Spring... and Harriet Repents of Her Bad Habits....

Spring is in the air! 

It comes late to this part of the country, but it comes!  There's green stuff popping out of the ground.  And I'm not allowed to dig it up.

My PRs say it's official:  my nose is definitely turning pink.  Slowly.  They can't get a good picture of it yet.  One day you may have a pink-nosed friend.  I don't know why I'm turning pink, but it must be because I'm such a special dog.

Do you think my fur color makes my nose look pink?  Guess not.

My mom is also telling me that it will be only a few months before I go to puppy college.  And I seem to have a few, um, peculiarities that she seems to think I need to give up.  I thought they were cute. 

A while back, I decided to have "allergies."  I decided to be allergic to doing things with my CCI cape on.  I wouldn't do downs; I wouldn't do rolls.  I tried to say I had a constitutional right to choose what commands I wanted to obey.

"Not when you're a service dog!" my mom said.  So we have spent the last several weeks helping me remember the things I've "forgotten."  We've practiced a thousand downs.  Well, I have - my mom hasn't put my cape on her.

Not long ago my PRs had to go the the home improvement store to pick up some BIG boxes.  We had to wait for the store people to get our purchases out of the warehouse.  While we waited, guess what I practiced.

Does my PR dad look bored?  I wasn't bored - I was practicing my downs!  I was also looking at the other dogs in the store!  They were taking their Canine Good Citizen exams.  I kept my distance from them so I wouldn't outshine - er, distract them.  (But I'll tell you a secret:  well-behaved dogs are allowed in this store even if they aren't taking a class or wearing capes.  I hope this fine policy brings the store lots of business!)

 Then the boxes were loaded into my dad's car.  Was there enough room?  There sure was.  But there wasn't room left for my mom and me!  So he had to take some things home, unpack them, and come back for us later.

While we waited, my mom had me practice all sorts of things:

Harriet doing an up!  That's standing up and putting one's front paws on the wall of the building.  You can't see it because I'm so close to the camera.  But a picture of a good-looking dog is an asset on any blog page.

Harriet sitting on grating!  You know grating - that metal stuff with holes in it that looks scary to walk on.


 






Harriet sitting on rocks!

Harriet shopping for trees!  (I didn't buy any.)


Harriet sitting in a twelve-inch space in the back of the car!  (It was just enough room to take a nap in.)

Harriet at home!  One of my other peculiarities is that once I'm done working I have a burning desire to work off some energy by racing around like a crazy dog.  And, um, a lamp had a close encounter with me.

My mom said that if I got an allowance, I'd be paying for the damage myself.

Another thing I've "forgotten" to do with my cape on is to roll.  Without my cape I could live this way all day.


I'm embarrassed to say I don't roll in my cape on command yet.  My mom has to "persuade" me.  But I do it!  Yay, me!

Note to other CCI pups:  don't develop any "allergies."  It doesn't pay.

The other night at puppy class I made a new friend.  Mr. Chris wants to be a puppy raiser.  I let him practice on me, and he got me to roll, too.  We also maneuvered through a maze of doggy toys and treats.  Not only toys and treats, but other dogs!

I went up and down with him like a good girl and didn't touch anything!  It's very hard to resist temptation like this.  But I hear that at puppy college, the dogs all sit inside a tennis court, and are supposed to stay seated while people drop dozens of tennis balls into the court.  A service dog must have self-control!

I showed Mr. Chris how I do a visit.


In a visit you sit close and put your chin in the person's lap.  You're supposed to keep your chin there until you're told to release.  I don't last that long yet.  But I'm working on it.

I hope I helped Mr. Chris learn how to raise puppies.  I love meeting people who love dogs!