Corky's School Introductions

I introduced Corky to lower, middle and upper division on three separate days in early December.  It was shortly after Katie Bandel's visit, so it was in actuality auspiciously timed as the students in upper had a more impactful idea of what Corky would be doing for someone later on in life.  

We are hoping to bring Katie back to Berkeley in Jan/Feb to speak with lower and middle and to do the exercise with the dixie cups with them as well.

Corky on stage in upper.  He did a nice sit.

 Corky was pretty good on stage.  He did sit when given the command.  Of course, he then immediately stood up.

Corky standing at my side as I talk about him.

 I figured you have to pick your battles.  I just talked rather than fight to keep him sitting.

What I love about this photo of me presenting Corky to lower is the smiles of the children.

 On a separate day we presented Corky to lower division.  He was a little stressed as you can see in the photo, his tail is a little down.  He normally carries it a little higher.  I think it was all the waiting and the fact that I was nervous as well.  But he did great.  Right up until the very end when he tried to nibble a little on the Christmas tree.  But no damage was done as we caught him right away!  He had a quiet rest of the day in the office.

All three divisions now have reheard the rules:

1. If Corky is wearing the coat, he is invisible: don't call his name, don't pet him, pretend he isn't there.
2. If he isn't wearing the coat, you can ask permission to pet him.  The question to ask is: "Is this a good time (We might be on a bathroom break!)?
3. If we are in my office, Corky will usually have his coat off and chances are good you can pet him.

Depending on what Corky is going through at the moment, I may have students help me with a certain problem.  For instance, if he has a problem jumping or lunging (like Jam did) I would have a student walk by while I had Corky sit beside me.  Fortunately, he doesn't do that.  But if we find anything, the lower, middle and upper division students stand ready and willing to help out in whatever way possible!

Jam's Second Week at School

Jam completed his second week at school. The main problem we have been having is that he has become a bit bitey when people go to pet him when he has his coat off. So I have instituted a firm, withhold affection at the first sign of biting policy.



Here's a photo of two of my upper division students enacting the policy. They were great. Every time he tried to bite, they would turn around and ignore him. Then they would try again. When he got bitey, withdraw. They were wonderful. Some kids are better at it than others. For those who just don't understand the policy, I end up saying Jam is tired and put his coat back on.

Other than that, Jam has been very, very good. So good in fact, that I thought, perhaps, since our student library proctor inductions were this Friday, perhaps I will bring him up on stage with me. After all, what could go wrong? (Was Bingo only two years ago? 8-)

Friday Morning

Jam has a pretty regular poo schedule. He has a morning breakfast poo and an 8:30 poo. But he missed his 8:30 poo. Convo was at 10. It was 9:30 and he hadn't had his poo. Hmmm. This might be a problem.

Perhaps I should walk him around for a bit. Besides, I wanted him tired.

We did some stairways and some obedience so that his brain would be exhausted. Then I walked him over to Lykes. I took off his coat and we did a poo walk.

Success! There would be no hunching over on the stage! Whew. What a video that would make.

We walked into the Lykes Theater. I realized that I didn't have anyone waiting in the wings to hand Jam off to if he acted up. I was going Kamakazi Solo on this one, but I thought he could do it. Bingo, NO WAY! Berkeley, there would be barking.

But Jam. I had a feeling that my chill dude would be ok on the stage. Why don't you watch the video and let me know what you think?

Jam's Upper Division Video

Tomorrow Jam will be presented to the Upper Division students. On Wed., he will got to Middle and on Sept. 9th, Lower. It will be a little different for each division as the age groups are different, but hopefully, Jam will be a good boy at each presentation. I hope to have some video of each to show you.

Here's a look at the lovely time we had on July 1st going to pick him up!

I Want to Be Alone

Her Royal Highness's (HRH's) day went really well. I gave the first presentation to Middle Division. It went pretty well. We showed the video and then I went on stage with her and two of the Animal Club members who went with me to pick her up (a third was too shy to come on stage). After thanking Animal Club for their fundraising efforts I reiterated the rules: When she has her coat on it is like she has on Harry Potter's cloak of invisibility. No one can see her. Just ignore her. Then I told the kids that they could come by before school or after to pet her as she had her coat off in my office. Then HRH started to get sassy. She looked at me and gave a few exploratory growls

"Berkeley..."

"Arf!" A full bark, with defiant head toss no less.

"Do you want to go to timeout?" I had forgotten we were on stage. Fortunately, all the middle divisioners laughed and Berkeley did not bark again. Score one for the threat of timeout!

Next was the Upper Division convocation. That was the one I was very nervous about because it was my division. I knew all the kids much better in upper. We were on after the cheerleaders. It's tough to go on after cheerleaders. Especially with a dog who gets all jazzed up by their cheers. I swear. I think she must have been a cheerleader in a former life. She stared at them, entranced by their loud, synchronous word poems and wild gesticulations. It must be a labrador thing. Bingo loved the cheerleaders too.

Here's a short video of HRH watching the cheerleaders cheer. I could only film the back of her head so I made the video very short. 8-)



After both of the convocations we found out that there would a photographer from the St. Petersburg Times who would be coming by to take some photos for a story about HRH's first day at school. He was very nice and seemed to think HRH was as cute as we all did. After he had taken some photos and left, I finally had time to sit down and eat lunch. HRH was beat, so I let her sleep it off in her crate. A couple of hours later, she was still in her crate with the door open and wouldn't come out. He's a photo looking into the crate at the sleepy royal miss.

She was so annoyed with my taking that photo that she immediately turned around (see photo below)!

One the English teachers came to visit her and I pulled her out of the crate for a sit and pet (after all, she had been napping for 3 hours!). She sat for a few minutes then she looked at George and sighed and turned and walked back into the crate. Poor George! But royalty needs its beauty sleep and she is more beautiful than most.

Bacon Girl

On Monday at convocation, I was standing at the back, as per usual with Bingo sitting calmly at my side, not as per usual. He was a perfect Zen dog, motionless, calm, serene seeming, with seeming being the key word in the sentence. The Mello Divas had gone up on stage and begun to sing.

Bingo was so relaxed that I was following the instructions of leash management which say "train, don't restrain" so I had a slack leash on the boy wonder. In front of was a half row and at the end of the filled row was your normal girl student. I didn't notice anything particularly interesting about her. I was watching the Mello Divas. Bingo, however, had deduced that the girl was made of bacon.

BACON!

I don't know how he came to this brilliant deduction, but he did and true to his reactionary nature, he acted upon it IMMEDIATELY AND WITHOUT WARNING. Leaping 5 feet in the air to arrive at the girl's side, he jumped up and licked her full on the face. I guess just to get a real taste of BACON. (You see he is allowed no people food.)

By this time, I have been jerked out of my reverie by 1. the leash and leaping dog (oh the horror!) and 2. the shrieks of the BACON girl and the peals of laughter of her entire row of students.

Yep.

Correction.

Mortification.

Apologies.

I return with chastened Bingo to my post against the wall and listen to the snickers of my colleagues. Sigh. Oh Bingo. Students aren't made of BACON. When will you learn?