Climbing on my Soapbox

Well, here I go, climbing on my soapbox for the first time.

My mom works in a large pet superstore. She often brings me to work with her. We like our job most of the time. We get to talk to a lot of different people, and meet some nice (and some not so nice) dogs. Every once in a while, we talk to someone that really gets our dander up.

Why do some people get dogs? Why do people get the dogs they get? What was the mother of four unruly boys thinking, when she bought that Chocolate Lab puppy, and why didn't she think the puppy needed a crate or a training class? When we saw the lady again several months later, the puppy was about seven months old, very big, overweight, and dragging one of the boys through the parking lot. The mother said the dog was chewing up everything, still not potty trained, and she was thinking of giving the puppy up for adoption. Still, she didn't consider signing up for a training class. What did she think? The dog was going to magically become good? It just doesn't work that way.

What about the people that came in the store with a three week old Pitt Bull puppy? Don't they know that a puppy needs to be with it's mom and it's littermates until it is at least eight weeks old? Don't they care? Why don't people think a little bit more before they decide to get a dog? Maybe there wouldn't be so many of us in shelters if humans used their brains (which are supposed to be much bigger than dog's brains). A little common sense and a training class or two, or three, would save so many of us from shelters and sometimes death.

Off my soapbox, but still on my High Horse!
Zip

Da Bears Again

Nothing much to say today. We laid around the house all day and watched the pre-game show, the football game, the post game wrap-up, and the Patriots/Colts game. In case you haven't heard, the Bears WON! Now they will go to the Superbowl.
Unfortunatley for all of us dogs, the humans put us us in our crates when the pizza came. No crumbs even. I guess they felt we weren't real Bears fans. Gee whiz, I am a big PIZZA fan. Maybe next week! Maybe if the Bears win the Superbowl.

The Chicago Bears

Around here, my humans are football fans. Specifically, they like the Chicago Bears. They are planning to spend tomorrow afternoon in their recliners, watching the Bears play football. The Bears haven't made it to the Superbowl since the 1985 season, so they are all excited. This may be the year, if the Defense plays well, and if the Quarterback(Rex Grossman) is on his game. It could be great! If not, the humans will be in a foul mood tomorrow evening.

All of us (poor dogs) will have to lay around tomorrow while the football game is on. The good part is that they will probably order a big pizza. That means crumbs and crusts for all of us, and if we are smart, we may even be able to steal some real pieces of it. We are pretty slick about that. Wait until there is a big play and then just zoom right in and grab what we want. The odds are in our favor. Two of them vs. six of us. Do the math!

Anyway, if the Bears win, there will be another weekend of football. That means another day of pizza for all of us.

GO BEARS!!!

Sheep

Yesterday I went herding. Herding is an interesting sport. You are supposed to go out, get around the sheep, and bring them back to your handler. That's what the Border Collies do. Cattle Dogs like to nip the heels of the stock they work, and drive from behind. Scott (my Dad) says I don't have a drivers license yet. Very funny.

Going out to work the sheep is a lot of fun. Lately it has been quite muddy. All the more fun for me. Yesterday, Scott let me go out to look at the cows. That was even more fun than the sheep. Either way, I love herding. I only need one more "leg" for my Herding Started Title. I'll keep you posted on my progress.

Agility Class

Mom went with Beth and Racer tonight to agility class. I used to go too, but now it's all about Racer, because he needs help. Really it's Beth that needs help. Racer is fast and fun to watch. He loves to do the weave poles.
I love agility too. For me, it's all about getting a wonderful view from the top of the A-Frame, banging the teeter making it go bang, and ggetting lots of treats afterward. I also get to play tug with the special leash. Sometimes I do very well at trials, but I have a big problem. I am handler challenged. My personal assistant can't run fast enough to suit my style.

Agility is such a fun thing for us dogs to do. We get to run, jump, climb, and go through tunnels. It's like going to Disneyland!

I Have Lots of Friends

I thought I would tell you of my many friends. Without them, I wouldn't be here blogging away.

First, I'll tell you of my family. I live with five Border Collies. Life with them is lots of fun. I love to play with them. Moe is the oldest. She is ten and a half. Don't tell her that, though. She thinks she is a little puppy still. Moe is the Queen of the House! She'll beat you up if you get her mad. She is a fun playmate most of the time. Next comes Barney. He is a rescue, like me. He's almost eight. He's lots of fun, too. Barney loves to bark. Next comes my good friend, Iggy. He has epilepsy and has to take drugs. He's still a good playmate though, but I have to be gentle with him. Rookie is two. He is my best playmate. He is red and quite a little devil. We play very rough sometimes. The newest addition to my house is Tubbs (AKA Tubbie). He is three. We rescued him, too. He used to be very fat, but now he is thin and very active. He is fun to get rough with, too. We have sheep to play with, too!

My friends include Ringo, who lives in New York. We were on a DAM team together doing USDAA agility. We didn't do very well, but we had a great time. We were very entertaining. I also like BJ and Riley. My mom says that it was BJ who convinced her to keep me!! BJ is a very cool ACD who also likes agility. Riley lives with BJ. He is red and also quite cool. They also have a Border Collie named Minnie. I have a girlfriend in Utah named Roo. She is young and very pretty, blue,with a double mask. She is growing up, and learning. I hope to play with her someday. We could have hours of fun. Roo has a sister named Kinka, who also is pretty. They were born in Canada(SK). Their mom is a beautiful red girl named Giddy.

I seem to make friends everywhere I go. I think it's because I always have a smile for everyone, especially if they have some treats!

My First Blog

Hi Everyone,

Well, I guess I have computer skills after all. I noticed that some of my friends had blogs, but weren't posting very often, so I decided to come up with one of my own.

Today was a fun day for me. I went to Petsmart with my mom. She works there at a trainer. She uses me as a demo dog, though today she called me her "dummo dog!" Not very nice! There were a lot of other dogs there and it was very noisy, but I did my best. It's hard for me to do simple stuff, when I can do so much more. She asks me to "down" and when I roll over a couple of times (much more fun), I can tell she is frustrated. Oh well, she taught me that trick, didn't she? I do so love it when she uses the clicker. I got so many treats from the people that work there, too. I also got to pick out a new toy to play with, and a Booda bone.

Well, I better go to bed now.

Zip the Wonder Dog