Jam Meets Darth Vader

On Saturday Fred was sanding upstairs (which is why Jam and Willow and I were downstairs!).  Fred had bought a super duper mask because he was getting all the paint off of our doors and these doors are from 1923 and you just don't know what kind of paint they used.  Better safe than sorry.

Hence, the Darth Vader look.

Fred with his respirator on looking like Darth Vader.

But it did give us a good exposure for Jam.  We decided that while the babygate was up blocking the upstairs, that we would have Fred come down and surprise Jam with his mask.  Kind of like they do for the canine good companion test.

One portion of the canine good companion test is to have the puppy in a room and have a person walk in dressed normally.  Then that person walks out and walks back in with sunglasses or a hat on.  (This test is the one that HRH Berkeley failed.) Now, I have been working with Jam on not being scared of hats, sunglasses, earphones, costumes, etc.  This respirator test would be a really good measure to see how well we have been doing.

So, we filmed it.  I won't tell you how he did.  After all, how well did Luke Skywalker react?  

"Jam, I am your father!"

Yeah, Jam kicked Luke's pansy butt! 8-)

Jam goes in for training on July 21st. Six more weeks.

News of Her Royal Highness

It seems like only yesterday that Her Royal Highness(HRH) was with us as a little puppy. She was so sweet and small and commanding. Her shy aspect in her 6 week photo didn't let on to a dictatorial and autocratic personality soon to blossom.

Well, we have received her harness photo. She is gorgeous as you can see below.


Clearly, comparisons with the young Elizabeth I, a strong queen, could be made. her report card said she was making friends and playing well with others. This is quite a good thing as Bingo did not and was kicked out for being possessive of his personal space. HRH is learning to get along. Good girl.

She is having a bit of a problem with high traffic areas, showing a little hesitation, but the report card said she is working on it and shows promise. What I do know about HRH is that given time and encouragement, she always overcomes. Not the first out of the gate, but a solid finisher.
Now, we have had more news of HRH. We were told that she has been career changed. She showed stranger fear and was not considered guide dog material, but she is still in the running for a public service job, which is good, because HRH wants to work! This little girl needs someone to command! We have been told that she is being evaluated for her canine good companion certificate which may take several months to complete and during that time they will decide which public service job she holds the most aptitude for: bomb sniffing, veteran's assistance, search and rescue, and my personal favorite canine connections. From the first time I heard about the canine connections program, which just started and is for children ages 10-17, I knew it was for HRH. In this program dogs are placed as companions with children who are either visually impaired or have a condition that may lead to blindness as a way of getting them familiar with the idea of working with a guide dog. HRH is one dedicated and commanding lady. She would fulfill that role with an amazing amount of confidence. She is a very dedicated personality. Our fingers are crossed. You go girl!

HRH Goes In For Training

Sorry all you blog readers out there! We had to take Berkeley IFT on June 4th, leave for a cruise on June 6th and we didn't get back until a couple of days ago! So I am just now getting around to telling all about the sad, but exciting event of Berkeley's IFT ceremony.

SEGD has changed the day from a plain old drop off, to a whole morning program. It is really wonderful. Here you can see the big welcome signs welcoming you to freshman orientation.



There were signs for every puppy going in for training that morning and each sign had their 6 week old photo on it, which we got to keep at the end of the day. They lined both sides of the road. It was really nice.

At the big gazebo, everyone was gathered. They were playing music, there was coffee, juice and muffins. You could sit and talk with people, but most people sat with their puppies waiting for their names to be called. Every few minutes a name would be called and a trainer would come and there would be the leash exchange. Then the freshman pup would walk off to his or her dorm without a look back and with a happy tail wagging.

Here is Berkeley as she is waiting for her name to be called. I think we missed her name being called as we were about 10 minutes late, so she was the last dog called! We watched all the other dogs go. Even the family of five, who were heart broken and made us all cry (even some of the SEGD staff 8-) as they gave up their pup willingly, but sadly to go on to their higher purpose. But that was what was so good about the day. You didn't just leave then, when you were in tears. Because believe you me, when they called out, "Berkeley!"

