Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Stupid Pet Tricks.. Fun yet frivolous.

My training schedule for obedience and service was intense to say the least but all in all I enjoyed going out nearly ever day and working. I spent quality time with my human, my teacher and all kinds of doggie friends (mostly handsome males *grin*) in some of the classes.

Now for some reason, after a month or so, a class would end and I'd "graduate"; whatever that means. Actually I'll tell you what it means. It means I had to wear a silly little hat, pose for photos, and sit quietly as the humans appeared amused at my discomfort. Oh sorry I got off track there a bit.

The classes ended and apparently there were no more for me to take. I guess I was a very good student. I never had to re-take a single class, but this left me with a void in my weekly schedule. A very big and boring void, in which, my human would use the time to sit at the desk and stare at the computer for hours. Why does she do this? What does "I'm working" mean anyways?

Now how was I supposed to entertain myself? I wasn't allowed to chew the furniture, my toys were of little interest to me and it's only me and this human in this house. I ask you, why wouldn't I pester the human relentlessly until she'd play with me? For awhile this worked. After nearly an hour of bringing her toys, pushing the keyboard in, or nudging her arm at just the right moments she'd get up and spend time with me. Of course by then I was pretty tired and after a few tosses of the ball I'd lie down and take a much needed nap before starting the whole process anew.

This is when she enrolled me in something called "Click-A-Trick". Yea! More activity, fun, time with teacher and other dogs; oh and my human tagged along too.

This class wasn't like the others. In fact I couldn't figure out what was going on. Roll over, wave, play dead, ring a bell and spin in a circle – who comes up with this stuff? Humans, it always comes down to those crazy humans and their never ending search to find new ways to make us dogs look silly.

These tricks were nothing like my service dog tricks, in fact they were so simple I didn't know how to react. Just walk around in a tight circle and get a treat, so bizarre. On the bright side I figured these tricks out very quickly and the yummy treats just kept coming my way. There was one trick that my human taught me all on her own and that was to balance a treat on my nose. This trick is evil. I can't move or drop the treat until she says I can. I beg and plead with my big brown eyes to make the torment end and yet she makes me wait. I tried drooling a river to bring an end to my suffering, she and my teacher thought that was funny. It feels like an eternity is passing by while that savory and delicious treat is perched precariously on my nose. Finally the release word and the treat is all mine! Mine! Mine at last!

Even though this class is also finished I'm finding that my human is continuing to encourage me to learn even more stupid pet tricks. Something called "Stick 'em Up" is next on the list.

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