What a busy week!!

 Good afternoon everyone!

I am so excited to share that my family purchased a new "big bed".  From the chatterings at dog school, it is my understanding that some 4-leggeds sleep on the bed.  Mom says that people ask her where I sleep a lot of the time.  In the photo I had to try out the bed, first of course.  I really like the new bedspread it is very soft fabric, but...I prefer to sleep under the bed.  I find that it is the most comfortable there.  When my mom goes to bed, I usually hop up on the bed to wish her a good night, and maybe watch TV a little, but when I am ready to "saw logs" as they say I retreat to my domain under the bed.  The best part about my location, no one else in my house can get there so I have utter and complete privacy.  One of the great things about the new bed is it is super quiet, not noises when mom tosses or turns or has to get up in the middle of the night for nature calls.  Therefore, for the past week I have been getting lots more sleep.  This has been great because I didn't realize that I would be so busy.

Mom has been working with me on new jobs for my "Open Obedience" class at school.  It's TOUGH!  One of the hardest new things I have to learn is to retrieve a dumbbell and 1) not think of it as a toy, and 2) hold it in my mouth until mom says let go.  Yuck and yuck.  But I am trying.  Mom snapped a picture of me and the dumbbell on Tuesday afternoon.  I wasn't really feeling the dumbbell. I mean I would fetch it, but I didn't want to take it back to my mom or use it as a school tool.  I just wanted it to be my new toy.  So it was back to school on Tuesday night for my class.  Well mom was pretty embarrassed that I was twisting and turning my head and putting up quite a "2-year-old tantrum" I think she called it in front of all my classmates.  Well after watching my classmates do cool things like get to jump over a high jump to go get their dumbbells and bring them back I have decided that maybe it's a skill I want to learn.  On Saturday, Dennis took the video included of me doing my best to not be afraid of the dumbbell and put it in my mouth.  This is the first day that I have been willing to take the dumbbell from my mom while being in one place.  You'll hear mom say don't pull it away. I still have that instinct to say "Mine!" but hey baby steps.  Learning is tough stuff!

On Thursday afternoons I have my agility class.  I love my agility class. I am starting to feel confident, and mom and I are becoming a great team.  However, on Thursday afternoons during my break between school sessions, mom started running with Dr. Suzanne.  This past Thursday, mom decided that I could help out the girls at the front desk at Veterinary Associates while she went and ran with Dr. Suzanne so that she could get her workout in before we had agility class.  I was a big hit, and very well behaved. I am trying to earn some "store credit" at Veterinary Associates for a cute haircut or maybe some fun dog treats.  

Once we made it to agility class, mom explained to me that we would be working on some different obstacles.  I am trying to get ready for a competition the first weekend in August.  Anyone that wants to come see me perform, I mean compete should come out to Tulsa Dog Training Club in the afternoon on Sunday August 4th.  Well mom snapped a good photo of me conquering what's called the sway bridge.  She said that some 2-leggeds are even afraid to go across a bridge like this.  You should notice that there aren't any pawrails or guards to keep us 2-leggeds from falling off the edge.  It was a great class.  Ms. Dovie really likes to push us to be better and better. I think she is the bomb! Although my mom sure likes to give her a hard time.

On Saturday, they had the annual summer picnic at Tulsa Dog Training Club.  All of the 4-leggeds were invited.  Mom decided that since I had been having such a great week, and put that silly dumbbell in my mouth, that I could go!  I was the only "little" dog there.  After the 2-leggeds ate some food, (there wasn't any super yummy leftovers for 4-leggeds, but mom snuck me some chicken yummm yummm), they had some games for dogs.  This photo taken outside is me watching the silly big 4-legged dipping their heads in a 5-gallon bucket trying to get a hot dog.  I was laughing on the inside because I already had a bite or two or chicken.  Why on earth would I subject myself to dunking my head in a bucket of water for all of the 4-leggeds to see my beautiful fur after a bath...I don't think so.  Then when all of the 4-leggeds were done dunking their heads for hot dogs they went inside for hot dog races.  Mom suggested that I sit this one out too, as there weren't any little dogs for me to run against.  I am still a little afraid when a large dog comes charging at me, so we just hung out and talked with other members of the club.  It was fun to see everyone at school without having to do lots and lots of work.

Although it was a fun week, I hope this next week is not quite so busy.  Mom says I'll be missing my Open Obedience class because she is going to give a special talk at Oklahoma State on Tuesday when I would normally go to school.  I bet I will still have to practice that dumbbell thing though...

