I am the man!!!

Well I had a wonderful day today with mommy, she took me to the local dog park and it was soooo much fun!! It was a fenced in dog park located at Alum Creek and it was fenced in and I ran free and played with so many dogs. Mommy was surprised, I mean surprised at how I left her side and just ran free and played and did not worry about where she was and played till I was tired. She was very happy with the experience as it showed her I am able to be away from her and have fun. Actually this was the first time we went to a dog park and the experience was wonderful.

She met a nice woman there and that chatted while I played. Now mommy still has me on the E collar to keep me in line with my training and well if you have read any of my past posts you will know already that I like to hump other dogs, or try too. OK, so some things we can not, no I wont say can not, choose not to change about ourselves. And one for me is humping. I noticed that even though I am not watching mommy the whole time she is watching me.

I think she picked up on my stalking this male dog around the park and with her keen observation she waited for the move, and when she saw me do the sniff then begin the walk to the rear and WHAM!!!! I felt the tiny zap, and knew it was not something I should be doing. And I stopped that real quick. And then she continued to watch me as my stalking did not stop, I do not know why but I was drawn to that fury little rag o muffin. And anyway, mommy did what she does best, she distracted me and had me sit and it took my mind off what I was doing, or wanted to do. And then I played some more and then I was totally surprised as mommy took me to the lake to swim!!!

The dog park has a swimming area for dogs and although it was muddy, my favorite thing not mommy's, she let me go for a nice swim and then of course I rolled and rolled in the mud. At one point momm y threw a Frisbee and guess what, yep, it sank to the bottom. Now what in heavens name would make her think for one second it would float?????? So there I was swimming and swimming and there she is on shore yelling at me, "sorry buddy who would have thought it would sink" and so I swam to the other side about 100 yards away and then swam back to her. I know in my heart if I had any trouble she would have jumped in with clothes and shoes on to get me, bless her heart. Maybe I should have attempted a fake drowning to get her to come after me, would serve her right for throwing my Frisbee in the water and having it sink to the bottom!!!! Heee, that is OK, we are cuddling tonight together so I am sure I will get back at her with a little bed hogging.

She did give me a nice warm bath after the swim, but boy was I dirty, and then she allowed me to sit on her favorite piece of furniture. And I did, I love sitting on couches, the floor is beneath me, giggles. tomorrow is Halloween and I am so excited to wear my pumpkin costume and greet the kids!!! Maybe I will work on my bark and scare the little ones who knock on the door, hee hee hee. Mommy's evil side is rubbing off on me, or maybe I am rubbing off on her. Either way, we are two peas in a pod. Well, I am beat, totally beat and think it is time for mommy to give me an ear rub, belly rub and neck rub, in that order and then to put me to bed. I am not spoiled if you think that I am, no really I am not spoiled at all. Image of me smiling!!!!!!!

Howl-o-ween at Acme Canine!!

Woo-hooo, I was a pumpkin!!! Finally after all of my 11 years mommy found a costume that fits me perfectly!! We were thrilled when she found this costume at a local store called Mutt's and Company, and it fit wow, mommy was amazed at how well I allowed the hat to stay on my head, of course before I went to training boot camp I probably would not have allowed it, the post below this one tells about about my experience with Acme Canine training and how I am a new dog now! Mom bought this outfit not only for Halloween but for the Howl-o-ween bash at Acme Canine that we went to this past Sunday and we had so much fun. When I got home I crashed as I was pooped out.

They had fun games for dogs and pet owners alike, we played tic tac dog, I think that is what they called it, anyway, we were divided up in teams of sits and downs. If you were on the sit team, you had to sit when your owner placed you in one of the grid's squares and if you were a down you were supposed to lay down in your square. Which ever team got all their dogs to form a straight line won. Now the kicker is, if one of us dogs who were sits and down did the opposite of what we were supposed to do then the other team got a point, and if you got up the other team one a point. Our team lost, it is much harder to keep a sit position than it is to keep a lay, I did very well but then this little sexy dog with a pink costume walked by me and I gave up my sit for a sniff and we lost the game. Rats!!

