Good Bye Photo

Tuesday was our last official day in the library, so we took our annual last photo with our guide dog puppy.  We thought it would be a breeze as HRH and Bingo hadn't put up much of a fuss.

Jan, Christina and I are posing facing the camera as Jam has turned his back to look at Jan.

Jam, however, proved obstreperous.

Jam is still looking at Jan and now Jan is talking with Jam and not posing for the camera.

Every time we tried to take a photo with the timer, he would wait and watch Jan instead of looking at the camera.

Jam is bored and licking himself, I'm trying to stop this activity and Jan and Christina are posing.

 Then he got bored and started looking for other things to do, like lick himself, which always makes for a great photo.

Jam has a cute thoughtful expression on his face and I am thinking and looking off to the side.

Jan snapped a shot of me thinking about what we should do, but I was at a loss.

Everyone is smiling, looking at the camera and Jam is front and center looking handsome.

Finally, we gave up.  It just wasn't going to work.  Then Christina remembered that Jyl in the Business Office is a photographer and actually knows what she is doing.  So here we are on the final day of the 2011-2012 school year with our handsome boy Jam!

Thank Jyl!  We couldn't have done it without you.

Joseph A. Merluzzi (JAM) has left the building.

Jam and J.A.M.

Yesterday, we took Jam over to see his namesake.  Joe and Lorraine always have a little toy or treat for Jam and Jam really looks forward to playing in their enormous, dog friendly back yard.

Joe sits on the ground watching Jam as Jam plays with his new toy.

One of the things that is most fun to watch is the interaction between Jam and Joe.  They seem to have a real connection.

Joe and Jam discussing the etiquette of playing with the new toy.

 And they understand each other.

Jam at 10 months with Joe and Lorraine.

 Jam's a bit older, much bigger, and not afraid of the bear footstool anymore.  He behaved himself very well (we won't mention that bit of spilled water from the water bowl, that was totally Fred's fault!).

Santa's Little Helper

Jam lying on the floor in his Santa hat and Christmas collar.

Today, an odd thing happened.  Jam performed a task, unasked of course, but he did it twice and it was so strange that we think he was moved by the Christmas spirit.

We had a friend stop over and she had two gift bags: one for Fred and one for me.  Since we weren't going to see her at Christmas, we started to open our bags.  Now, we didn't have a bag for her.  Her gift was in a little stuffed snowman, but Jam didn't know that.  As we were exclaiming over our gifts, Jam went over to the Christmas tree, grabbed a gift bag and pulled it over to our friend's feet.

"OH!"  She said.

"Jam!"  I looked at the bag and at her.  "I guess he wants you to have a bag too."  I looked at Jam and said, "No, Jam," and then put the bag back under the tree.  Then I returned to opening my presents as there were still things to pull out of my gift bag.

Jam walked over to the tree.  He grabbed the gift bag again with his teeth and he dragged it over to our friend and left it at her feet and then he looked up at her.

"Jam.  I got her a present.  It's okay."  I returned the bag to the tree.

Jam gave me a skeptical look, but he didn't move it again.

Jam: Santa's little helper.  Making sure all is right with the world and present distribution is fair.

Jam's Half Brother Carbon

Our neighbor Stephanie turned in her puppy raiser application and unexpectedly got a puppy 3 days later. Carbon is Jam's half brother as they share the same dad, Jack. So, about a week ago I took Jam over to say hello.

He was quite interested to meet the little guy. Of course, Carbon had had a rough start. He had had some medical issues and was just now declared ready for puppy raising, so he was a little bit on the shy side.

Jam is not at all on the shy side. As you can see, Carbon didn't want to come too close to the scary Jam. He was very content to stay far away.

He had such a puzzled expression on his face, like he just could not understand Jam's exuberance.

But he did finally make it into Stephanie's lap and then he made it a little closer to Jam, and then he made it over to Jam. Finally, we decamped to the kitchen which seemed neutral territory and they romped for a bit and had fun. I think they will get along just fine.

Jam and the Bear

Once a month Jam goes to see his namesake: Joseph A. Merluzzi and his wife so that they can see how he is maturing and progressing. This month, Jam got to see their bear footstool.

