratuitous Lulu picture. (Since I was being tested, Mom didn't get any photos of me.... But Lulu photos are good, too!)

*kissey face*

-Fiona (CGC) and Abby (CGC) the Hippobottomus (for the record, 'Hippobottomus' didn't fit on the AKC form...)

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!

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