I stood up and walked away. Because I was going to be just like that little boy who was sobbing so hard he couldn't look and had to turn away or his sisters who just cried and cried but let their puppy go or their father, who never took off his sunglasses, but every now and then would stick his finger under the lenses to wipe away a tear.

She didn't look back and we know that means she went forward as a happy, confident young freshman ready to take on this new challenge. We will miss her.

(Note: The day continued with puppy hugging and wonderful presentations by guide dog users that helped us all focus back on what our goal was: creating a happy guide dog. It ended up being a very good day.)

What's in a name?

Our last meeting with Don and Donna was the Annual Kayaking meeting, which is always great fun. Don owns a kayaking business so we all get to take the puppies out for a spin. I'm going to miss this meeting quite a lot. It was a wonderful puppy experience and a bunch of work for them to put together. Thank you Don and Donna for doing this!

Some of you may think that I gave Her Royal Highness (HRH) Berkeley her name based soley on the fact that it would make for a good blog theme.

Wrong. I'll explain why she got her name and you'll see her earn her name in the video at the end of the post.

When we got HRH, oh so many months ago, there was a sweetness about her, but also a bit of the tartar. Something a little demanding and authoritative.



You can see it in this photo. "Sure, take my photo, but you will pay for waking me from my nap!"



She was very demanding as in the above photo. "You want me to do what?" But what was also surprising about HRH is how much she loved to work. She took to obedience training and loved to learn commands. Her sit is divine and her switch a piece of art.



"Yes, I know you want me to move, but I am going to nap now. Perhaps at a later time?" She seems to be saying.

You can see, we walked a delicate line with her. We had to balance working with what her kennel master called her litter's "soft" nature (which meant essentially that she was afraid of everything) and not coddling her. It was tough. She's very pretty and sweet. And those eyes. We hung tough and I think we made a brave little queen out of her.

I hardly ever see a droopy, tucked tail. And that is why I think this kayaking video is so interesting. She doesn't like the water. She didn't want to get wet. But she knew I wanted her to get in the kayak and go kayaking with me and Keegan and Laurel (the other puppy).

So, she figured it out. (Big thanks to Keegan's mom Cheryl for taking all the video for us! Nice work.)




Perhaps, she should rule the world.

Zumba

Last Tuesday, I took Her Royal Highness (HRH) Berkeley to Zumba. It was one of those last things that she just hadn't experienced. A big, loud dance party! On the way over to Zumba, she was calm and collected.

Here she is with Stephanie before the dance party starts. She has no idea what is coming. Stephanie's dog Princess came to a Zumba class and wore herself out trying to follow the dance moves and ended up sleeping the last half of class. What would HRH do?

I hooked her into the one place on the bleachers on that had a spot that could hold a lab determined to leave. HRH eyed me suspiciously. I set up the camera and tripod. The Zumba teacher was prepped and ready. The Zumba participants were prepped and ready. We were all prepped and ready.



She was fairly relaxed. In fact, I did the stretching routine with her head on my foot. It was sweet. Next week, she goes in for training. I will miss her!

You Meet All Sorts of People

I've heard that there is a Chinese curse that goes something like: may you leave in interesting times. The Southeastern Guide Dog Puppy Raiser Corollary is may you meet many interesting people.

Last Friday I took my car into Lincoln Mercury's body shop to get an estimate and was met by my estimater Wanda, who was this delightful older lady who was familiar with labs as she had previously owned one. She was about to pet Her Royal Highness when I explained about the coat and how she was working and couldn't be distracted. Wanda was great. She immediately made eye contact with me and dropped her hand. When we went back into the shop and neared the administrative assistant's desk, Wanda called out to her, "This dog is working! You CANNOT pet her when she has her coat on!"

The administrative assistant startled and looked up at us, "OK."

Wanda said she would go back and do my estimate and then be right back. Evidently, she did some more PR work because in about 3 minutes a man can out and peered around the admin's desk and said, "Where's the dog we can't pet?"