It was quite an exposure for him. I think it was one of the only things so far that has upset him. He jumped back, had the hair on his spine raised, but his tail was still wagging and he was willing to approach the small bear when asked to do so.

Of course, there was a bit of Jamminess that took place. But I should let you watch the video.

Jam: the Great Bear Hunter.

Airport Meeting

Our Tuesday night meeting was held at the Clearwater Airport. We had a combined meeting, which was fun as we got to see some familiar faces from down south.

The purpose was to get an exposure to some very specific travel hazards that visually impaired people and their guide dogs might encounter. The first one that we went to was the baggage claim area.

Normally, you would just think of baggage claim as an annoying place to wait for your luggage. In fact, it is a noisy, potentially scary place for puppies. think about the alarm that sounds before the baggage claim luggage mover starts to move (and what is the name for that?!!). There is even a revolving police light! I have NEVER noticed that light before.

So we all crowded around and waited for the siren and lights and the baggage claim thingy to move. then they placed some baggage on it and let it come around. Jam was curious, but unfazed. Jam is so super cool. Really, nothing fazes him.


Then it was on to security.



Security is a major deal. ANYTHING can happen. You can check back to our previous posts about taking a dog through the airport to see that you can have a great experience on a flight out and a horrible one on the flight back. With THE SAME AIRLINE. It all depends on the attendant and whether they are feeling the love.

So it all really rests on you and how you handle the situation. So, some things you can do:

1. Always remain calm, cool and collected.
2. If there is a way to exploit your dog's cuteness, use it. It never hurts.
3. When making your reservation, make sure to tell the airline that you will be traveling with a service dog. They put a special code next to your reservation. It might also be a good idea to call the local airline a day before and ask if they have it noted on your reservation.
4. Be confident. Approach the ticket counter with a smile and have your dog sit and stay. Never use the word puppy. You have a service dog in training. If possible, try to get them to list your dog carrier as an assistive device and not charge you for it. Some managers have done this for us, some haven't. You may not always get this, but it worth asking for.

Now, I recommend that you don't get the largest dog crate to travel with and that you don't travel with it put together (see previous post). It exceeds the largest luggage allowance and if you get a cranky attendant they are going to stick it to you ($125 fee). Then you have to deconstruct the crate and somehow get it to stay together. Better to travel with it deconstructed or buy the smaller one and never have that problem. TRUST ME!!!

When going through security, there are a myriad of things that can happen. You can have a security guard go off her meds and run screaming from the security area:

"I'm afraid of dogs! I'm afraid of dogs!" As happened to one of our puppy raisers. No problem with the puppy getting excited about that hysterical person. Right!

Or you can have the person selected to give you a pat down be afraid of dogs and ask for backup, as happened to me. Making it a menage a tois of a really weird sort with a distracted, jumping 70-pound puppy leaping up and the security guard trying to pat me down shrieking and veering away from me. Lovely. I thought Fred was going to cry he was laughing so hard.

Trust me. You want security calm and happy.

Approach them and tell them what you would like to do.

1. I would like to go through the machine first.
2. I will have my dog sit and stay on the passenger side and I will walk through.
3. Once I have passed through, I will call my dog.
4. Once he has passed through, you can pat him down.

Explain that leaving the leash and collar on will make sure that there isn't a loose dog running around. Ask if this procedure meets with their approval or if they have another procedure they want to follow.

Sometimes they have special short line they put you in. Yea! I love it when that happens.



If you can get the bulkhead sit, take it. There is lots of room. Make sure though, that you keep your dog in your seat area and don't allow him to spread out to the other passenger's space. Encroachment is rude.

If you don't get the bulkhead, don't despair. We have traveled with two dogs, one tiny and one large. They both fit under the seat, no problem. Do a down under and you're good to go.



It was an amazing meeting. Our thanks to all the employees at Clearwater Airport, Michele Routh, the head of marketing, for arranging it, Clearwater TSA and Alligiant Air for letting us board a plane. They really helped us out! And to Judy and John our ACs for making it happen.

Here's a video of some of what we did at the airport!

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 First Week

What a week it has been! On Monday, Jam rode with me to school to his first day of a school filled with students. It was quite exciting.



