Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Dear Mom and Dad,

I just got a bath! I sure do love water. I think Jenny might try to teach me how to swim. I smell like lavender. But the best part was she let me play in the spray of the hose after she rinsed off the shampoo. I love chasing the stream and having my face sprayed. It feels nice in the warm sun.

Before my bath, Jenny had to take her neighbor's cat to the Vet Hospital. It was really sick and she's taking care of it while they are away on vacation. Jenny was very sad because she was worried he might die while she's watching him. His name is Sparky, and he is really, really, really old. I licked Jenny all over her face and even her hair because I wanted to make her feel better.

I tried to cheer her up by being extra good in my training session. She made me do all the regular stuff but she started a new thing that was really hard for me... Teaching me to leave things alone. She dropped hot dogs (my fave) on the ground in front of me. When I went to get them she told me "leave it" and blocked me. Every time I left the hot dogs alone and looked away, she gave me a treat from her pocket. I learned that when I leave things alone I get a better reward.

Then we practiced a very long "down-stay". It was so hard for me to stay still for that long. She timed my for twenty minutes. At first I broke it a few times but then I figured out she wasn't going to let me get away with that. For every five minutes I stayed in place she gave me a treat. I even stayed down when the mail man came, a bicycle rode by, and two people walking, who tempted me by saying, "Oh, what a beautiful dog! He's so well behaved!" I sure felt proud of myself. While Jenny was timing me she planted flowers in her front yard. They looked like the ones I dug up... So fun :P There were all kinds of temptations while I was laying there. Snack was cruising around. Boz was peeing on the trees. I wanted to get up so bad! But I did it and she gave me a "jackpot", which is a big handful of treats.

We're going for a hike later but I won't be able to run free because she hasn't put my flea stuff on yet. We didn't do much yesterday afternoon so Jenny wants to work extra hard today. Benny, the Miniature Schnauzer, lost his owner to cancer over the weekend. We didn't find out until we went to pick him up yesterday. So, instead of training, we played fetch and Boz and I wrestled with Benny. Benny lives on lots of beautiful land with grass, a lake, lots of trees, ponds, fountains, and a huge house. Jenny's going to keep training him until his owner's kids come to get him. It's sad, but the best part about us dogs is that we don't stay sad for long. We have short memories. As long as everyone around us is positive and happy, we are too.

Well, it's back to work now. Jenny has to give Boz, Woofie, and Snack a bath too. I'm going to watch from the dog run and hope that some of the water will come my way.

I love you,
Diesel

P.S.
I heard Penny is coming to stay with us. I can't wait! She's going to love it here but she's going to have to learn lots of new things and be a good girl. Boz is going to like her too. Maybe Woofie will be nice to her. We'll see...