teaching a new dog a new trick

You can teach a new dog a new trick, sort of. Here I am trying to teach Reuben to roll over. He has no idea what he's doing, but he gets an A for effort. Note how he attempts to roll over by stretching his long spindly leg as far as it will go without actually losing contact with the floor.



Here's one of Alex, aka "kibble whore." He'd sell his mother for a piece of dog food.


It's fascinating how different they all are. I worked them all tonight on some of the level 1 games from the
My Smart Puppy book. Alex started doing spontaneous rollovers when he knew I picked him to play first. He knows he's hilarious, and does everything with a huge grin on his face. Spencer got a little goofy (for Mr. Serious There's a Job to Do Somewhere in This World and I'm Here to Do It) when it was his turn, but then he was all business, blue collar dog that he is. Reuben had an absolute cow waiting for his turn. Having a green dog does make me appreciate the patience of the older crew (Dave, stop laughing, Alex is patient, erm, most of the time). Methinks the Karate Coonhound and I need to log quite a few more days of "wax on, wax off." Good thing I enjoy the journey, erm, most of the time.

Oh yes, and Sylvia was a princess, as usual. Princesses love purple: