Walkathon Tomorrow and HRH Has Fans!

Yesterday, I went to SEGD to attend a little half day conference and I took Her Royal Highness (HRH) Berkeley with me. We arrived about an hour and a half early (I had failed to look at the email again and therefore didn't notice the time change to 1 pm. So I was thinking I needed to be there at noon.) So I was at loose ends. I decided to walk on over to the training kennels and was walking out the administration door when a man coming in the door said, "Is that Berkeley?"

"Yes." I looked at him and didn't recognize him.

"Do you write the blog?"

"Yes."

"I read the blog all the time!"

"Hi! Nice to meet you." Oh man, this was surreal. HRH had fans! Fans who recognized her.

Turns out that Michael and his wife Meredith are first time puppy raisers from Houston, Texas and are super nice (see below, HRH had to have them pose with her, they are after all HER fans).

Michael said that he had read about HRH and even about Bingo and that it had helped them with Sunshine, their 6 month old yellow lab, seen below with HRH. I was thinking it probably helped them more with what not to do, than anything else, but we got to talking about being a first time raiser and the fear that you have that what you are doing is going to permanently damage your puppy.

I remember that fear (it never really goes away (or maybe that is just my craziness)), constantly thinking that I was doing something wrong that would scar Bingo in some way or that I hadn't started him on the right command at the right time. It wasn't until our obedience classes with Jennifer when she told us, if you follow the program and do your best, we will be able to work with what your dog knows. Ultimately it is up to the dog to decide if he wants to be a guide dog or not.

That being said, it is important not to let the dog develop bad habits such as jumping on furniture, eating people food or begging, jumping up, etc. But if you follow the manual with good intentions, it will all work out.

And if the manual doesn't cover what to do when your dog barks during the middle of the first movement of the symphony, that's why we're here! In fact, we specialize in that.

HRH and Sunshine. Notice that Sunshine is already much larger than our delicate flower. Sigh. She's a pygmy lab.

We Got An Award! 8-)

Erin and her new puppy Rob just gave us the award above, which was very sweet. Accordingly, we need to list 7 things about Her Royal Highness (HRH) Berkeley to accept the award. Here goes:

1. HRH does the commands she knows with military precisions. Her sits are plopped down precisely. Her switch command swerved over severely. They make me happy.
2. HRH is a tail wagging fool. We also call her The Wiggler because of it.
3. HRH can strain the patience of a saint. Stay? What was that? No, I didn't hear that command. Stay? You said what? I'm sorry, say it again, this time louder.
4. HRH loves to steal paper napkins, but she is a sneaky snake. There is no snatch and grab. No, she will sidle up next to you and gently take a corner and nibble, nibble, nibble until you reach down to use your napkin and it's no longer there.
5. HRH watches TV. She loves the opening credits to Madmen. However, ultimately, their treatment of women might cause her to bite or at least growl at Don Draper. Although, she might just settle for only watching the scenes with Joanie.
6. HRH is amusing. We got her a gigantic nylabone and now she growls at it because it doesn't fall apart like she wants it to. In addition, she also throws it far away from her in disgust and then cries and looks at me to bring it back to her. And she also does forward rolls over the bone accompanied with a myriad of hums, cries and barks much to the delight of the students in the library.
7. HRH recognizes my footsteps.

All in all she is her own dog. A completely different personality and a force of nature. There is another blog that I think is amazing and I am passing this blog award on to and that is guide dog puppy Joey and his family. Go on over to his blog and read all about him!