When she came back, she gave me my estimate and never even asked for the jacket to come off. She was a sweet lady, so I took off HRH's coat and let her pet her. HRH even broke with decorum and gave her a big smackaroo in the face, something she hardly ever does.

And then there are the others...

But you do sometimes meet the whackadoos. Friday night at Crabby Bill's, I was telling Fred the story of Wanda and had just gotten HRH settled under the table when a customer from another table stands up and comes over to our table.

She stands at out table and says the following:

"I have a therapy dog. I am now going to take my left hand and put it under the table..." At this point she has thrown out her left hand a bit like Vanna White pointing out the letter "E" and is on a downward curve toward HRH underneath the table.

"Please don't." I say. "Berkeley is a working guide dog in training and she has her coat on and can't be petted when she is working."

Before I can go on to say anything else about how guide dogs in training are different from therapy dogs. The woman leaps into the air and runs back to her table.

OK. That was weird.

Then you have the nice ones

So I was at Target and couldn't find something. I went to talk with one of the sales ladies to ask her where it might be. There happened to be a piece of popcorn about 5 inches from her foot. Some outrageously messy person had been spewing popcorn all over the store. We had been avoiding popped kernels for the entire Target visit. But here we were faced with a kernel. I put HRH into a down stay and asked my question.

"She seems to be staring at me rather intently." The saleslady said with a laugh.

"Oh, it's not you. It's that piece of popcorn in front of you."

"Well, I'll take care of that!" She scooped up the popcorn and stuck it in her pocket. "No popcorn for you." She looked at me. "Popcorn isn't good for them," and smiled. Then she answered my question.

I like the nice ones. They balance the crazy ones.

Desensitization Works!

A while back I did a post on HRH reacting to a mylar balloon. I promised to bring home some balloons so that we could desensitize her. It worked!



We are on a desensitizing roll!

Body Image Problems

Her Royal Highness is having a problem with body image. Not her own body image, mind you! That's perfection. The body image of others.

Take for instance on Monday when I was leaving school and Andrew walked up to us wearing his headphones around his neck. They were the old school noise canceling headphones and they looked like giant black eyeballs growing out of his chest (see photo below).



HRH freaked out! She started barking, the hair rose on her spine. I did a correction and still she barked. I put her in a down stay and stopped Andrew. Fortunately for me, Andrew is a really nice kid and was perfectly willing to stand still while a clearly suspicious HRH stared at him from a down stay.

"I know it's not you, Andrew." I said, looking at him trying to figure it out. I let her out of the down stay so she could come closer. She jumped up and went for the headphones. Ah ha!

I put her back in a down stay and had Andrew take off the headphones. I gave the headphones to her. She gave them a bite. Then a lick. I gave them back undamaged but slobbery to Andrew. "Thanks, man! She thought you had weird giant eyeballs."

"Cool."

During a talk with our neighbor and fellow puppy raiser Stephanie, she said she had some old school headphones she could bring us so we could practice desensitizing HRH with them. So Fred wore the headphones and she reacted to them. We realized that we didn't have the training collar and leash on her and had to stop and get that on her to continue. Once that was done, we were able to control her better and hold her attention. Then we switched so I had the headphones on. No reaction at all! Success.

We tried it again this morning with Jan helping us and she ran over to Jan and acted like she was going to bark, but sat at her feet and wagged her tail instead.

Good girl.

Barkitecture!

I could kick myself. We got invited to a cocktail party and I didn't get anyone to take a photo of Fred and me looking all spiffy. Such a shame! We went as the guests of Bobby and Merideth and had a wonderful time.

Her Royal Highness was in fine form and even had her photo taken by a photographer for the Sarasota Herald, so there is some hope that there may be photo of us on the society pages (after all she is the Queen), but does Sarasota recognize her reign? We'll have to wait to see what their coverage of the soiree is like. The blurry photo below of HRH and Phyllis is not by the Sarasota Herald photographer, rest assured.


