Back to Work & Loving It!

I got to see my kids again. Twice, actually.   And Mom worked up a really cool lesson plan for both days.  The idea was to let the kids read some of a book called, "The Kid's Book to a Happy Puppy.", or something like that.  They were supposed to read about how to handle a dog (Me!) to make the dog feel happy and loved.  (What could go wrong with a subject like that?).  Then we would move on to giving commands and training me to do a trick.  (There are some I don't know too well yet.  Like I'm not real good at staying in a sit or down for more than about 3 seconds.)

We all sat in a circle with the kids around me.  One of them would read and I would sit near the reader.  That was to encourage them in case they would be afraid to read.  They were almost all of them pretty eager to read to me.  I think that had something to do with how adorable I am.

I wish we could take pictures.  It was so cute how they all tried to cuddle with me while we did the reading.  But I found some pictures that give you the idea of how it felt.

And did I enjoy it?  You better believe it!

It was kinda sad, though.  Because except for one of the boys, all the others had a hard time reading words that were more than 4 letters.  I could tell Mom was a little thrown off.  We only managed to read two pages in the half hour.  In fact, she stopped the reading and instead, Mrs. Joy (she's the neat gal who helps Mom when we go to school), read a book that had 50 Ways to Make Your Dog Smile.  She would read one way, and one of the kids would practice it.  Like rubbing me behind my ears.  MMMMMM, this was even better than reading.

But I knew Mom was a little surprised and disappointed.  So we talked about it, and decided for the next time to make some index cards with the things she wanted them to know.  They would still read them, but she used easier words than the book.  She said that they really needed to practice, and they needed to feel that they did well when they would read.  So the next time, that's what we did for the first half of the class.  And during that time, they learned how to give me a command.

But THEN, we had a real fun surprise for the kids.  (And it wasn't bad for me either!)  The kids got to make treat bags so they would have treats ready to give me when they would give me a command.  Mom brought golf socks that didn't have matches.  (She had a lot of them thanks to me!  (I ate a lot of golf socks when I was younger.  But only one from each pair.)  She would roll them over in half and then attach them to their pockets with those clips they use for lots of paper.  It was pretty cool. 

She also showed them how to make a different kind of treat bag with the bottom of a water bottle.  Those were better than the socks because they would stay open and be easier for the kids to get to the treats.  (And the faster to give them to me.)  But they weren't as pretty as the socks.  Mom has lots of colorful socks.

Little Rosa was really creative and she wrapped her sock around one of the water bottle bottoms.  Now she had a pretty treat bag that stayed open!  Mom was pretty amazed that she thought of that and gave her a big hug.  I gave her a big kiss!

But the best part was the ending.  They all had a turn to give me a command.  Either Sit, Shake or Down.  Then they would give me a treat from their treat bags.  I got a little confused and sometimes I did all three - just to be sure.  I think they were going to give me a treat whether I did it right or not!

I think my kids are really liking me now.  And I really like them.  I kissed as many of them as I could. 

Hope you have fun things to do like I do.

Love, G

I Really Like My Sitter

Mom & Dad went to St. Louis without me.  Again.  But then, it's pretty cold there so I don't think I'd want to go there anyway.  So I stayed with Mrs. Jan and Mr. Tom and ThomCat.  I really like them.  They take such good care of me.  And I asked Mrs. Jan if she would help me write this blog and she said, Sure!  So here it is:

This is my new best friend Chloe.  She’s only 7 months old and comes over to Mrs. Jan’s house for doggy day care two days a week.  She’s pure French Bull dog. I think that's really cool.  I know my Mom likes French stuff and so do I.   I let her pull me around and she thinks she’s winning the game…..but we both know I could win if I wanted to.  (At least I think so!)

I’m being very good and enjoying our morning and evening walks around the neighborhood. I really love Mrs. Jan and Mr. Tom.  They let me climb into bed with them.  AND I get to play with Daisy, the dog next door.  I'm really glad Mom and Dad found Mrs. Jan and Mr. Tom to take care of me. 

Love,

Guinness 

Can a Shepherd Recognize Another Shepherd?

We went to the dog park yesterday.  Oh, joy!  Oh, joy!

There were lots of dogs.  Big dogs like me.  I didn't know any of them. They weren't doing much of anything except hanging around.  So Mom decided to take things into her own hands (and my paws) and pulled out - you guessed it! - my Frizbee!  WOW! Instant pandemonium.

First Sherm had it.  That's me in the back trying to catch Sherm.  That's Bella in the middle.

Then Bella got it.  And that's Camp trying to tackle Bella.  And me in the back again.

You might think I should be more anxious to save my own Frizbee.  But really, I just like to chase around with the other dogs and if it takes my Frizbee to do it, then so be it. 

I didn't tell you about Camp.  He's BIG.  And he came up to me when I came into the Dog Park.  He growled at me through the fence.  Mom was a little scared and she wouldn't let me out of the second gate until me and Camp talked a little through the fence.  When she was sure he wouldn't eat me, she let me out.

We did our regular sniffing dance.  And then he got to playing pretty rough.  Well I know how to play rough too.  So we tussled and hassled each other and he growled a little.  His owner asked Mom whether I had some Shepherd in me.  Mom told him she thought so.  He said that his Shepherd only plays rough like that with other shepherds. So maybe that answers whether I'm a shepherd or not?

When we got home, Mom helped me Google whether a dog can recognize it's own breed.  We found some pretty interesting stuff.  Apparently no one has done an experiment that shows that a dog CAN recognize his own breed.  Although there is some speculation that because a dog sees his brothers and sisters when he is young, he might recognize and be more comfortable with dogs that look like that. 

But there was a different question that they did do an experiment on.  And I didn't think about it, but I know when I see a Chihuahua that it's a dog like me.  I also know that when I see a Great Dane, it is also a dog like me. 

The experiment said that dogs can recognize their own species even though they are really different.  Lots different than say a human from Asia and a human from USA.  I think that's pretty cool.  We are all dogs.  Just like Asians and Americans and Iranians and everybody else are all humans. 

I think that might be what they call profound.

Go out and say hello to all your humans!

Love, G.