Working-K9: November 2008 Posts

Tuesday, November 25, 2008
I will call him "Mini Me".

Ok so Preston isn't exactly small anymore but over these past few months I've seen him blossom in to a male equivalent of me. He's always been fond of me; he's always followed me around. We play, sleep and even train together. In fact we are usually together unless my human separates us for individual training or tasks.

I've done my best to mold that young eager young pup in to a thriving, obedient older pup. Because of all of my hard work, ok so my human has helped a little but let's keep that fact between us, he has become a rather well rounded older pup. Ok so he's only 6 months old and still has a long ways to go but I was thrilled I could be there for some of his most crucial development stages.

I'd like to think all my influence has been positive though he probably has picked up some of my less desirable traits as well. He has in fact become like a mirror image of myself and which my human sees us goofing off in my typical fashion she laughs and tries to get to the camera to capture the moment. Below you'll find some of our finer moments.

Monday, November 24, 2008
Walk to Save Animals '08

On the 15th of November we attended the Arizona Animal Welfare Leagues' Walk to Save Animals. This year we had lots of friends join us. My human Myra was there, as was here friend Lisa, her roommate Ivy, Preston and myself. Gretchen came with her dog Annie and friend Holly. My humans Aunt Glenda, her daughter Dawn and her daughters' dog Smokey also joined in the fun. It took 2 cars and one van to get us all there but we made it just in time to stand in a line that wasn't moving anyways. The folks running the event were either starting a little later than usual or just weren't prepared for the massive turnout this year.

Each human was given a goodie bag and a ticket for a hotdog. Then we darted from vendor to vendor picking up their free goodies as well. Normally the goodies abound and our bags would be stuffed tight, but not this year. In fact we were all a little disappointed in the free goods because of the last of treats and food snacks.

We watched a few demos, chatted with a few people, then with all the chaos thought we had missed the start of the walk, so we headed out to the start line and beyond. We walked the 5k walk this year and when we were on our way back (it's a big loop – this walk) we finally saw the start of the actual walk getting under way. Ok so we jumped the gun a little but we also made it back in first place. Not that it was a race to begin with oh well.

The humans all walked at different speeds so my human and I scooted around taking time to walk with and chat with everyone. Preston spent most of the walk itself with Holly, she really likes him and he liked to walk at her speed anyways. Being a puppy however he did tend to get distracted and nearly drag Holly off the path a few times while trying to catch a leaf blowing in the wind.

After the walk Glenda, Dawn and Smokey left due to other plans for the day. The rest of us got in line for the free hotdogs. Preston joined me at the scooter once again so Holly could relax without fear of being pulled over. Annie was also hooked to the scooter to give Gretchen a chance to relax as well. Lisa procured my humans hotdog since she was now in charge of holding all us dog. After the humans ate their lunch they all decided to get funnel cakes too. Not only was I forced to behave and not beg for a hotdog I had to sit patiently while a dusting of powdered sugar rained down over my head. That was just not fair.

Once fed, the humans decided to head home where Preston and I slept most of the rest of the day and the night.

Sunday, November 23, 2008
Vision Rehabilitation and Training Expo

We all got up way to early on the 14th of November loaded up the van and headed to Glendale Arizona! Preston, Lisa, Myra and I all volunteered to sit at the AZG booth at the VRATE while the AZG people were giving their two hour presentation.

Lexington, Ella and Lana were all there doing demonstrations too. However once the AZG left the exhibitors hall to do their presentation only Preston, Ella and myself were at the booth to handle all the demos and Q&A with my human and Lisa. Poor Lisa didn't really know what she was doing but she faked it very well. My human was constantly answering questions to the best of her ability.

Preston was resting in the kennel because he had been getting a little too exited earlier, then I vomited from the excitement of it all and Ella wanted a break so she kept crawling under the table to hide. So my poor human and Lisa were constantly switching out us dogs and using treats to keep us motivated while answering questions, showing off the photos and handing out business cards and flyers. Ella didn't want to work for Lisa so Myra often held her leash while Lisa had either Preston or me. It was a little crazy at times.

Lisa and Myra had brought some sodas and sandwiches of which they really didn't have time to eat or drink, so when it was all over and they were free to head home they finally got to sit and eat.

Saturday, November 22, 2008
Lisa

My humans' friend Lisa came for a visit recently. This is partly why I haven't blogged in awhile. Been busy and all. Lisa and Myra (my human) have known each other about 15 years now. I'm just a dog and only 3 years old so that must mean they are really old. Tee Hee.

Both Preston and I really liked having Lisa around, especially Preston. He followed her everywhere and to make sure he didn't get more attention and lovin' than I did so I followed him around.

The visit was fun but very busy. There were lots of little chores my human needed to get done while Lisa was in town. Part of the reason for her visit was to help my human with all these chores and she was very sweet to agree to fly out here once she learned of my humans' evil master plan.

They cleaned the house, put the plastic up around the aviary, got supplies and extra odd and ends for the house and did stuff like that all week.

It wasn't all work and no play however. They went out to dinner a lot, and took me with them, yippee! Lisa played fetch with us many times. We all attended the AZG class in which Lisa got to hold a puppy for hours and my human got clobbered on the head when Lexington tried to give her a tape measure. Preston tried to poop in the store but was ran outdoors before he could make too big of a mess, and I pretty much just showed all the other dogs how awesomely well behaved I am.

The humans really cleaned out the dining room area a lot and did a lot of work in and around the aviary as well. All this was in preparation for Thanksgiving. My humans' family and a lot of friends will be here this year and she is so excited she can hardly wait, and because she is excited I am too, even if I don't fully know why yet.

Sunday, November 09, 2008
Sure that'll be easy

Well today wasn't the most thrilling day of my life but it was entertaining none the less.

It all started off with a nice stroll through the home depot. My human talked to people, bought some stuff and I just relaxed because for a change we didn't have Preston with us. My human figured it would be faster with just me.

As usual at Home Depot when we returned to the van we discovered that some mentally impaired person driving a jaguar parked on the ramp area. This happened last time we were at this store too! The usual frustration occurred, the little old lady who owned the fancy car didn't seem very concerned that she parked so badly, nor did she seem concerned that she didn't have a handicapped plate or placard. Apparently it was "torn in to pieces" and she "hadn't gotten a new one yet". Ya right.

We stopped at Petsmart for some chew bones for me *Yippee!!* and a BBQ place to feed the humans. As usual I put on my sad puppy face and looked at everyone in the restaurant hoping for someone to sneak me a meal but they didn't and my human and her friend took the meal to go so we were in an out very quickly.

Now this where it gets dull for me; Preston and I were sent out to the back yard and closed off from the house while the humans worked under the kitchen sink. Apparently the garbage disposer was leaking and emptying the bucket was getting tiresome. To top it off they had trouble and the replacement procedure took longer than expected.

It started to get very windy and nasty outside so Preston and I were allowed back inside only to be put in our kennels right away. It's almost as if my human knew we'd want to get in the way... err... I mean try to help.

Their we stayed while my human, her roommate and her friend discussed how badly the installation directions were written, how the parts didn't line up right and how much the old disposer had rusted in to place. There was a little swearing from time to time, often right after a loud snap or banging sound. They also laughed and giggled a lot as they picked on and teased each other. All in all I think they had fun.