There was one other puppy raiser and her two sons Brett and Blair (not sure about the spelling) there: Nancy with her dog Phyllis. They were invited by Phyllis's sponsor. HRH and Phyllis had a grand time and seemed to enjoy all the attention from the crowd.


Nancy and Phyllis were called up before everyone to pose while they auctioned off a Puppy naming opportunity! Phyllis did not look like a demon dog.

This dog house is the people's choice award winner by Murray Homes. It went for over $1000. It was quite an exciting night. Lovely conversation, a great dinner, fun auction. Money for SEGD!

Bingo Comes Back for a Visit

Bingo and Her Royal Highness (HRH) Berkeley met for one short week before Bingo when in for training. It was a short but memorable week. Bingo seemed to fall in love and spent lots of time with HRH and didn't mind her biting on him and following him around.

Fast forward a year, and here we have Bingo and HRH all grown up. They still seem to get along just fine too. Perhaps a bit too fine! Bingo seems particularly enamored of HRH, so we keep a close eye on the both of them.

Bingo seems a bit slower, a little fatter (he's on a diet), but still the sweet, quirky boy he always was. He does like getting up early, so when I get up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom (4 am), he leaps up as if it is morning breakfast call. NOPE. Not going to happen. But in the end, I did get up at 4:30 and let them out to pee. They were all agitated by that time. Bingo had started the "why aren't we getting up?" dance and things were creaking and feet were stamping and little whines were starting.

Ah me. It will be a long weekend.

Girls Gone Wild

I went to pick up Her Royal Highness (HRH) Berkeley yesterday at SEGD from her three-week seclusion. Her roommate was Ginny, who evidently was a girl of loose morals (it said Breeder on her card!), and who showed HRH how to PARTY.

We stopped on the way home to eat lunch. As I got up to leave I tugged on the leash. Nothing. A dead weight was attached to the end. I squatted down and peered under the table in the booth. There was HRH completely comatose and dead asleep.

"Berkeley. BERKELEY!" Shake, shake. Finally she woke up and groggily walked to the car.

Evidently, time in the red tent is time well spent. Fortunately, she was happy to see me.

Happy Birthday to My Royal Baby!

Today is Her Royal Highness's (HRH's) birthday! She is all of one year old today. She escaped out of the red tent seclusion in SEGD and traveled over the pond to see her relatives William and Kate, who had picked her birthday as their auspicious wedding date!, married. You won't see her on the TV of course. She is doing a perfect down-under under the Queen's chair and keeping very quiet.

She will be back at home on Monday. Long live the Queen and HRH! And congratulations William and Kate.

HRH Berkeley and The Red Tent

You may have noticed that we are a little light on news. I was away at a conference and Her Royal Highness (HRH) Berkeley has been away at SEGD in The Red Tent, a literary reference where back in biblical times all menstruating women got a holiday during their period and went off to get massages and eat treats in a red tent. Readers understand the reference. Most other people look at me blankly. Like the sophomore boys in the mezzanine on Friday...

"Where is Berkeley?" One boy who is also on the baseball team asked me. His four other friends looked at me inquiringly.

"Oh, she is at Southeastern Guide Dogs in the Red Tent." I winked. He screwed up his face and said, "Wuh?" A couple of the other boys had a glimmering of what was coming and I saw one boy even put out a hand as if to ward off what I was going to say next.

"She got her period."

He cringed. It was like I had thrown roaches on him. "Oh man! Gross!"

"I tried to hit you with a euphemism, dude. She won't be back until May 2nd." I kept walking and smiled all the way down the stairs. Boys! So easy to gross out.

Now there may be some of you who are like Fred and me who haven't ever had a female dog who was going to go into heat. We had no idea what to expect. We had heard that there were signs:

1. Swelling of the general area


2. Discharge/bleeding


3. Being the hottest dog on the block (attracting a lot of interest!)

Having no idea what swelling meant (how much swelling was swelling? When was it completely swollen? Did just the one little area get swollen or the whole bootie?), we had a couple of false alarms which resulted in my doing twice weekly bootie checks. Fred refused to have anything to do with HRH and her bootie. I think he might have actually run out of the room at one point. Or walked very quickly, while humming and ignoring me.

