Graduation

In spite of being suspected of being less than brilliant, Snowball graduated from beginner obedience class. That is Laura his instructor in the picture above. She is very patient.

He is so eager to please that he just does what he thinks you want him to do. He doesn't wait for a command. This gets a little frustrating when we want him to learn something new. He thinks any command is going to be "sit" or "down". I am still working with him and in the five minutes of his attention span we get to do a little training.

In fact, I enrolled him in a tricks class to try to keep him learning. He isn't a fast learner, but he is getting a little of it. The funniest thing is that now that he isn't with the 2 big German shepherds, he is jealous of the instructor's attention to the other dogs in the class. He's a funny little dog.

Puppy Obedience Classes

We started 8 weeks of obedience classes about a month ago. Obedience is not a concept that comes easily to Snowball. He is a free spirit at heart, but we have made a little progress.

He is a little more comfortable now around the other dogs in the class. When we walked into the first class there were three little dogs and two full grown German Shepherds - with big voices. It was a little unnerving even to me. Imagine what it felt like to a little Maltese! Then the next week the other two little dogs had to drop out of class. So, we have continued - one little white ball of fur and two BIG loud shepherds. Sometimes it seems to all be too much for Snowball and he just lies down and becomes a rug, but most of the time he tries to do what is asked.

Last week we were supposed to be working on "stay - with distractions". He didn't want to stay at all, so today he has to go to a class by himself. I think of it as remedial stay class. :) We will see how he does. A couple of weeks ago he seemed to really have it. He would even stay when out of sight, but lately he isn't doing it well at all, even at home. I need to practice more with him. Getting ready for taxes has taken a toll on my time, but that is done now.

I don't care if he is a perfectly trained dog. But I need him to be trained well enough not to be a danger to anyone or a constant annoyance. He does bark too much, which is irritating even to me. His favorite is to bark at the dogs on TV. It drives me crazy.

All in all, he is a sweet little dog and a good companion.

Happy Birthday to Me

Okay, when you get to my age, birthdays are usually best not mentioned or remembered. But, thanks to my children and friends, mine is usually duly celebrated. So, thanks to all for the love and the gifts.

Due to having so many family birthdays in one month (plus 2 days) we celebrate February in groups. (Feb. birthdays: Andrew, 12th, Heather, 21st, me, 28th, and Kara, March 2) Last Saturday we had a girl's day out for this year's b-day event. After a yummy lunch we spent several hours with daughters, granddaughter and daughter-in-law helping me look at new furniture options for my living room. We had a great time even though I may not even buy anything new. I would love to change to a different sofa, but everything is just so big in the stores right now. I have a tiny living room crisscrossed with two traffic patterns to get to the rest of the house. The usable area is about 8 x 10. It is really limited as to what will fit.

Andrew's birthday was celebrated separately a couple of weeks ago with cake and a game night. That was fun, too. We are a fiercely competitive bunch and love to play games.

I still have one "party" to look forward to. On my actual birthday I'm having lunch with my two best friends. It is something we do for each of our birthdays. They are spaced out nicely through the year, so by also including Christmas we have a quarterly lunch out together. We exchange silly cards and giggle through a nice lunch. At our ages, it is about the most excitement we can handle. :)

White Dogs Can't Jump

Snowball tried to jump up on the sofa today, but sadly he didn't quite make it. We have wondered why he doesn't know he can either jump on or off furniture. I can even put him in a chair and he will stay there until I take him down. (We suspect he just isn't very smart.) But today another explanation came to mind...white dogs can't jump. :)

The thing that is even funnier is that he doesn't know he can climb stairs. He has never climbed down the two steps into the den even though there is no barrier there to prevent it. I have always carried him down the stairs because it is a lot easier for me if he doesn't go down there unattended. This leads to his other false assumption...that carpet is like grass. The den is carpeted, so if I want it to be saved from becoming a doggy bathroom, he needs to stay off. I am hoping to get him set up for obedience classes soon. Then maybe some of the house breaking issues with carpet can get handled. For now he is fine with the hardwood and his little pad. The good thing is that he never goes potty on furniture.

Isn't being a pet owner fun?????

Christmas 07

We had a great Christmas Day with all the family here. We loved having the family here together, eating lots of food, playing games and Wii, taking the grandchildren to see Uncle Ben (Heather's husband for those not in the family) and all the firetrucks since he couldn't be with us to open gifts, and generally just having a good time hanging out together. We ended the day with most of us watching a movie together and eating some more.

December Rush

My family know most of what I am posting, but this is for the benefit of friends this Christmas season. I am so late getting my Christmas cards out, but I will give this link to old friends I haven't seen in a while.

Another December has almost flown by in a blur. We sang the Messiah again and were very occupied with rehearsals since late October. I sang one of the alto solos. Andrew, Kara and Shannon sang Messiah with me this year. We had fun going to rehearsals and performances together.

The week after the Messiah was our ward Christmas program. Shannon was directing the choir this year and it was a pretty good program. I played flute on two of the songs and had a little vocal solo. It went pretty well but made me realize how rusty I am. I've been singing much more than playing flute in recent years.Now that all the "command performances" are over we are enjoying the rest of the Christmas season. It is so good to have most of the family here near me. I enjoy being with them so much.

Puppy Love

I watched Caitlin for a few hours Friday while Rusty and Ben went to do a service project. I was trying to do something in the office so she came in. Before I knew it she was in Snowball's bed and he was in her lap. I put some of her shows on the TV and she stayed there over an hour. The surprising thing is that Snowball seemed to love it, too.