Finally a Success!

We finally figured out a formula to get our kids engaged.  It took Mom and me working side by side (and help from Mrs. Joy, too, when we were at the cute Courtyard restaurant the last time.)

Here's what we did.  We had a bunch of trivia cards about dogs.  We gave the kids each a notebook (with my handsome picture on it!).  Then they could keep track of the right and wrong answers without anyone else knowing.  (I think some of them are kinda shy and don't want anyone else to know when they're wrong)

So we asked tons of questions.  And the kids got really into it this time.  They even said their answers out loud and didn't seem to mind if they were wrong sometimes.  Although Mom always told them they were partly right. 

They especially liked the questions about what foods are bad for dogs.  When we got to chocolate, Mom showed them a tiny piece of Bakers Chocolate.  I didn't even know that one of those little things could kill my friend the French Bulldog.  But there was a calculator on the internet and it showed if you fed a 15 pound dog one of those little squares, that dog was a gonner!  Not me.  I would only be "mildly irritated" with one of them.  Since I'm 62 pounds it would take 3 to kill me.  But they smelled so good, I tried to snitch one when Mom wasn't looking, but old Raymond saw me and took it away.  I would only have eaten one!

Mom told them the only people food I get to eat is Carrots.  I didn't know carrots were people food.  Dad doesn't eat them.  I thought they were animal food and Mom was just stealing them from me.when she would eat them.  I always know when she does it.  She makes a lot of noise when she crunches them.  I don't let her get away with it.  I make her give me one too.

Then I got to show my kids how I could get a bunch of carrots that Mom stuck in my Kong Toy out in 2 minutes!  I don't think any of the kids could do that.

I was happy that the kids were happy.  I was sad to see them go back to class.  I watched as Miss Bernadette took them back to class.  I was hoping they would come back.

Please don't let your dogs eat theobromine.  (That's what's bad in chocolate.) And if you have any questions about what a dog can or cannot eat, go to this great website:  www.petpoisonhelpline.com 

Love, G

AAAARRGGHHH!

Mom and I spent a real lot of time working up a Laugh Workshop for my 7th and 8th graders.  She pulled up some funny jokes to start with.  (She was hoping they would have some of their own to share.)  Then we had some funny dog videos (I don't know about you, but I think us canines are pretty darn good at comedy!).  After that we were going to do pretend laughing exercises, and I was supposed to judge each of them on how happy they made me feel.

So here's how it went.  First Mom told the joke about the elephant and the red nail polish.  Oh, you don't know that one?  It goes like this:

Q:  Why did the elephant paint her toenails red?

A:  Because she could hide in a strawberry patch and no one would find her.

Is that silly?  But did you ever see an elephant in a strawberry patch?  See, it works!

Hee, hee, hee.  Kids didn't think it was all that funny either.  They smiled at some jokes, but when Mom asked if they had any to share, not a one raised their hand.

So on we went to the funny videos.  There was even one of a dog peeing while he was walking around on only his front legs and his back paws were waving in the air.  I was laughing so hard!  But only one or two of the kids even broke a smile.  It was as if they decided they weren't going to laugh no matter what.

So you can imagine how they did with the laughing exercises.  They didn't want to do it at all.  I went over to the Louis who looked the most depressed and put my head in his lap.  "Won't you please help Mom out on this, "  I asked him.  He just petted my head.

So then we just played "Pet the Dog", which I liked very much.  But I know Mom was a little disappointed. 

She needed some cheering up.  So she and I met her assistant and her assistant's dog, Gabe at a cute restaurant in the middle of a residential area of Phoenix.  All of a sudden, among all the houses, was a grove of trees surrounded by restaurants and cafes.  We all got to sit in the middle of the grove and I watched all the other puppies around.  Mom and her friend had coffee and a muffin (and mom snuck me a couple of pieces, too.)

We all felt better after that.  Mom and her friend worked up the next lesson plan.  Don't know if that one will work either, but she keeps trying and I keep trying to help!

But I was tired by the time we got back in the car.  After all, we had to get up before the sun so I could have breakfast and my morning constitution before we left for school.  So I curled up on the floor in the back seat ...

... all the way home!

Hope you can laugh a lot!

Love, G

My 2018 Resolutions

Did you keep all of your resolutions last year?  Or maybe some of them?  I'm afraid to go back and look at mine in case I didn't do too good.  But I'm going to give it a go again for 2018.  At least I can TRY to be a better puppy.

Here's what I promise to do for the next year:

1.  I promise to always share my Frisbee, especially with puppies who are shy.  'Cuz I know what it's like to be shy and afraid sometimes.

2.  I will try to be strong.  Sometimes when I go to the Dog Park, I'm ascared and the other dogs know it and they try to bully me.  But if I'm strong then they play with me and I don't feel ascared anymore.

3. I promise to teach the puppies I play with how to play my games so we can all have fun together.

4.  I will take risks, 'cuz I sometimes don't do things I want to do because I'm afraid.  (Like when Mom leaves the door just a little bit open for me so I can come in from the outside.  I sit outside forever because I'm afraid I'll get squished in the door.) 

5.  And mostly I promise to always have fun and run in the sun (I like being a poet)!

Hope you made some good New Year's Resolutions and that you stick to them this year!

Love, G

 

Merry Christmas Happy Hanukkah Happy Kwanzaa & Happy Everything

Just wanted to wish all my friends the BEST! 

My Aunt Joanie is worried that we might not have decorations for Christmas, but Mom told her YES WE DO!  We grow our own, don't you know?  So I posed for Mom in front of our Christmas plant.  

