I Was SO Good!

How good was I? I was SO good that mom got tears in her eyes! I did a perfect recall! Pam held my leash and mom called my name. There were people standing along the path from Pam to mom. I did not stop even once, I went right to mom and she was VERY happy. We worked really hard all week, and it paid off!

I was good in my other stuff, too. I did my sits and downs and stays... I had a little trouble with the one minute stay, but the 30 second one went ok. I was also a little cranky about "stand for petting", which we did on the table to get me used to being up there. I wanted to sit. I was unimpressed with the new thing, which is sit and stay while being petted by strangers, but we'll work on that this week and see how I do. It's hard to be sitting when I am so young and people are so happy to see me. And it's going to be hard for mom to train the people to ignore me or walk away if I DON'T sit and stay for petting. But we'll work it out. My loose lead walking is a lot better, but I still need work, mom says. I think I did pretty good, though.

Tonight was the first night with the training collar and I really am not sure I like it at all.

I put my ears back and got kind of cranky for a little while, but the change made me pay better attention, which I think now is maybe what mom was trying to do. She tricked me, really. This is a very fuzzy picture, but that's me and mom.

Mom finished her big work thing today which I think means we can get the focus of life back on me where it belongs, which also means she will have more time to take pictures of ME!

These are my friends, Emma and Ama. I think that's how you spell it. Emma is the white and brown dog (she's a spaniel) and Ama (she's a mix of breeds) is the black dog. We get to play before school starts, which is a lot of fun. We run and jump on each other, and I get my nervous energy out.

I like Emma a lot. We played alone last week until Ama got there for class (she was late) and then this week when Emma thought Ama was getting rough with me, she jumped in and told Ama to stop. Then when mom had me on the table for my stand practice, Emma was watching very closely. The humans all talked about whether Emma had maybe had babies of her own before she came to her forever home. She was "found stray", which I think means her first people were not paying very good attention. Her new people seem to pay a lot of attention to her, which I think is good.

Today mom left me home all alone in my crate while she went to mail her book. It's the first time I've been really, really alone. Usually Girl and Gerbil are here when mom and dad go out, so I am in my crate, but there's noise and people. I've been good, so mom thought it was time. I did really well, but I was glad when mom came home!

After school mom got eggs ready for Girl to take to the yarn store tomorrow. I guess it is going to snow, so we are staying home. I am kind of bummed because I like the people, but I guess it will be alright. I can rest up from my exciting night at school. Anyway I was playing in the living room by myself behind my gate, but I was not exactly thrilled about it. Dad came and got me and carried me to the kitchen to see what mom was doing. I like being carried, but when I saw mom I wanted to get down. Dad told me to stop being a wiggle worm. I am a wiggle worm. It's hard not to be. Now that mom is here with me, though, I am kind of tired, so I think I will close my eyes for a little bit before bedtime.

I hope mom takes me out to play in the snow tomorrow! That would be fun!

Love,
Yoshi