A Puppy in Training

    As you all know we have a puppy named Tipper, she is sweet and cute until it comes to training, that is when her sweetness rears back its ugly head and bares its teeth. This is when a cute dog becomes a very ugly dog. This is the adventure we have had over the last three days of intense puppy training. We couldn't just be training a puppy to sit and come and lay down, we are training a bird dog, so she has to be taught things like HUP and heel and water retrieving.

   Since Tipper has returned: Well, when we got to the vet and they brought Tipper out the first thing she did was pee at my feet. That was one of her least charming features. We then got her loaded in the car, and the ride to my Bother and Sister-in-Law's was rather pleasent, perhaps it is because the vet doped her. Then we got her out of the car and the creature from the black lagoon returned. The dog had suddenly "forgotten" her name, and was out of control. After we we left Matt and Kristina's, the dog settled down again and was pretty much calm until we got home. When we got home Tipper got no more than three feet in the door when nature came calling again and she peed on the floor. I then cleaned up the mess and took her out to finish her business.

   After we spent half an hour outside Tipper had taken me all over the farm 16 times and did not so much as make an atempt to use the bathroom, so we returned to the house. I opened the door and the first thing that came into that little demon's mind was to go on the carpet. I left the dog unattended while I got some paper towels to clean up the pee. Upon returning I found the dog behind the arm chair doing the other call of nature! I had to change the towel in her kennel three times.

  Day Two: I woke up to find that Tipper had soaked her towel clean through (good thing most of it was from her spilling her water dish). So after replacing the towel for a forth time, I took her out to do as nature intended, she did and we came back in. She was good most of the morning, told me when she wanted out and was rather quiet.

   I went out in the afternoon to work on the flower beds and clean up some of the yard. When I returned inside my hopes were shattered, I just knew she could not be good for a whole day, I returned to find a smelly present in the center of her kennel. The rest of the day went down from there, she stopped telling me when she wanted out and wouldn't stop barking at her water dish that she kept pushing out of the kennel on purpose, just so she could cry.

   Today: The dog was good this morning until it came time for feeding. I had her out in the house with me while I was getting her food. She was doing well, I filled the dish with watered down food and returned to the kennel, I was starting to lean over to put the dish down when Tipper decided to put her two big paws on the bottom of the dish. This sent the contents all down the front of me and in my shoes.

   After she was fed I took her out for a walk.....in bare feet, since my shoes were now filled with wet puppy food. She decided this was a good time to drag me all over the yard, through the blackberry bushes and under the nut trees. I finally brought her back in.

   She is behaving, for now. We will see. In the words of Alfred North Whitehead, "If a dog jumps in your lap, it is because he is fond of you; but if a cat does the same thing, it is because your lap is warmer."

Sincerely,

~Mary-Ann~