Upside Down (by: Gerrit)

Today my puppy raiser asked me what was up with me ALWAYS sleeping on my back. She said she's never seen any other puppy sleep on his/her back as much as me. And, she said that if there was such a record, she is sure I would hold the Guinness Book of World Record for amount of time spent on my back.

Guinness Book of World Record? I didn't quite understand what that was, so my puppy raiser explained it to me. And, then I was so excited that I might be a record holder, that I bugged her to find out if I did indeed have a Guinness Book of World Record! She just gave me a look and said I was getting totally side tracked from the main question... why do I ALWAYS sleep on my back?

So, I wrinkled my wish spot, and thought and thought about this for a bit. As you can see from the photo above, I've been laying on my back since I was just a little puppy. It's super comfy and allows me to air out my tummy and errrr… stuff. Plus, it encourages people to give me belly rubs. And, best of all, everything looks cooler when I'm on my back and upside down! Like at work... my bed is right by the entrance of my puppy raiser's cube. Lots of people... and even other CCI pups in training... walk by all the time. It's fun looking at everyone walking by... but, it's even more fun when I look at them while upside down. Everything takes on a whole different perspective! It's totally cool! In fact, if you ask me, being right side up is kinda over-rated. EVERYONE should be upside down! What makes being upside down even more fun is when you bend your body into really weird positions... kinda like Yoda [side note by puppy raiser: Gerrit, I think you mean yoga]. Yeah Yoga! That's makes being upside down even more fun! I bet that little green guy, Yoda, likes doing that too!

When I finished giving my upside down answer, my puppy raiser just looked at me and then started laughing and laughing and said, "Gerrit, I think you are quite possibly the funniest and strangest puppy I have ever known!"

"Really?!" I asked totally excited. "Is there a Guinness Book of World Record for that too??"

Bark the Vote (by: Carlo)

These days I've been seeing campaign ads everywhere... yawn! But, I recently found a campaign Web site that is just for the dogs. How cool is that?! On The Dog Vote you can order a campaign bandanna (either Obama or McCain), read interesting articles by canine political analysts, and even check out a doggie electoral map! And, most importantly, you can buy stuff that has not just the typical elephant and a donkey... but, a dog!

Finally, a campaign Web site devoted to dogs! Bark the Vote! Maybe there is hope after all...

I'm Not for Sale! (by: Gerrit)

I spent the last week at "boot camp". At least that's what my puppy raiser called it... but, I didn't really think camp was very boot-ish at all! It was soooo much fun!

For camp I stayed with the lady who teaches our dog training classes. She's super nice and has 2 little kids that I LOVED hanging out with. The older one read to me, the younger one crawled on me, and... both of them even painted me! And, I loved every minute of it!

Of course, I also had to do some training. I worked on stuff like down-stays, heel and side positioning, bed, and roll. One time I was doing a roll so that I could get my nails dremmeled, and one of the kids came over and straddled me... it was so much fun!

My puppy raiser received a really good report on me! She was told that I am awesome with kids, I have great house manners, and my energy level is perfect (cause I love learning, but I'm not too crazy). Of course there are a few things to work on... my positioning (cause I get a little lazy) and when I get super excited I have a tendency to whine a little. But, if you ask me, I'm pretty dang perfect!

The trainer and I hooked up with my puppy raiser tonight, so that I could go back home. We met at this really cool place that has both a dog park and skate park! They said it was awesome for training cause there were so many distractions. Boy, were they right... it was such a fun place! Anyways, they were working with me on some training stuff and some guy came up and asked me if I was for sale! I was a little worried for a second that maybe I was and just didn't know it. But, my puppy raiser and the trainer just laughed and said, "Nope, he's not for sale!". Whew! What a relief! So, if any of you out there are interested in buying me... I'M NOT FOR SALE! But, if you really want to spend some money... you could buy some raffle tickets and help Carlo and me win this really cool basket of toys! Hee hee! :-)

Back to School (by: Carlo)

My life since coming home from doggie college (aka Advanced Training) has been full of summer time fun... napping, swimming, playing, and eating! It’s been GREAT! But, now that the dawg days of summer are winding down, it’s back to school for me!

My pal is taking a Delta Society workshop later this month. I don’t have to go with her to the workshop... but, I do have to go the evaluations with her, which will be sometime in October! So, my pal and I have been brushing up on some of my skills and reading the Delta Society training manual. We are going to be evaluated as a team! This means that my pal won’t be able to do pet therapy with any other doggie (as if she would want to!) and, likewise, I won’t be able to do pet therapy with any other person (as if I would want to!). We’re going to be a TEAM... sort of like a baseball team or football team... only there will just be just two of us! We’ll be like the dynamic duo, batman and robin! How cool is that?!

But, first we have to pass the evaluations. We were studying the manual the other day and my pal got kind of side-tracked. She put glasses on me and then pulled out her camera (ugh!). I finally had to tell her to stop messing around or we'd never pass the evaluations. Actually I just told her this cause I wanted her to take the dang glasses off my nose. Now, if she would put me in a cool Batman or Robin cape, she could take all the photos she wanted!

My Wish Spot (by: Gerrit)

Today I asked my puppy raiser why I was different.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"Well," I sighed, "I have that funny mark between my eyes. None of the other puppies I hang out with have it." (side note: You can see the funny mark in the photo above. It's an old photo... and you... errrr... have to look beyond all the mud. But, if you look real close, you can see a little dark spot right between my eyes. My hair actually grows a different direction in that spot. It's REALLY weird.)

My puppy raiser looked at me and smiled. She said, "Gerrit, all the other puppies wish they had a wish spot like yours."

"Huh?" I said, "What's a wish spot?"

"It's that special spot right between your eyes. Don't think of that spot as funny or different... cause it's actually extra special. It's so extra special that if someone kisses it, their wishes will come true!"

"Really?!" I said as my tail thumped up and down.

"Yes!" exclaimed my puppy raiser. "Why do you think I kiss that spot all the time? I don't kiss it just because you're so cute... I kiss it because I want my wishes to come true!"

"Wow!!!" I woofed. "So, I shouldn't be ashamed of it?"

"Heck no!" said my puppy raiser, "In fact I want to kiss that spot right now!" and she bent down and smooched me right between the eyes... right on my wish spot (which, by the way, was clean... and not muddy like in the photo above)!

I flopped down on my pillow as happy as can be that I have a wish spot! I then started thinking about how I wanted to make a wish... I wanted to wish that dinner would be served early tonight! But, as hard as I tried, I just couldn't kiss myself between the eyes! I bent this way and that and flipped my body round and round, but it just didn't work. I finally collapsed from all the effort and fell asleep. I guess I'll just have to ask my puppy raiser to make that wish for me!