Will You Help Me?

Hi, friends. I'd like to write to ask for your help. See, I need some practice..

I'm now a graduate multiple times of classes at my school. At my graduation last week I asked the teacher about what I should do next, and I learned all about two career paths that are available to me. I think I'd be a terrific competitor in Agility - you saw me in my last post on part of an agility course, the a-frame, and I'm also already an expert jumper over the low poles that are on another part of the course.

Almost too fast for the camera when I jump!

I also think I'd be great at going into hospitals and cheering up the kids there who don't always get much time to play with their friends.

That's where you come in.

My school offers a Therapy Dog class, to help puppies get ready for a big test - The Canine Good Citizen Exam. It sounds hard, doesn't it? I'm pretty sure it's super hard, and my momma went to see the Therapy Dog class on Thursday to see what it would take for me to get good at the test. I'm going to need some serious help studying if I want to pass the test and meet all of my future friends as a certified puppy volunteer.

I look good as a graduate, right?
My Canine Good Citizen certificate will look even better than this most recent diploma.

In Therapy Dog class, and for the test, I'm going to have to sit still and quiet while a stranger shakes hands with my momma, touches my ears and paws, brushes me, and walks away. I'm also going to have to walk through a crowd but ignore all the strangers around me, approach a person in a wheelchair without jumping into their lap, and stay totally under control on my leash during the whole time that I'm at school on exam day. Without any treats.

That may not sound that hard to you, but to me it sounds crazy. When I hear "stranger," I think, "future friend." I might be happy to sit still and quiet by my momma, but as soon as a "future friend" comes over, I can hardly keep my little butt on the floor because my tail is wiggling so fast that I think I might turn inside out. I'm just so happy to see everybody! And, when I get frustrated because my momma won't let me go up to a "future friend," I yell out to my friend, "Come over to me!" I jump and bark, and when they get to me, I want to put their hand in my mouth so that I can taste and smell them all over. It makes perfect sense to me; why wouldn't it be allowed at the test?

I'm just starting to get old enough to understand that being a Therapy Dog is all about what somebody else wants, not about what I want. Even if I want to jump up and see one of my future friends in his hospital bed, and even if I want to lick his face all over, he might be scared of my big strong teeth, or worried that I'm too fast and could accidentally hurt him. To be a real Therapy Dog, I have to be sweet about it, and make him love me in some other way, like by doing tricks or letting him pet me softly on my back, instead of insisting that face licks are the best thing for him.

Ready to love!

I'll be old enough for Therapy Dog class in about 1 year, and I want to practice hard until class starts so that I'm ready to become a Canine Good Citizen on my first try.

Will you help me study? Will you let my momma give you some treats, so that you can give me commands to practice? Will you promise never to pet me if I am jumping, so that I learn to get positive attention only when I lay still and quiet? And, most of all, will you be patient with me? I'm just a little doggy, and I love you SO MUCH.. I just don't always know how to show my love properly, so I'm going to need you to give me time and training until I'm successful enough to pass my exam.

I'll work hard for you, future friends! I can't wait to visit you!

Summer School

I hope you all had a great July and are wrapping up the summer with a lot of fun!

I spent one night each week for the last 6 weeks in school taking a class called "Good Manners 2." It was shorter than the classes I took before, but I still learned a lot and had some serious fun!

On my graduation day, I even got to run a rally course!

And here I am with my mommy and my diploma.

Over the last month, I've had also several occasions to practice my good manners when mommy and daddy had friends over.

My friend Mason even took a picture of my whole family while he was here with some other people from mommy and daddy's church making dresses for little girls in Uganda.

You can see how happy I am! Daddy says I still get too excited, because I bark a lot to get my friends' attention. But I just love them so much, and I want to tell them over and over and over and over!

Other than that, I've been going to the dog park a lot, of course, and I've had a couple nights at camp while mommy and daddy spent some time in New York City. Daddy says he'll take me there some time. He said there is a big park that I'll just love!

Are you looking forward to fall? I am! I am hoping to go camping, and I already know I'm going to see my Grandma and Grandpa in New Jersey a couple times in the coming months. I always love going to New Jersey!

I will check in as soon as I can to share more pictures and adventures!

Love,

Margot

I Love a Holiday

I love just about any holiday. I love when my mom and dad have time off, and I love getting to be around people. Tonight, for the Fourth of July, we went to the park for a picnic.

I didn't take any pictures with my friends at the beach tonight, but these are some photos from when I was there with my mom and dad a couple of weeks ago. See me ready to ride those boats and drive that tram tour? I'm an expert.

Fourth of July is not my favorite holiday, because of the fireworks. They haven't started yet tonight, and I'm just exhausted from the picnic, so I hope they don't wake me up too much..

Happy Fourth of July!!!!

Crazy Bean

This is a phrase I hear all the time in my house: "Crazy Bean." But what does that mean?

Like my raccoon?

I've been called Bean around here ever since I was a tiny puppy, because when I curl up to sleep and tuck my nose into my paws, I look just like a teeny kidney bean. The name just stuck.


These days, I may not sleep curled up very much, but I'm still Miss Bean. And lately it seems like I'm very often titled CRAZY Bean. I don't know if it's my antics, my gunshot-sharp bark, or if I really have a mental instability, but I'm pretty sure Crazy Bean is a term of endearment.

My favorite barking spot - under the couch.
Daddy thought I would have gotten too big to fit under here by now...

Speaking of antics, I went just about wild for the pool on my first visit to my grandma and grandpa's this summer. Last weekend we drove the long way to Jersey and spent the whole weekend sunbathing and relaxing.

