Cookies, they are magically delicious

Tonight we went to Petco to practice my heeling. Our next lesson in Monday and we've only done our homework once so far in almost two weeks. So we are a little behind.

I was very good, though. We heeled with attention while a family came in with a Springer Spaniel. The dog was so out of control, and the man was kind of embarrassed. But it shouldn't be such a big surprise for him, 'cause you should have seen the kids! When they couldn't get their dad's attention they started yelling "Dad Dad Dad" and running around the store. The little boy was on roller skates and almost ran into me. If those parents can't train the kids, no wonder they couldn't train that poor spaniel. Actually the spaniel was better behaved than the kids.

Anyway, despite all this, I just looked at my mom while we walked around. She says I am very good and reasonably smart too.

Then, we bought some cookies, one bag for big dogs, and a small bag for puppy dogs. I guess Jewel gets the small bag.


Yum! 

Green!

We got a green ribbon! We didn't score very well, but hey the wind was up, it's spring, the sun was shining, the birds were chirping....anyway, we qualified and got our first Novice Rally leg.


Waiting in the car 


Here's the course all set up 


I won a green ribbon! 

Tally-ho Rally-O

Today mom and I are very busy getting the (new) refrigerator fixed and packing up the car to go to the dog show. Mike's babysitter is coming to stay with him. He's having a bit of trouble lately with walking and standing up, so it's better if he doesn't have to get in and out of the car. Jewel, annoyingly, is coming with.

Here's a couple of photos, the first is me doing a stay (I do hate that flash), and the second one is me summer before last when I was about 8 weeks old. I was much cuter, smarter, and nicer than Jewel, if I do say so myself.


I have a good stay, as long as there's nothing better to do 


This is me when I was a puppy, in case you were wondering what I looked like 

Rally-O

Last night mom and I locked up the other dogs in their crates and went for a walk. We really should do that more often.

She's a little worried about my heeling, since we're entered in a Rally trial on Sunday. But I showed her how well I remember everything. I really like Rally, because mom talks to me the whole time. A guy needs a little feedback, you know?

Hopefully tonight we will practice some more. I'll try to get a photo.

Gamesmanship

I like to play games with Jewel. I don't always get to, because I'm so big compared to her. But she's growing fast (see chart at right). One of our favorite games is tug o' war. I let her win sometimes.


Tug o' war (right to left: me, Jewel, Mike who is annoyed by the game in general) 


Still playing..... 

Training report follows:
1) worked on go outs to the Alley Oop target
2) worked on that darn dumbbell thing. Now I'm totally confused, so we went back a few steps. Just don't get that. I think it has something to do with backing up...?

Jewel says she is going to the Alley Oop about 5 feet away. She is working on NOT biting mom when she is following mom. Also, she had two accidents this morning. Next she is going to work on "go to your place". I think that one's dumb, my place is next to mom, so I was never very good at that.