Moooo...

Yep, you guessed it, I met a cow this week!  I went to a puppy obedience class at the SEGD campus (I'll tell you about that later) and Dad decided to stop at a roadside vegetable stand that's on the way.  There's a pasture right next to the stand and there was a cow standing close to the fence eating a watermelon so Mom decided to let me meet the cow while Dad did his shopping.  As you can see, "Bessie" was just as curious about me as I was her...

Whoa!  What breed of dog is that???

What's that yellow thing
hanging from her ear?

I think I've found a new friend!
Maybe she'll share her watermelon with me.

After Dad got done shopping we hopped back in the car and headed over to the campus for my first puppy obedience class.  While we were waiting for class to start I got to meet Edgar and Helen and King Arthur, a.k.a. "Artie".  Before everyone arrived, Hedy, Helen's mom (she works at SEGD) took me for my first golf cart ride!  It wasn't like our cars and I was a little hesitant to get in, but with a little help from Mom who put my front legs up in the cart and encouragement from Hedy I made it.  Mom made sure she had hold of me and I stayed still as we took a quick spin around the front parking lot.  It turns out it was kind of cool and I'll be able to get more practice later this week (you'll have to wait to find out more about that in my next blog post).

That's one cool ride!

Puppy Twister with Helen, Gail & Artie

Artie & Edgar

By this time Karen, our trainer arrived and it was time to start puppy boot camp.  We began by gathering in a circle and introducing ourselves and telling everyone how old we were.  I thought a girl was never supposed to tell her age?  Anyway, after that Karen had us take a walk around the parking lot to work off some of energy and anxiety, at least that's what she said - I really think she was doing a silent evaluation of our behavior.  After a lap around the track we got back into our circle and started the class.

Off we go...

Karen talked about how we're supposed to sit by our "owners" side and that the leash should be loose, then moved onto teaching us to how to sit.  She gave the parents of Golden Retrievers (like me) a tip about how we like to try to sit facing our parents because we like to have eye contact instead of to their sides and that they should watch for, and work on that.

Notice where I'm sitting?

After a few minutes, I decided that I was bored and tried to get Mom to play with me - bad move on my part!  Needless to say, I attracted Karen's attention and before you knew it, she was taking control of my leash - uh, oh!  I tried a few times to jump around with Karen holding the leash but it didn't take long for me to figure out that she wasn't going to put up with my antics.

Karen said,
"yeah, the grass is greener on the other side, isn't it?"

At least I wasn't the only one selected
for private instruction...  of course, Edgar is only 14 weeks old.

We took another stroll around the parking lot to work on our leash control and came back to the circle and got pointers on how we did, and then worked on our "downs" and a few other things.  I wish I could say I did better the second time around, but alas, I found my leash in Karen's hands a few more times before the night was over...  We ended the night lying down while our parents rubbed our bellies, checked our teeth, and massaged our paws - kind of like being at a puppy spa.

Mars (right) looks like she's doing well

Ok, pay close attention for this next part...

This little guy is only about 14 weeks old!

Ahhh, it's finally over...

I think I may have been suffering from hunger pangs.  Normally I eat around 6 p.m. and that night I had to wait until after the class, so I think that I just didn't have the fuel to keep me focused and on my A game.  I hope that things will go better next time.

Earlier in the week Mom had a dentist appointment so Dad and I went with her (sorry, no pictures for this one).  No one seemed surprised when we arrived which is a good thing.  You never know what to expect when you go someplace new.  As it turns out, one of the doctors in the office has a therapy dog that he brings to work to help with patients that are anxious or afraid (like young children) - how cool! 

Dad and I sat in a corner of the examining room and watched while Mom had to swish some funny blue stuff in her mouth, get her teeth scraped, polished and finally cleaned with an ultrasonic cleaner.  Everyone thought that I would react to the ultrasonic thing, but I didn't.  I was really good and laid on the floor in the corner.

This week I also had a brief encounter with my first thunderstorm.  Mom opened the garage door and we sat in there for about 10 minutes listening and watching the storm.  I only heard a few distant rumbles of thunder and a couple of brief flashes of lightening - nothing to freak me out, but enough to get my attention.  I guess it wasn't a bad first introduction to a storm and maybe when the first big storm occurs it won't scare me too much.

Saturday we went to visit Grandma and take her computer back to her.  She had a little problem that required wiping the hard drive (whatever that means) and re-installing everything.  While we were there Grandma made a few minor adjustments to my big girl cape so that I could start wearing it.  Check it out...

My first puppy cape
(age 10 weeks)

Yeah!  I can finally wear my big girl cape!
(age 5-1/2 months)

Besides a few restaurant outings and walks to the grocery store, the rest of the week was pretty quiet.  It was raining on Sunday morning so we decided it would be a good day to just hang out and be couch potatoes, or in my case, a floor potato.


That's all folks... see you next week!

I'm trying to sleep, must you take a picture???