Until next time, keep your tails waggin'

Boca

Finally an update....

 Hi Everyone!
I know it's been over 6 months since I have had a blog update.  My mom has been so super busy. I have been bugging and bugging her to get a blog entry in, but there has been no time.  Finally, today is the day.  She says I will have to give as brief update as possible. So I have tried to pull some pictures that will help me remember the highlights of what all is new and happening in my world.  First in the picture above let me introduce you to "Little Guy", yup that's really his name...there is "Big Guy too, but he pranced too far to my left and got out of the picture.  These two felines now live with me, and I LOVE it!!! I love cats! I know, I know...dogs and cats are supposed to get along, but I ask you why on earth not?  We had to negotiate out rank and order, but we have a 4-legged system now.  Big guy and Little guy's dad also lives with me now too.  It is so fun to live in a house full of boys!!We play wrestling and chase, we cook outside lots, and we are working on fixing up my house.  So far I have gotten the 2-leggeds to cut down a dead tree, make an awesome bird bath, plant an awesome garden that attracts lots of birds that Big Guy and Little Guy can watch all day, plant grass seed in the back yard, cut down overgrown branches of the black walnut tree in the back yard that the squirrels liked to dance on and tease me, and now I have them working on painting the house to match the white in my fluffy tail.  So far they are doing a good job.

 During the Spring session of school, I retook a Novice II obedience class as a refresher.  I also have stayed active in Agility.  I haven't done any shows or competitions lately but I am hoping to compete in an UKC agility competition the first weekend in August.  During this last session of class I have become much more confident in my weaves!  Things are really starting to click for agility.

 I asked mom to pull out a great agility shot so that everyone can remember that I am on my way to becoming a well titled agility dog!  It's such hard work and I really have to focus.  It really is a great time too, and lots of fun once I get it. 

 Even though I didn't compete at the Mid Continent Classic competition over Memorial Day weekend, I went with my mom to help work and support Tulsa Dog Training Club.  They have a table there to answer questions about classes and dog training.  I have a tendency to draw a crowd.  You can see that I felt confident in my abilities to provide information about the Club and mom gave me my own chair.  I had quite a few people come by and I hope that some of them decided to bring their 4-leggeds to TDTC.

 Mom had some major problems with my convertible.  One of the tires apparently had a faulty rim that buckled while she was driving down the highway.  It caused her tire to go flat and she had to call to get the car towed back to the dealership to get fixed.  Fortunately, the cost was covered under the extended warranty but it freaked both me and my mom out as the convertible was only 14 months old with less than 15,000 miles and it should not have happened.  When mom decided to get in our old Jeep to continue on with her days...she discovered that the brakes had gone out on it.  She had to pay to get those repaired.  After a long talk, we agreed that it was time to get 1 practical car rather than 2 cars that left both of us nervous that I wouldn't make it to a dog show or to dog school, or that mom wouldn't be able to go to the store to get me dog treats.  So mom got a Jeep Patriot, it has a moon roof.  When it's a nice day, mom drives around with all the windows open....it's close enough to a convertible for me...

 During the first three weeks of June I got a break from school.  Mom has spent her summer away from the office writing a lot on the computer (hence no blog entries from me).  So while mom was working at home, I decided to really take advantage of summer break and rest up.  So far it's been a pretty decent summer weather wise.  With all of the supervising that I have been doing of the 2-leggeds I have to rest and recover so that I can make sure that they are doing a good job.  Now summer break is over and I am back in school.  This session I am taking a brand new class called Open obedience.  My mom is trying to put this silly white dumbbell thing in my mouth. I like playing with it, but she says it's not a toy it's a job...Bluck to that I say. It is fun to learn new things.  So far I have been to two classes, it is quite hard.  Mom says it's good to keep learning...I was able to stay in a down with all the other dogs while mom left the room for 5 whole minutes....mom was shocked, although I don't know why.  It was past 9PM and I was tired. I was glad for the break.  I am also still enrolled in agility.  You can see from the picture below, even though it's blurry, we are all working and learning new things.  I have picked up right where I left off doing great with listening to mom and tackling those weave poles with confidence.

I hope to try to get back to updating my blog more regularly.  My mom is just really busy with trying to get a lot of writing done as she is up for review for her job in October.  Part of her review requires that she has to show she is "publishable".  I think my blog should help her, but she says it won't.

Until  next time, keep those tails waggin'!

Boca