Camp Carlo's Puppy Raiser (by: Skipper)

Hi, I’m Skipper (aka Mini-Me Carlo)! And, my time here at Camp Carlo’s Puppy Raiser is coming to an end! I stayed the week here while my puppy raiser was livin’ la vida loca in Mexico. My goal at Camp (other than livin’ la vida loca myself) was to help Carlo's puppy raiser get over Carlo going to college. Let me tell you... it was not easy! Carlo, Carlo, Carlo... that's all I ever heard! But, I think I was a good assistance puppy... cause I sure did make his puppy raiser smile and laugh a lot. And, I kept her busy! It’s been lotsa fun here! Here are some of the highlights of my week:

Best overall moments:

• Playing in Camp Carlo's Puppy Raiser backyard. It was awesome! There was so much stuff to pick up... and tons of room to run around and act crazy.


• Getting Lucky to chase me. The first few days at Camp, I was scared to death of Lucky. Dang, she’s got a big bark! And, she barked at me every time I came near her... which sent me scampering... sometimes so fast I would do a somersault! But, then I realized Lucky was just playin'. So, I started barking back at her to get her to chase me. It was tons of fun! I think Carlo's puppy raiser got annoyed by the barking though because as soon as we would start barking at each other, she would say, “Lucky and Carlo... I mean Skipper... QUIET!” We were good and would immediately be quiet. Ashley (the parrot) wasn’t quite as polite... Ashley would yell, “SHUT UP!”


• Playing with the green squeaky toy. There were tons of toys at Camp, but my absolute favorite was the green squeaky bone. I would squeak it and squeak it and squeak it. Ashley would then start making a sound just like the squeaky toy. It was so cool! Carlo's puppy raiser said that she is going to let me have the toy... she is sure that it will make MY puppy raiser so... happy.

Best Training Moment:

• Riding in the box that moves [side note by Carlo's puppy raiser: it was an elevator :-)]. I wasn’t scared of the box at all! And, Carlo's puppy raiser showed me exactly where to sit while it moved. She said it was the best spot because I was between the wall and her, so no one could pet and distract me (ummm... I would have actually preferred it if people had been able to pet me!).

Scariest Training Moment:

• Stairs. Carlo's puppy raiser thought it would be a good idea to do some training with me walking up and down stairs. Yeah, it was NOT a good idea! I didn’t like ‘em at all! They were big and scary. I made it up one step and then backed down again and cried. And, there was NO WAY I was even going to attempt walking DOWN the stairs. Besides, why take the stairs, when you can ride in the box that moves!

Things I assisted Carlo's puppy raiser with:

• Gardening. Carlo's puppy raiser would pull weeds, and I would pull them out of the bucket and move them to another part of the yard to do my own decorating. I also assisted by jumping into piles of leaves she had raked up cause the leaves looked much better strewn all over the place.


• Puppy training. Every day at work, Carlo's puppy raiser would take me to this area where there were other 2 other CCI puppies! They were just little baby pups though... not nearly as big as me [side note by Carlo’s puppy raiser: Skipper, you’re not that much older!]. Yeah, but I’m a lot bigger [side note by Carlo's puppy raiser: Skipper, you’re not all that much bigger either!]. Well, it’s all in the eyes of the puppy... and in the eyes of THIS puppy... I’m wayyyy older AND bigger! The puppy raisers of these tiny baby pups are brand new puppy raisers, so Carlo's puppy raiser gave them some training tips and showed them how much stuff I already know (which in the eyes of THIS puppy is a whole lot!).

Things I sorta got in trouble for:

• The trash bag incident. I started getting a puppy attack and pounced on a trash bag and then swung it over my head, so that everything came flyin’ out. Everything! It was all over the place. Yeah, I got a big time time-out for that one!


• The newspaper incident. I got another puppy attack and I pounced on some newspapers under Ashley’s cage. I started to shred ‘em, but Carlo's puppy raiser was too quick for me. Yeah, I got a time-out for that one too.


• The toilet paper incident. While Carlo’s puppy raiser was going to the bathroom, I grabbed the end of the toilet paper, which was hanging from the roll, and ran for it! I would have gotten in trouble for that one, but Carlo's puppy raiser was ummmm... occupied... and laughing too hard.

When I saw Carlo at graduation he told me, "kid... get ready to pose for lots of photos." I had no clue what he meant until I got to Camp. Fortunately, Carlo's puppy raiser is still working on something called her "living abstracts" project... so, she took a bunch of photos while I was sleeping. They were photos of my paws... which I guess she wasn't all that thrilled with because she didn't want me to include them in this blog. Here are a couple of photos she told me I could include. The first one is me having a hard day at work. And, the second is of me checking out a thing called a guitar... it made cool noises!

Well, I gotta run... I'm going to see if I can get Lucky to chase me. See ya!