As you can see from the photo above, Jam has taken his full water bowl and flipped it over preferring that it be a chew toy. Of course, now, it looks like he had a giant pee on the floor! Great! This is what the morning crazies are about. Jam doing crazy things and me trying to get him calm to start the day.

Because our convocation was at 8 am and he usually has an 8:30 poo, I needed to make sure he had done his business and was extra tired out. The morning crazies can last from 7:30 to 9 am. So we did several sets of stairs and series of left-lefts and right-rights and hallways so that his little brain would be exhausted by the time we hit the auditorium.

Then we started our walk to convo. It was pretty cool the looks that Jam got. What was even more impressive was the way that the middle division students remembered all the rules. As I was walking down the hall, there was a great big group of them and they all caught sight of him at the same time.

"It's the new puppy!"

"You can't look at him!"

"Don't say his name."

"Turn around!"

So they all straighten their posture and turn around. They were so cute. We passed on by and entered the auditorium.



I thought that Jam did an exceptional job of dealing with the crowds, the clapping and the pipe and drum corps band. Both Bingo and Berkeley had some reaction to convo. Bingo would surge forward at clapping and Berkeley would get bored and bark to be taken back to my office. Jam was very calm and quiet.



But by the end of the day he was so tired that he couldn't hold his eyes open. He was comatose!



Later on in the week we did a small photo shot with some middle division faculty for his presentation to middle. Of course, I was a complete dunce and when I went to go up on stage because I started calling him Berkeley:

"Berkeley, forward. Pause. Good boy. Berkeley, sit. Long pause. Good boy. Berkeley forward up."

The kids were aghast! I had no clue I was even doing it and was wondering why he wasn't following directions well. BECAUSE I WASN'T SAYING HIS NAME! The Middle Division Director told when I came up to the microphone. Horrors!

Sigh. In front of 350 people I did this.

Then on Friday, he attended his first class with me. He was awesome! I was running the computer and lecturing when I noticed there was a little current of Ahhhhhs spreading through the room. I looked up at the teacher.

"Jam's watching the screen."

Sure enough, Jam was focused on the screen watching my explanation on how to set up an iGoogle page. He was fascinated by the mouse movement. When the mouse finally got low enough he leaped up and tried to grab it.

The kids loved him!



Here he is at my last class of the day. Calm and quiet.



Christina looked at him from behind and said he had some "junk in the trunk" and perhaps he needed to move up to the big boy coat.

He is a little big in the booty, but the big boy coat is still a couple inches out on his tail, so it's the puppy coat for a few more weeks. Although he is in the middle of a growth spurt, so who knows.

All in all it was a successful week.

Jam's First Day

Jam's first day went really well. I'm preparing a little film about it, but that won't be ready tonight. However, Jam was a little nutball during the morning and I was able to catch it on film.

So, here is a bit of Monday sunshine for you. Imagine getting to have this goober in your office all day! And I do mean goober in a good way. 8-)

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!

Cheerleaders Redux

When I had Bingo, I made the mistake of walking him without his coat past the JV cheerleaders.

I was mobbed. Well, they didn't care about me. Bingo was mobbed.

Guess what? It happened again today.

It was late, I was tired and I knew that Jammers needed to pee, so I walked out the back way (not my usual way). I figured he could busy on the grass of the mound on the way to junior parking lot, since we had to park out there because of Middle Division Book Sale Day.

As I left the library and walked down the side of the building, I noticed that the JV cheerleaders were practicing on the mound. Had they noticed us? We were walking behind a screen of plants, but soon enough we would be out in the open.

We rounded the corner and headed into the open hallway. Jam gleamed like the Holy Grail. I could see all children under the age of 16 turning in our direction. We neared the small stairs.

Jam, sit. Good boy! Forward, down. Jam, sit. Good boy! He was trying to veer into the plants. He was filled with pee. Hold on, little grail of pee. Soon we will be at the grass. I looked over at the cheerleaders. They were on the other side of the mound and seemed to still be doing poses.

Safe, I think.

Busy, busy! Jam starts to wander around the grass to choose a spot. This might be a good spot to tell about Jam's predilection for taking a Superman pee stance. While other dogs might lean forward or hunker down or lift a leg (guide dog puppies are discouraged from lifting their leg), Jam has chosen another route. He stops mid-stride and pees.