So on the day before my conference, that Monday morning, I did a quick bootie check and OMG! Swelling. I mean, SWELLING. In fact, when she walked away from Fred, he asked, "Is there something wrong with her?"

We are talking swelling akin to a baboon's butt. So, all of you newbies out there with a female dog who have never experienced a dog going into heat, when they say swelling, they mean, the entire area puffs out like a muffin top.

It looked super uncomfortable. All that day, she looked at me with crinkly eyes like she was having cramps and needed a Midol and a hot water bottle. She just wanted to snuggle. She didn't feel well. Poor little princess with the big bootie.

So when I got her home, I said, "We better try on the diaper, because I think her period is immanent." Fred didn't believe me, but he thought filming me doing that would be entertaining and informative. Here is the video.

After we took the diaper off, we discovered that she had gone into heat. Fred took her to SEGD the next day. I left for my conference. Then when I got back we had a big kitchen fire, so things been exciting. I should be able to post more now. HRH will be back on the 2nd. We had Bob for two days last week and we will have Elvis for several days next week.

Learning How to Use the Playground

On Friday, Christina and I were looking at the list of exposures that Her Royal Highness (HRH) Berkeley had yet to expose herself to (so to speak) and there on the list was playground. Of course, we have a nice little playground in our lower division and it was the afternoon, so we decided to take a little break and wander over to see if there was anyone about in the playground area.

At first, I was thinking it would be better if the playground was empty. Then I could show her everything and have no running, screaming kids around. But it turned out that the PreK kids were out in the playground and they were plenty excited to see HRH.

One little boy ran straight up with his arm extended, "Can I pet Berkeley?" he cried as he came in closer. At the same time the PreK assistant was shouting, "Jeffrey, you can't pet Berkeley! She's invisible! Don't look at her!" Jeffrey was confused by this as, clearly, HRH was right in front of him and he gave me a strange look. His hand was two inches from her coat.

"You can't pet her, sweetie. She's working. Remember the rules?" He kind of squinted up his eyes at me like I had popped a dream in his face. He frowned. His hand fell. "We came to find out how the playground works," I told him. He looked at me again. Perhaps there was a way he could be of use. I could see the wheels turning in his head.

I turned and started to walk towards the slides and stairs and poles. At that moment, it was like I was in the middle of a vast river. Like I was a salmon swimming upstream. There were all sorts of little bodies colliding not so innocently with me and with HRH, arms brushing up against her, sighs, oohs and aaahs, coming from the children as the two PreK assistants tried in vain to keep our way clear:

"Don't look at Berkeley! She's invisible! Don't touch her!"

Finally, I hit upon the idea of having the kids use the equipment for HRH to watch. "Would someone like to show Berkeley how to use the slide? She's never seen a slide before."

Ten small bodies hurled themselves towards the double slide and then in a very quiet and orderly fashion slid down. Everyone of them, upon hitting the dirt looked, not at me, but to HRH for approval on their slide down. I'm assuming she gave it, for they seemed satisfied and continued to slide away.

I moved us over to the curly fireman's pole. The sliders moved over. Next came the steps and the curvy slide.

Then it was time for photos and the coat to come off. After HRH stood calmly and let them swarm her for some loving, I said I needed to put her coat back on. I was attaching the velcro when one little girl knelt down and grabbed her strap and then with careful attention to detail got the two ends to meet and hooked the strap end together.

"Thank you!" I told her. She smiled up at me. It was a nice way to end the visit.

Jan Connors took all the photos and the videos and did a darn fine job of it!

Trappergator

The other night we had our friends Larry and Gabrielle over for dinner and they brought their career changed puppy Trapper (aka Trappergator) with them. We were looking forward to talking with our friends, but Her Royal Highness (HRH) Berkeley had a special sort of giddiness one could only associate with lunacy (royalty), nervousness, or too much sugar.

