Doggy Lesson #1

Mom joined me today for Baby's "doggy lesson" numero uno! Gotta love Moms! If Baby isn't hanging out in Hickory with me, she'll be staying with my Mom, so, we needed two pairs of ears listening to Ms. Lisa at PetSmart...not only to make sure we remember everything, but mainly for much-needed consistency!! Of COURSE I set my alarm wrong {or something!} and woke up 15 minutes before it started. The only reason we were 5 minutes late was because I forgot her vaccination record at the apartment and didn't realize it until I was a couple minutes down the road. Thank you Lord for blessing me with green lights, little traffic, and pushing my gasless car all the way {first} to PetSmart and {then} to the gas station! And {of course} poor Baby decided to get car sick as we pulled into the parking lot. My dog has impeccable timing!

There were only 3 of us in the group training this morning...Baby, a newly adopted Mango {who was a-dorable!}, and CoCo {yappiest dog ever}. Funny story...Lisa {the dog trainer} asked Coco's "parents" if they were married {I don't know why but I remember there being a reason.} and the woman abruptly and sternly said, "NO!" ... Uhoh. Someone sounds like they're in the dog house {no pun intended}! The poor man, I felt sorry for him... they were both on disability, living together, and he was the one that was going to be taking car of her dog because she, again, was disabled. I think I'd be a little nicer to my live-in assistant if I were her! But that's just me...

We learned all kinds of cool things today and I hope Mom can continue to join me! It was fun for us to be able to do it together. I have homework to do until our next doggy lesson on Thursday and any time I leave the apartment {and can't take Baby}, then she'll be chillin' in the crate until I get back!

Another {almost not-so} funny story: Alex brought Baby to Hickory last night. I had her new crate home all filled, cute, comfy, and ready to go. Alex and I went to the Hickory Crawdads game last night and I'll be darned if as we passed her crate to walk out the door, she wasn't knocking her food and water over in it, on top of her bed and "security blanket." I fussed, "BABY! and THAT'S why you're going to training in the morning!" and then Alex and I left her there. She'll have to learn her lesson.

One thing I did learn this morning is that I need to get her on a feeding schedule, only feeding her twice a day, in the morning and in the evening. We don't over-feed her, we just lay the food out and she eats it when she wants to. She doesn't get the bowl replenished more than twice a day. So! With that said, there will be no food left in her crate for her to toss about when I leave, which means no food for me to clean up when I return! :) Sounds good to me! I feel bad not leaving her any water...but the trainer suggested she'd be fine. Lisa said, "She's inside, in the A/C.. she'll be fine while you're gone, just offer her some water when you get back." So, we'll try that! Alex asked me if we could get her one of those hamster water bottles to have her suck out of off the side of the crate. I'm pretty sure they don't make those for dogs, but I could be wrong...

Wish me luck!