I'm A Novice I Graduate!!

Well today was "final exam" day. At least that's what mom said. She said something about how if I couldn't pass the test this time, then I wouldn't get to go to dog school anymore. Have I mentioned how much I love dog school! I had to spend all weekend sitting and staying in random places. I thought my mom had lost her marbles, but it paid off today as I looked and felt quite confident in both the sit and down positions. We got to school, and you could tell all the two-leggeds were nervous. They were all chattery and walking in circles and all that. All of us four-leggeds were just trying to figure out why they were all freaked out. It was entertaining. Mr. Jerry had us all go into the ring and walked through what the test was going to be: I bet my mom doesn't tell her class the test questions before the test. Then I got to go first. Nothing like first up...time to set the bar high. Of course I am a seasoned pro at taking this Novice I test, as this was my third time. I did great at the heeling pattern. Seriously, I stuck close to mom's side and went extra slow on the slow part: which is hard for a dog. I made sure to give a wink of the eye to the judge as we did the fast part while heading towards the judges table. The only thing that I did where I lost focus was my "finish" after my mom told me to come from across the room. There was a dog that was interesting to look at in the other ring, and well I did...I broke focus. Oh well...it was only one exercise and I did do the finish kinda. Then it was out of the ring we went and onto get ready for the stays. Mom stopped by a table and picked up some sort of two-legged treat (they were saying peppermint, but I don't know what that means). We then walked around a practice ring and mom had me do a couple of short stays. Then, I watched some of my four-legged friends go through their heeling exercises. Everyone was doing great. We have to be the best Novice I class of dogs at TDTC. Then it came for the stays...I was cool...tongue hanging out, sideways head turn as we walk by the judges to butter them up a little. Around the ring we went and then in a line. I was ready. To make my mom a little nervous, I decided to just lift up my right front paw just a little...once she got across the ring I put it down and laughed a little on the inside. That 1-minute sit-stay went by really fast. I saw Mr. Jerry give my mom a thumbs up when it was over, so I thought I would just sweeten the pot. I knew that since I had passed the sit/stay I would pass Novice I which meant my mom would give me cheese, which is my all time favorite thing! So onto the down stay. At first I didn't really want to be in the sit position and I thought about not doing it, but I thought wow...what will I get if I do both stays on the same test...so 3-minutes down/stay here I come. It was great. Although there was some entertainment in the ring across the way and all of us dogs were watching. It was like being at home and watching "It's Me or the Dog" on Animal Planet. When the time was up, I thought my mom was gonna cry. It was so cool to see. I did the best I possibly could and wound up tying for "High" score in the class with a 95 out of 100. As a reward my mom says I get to go out with the run group tonight to brag and maybe can pick out a new toy from dog.com. I am so happy to be out of that Novice I class. Mom signed me up for Novice II with Mr. Jerry again, but it doesn't start until January. Can you say Winter Break!!!???

See some of my pictures below

The best part about riding in the car is getting to hang your head out the window...




This is my friend Winston and his mom. We stuck together a lot, as we were the only two dogs in class under 50 pounds. Us little dogs gotta stick together.




While some of my friends were going through their evaluation my mom made me practice a sit/stay in another ring. I thought okay why not?



Some of my school friends, Thor (black New Foundland) and Winston (Spaniel) decided that we would practice our heeling together before the evaluations started. I love these 2 guys. We have been buds since the first day of class. I am hoping that they will be in my Novice II class with me too.



I got to do my sit/stay and down/stay next to Sing...she's a pretty cool boxer. She likes to play tricks on her mom sometimes too and pretend like she doesn't know what to do while at school. We get along pretty well.



I had to get a photo with my favorite teacher, Mister Jerry. Without his help, my mom wouldn't have known tricks to teach me!!