Sweet Boy (by: Carlo)

I sure am loving being a change of career dog and being back home with my pal (who was once my puppy raiser)! I'm finding that every single day I'm gettin' away with more and more. I think it helps that my pal thinks I'm super sweet... hence, her nickname for me "Sweet Boy". She sure is a sucker for my sweetness. Between being back home and being thought of as sweet... life is good... very good!

A few weeks ago I decided to put my sweetness to the test. One morning, when my pal was trying to sleep in, I did an "up" on the bed. For those of you not familiar with CCI lingo... "up" means I put my two front paws on something. The only catch is that CCI dogs aren't supposed to do an "up" unless they are told to do an "up". Well, since I'm technically no longer a CCI dog... I thought what the heck, and I did an "up" on the bed, right next to my pal's head! My pal slowly opened her eyes. She stared into my eyes as my tail wagged back and forth. "Oh Carlo", she said, "you really should not be doing that." And, then I saw what I was looking for. That hint of a smile and twinkle in her eyes. At that moment I knew I was golden! My tail wagged harder. "But you're so dang cute! My Sweet Boy...," she sighed as wrapped her arms around my head and gave me a big hug. Yes siree... I was golden! I was sparkling with sugary sweet success!

A few weeks went by where I continued to do an "up" on the bed on weekend mornings; and each time I had the same wonderful results. This weekend I decided to take things just a tad bit further. My pal was watching a movie Friday night. Lucky was hogging the prime spot... the pillow by the fireplace. Gerrit was sprawled on the floor, laying on his back with paws flopping everywhere. Both Lucky and Gerrit were sound asleep and lookin' very comfy. But, as hard as I tried I just couldn't get comfy. I glanced over at my pal. She was sitting on the couch wrapped in the softest looking blankie. She sure did look super comfy. Comfier even than Lucky and Gerrit! And, then I thought of something. I'm Sweet Boy! I can get away with stuff! So, I got up, walked over to my pal and did an "up" on the couch. My pal laughed and pet my head as she said, "Why hello, Sweet Boy."

Those magical words meant my plan was working! So, as I was doing an "up", I slowly moved one back foot up, and then the other... until I was doing an "up" with all 4 paws on the couch! Now technically, in CCI lingo, this would no longer be considered an "up"... this would be a "jump"... but, as I said, I'm technically no longer a CCI dog. My pal's eyes got really big as she said "Carlo!". But, before she could utter another word, I plopped down right next to her! And, to my great delight, she just started laughing as she said, "I can't believe you just did that!". Well, you better believe I did it! After all, I am Sweet Boy!

I didn't want to push my success by overstaying my welcome. And, to be quite honest, there really wasn't all that much room on the couch and I started sliding off right away. So, I just let my body slide all the way off and plopped down right next to the couch... where I snuggled up next to my pal's feet. And, as I closed my eyes and drifted off into sleep, I started dreaming about what "Sweet Boy" was going to try next.