You almost can't see me, but I'm the rather large ornament hanging in the front with a big red bow on.  (Mom says I'm a real good sport about posing for her pictures.)

Anyway, we're gonna have a real nice Christmas.  It's gonna be 72 degrees and we're going for a walk and I get to open my Christmas Stocking.  Here's a picture of my Christmas Stocking hanging in front of the fireplace.  We have to have the fireplace on 'cuz  it gets all the way down to 45 degrees in the morning.  

Wanna guess what's in my stocking?  I'll have to let you know later.  I can't reach it.  There's a hearth shelf and too many pillows in the way for me to get to it.  You'll just have to wait till next time.  (Rats!)

Anyway, I hope you all have a wonderful day and a really really really great 2018!

Love, G.

Back to School

I went back to work this week. 

 I have a different group of kids.  Instead of the cute little 3rd and 4th graders, I now have 7th and 8th graders.  They're a lot different.  

At first they didn't  even seem to want to be there with me.  One girl kept asking, "Why am I here?"  So Mom explained that they were there to meet ME! And to get to know me and to do fun things with me.  They just looked bored.

So we talked about body language and how dogs have to use body language, 'cuz we can't talk.  Mom showed them a video to explain how it worked.  Then we tried it on the kids.  She went up to Jared and asked him to do some body language to make her understand that he was feeling sad.  He did a good job.  He pretended crying and wiping his eyes.  He was SOOO good, I was feeling sad for him.  So I went over to him and put my head in his lap to make him feel better.  He started laughing and so did the rest of the class, so I guess I did a good job too!

Then we had a veterinarian talk to the class about being a veterinarian.  That's a doctor for us animals, in case you didn't know.  They call them vets for short 'cuz it's too hard to pronounce all those syllables.  I don't usually like vets, but this one was kinda nice.  

She works at an emergency place for animals and sees lots of badly hurt dogs and cats.  She showed the 7th and 8th graders pictures of the hurt animals.  Some of the pictures were pretty gross.  I had to shut my eyes. 

 But these kids really liked it.  I guess they like gross pictures.  Ick!

But they were happy and then I got to go home and get some rest.  I'll be back in two weeks to play Doggie Trivia with them.  I should be rested up by then.

See you soon.

Love, G.

What Thanksgiving Means to Me

Yesterday was Thanksgiving Day.  Mom asked me to think about what I was thankful for and what does Thanksgiving mean to me.

So I thought.  And I thought.  (I figured I couldn't just say the obvious.  You know.  Thanksgiving is about Giving Thanks?  That would be too easy.)  So I came up with this:

I think that Thanksgiving is about sharing.  Like when the Pilgrims came to America and they had the first Thanksgiving Dinner where the Indians and the Pilgrims shared their food.  And when families get together and share lots of things.  They share the chores, like making food for Thanksgiving dinner and doing the dishes and stuff.  And they share the food.  And they share stories.

We pups do a lot of sharing too.  My friends like to share toys and water and food and treats.  (Well maybe we don't really like to share treats.  I don't really like to share MY treats.  But I let my friends have treats and I don't try to take their treats away.  That's sort of like sharing, isn't it?)

I really like to share my Frisbee with my friends.  I go to the dog park and I bring my Frisbee, just so everybody will play with me.  

 

When I bring my Frisbee to the park I'll offer it to anyone who wants to play.  Sometimes it takes awhile and I have to sit and wait until they understand that I want to share.

It usually doesn't take too long before someone comes to have a game of tug of war.

And we usually let anyone who wants to join in play along with us.

Sometimes, however, one of my friends just likes to play with my Frisbee alone.  And that's OK with me.  Like little Bandit.  He is really young and gets nervous with all the other pups.  So he likes to take my Frisbee and go hide with it behind a bush.  

And then there's Max.  Max is a show-off.  He jumps really high and grabs my Frisbee way up in the air.

All in all, my Frisbee is a really good sharing toy.  It brings all my friends together.  So I'm especially thankful this Thanksgiving for my Frisbee and for my friends who get to share it with me.

Hope you had a really nice Thanksgiving.  (By the way, I didn't eat any golf gloves this Thanksgiving!)

Love, G

Fun at Jan's House

So we all got back from California.  I thought that meant we would stay around for awhile.  But no....Mom and Dad took off again.  Without me!

But I got to go to Jan's house and stay.  And she had Chloe there.  You remember Chloe.  The little French/American Bull Dog?  I think she really likes me.  She came over and was whispering all sorts of sweet things to me.

She's real sweet.

Then I got up on the couch with Rudy who's 100% English Bull Dog.  Pretty neat, huh.  An English Bull Dog and a French One.  And I'm the American Mutt!

I was just getting up there to pose for a picture with Rudy and Tucker who I just met.  Jan said she wanted a picture to send to Mom.  So I got up there.

But that made Chloe jealous.  And as soon as I got off the couch, she hopped up next to Rudy to make me jealous. 

It didn't.  I like Rudy and I like Chloe.  I'm not the jealous type.  ('Cept when it comes to Mom and Dad - then I get jealous.  More about that in another blog)

Then I tried to teach Rudy and Tucker how to play keep-away. 

They were learning pretty good, but no one is as good at keep-away as me!  Poor Tucker got all tuckered out! 

(Get it?  Tucker got tuckered?  It's funny, isn't it?  Yes it is!)

Anyway.  I only stayed one night and then went home.  But it was fun at Jan's House.  

Hope you have fun nights with friends!

Love, G