Memorial Day 2011

It is Memorial Day and MFM got me all dolled up to attend the annual ceremony. I even had a bath this morning but she couldn't get all the burrs out of my hair.

The annual Memorial Day ceremony is well attended in our community so we had to go an hour early and take our own chair. There must have been a thousand people there and most of them were veterans. There were probably 200 or so WWII Vets and you don't see these guys so much anymore.

I got to play with a little boy sitting next to me but he freaked out when I licked the nozzle on his camelback water supply. I don't know what all the excitement was about, he was licking it too! Fortunately, MFM had brought water and a bowl for me. I did not share with the boy.

I got a little bored with all the talking but I enjoyed the band and seeing the flags flapping in the breeze. I would have enjoyed chasing a few birds but I was not allowed. MFM keeps reminding me that I am in training to be a therapy dog. Seems like therapy dogs miss out on a lot of fun things.

One interesting thing I noticed was the color guards. They had 4 of each from the Fire Department, the Jr ROTC, and the county EMS. The ROTC carried guns, the Fire Department carried shiny new hatchets, but the EMS did not carry anything to protect the flags. I wonder....could they carry hypodermic needles?

I was well behaved except for a little whining when I got bored. MFM should have taken a chew toy / treat for me. I was very happy to get home to my cool house.

I greatly appreciate all the military people, and military dogs, who serve to keep our country free and the enemy away from our shores...... I certainly don't know of any cats that are helping out!

I Promise to Love, Cherish, and.....Obey!?

My new training class has started!Today we took a walk down one of the trails but it was no ordinary walk. I tried to put my nose to the ground and smell everything, as I always do, but MFM said I wasn't a bloodhound and I needed to pay attention. Periodically, we stopped and rested, had to "sit" for 2 minutes, "down" for a time, had other dogs and their handlers wandering in and around us, and other such chaos that I had to rouse out of bed early to partake in. Well, yes, it was fun too! ....and I got GOOD treats!!

NYRUTH, the instructor, announced in front of the whole class that I was not being the class clown like I was last week. HA! I wallowed in the loose dirt to show her that I was still very capable.

One of the expectations of this course is that we will learn a trick to perform at the end of the course. It has to be something I do not already know. I can shake hands, choose a toy, play fetch, am courteous about waiting to be invited into and out of the car and house, as well as the basic obedience commands. What more could anyone want? Well, MFM wants to teach me to put my toys away! That's no trick! The trick is to get them out as fast as she can put them away, and I have that mastered. We will see how this goes.