Well then we went to the next game which was musical chairs, how fun that one was. Actually our owners walked us around some hoola-hoops on the ground, and when the music stopped our owners had to get us to sit inside the hoop. Who ever was left not sitting inside of a hoop was out. We lost that game too. And then we had the balance a ball on the spoon race, that was very funny as all us dogs just wanted to jump up and grab the spoons but our owners were trying to walk with the ball balanced on the spoon and who ever made it to the finish line first won, we lost that one too. All in all we had the best time ever!! There was this maze which mommy laughed so hard during my attempt to find her, that was beyond funny to her but eventually i did find her and it was full of hugs and praises.

And then we had a professional portrait taken and I got some treats and then I got some fun time playing with other dogs and we all went on a dog walk parade. All the dogs and owners were dressed up and it was fun as mommy and I never did this before and it was a blast. Acme canine does a lot of fun things and mommy is so happy and so am I that she found them.

When trick or tr eaters come to the door this Halloween I am going to greet them with good behavior with my costume on and wont grab their candy, like I say in my post below, I learned how to "leave" it, and guess what, mommy also uses that command for when I try and sniff crotches and I listen, no more molesting visitors when they come to our home, damn, that was my favorite thing to do.........

Acme Canine Training, move over Dog Whisperer

Mommy pulled a fast one on me recently. After our move I became a little more clingy than normal, lets just go ahead and call it separation anxiety OK. When mommy would leave me to do errands I would bark and bark and bark and bark until she came home. Perplexed with my new habit she actually tried to find out if the dog whisperer could come and help me, but not able to wait she did what Cesar Milan's website said to do, enlist the help of a professional dog trainer in your area and that she did. She contacted Acme Canine and they came to our home and met me and spoke with my mom to find out what was going on, they explained that I had separation anxiety all along but it had become more intense with the move and training could help with this.

Mommy learned so much during just that first hour visit and quickly realized she had contributed to the separation anxiety big time by spending so much time with me and letting me sleep with her every night and cuddling together, we both like that and I am a lab so I really like it but when mommy would leave me I still wanted that close feeling and well, I began barking to soothe myself because mommy would spend so much time rubbing my ears and belly and back and we were inseparable so it was hard for her when they presented her with the best option for my situation. 2 weeks at their facility where they would train me and work with me all day and help me build my confidence to be alone.

Mommy had a hard time with not seeing me for two weeks but she was told this was the best plan as I needed behavior modification and having me at the facility with training all day to work on my issues and re-learn the sit position and lay and come and wait position ( OK so I had re-defined those to meet my likes) it would help me greatly and they had the time where mommy did not have the time to spend all day working with me, plus they knew how to train and mommy did not.

So I went to boot camp!!!! I learned how to walk on the cat walk!! That was fun, I was so afraid at first but my trainer was patient and gentle with me and encouraged me to do it because she knew I could do it, and I DID IT!! And then I even sat down while at the very top! We had many fun exercises and activities and I learned how to be quite in my crate and not bark when someone came in the door. I did re-learn the sit position and come and wait and down, they even taught me how to leave the treats until I was told I could take it. And that was hard for me as I LOVE my treats. Mommy was able to see me twice during my time, to work with me and learn how to continue the training. I had so much fun seeing mommy and she was so happy and I was so proud to show her my new tricks and how well I followed commands. She saw me as more confident and happy. And mommy almost cried when she saw me so happy.

Mommy said that the Acme Canine trainers were just as good if not better ( they are local) than the Dog Whisperer, it was truly as if Cesar Milan had trained me himself, she saw a new dog and oh get this, I even walk so much better with mommy now, I learned how to heal!!!! mommy loves this new learned behavior and when we walk now mommy is so happy as I walk so nicely with her and we are able to window shop and explore together because I am not pulling the leash so hard that mommy's hand turns red from all the rubbing and so forth. And I am happier too because I am more confident in myself and I am proud of all the things I have learned to do and because it makes mommy happy too as she is so proud of me and does not have to worry about me barking all day while she is away and getting myself worked up and freaked out.

The other great thing about Acme Canine is they have fun social activities for pets and their owners!!!! This is in my next blog!!