Four Legged Views

I may be in trouble but the roses are still beautiful this time of year so I asked Vickie to take a few pictures to share.


















I have been in the “Dog House” since yesterday. (Monday) It isn’t so bad being in the “Dog House”, at least not as bad as I have heard it can be. You are not really in the “Dog House”, that is just a saying. What you really are is “On the back side of “Whoops, Vickie is embarrassed and ashamed of herself because of something I have done.”

Now why Vickie should be embarrassed or ashamed of something I personally have done is just a little confusing. You would think that I should be ashamed and embarrassed but since I don’t really understand why there is all this embarrassment or ashamedness, then it is hard for me to be, well embarrassed or ashamed.

Let me try and explain just what I think led to this state of quandary. (“QUANDRY” Vickie left out the dictionary and I was looking up different ways to say predicament. I figure if your reading this the least I can do is use some big words now and then. It is like having your own “Word of the Day “ toilet paper.)























Of course you know I want to be a search dog and Vickie wants that too, but she also thinks that I could do good in other ways. Like, I already get to go to retirement centers and be with some really cool folks, but a while ago, Vickie heard of a new program started by some really cool people in Tooele that, if I can pass the muster, would let me be able to be a friend to some really special children.

So Monday after a demonstration for a camp group in the Ogden area, Vickie and I headed to Tooele to meet the people who started it all. After a really long drive, we met with Curtis, Cindy and Bruno in front of the Children’s Justice Center in Tooele.

These were amazing people and Bruno was the coolest. Bruno has been working with the children for a year now and has made a very big impression on all the people who help the children. He is a monster of a dog, but he is so gentle and kind. The children just love to cuddle with him, or pet him, or lay on him…What ever they need to do to feel safe and comfortable after their terrible experiences, well that’s what Bruno helps them do.

I listened to Vickie, Cindy and Curtis talk for a while about what a dog needed to accomplish in able to be a working dog. After a while, I got to get out of the car and show em what I was made of. I did pretty good. I was calm, and friendly. I even stayed close by instead of running out to play with some local children that were running up and down the sidewalk. I was great, well except for the time that I jumped up on Vickie cause I was getting a little nervous.

Curtis and Cindy said I had potential and that with some work, I might be able to follow in their dogs foot prints. Then just as we were ready to leave a little girl came riding by on her scooter and I went over to say hi. I didn’t even touch her but I guess I startled her cause she turned the wheel a little too fast and fell.

Well, she started crying and I was quickly taken back to the truck and put inside. After they were sure the little girl was ok and Vickie had apologized and apologized, we left in shame. (That’s what Vickie says.) I wasn’t ashamed, I didn’t even think it was all that bad.

Vickie wasn’t mad, but she said we had a lot of work to do in order for me to make up for that little stunt. I figured she would be upset for a long time, but just to show me I wasn’t really in trouble, we stopped several times on the way home and played.

One of the cool places we stopped was a place called Saltair. I guess it was a really popular place years ago, but now it is pretty deserted. We walked around and I got to see the Great Salt Lake. That looked like the coolest, biggest lake in the whole world, but I gotta tell you, it is not like any lake I have ever seen. I mean, I ran up to get a big drink of water and whooooa

That was the worst tasting stuff I have ever ever ever tasted. That’s not water, not water like I am used to, that was icky, icky icky.

















So that was yesterday but today we started “Training” This means some pretty different stuff for me. I have to learn to trust Vickie a whole lot. Like on the first training thing we did, she asked me to lay down and stay there while she went a really long distance away. I was getting pretty worried cause I thought she was leaving me.

Then she turned and gave me the command to stay longer and she disappeared behind a tree. I waited and waited and waited. I knew she wouldn’t disappear completely so I waited longer.

Finally she came out and came back to me and said “Good Good Boy” She was very happy and I got to have a treat.






















Then we worked on a few of my tricks. She said the kids might like that. We did “Take a Bow, Spin, Rewind, Say your Prayers” and finally she taught me a new trick. She taught me how to say “Howdy” by waving my front paw up and down. Pretty simple trick but what a crowd pleaser. Murphy does it to the children at the search and rescue demos and they just love it.

Look out Murphy.....I'm a comin

And then we got to play. We played ball and I got to swim in the stream so all in all this being in the “Dog House” isn’t such a bad deal.

Night all
Love
Bert