Oh, did I say "sunbathing and relaxing?" Oops. I meant to say "barking at the water and trying to figure out why this pool is so much bigger and deeper than my puppy pool at the park."

I hope you enjoyed the longest day of the year wherever you are. Here, it's SO hot - there's nothing to do but swim!

Family, and Growing Up

I know - where have I been?!? Right???

I'm sorry that I don't write for you more often, but I have to tell you that growing up is hard work, and I've been really busy doing it well. I promise to try my hardest to post more often, even if my posts become much shorter. My life is definitely exciting enough to post about!

Just under two weeks ago, I went to Ohio, and I couldn't believe how much fun it was. My Grandma and Grandpa from Missouri were there, and I met all kinds of other family, too. And look at this amazing estate where I got to stay:

Isn't my great grandparents' home so big and beautiful?!

I even met my Aunts Chloe and Sophie, at last. I've heard so much about them. They're puppies like me, and they gave me the best advice:  chicken nuggets are the best food, long car rides lead to fun places, and pajamas are the coolest. Don't you agree?

Here we are walking with our dads.. Chloe had a little bit of trouble keeping up..

Too fast for the lens!

I spent a lot of my Ohio weekend trying to get my aunts to play with me. My mom tried to get a good picture of me playing tug with Chloe - we're both really great at it, but we sure are hard to photograph..

Here's Chloe in her pajamas!

And then I slept the whooooooole loooooooong way home! I'm a great travel doggie, and I'm working on convincing Mom and Dad to take me camping next. I heard that when we camp we'll get to cook food outside and play the whole time.

I sure love to play.

Here I am with one of my favorite playmates back at home in Connecticut. His name is Murphy, and we see each other at the park almost every day.

Don't we look like best friends? We are.

I love to travel, but I love to be home, too. I get tired a little bit more often than I used to as a teeny puppy. Now I'm a pretty big dog - more than 20 pounds when I went to the vet for my shots this week! As a pretty big dog, I can go to the small or the big dog side of the park, and I can go on really long adventures with my mommy. I can't wait to tell you about more soon.

This is my "Are you sure that I have to get out of the car?
"I'm a little tired, actually..." face

What have you been up to lately?

School Friends

My school is the coolest. I go twice a week to afternoon school, and I have made so many friends there. You know a lot about my park friends, but now I want to tell you a story about one of my closest friends: Milo.

This is not Milo. But it's the same kind of dog.
So you can imagine that Milo looks something like this.
I don't think he works quite as hard on his appearance as this puppy...

Milo and I met at the park. Sometimes he's really playful and we chase the same sticks all around. Sometimes he's grouchy and I bark in his face about it. For some reason that doesn't make him feel better. Usually, we have lots of fun, and we both really love our moms most of all.

Anyway, last week, Milo's dad took him to my school for his first day. I know what it's like to be the new kid in class, so when I recognized Milo at school, I told him that he could hang with me. I jumped up on the slide (we have slides inside at my school! I told you it was cool..) and I wanted Milo to come with me, but he wasn't so sure about it. Then, I was barking at him to come up, and he was barking at me to come down. We really caused a stir in class, which got me mentioned to Milo's daddy when he got picked up. Oops. We must have been using our outside voices like when we're at the park together, instead of our inside voices for school.

Because Milo is my first friend at both school and at the park, I'm going to have to behave even better than normal with him. I guess that's just part of growing up.

My school is so cool, I'm usually about this tired on my way home:

Little Big Dog

Today, I'm sure that I'm a big dog.  I had my first New Canaan adventure, and at Waveny park I was with all of the big doggies.  I mean, I think there were sheeps and horsies in there, some of the puppies were so giant.  But I played with them all.

And, what do you know?, I saw a friend that I've met at my puppy park!

Snoopy is so cool, because he has a long back and short legs like me.  He doesn't get them from being part Corgi - he's a Bassett Hound and Beagle and maybe even Dachsund mix - so we aren't related.  We met another long-back/short-leg puppy today, though, named Max, and he gets his good genes from a Corgi line.  I think he's so handsome, and if I hadn't been so worn out from the sun this afternoon, I probably would have chased a ball with him even longer.

Then, you'll never believe it, we saw two full Corgis!  They got there when I was leaving, so I only stopped to watch them play ball and bark and bark and bark for a moment.  Aren't they so good-looking?  Their fur is more puffed up than mine, but I still think they are so cool.

Once we left the puppy park, I thought for sure that we'd had as much fun as a family can have in a weekend, but we weren't even finished with our New Canaan adventure yet!  It was such a beautiful day, so we took a little walk around the New Canaan Nature Center before we went home.  Look at this enormous tower that I climbed on my own little legs!  I'm a very big dog, you know...

I don't think I've ever climbed so many stairs before..
plus these were the scary kind that are open in the back.. but I'm a brave dog, so I don't mind!

I got a piece of banana for my efforts.  Eat your fruits and vegetables!

Great view of the loud birds from up here!

When we got home from New Canaan, I let Mom handle the spring cleaning while I took a long nap in the sun.  I didn't even know it, but I needed my rest because we had friends over tonight.  What a busy day!

I hope that you are enjoying the Spring where you are.  My family loves getting out into the fresh air, and of course it's best when our adventures involve off-leash park time.  Now Mom says we're going to start gardening together again soon.  I was such a tiny puppy when we hung out in the garden last Summer, but now that I'm a big dog I'll be able to help with the yard work a lot more.  I have special talents for carrying sticks from place to place, plus I'm learning to dig things up.  I can't wait until it's warm enough to chase the water from the hose all over my backyard.  It's a great time of year to be a little big dog.

Now get off of your computer and go soak up some sun!