Yep. Mid-stride. Imagine Superman leaping into the sky...


and then peeing. That would be Jam. He has one foot forward, one back and his head is lifted to the sun as if to say, I am the Sun God! Watch me pee!

So, here I wait for the Sun God to pee while the JV cheerleaders are finishing up their practice. Jam is taking his sweet time, because, YOU CAN'T RUSH A GOD WHEN HE'S PEEING.

Just when he finishes up and I think I might be able to slink off into the hallway, I hear a low roar, well, more of a high pitched, OOOOOOOHHHHHHH!

Yes. They are coming. For the Sun God.

We are mobbed.

And this is why I love cheerleaders: in the middle of the mob scene, I say ONCE, "Ok, I think we need to line up single file to pet him."

BOOM!

Single file line of 15 JV cheerleaders, who one by one file by and love on Jam.



It is, indeed, Jam's World.

No More Duck Buddy

Below is a photo of duck buddy with his innards spilling out onto the floor. Rather a fluffy white mess.



When a friend of ours saw this in Fred's post and the original post on duck buddy, she very kindly emailed us and said stuffed toys were a no-no.

EEEK! Holy Crap. Jam is our third puppy. Are we ever going to learn this stuff? I ran to the computer to look up toys, because I was sure that if as long as the toy didn't have a squeaker I was on solid ground.

Nope. There it was in black in white:

The only approved toys are Gummabones, Nylabones, sterile bones (bought in a pet shop or catalog), and Kongs.

Stuffed toys were CLEARLY in the bolded NO category. And I completely understand. The main point of the rule is to make sure the toys the puppies play with are the safest possible. So, no stuffed toys. Jam will deal.



And we are aren't a complete waste of space. We do have approved toys in the house.

He's going to miss duck buddy though!

I think we all are. 8-)

The Byzantine Brain of Jam

Of course, that brain isn't Jam's. It is a drawing by Rachael Henrichson, but it makes me think that Jam's brain might actually be constructed something like her brain maze.

MONDAY

School started on Monday. I am always nervous about the start of school, so I inevitably wake up early: 5:15 am. Jam gets up with me and I feed him. That was my first mistake.

Jam's brain: Ah ha! Something new is starting. The curly haired one is actually getting up early and feeding me breakfast. I think I can manipulate her.

At school I am wearing my new back to school outfit (yes, I know! But some habits die hard and buying back to school clothes is one of those habits. 8-). They are nice linen big legged pants. They flutter when I walk. Jam begins to jump up and bite at them.

"No!" This is very weird. He has never done this before. Very strange. Off and on during the day he will attempt to bite my pants.

TUESDAY

4:44 AM Jam wakes up and thinks, "If I woke up at 5:15 and got fed yesterday, perhaps I can get fed at 4:45 today."

Or as Wimpy would say: I will gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today.

Or Wake up easily manipulated curly haired girl. FEED ME.

I wake up. We walk downstairs, he runs to the kitchen and looks back at me. I let him out to pee and then make him come back up stairs and go back to bed. GRRRRR.

WEDNESDAY

4:15 AM Jam wakes up. 4:44 didn't work. Perhaps 4:15 will work.

Me: 4:15! AUGH!!!!


I'm like Charlie Brown. I constantly fall for Jam's sneaky trick.

Whine, I need to go out. Run to the magic door. Head toss, feed me! I'm so cute!

And to top this all off, he perfected the clothing bite. It happened on a poo walk. He had just done his business and then in a moment of poo-free joy, he did a little twisty jump, leaped and grabbed my skirt.

RIIIIIIP!

Here is a photo of the ripped skirt:


My skirt is ruined. Completely bizarre. I have no idea why he has started his new habit, but it's going to get very expensive for me if it continues!

THURSDAY

Meanwhile, back at the crack of dawn, it is

3:45

That's 3:45 in the morning! and JAM THINKS HE'S GETTING BREAKFAST. I get up. We go downstairs and he runs to the magic door.

ACK! Again. I'm sooooo not falling for this tonight.

I. Am. Not. Falling. For. This. Tonight!


He thinks he's so clever.