Since we don't feed her sugar, I'm going with part lunacy and nervousness. Once the big blond behemoth hit the wooden floors, HRH was smitten.

Willow couldn't have cared less. He was more of a bumbler to her. Fast moving dogs were a hazard to be avoided and she was by now good at avoiding them. She moved quickly to the couch.

HRH was a bit paralyzed with the love bug. She had seen him that afternoon at the Paws for Patriots event, but with all her adoring fans, hadn't noticed his hunkiness. Now, Ooh-la-la.

They proceeded to chase each other around the house and up and down the stairs. We pushed them to the backyard. Trapper was always in the lead, oddly enough. HRH had lost command. Once they got to the back yard, she proceeded to show him the koi pond. They circled the pond. Trapper saw the koi, he started to paw at the water, to get their attention. They circled the pond with Trapper pawing at it and HRH staring at him in adoration. Then Trapper made the brilliant decision that pawing just wasn't working. The fish were IN the pond and that's where HE needed to be. Fortunately, HRH didn't agree with him.

Notice, even after he jumped in she will still follow him anywhere. Anywhere, but in a fish pond. Silly commoner.

Exposing Yourself (to Criticism)

Home Depot. Your first thought might be super place for guide dog puppies in training. There are plenty of loud noises and strange sounds coming from every aisle, so it makes for a grand experience. Plus the floor is concrete, so if there are any accidents, no worries. Clean up is a breeze! You would be correct, but your puppy may have another reason for loving Home Depot. At least mine does. Her Royal Highness (HRH) Berkeley sees Home Depot as one of the places where she can caution the underdressed and fashion misfits on their poor choices. People dress mighty casually when they go to Home Depot and there is a lot of exposed flesh, something that does not sit well with HRH.

As you can see from this photo HRH is looking through the lumber cart down the aisle for scantily clad Home Depot shoppers. She likes to scope out the scene and then pounce on them when they are least expecting it. And when the person on the other end of her leash is least expecting it. Take this lady for instance, notice how the back of her knees are right out there in public AND they are at just the right height for a cold nose to be pressed up against them. HRH can walk right by them and then, with a quick head turn, nab her knee before I realize what is going on. Usually the squacking is not long lived. Here's a two for one deal! A quick swipe of the nose on the calf of the Mister and then a cold nose to the back of the knee on the Missus. She loves that. It makes her especially happy to goose the young ones. Sometimes she even goes low for an ankle. Just for variety. Or if the shorts are very wide, like these, she might stick her nose up them as if to say, "Girly man shorts!" That's when it becomes embarrassing.

"Oh, sorry! My dog just stuck her nose up your skirt. Ooops!" At school when she does this, and I correct her everyone just says, "Oh, Berkeley." In the real world, it's a bit of a problem. I even had one student just walk by us 6 or 7 times so I could correct HRH and keep her from nosing up the girl's skirt. Was her skirt a bit above the knee? I won't tell!

HRH and Home Depot. If you see her coming, don't turn your back on her.

