Monday, September 14, 2015

Back To School

The theme this month for my blog circle is 'Back To School.' I have been out of school for more years than I want to admit, although I did take some life coaching classes four years back and loved it! I don't have kids to send off to school, either, so I wondered what I could write about.  Well, last Wednesday, it came to me.

We have a four month old puppy.  She has a lot of spunk and energy, and a very, very strong will.  Two weeks ago, we started school with her.  She is officially enrolled in obedience classes for five weeks.  She is in a rather large class.  There were close to 20 dogs, and probably 35 owners at our first night of class.  We had everything from tiny little terriers to very large and clumsy lab puppies, and one German Shepherd pup.  Everyone but one little Blue Heeler seemed happy to be there.  All the other pups and dogs had tails wagging and were friendly and playful with one another.













Our first lesson was "Let's Go" and "Sit."  My pup paid attention most of the time. She had a lab pup next to her, and it took all her will to not pounce and play through the entire class. They were about the same size, but two months age difference, my Golden being the younger of the two.  Everyone was doing pretty well, until all the sudden, someone started to bark, then another, and another, and two more. My girl was the beginning barker.  The neighbor horses decided to come to the fence, which was only a couple feet behind where we were sitting.  My girl decided these large, scary creatures did not look like everyone else around the circle and so she told them so.  Now, she has seen horses before, but these were encroaching upon her doggy class, and she wasn't so sure what to do about it.  Needless to say, we got a visit from the teacher who thought taking her over to the fence would help, but it only made her more upset.  I feared we would be sent to the principals office the first night of class.  In a sense, we were, as they made us go to the indoor arena and get a new collar on our girl "to better control her."





We are now in the second week, and she has learned sit, lay down, let's go, and we are working on heal and stay.  She also loves to retrieve her ball and bring it back, and most of the time she drops it when told.  




Schooling for her can be a bit challenging as she appears to have a case of what we call the butterfly syndrome.  She will be very well behaved and paying attention, when suddenly, BUTTERFLY!  Or CAT! Or BUG! Or PERSON! OR...........anything that moves! The teacher assured us she will grow out of this syndrome. 

So, as my husband and I attend school with our pup, we are all learning.  Although we have had dogs before, this one is definitely her own personality, so back to school is a good place for all of us to be so we can have a well trained, well behaved adult dog.  Well, we can at least hope.  




































Please visit the others in my blog circle:
Spy Journal

Captured Bits of Beauty


Pollywog Creek


What Marty Sees


Breathe Deeply

9 comments:

What Marty Sees said...

That last picture...so adorable! What a fun way to interpret our theme this month!

What Marty Sees said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
S. Etole said...

That last photo is wonderful.

Unknown said...

i agree - last pic is sooo cute. the other pics though are great as well
hope she learns to behave for you!

live love laugh hope said...

She was howling in the last photo because we were outside the car and she was inside. It was too priceless not to capture!

Julie J said...

Your pup is a sweetie, Connie! Dogs are such a gift in this life. Thanks for sharing her with us here for a bit. :)

Patricia said...

I love this Connie...your description of class and those photos. Those last 2 photos are precious. Dogs are a lot of work but oh how they enrich our lives. And is it ok if I admit to being jealous that y'all are wearing jackets? It will probably be another month before any fronts come down far enough to lower the humidity and drop temps out of the 90's.

Cindee Snider Re said...

So cute, Connie! You're pup is adorable and I love the descriptions of her emerging personality. We had so much fun in obedience school with our sister pups five years ago. Great experience and so much fun for our daughters! Enjoy!

Diwakar said...

Hello Connie. So good to know you thorugh your profile on the blogger and the blog post. I am glad to stop by your blog post and go thrugh it but the most striking thing from your profile is the title of your blog "Restored" and the post on it " Live,love,Laugh,Hope". I am blessed to God's people around the globe and love getting connected with them and build a circle of friends and prayer partners. I am in the Pastoral ministry for last 37yrs in the great cityof Mumbai a city of Mumbai where richest of rich and the poorest of poor live. we reach out to the poorest of poor with the love of Christ to bring healing to the broken hearted. We also encourage young and the adults from the west to come to Mumbai to work with us during their vacation time. We would love to come with your friends to wo rk with us durjng your vacation time. I am sure you will have a life changing experience. My email id is: dhwankhede(at)gmail(dot)com and my name is Diwakar Wankhede. Looking forward to hear from you very soon. God's richest blessings on you.

Brave

I read this this morning. Great reminder as we head into a new year. You have been equipped by God to endure this life.  He has bui...