School Starts Tomorrow

Every puppy is different. Bingo was a whack-a-doodle, Her Royal Highness Berkeley, well, her name says it all. but Jam. For a sense of what Jam is like, you really only need to look at his 6 week portrait below.



He's all business. Serious, jowly expression. "Get on with it, photographer! I have important guide dog work to be doing." He seems to be thinking.

He carries that out in his obedience as well. Full throttle, straight ahead working. That means, when you say come, you are going to get Jam in the face! We are working on stopping and sitting, but haven't yet reached the point yet.

When he sits, it's a full sit, military almost, boing! Yes ma'am! And his bottom hits the ground.

Of course with walking, he charges ahead, which isn't good. We're working on that. But he is lovely at restaurants and shops and malls.



I have a feeling that at school he will be much adored and will stop traffic just as much as he does at the mall. I've prepared a cute video about our puppy pick up of him to show on the first day of classes to the Upper Division students and hopefully to Middle Division students as well. I'll post the video when I after I show it to the students.

I think he's going to do just fine at school.

Risky Business

(Please note: For most up to date info on approved toys go to this post!)



Jam is quite the looker. He stops traffic. Much the way I imagine Tom Cruise did after the release of Risky Business. Risky Business is, of course,the movie of a young person, played by Tom Cruise, ... I'm going to stop now because I thought the movie was about him wanting to go to a nice college but ending up in a bad situation making some bad choices for romance and perhaps risking it all, but in the end finding out that people can be manipulated for money and sex. IMDB's summary has more of a Ferris Bueller feel to it. But it all boils down to boys, hormones and doing things you shouldn't, sometimes in public.

Now, why does that concern Jam? Funny you should ask.

Jam came to us out of the box, ready to go. So to speak. The second day we had him, we let him out of the crate and he ran over to the huge Orvis dog bed we had for Willow and Berkeley and he started humping it.

There is something a bit disconcerting about a 9 week old puppy humping a dog bed. I reached over and grabbed his collar.

"Jam, NO!" Then I dragged him away with him struggling to get back to that AMAZING DOG BED!!! Fred claimed it was AMAZING because it contained Berkeley's scent from when she was in heat. OK. I'll buy that. Pretty much, I'm the most gullible person in any room. I will buy almost anything anyone is selling.

Then we went to introduce Jam to Fred's yoga teachers. (I say Fred's because I'm not regular enough to claim them as my own! 8-)



Martha and her husband Claude would love it if we brought our puppies to yoga and could get them to sleep during a class. We've tried. Bingo was a washout. Berkeley had to be taken home. Yet, they still persist in being very open to the idea. They are so optimistic. Just what you want in a yoga teacher. Only seeing the good.

So we took little Jamster in to meet them and they were delighted. Then we let Jam down to walk around.

In the photo with Jam and Martha and Claude in the back ground there are some yoga pillows. Those are the pillows that are spread out throughout the room for people to use for corpse pose at the end of class to lie down on. When we let Jam down, the first thing he did was eyeball those pillows.

"Pillows!" In his tiny dog brain I think he equated them with a small dog bed.

And you know what dog bed means.

"JAM!!! NOOOOOO!!!!!" I run in slow motion as our 9 week old puppy puts the moves on a yoga pillow.

HUH HUH HUH! Jam is having fun.

I scoop him up.

"Oh, my!" Martha says in a very soft voice. Fred swoops in and takes the pillow and moves it way down the wall to the end of the room. I'm thinking, "Yeah, that pillow can't be far enough away!"



Do you see Fred holding Jam up? We can't afford to let his little humping feet touch the floor. Too many pillows to hump. I took Jam home after that photo.

I wondered if it was a pillow fetish. So I brought down 5 different pillows from my bed and set up my video camera and was going to create a video and do some training at the same time. Each time I put a pillow down Jam would sniff it and walk away.

Performance anxiety, I thought.

I turned the video camera off. Still nothing. It's only the Orvis bed upstairs and only when he comes out of his crate.

So then I suggested that Stephanie take Jam into work with her one morning in preparation for puppy sitting him in October when we go to New York to see friends. I brought over his diaper back and one toy: a stuffed duck, which he loves to distraction. There had never been any hint of inappropriate behavior between duck and dog up to this point.



Here he is on the way to work.



Jam didn't have a problem with the statue in Stephanie's office. They could almost be twins.



