Monday, August 10, 2009

A Project in Progress

It's been ages since I have written anything about Lucy but she is a full-time job and between that and my knitting, I have all I can handle. DH has been taking Lucy to puppy charm school and this past Saturday she graduated. There was a lot of fanfare but enough to make all the dogs (3) in her class act up just a tad.

Lucy was bouncing off the walls but the trainer, Teresa got her under control by talking to her in low soft tones with a treat in her hand waved in front of Lucy's nose. Lucy gave Teresa her total attention.

Everyone was very wiggly so getting something in focus to document the occasion was impossible. I did however manage to get one good in focus picture of our graduate because of Teresa's low calm voice of reason.
We are so proud of Lucy for doing her best. It's been 8 weeks of bribes for good behavior and we are pleased with the end result. Lucy is still a work in progress but at least she is headed down the right path.

Here are some blurry pictures of the rest of the class. I hate they are blurry but at least you can sort of tell who was in the class.

This is Sam and his mom. He sat much better than Lucy did! And here is Avery. Avery is a very special girl. She is a rescue. Avery is an Argentine Dogo and was one of 10 dogs up for adoption. Avery's mom said that all the dogs were neglected and seemed about the same age so she thinks they were litter mates. When Avery was adopted she didn't have very much muscle ton in her back legs so sitting or laying down was most comfortable for her. She didn't get much exercise so she wasn't strong enough to hold up her own weight. Despite Avery's 105 pounds, she seems like such a good girl. Lucy loved her and didn't care that Avery was 2, she just wanted to play.
There is an intermediate class but our trainer is moving to a different department and we are trying to decide what the next step will be for Lucy. Meanwhile we will continue to work with her making her behave.