She's No Slacker

Like her namesake, Her Royal Highness (HRH) Berkeley, (HRH Queen Elizabeth II is shown above in one of her smashing tea party outfits (delightful yellow suit with matching yellow sun hat rimmed with several large pink flowers)) is no slouch in the fulfilling her royal duties department. Jingle the leash and proffer the coat and HRH is up and ready to lead whomever into society. Secretly, I think she wants a little hat with flowers, if only to munch on occasionally. So it was with great spirit that that she greeted Thursday, a day filled with errands and rushing about. Not quite what QEII has to endure, but none the less is a full day for a guide dog in training. Our first stop was at Clearwater Cruises. Jennifer and Laurie have been amazing at helping us prepare for our 20th wedding anniversary (and mom and dad's 55th wedding anniversary!) Mediterranean Cruise!! I had to stop in and get some in person help and I brought HRH along with me. She was so well behaved that I let her go out of coat so Laurie and Jennifer could give her some loving. As opposed to QEII, who was caught sleeping in Germany in 2004 at an official engagement, sleeping during an errand is encouraged for our monarch. I highly recommend Laurie and Jennifer at Clearwater Cruises if you need to book a cruise. They have been wonderful. Our next stop you might think was the St. Pete Museum of Fine Art. Unfortunately, we only had time to explore the grounds outside the museum as we had a tight schedule to meet and were expected for lunch in 30 minutes at Red Mesa Cantina. It was a lovely day and I couldn't resist capturing her lovely visage against the backdrop of the huge cotton silk tree with its gorgeous red blooms. But as I was trying to set up the shot something fell on my head. I clapped my hand to my head. "Holy crap! A bird pooped on me." I am speaking to HRH of course. Out loud. In the middle of the day while there are other people walking up to the tree to take a photo. My fingers start to slide around and I'm trying to find out if it is bird poop or not. I'm also trying to get closer to HRH who is looking longingly at the little boy who is now climbing the tree. "Not your boy, my dear." I try to shove my iPhone into my pocket, look at my fingers for poop, glance at the sky for marauding, pooping birds and also lean down to pick up her leash. I teeter a little. HRH shoots me a glance. All around me I hear pops and bombs and splatters. I realize that this tree is just one giant oozing tree of nastiness. It's red flowers only a decoy to get you under its canopy so it can release its spit upon you. I don't have bird poop on me, I have tree spit on me. Better, but stickier. We. Are. Out. Of. Here. I grab her leash and march off just as a nice lady is walking up and about to offer to take a photo of the two of us under the spitting tree of red devil flowers. I smile and stalk away. Beware, my smile says, beware. The real purpose of stopping off at the museum grounds was so that HRH would have a grassy spot on which to relieve herself. She did not. She was much too concerned with the way things smelled, or the red flowers, or the way the sun sparkled on the water. I find that if the setting is not perfect, there will be no peeing. Finally, we met Theresa at Red Mesa Cantina and got a nice booth where we were able to chat and relax. HRH was able to indulge in her napkin fetish, as you can see below in the perfectly placed bite marks in my paper napkin. I hear Elvis does the same thing, only Elvis is a napkin grabber. And then we went home. Royal duties over for the day.

Yes, HRH Is an Apple Genius

You wouldn't think it to look at her, but Her Royal Highness (HRH) Berkeley favors Apple and Apple products. Here she is at the local Apple store watching as Kelland plays with some games.

We walked around the store for a bit and were treated very well. It was super crowded and kind of crazy, so ultimately, we didn't stay long. Just long enough for a photo.

HRH Berkeley and the Leaf Blower

Her Royal Highness (HRH) Berkeley found out about leaf blowers this weekend. At first she was a bit hesitant about them, running from them, but in true stiff upper lip fashion, she pulled herself together and went back out and investigated it some more.



Eventually, she even runs after it. That's my spunky girl!

She Can't Be My Dog!

I was shocked, I tell you, shocked, the other day at TJ Maxx. There we were in the shoe aisle. I had Her Royal Highness (HRH) Berkeley in a down stay for her own safety as there were some pretty high heels around and I didn't want her wandering around and catching a stilleto on the head and poking her eye out. That would not be good! So, down she went as I careened around the aisle grabbing shoes and trying them on, and on, and on.

I did hear some soft doggy sighs, but thought nothing of it. I glanced back and she was still motionless. Still in her down stay. Good girl. She certainly wasn't enthralled by the TJ Maxx bargains like I was.

Oooh! Look at that Born sandal! What a price. 8-)

Just then, a lady looked in our aisle and said, "Oh, mommy, take this baby home! She is tired, tired, tired!"

Seriously?!! A woman(!) just told me to stop SHOE SHOPPING!? And told me my dog was bored? Honestly. What the world is coming to. Some people are so rude.

Then I looked at HRH. Perhaps if we had been at Nordstrom's she wouldn't have been bored.

Sorry, baby, mommy likes her bargains. Guess we'll go on home! No shoes for you today.