October report is in.

Ansel's still hanging in there, learning new commands and being the happy dog that he is! He was neutered and has recuperated from the surgery. He got to work with the trainer in a wheel chair this month (not that he hadn't done that before). The only negative things to pop up are that he seems to be protecting food and toys which is new and he's been playing rough with other dogs (probably my fault there).

The trainer wrote:

"Ansel had a little bit of rest from training due to recovery from his neuter. While he has had some vomiting and (removed for the faint-of-heart) he has had the same upbeat personality as usual. His training is progressing without difficulty. He continues to bark and whine out of excitement and sometimes gets a little rough out in the exercise yard. We will continue to progress with his advanced training commands over the next month, focusing on the retrieve and tug."

Keep up the good work little man, we are very proud of you.

Time's Up, Youngster!

And stop calling me Yoda!

Geez, young'uns, I tell ya! Carver and I managed to sneak out of the kennel. It wasn't easy, but we were extra motivated. The office was totally rockin' yesterday, and one of the staff left their computer on at the end of the day! Well, I was drawn to it like a moth to flame, as you can well imagine. But, being the generous soul that I am, I showed Carver how to use the computer first and let him do a practice post. It wasn't terrible for a first try. I couldn't bring myself to tell him that I am quite afraid writing skills are not as appreciated by the CCI trainers as they should be.

Who's Carver? Well, Carver and I have become acquainted over the last few days. He's awfully young and naive, and I have felt it necessary to take him under my paw a bit. You see, he's just 8 weeks old, a Lab Cross, and pretty needy. He keeps asking me all of these questions about my life, and what I've done, and how I got here. It's quite annoying, actually, but I feel like I have to be polite and indulge him. Anyway, he just loved all of my stories, and I am a bit embarassed to say that I think he has a bit of a hero complex about me. He started just begging me to help him get over to the Sellers' household so that he could follow in my pawsteps.

My pawsteps! Humph! I had to set that whippersnapper straight and tell him about the real pawsteps that ALL CCI pups aspire to fill--those of Jeb, the Graduate Dog Extraordinaire! So, of course, he was FULL of questions about him. I did my best to share Jeb's legend with the youngster. I think that was a mistake, because then he was even more insistent that he just had to get to Kansas! At first there was NO WAY I was going to let this insistent, impertinent, know-nothing-of-a-puppy carry on with TBG and SWMBO. But, Dembre heard us talking and chimed in that he heard TBG was missing me quite a bit, and that softened my heart...

Well, I can't give away all of our secrets here, but suffice it to say that I have arranged to have Carver II shipped to the Sellers' household on Monday. I just hope that TBG is up for THIS challenge!

And, if you REALLY want to find out more about the young grasshopper, go to http://www.carvercci.blogspot.com.

CARVER, NO! Get off the scanner! (Have fun, TBG!)