He doesn't have a fear of heights or railings either. Here he is looking out a two story window and watching the guys mowing the lawn. He was great in the glass elevator as well.



Here he is in the office and you can just catch a glimpse of duck in the background.

Stephanie had his coat off and had given him duck to calm him down as he was a bit crazy. He was playing and then all of a sudden:

HUH HUH HUH!

"Oh my!" Stephanie thought.

As it turns out, we didn't know that duck had that appeal for Jam. Nor did we realize he would do it in public. But as Stephanie pointed out, his coat was off and it was in her office. That was some comfort.

The SEGD manual says that humping (they actually use the more delicate phrasing of mounting) is a problem behavior and ask that you contact your AC for advice. Our AC Judy said that removing the Orvis bed and correcting him when he attempts the behavior and then redirecting him was a good way to go for now. That he wasn't doing it often or in coat was good. She also suggested we talk with the new Puppy Dept. Field Representative, who is also a trainer, for more specific advice.

And as for duck. Well, we had to think about duck. Stephanie asked if we knew about his...fondness...for duck.

No. It was a complete surprise

She suggested a new name for duck and some leniency since it was the first time and he did have his coat off.

Since we will be supervising their playtime together, I suppose...he could keep...

Duck Buddy.

What JLo and Jam Have in Common

We've been having a problem with Jam vomiting in the middle of the night. What seemed to work was a crate snack: a snack given just before bedtime. But right before we went in for our flu booster shot, Jam vomited again and he threw up all of the crate snack, mostly whole and undigested. At 2 am.

The vet put him on Pepcid AC twice a day and said to continue the crate snacks. That was Tuesday. That evening at obedience Judy, our AC, told us that perhaps another part of the problem was that Jam was eating too fast and not digesting his food. She recommended that we get some slow feeder bowls or put big rocks (or something he couldn't fit in his mouth and wasn't a toy) in his current bowl that he would have to eat around and would slow him down.



We had already changed to make him eat with Willow so that he would know not to charge her bowl after he was done with his. We had started feeding them separately, but realized it was better that they eat together. Just for fun, we got them each a JW skid stop slow feed bowl.


Jam usually finishes his meal in about 45 seconds. The first time we fed him with the new bowl it took him 4 MINUTES to finish his lunch!

Here he is waiting for us to put down the food in his new bowl.

I've been thinking a lot about Jam and his eating fast and being a service dog and being under such intense scrutiny. It's sort of like having the paparazzi always around. Just waiting for that unflattering photo to appear. Take the one above for instance. He's a little pear-shaped isn't he? We might even be talking about the beginnings of a booty.

Now, he hasn't jumped into JLo territory.


As you can see, poor JLo was caught showing some perfectly normal cellulite on her legs and the photo shows a substantial booty. Jam is quite a distance from a JLo booty and his fuzziness (as shown below) would certainly hide any unfortunately dimples.

.

But he is under pressure to perform. Just like JLo. Does he feel the pressure? Is that part of his problem? At night when I hand feed him to get him to eat slowly, he sits very patiently and waits for each bite. He watches to see if my hand will go back up for more food, but he doesn't ever whine or act anxious or greedy.



But when he sleeps he lets it all hang out.



JLo wouldn't do that.

Swimming at Stephanie's

On Sunday we were invited to swim at Stephanie's house.


Willow is huge on swimming. I think that next to a frisbee, which we can't play when the puppy is around, pools are her favorite thing. Willow was in and out and swimming so much we made her sit on the step and cool down. Here she is with Stephanie taking a cool down break.

Jam was not so sure about the swimming, so we had to hold him and walk him into the pool. He didn't want to walk in by himself. Here Fred is holding him as he watches Willow swim by. Watching Willow was key (and being told to "man up!" by Stephanie 8-) as he became piqued and decided to give it the old Jammy try.




Fred starts to initiate the swim off. Jam seems willing.


And he's off! He swims to Stephanie, he swims to Nancy, he swims back to Fred and then he catches sight of the steps and says, "You people are nuts and I am out of here!"

He swims to the steps and gets out.

Willow jumped back in and started swimming. Jam shook his head and walked away. The mulched needed chewing. Perhaps he should go see to that...