Graduation day!
So, it is official. Little lucy has graduated from obedience school. All her hard work has paid off. She received her diploma, but was more interested in the treat that was included with her certificate. I can't help but to reflect on her acheivements. Week one, despair was setting in my mind. Lucy couldn't even sit through the class. She had the attention span of a gnat. We worked with her(didn't we baby?!) and she slowly improved. Week after week, Professor Bill expected a lot, and Lucy was slowly getting there. The week before graduation she could not stay upon command, nor could she lay down. All seemed hopeless. We feared she would not graduate. My sweety had faith in our little pug. She worked all last week with Lucy. D-day. Bill instructs me to come to the front of the class, walk with lucy by my side(aka, heal) then command her to sit. Upon sitting the dog must then stay while you drop the leash and walk out of her sight. Then you must return and have them lay down. My heart was racing. Could lucy do it? Keep in mind we are talking about a pug who pees on my sweaters and eats yellow snow. Picture the following scene...Lucy walks right by my side, at my pace. I tell her to sit, and she immediately sits down. I drop the leash and tell her to stay. I walk to another aisle of the store and walk back. She is still staying in one spot. The class is in awe. Lucy triumphs over adversity. Her only flaw of the day was laying down. Not to make excuses, but she has very little hair on her belly and the linoleum floor in the store is too cold to lay on it. She does it for us all the time at home, so I wasn't worried. Professor Bill did say at the end of the class that Lucy has improved tremendously. However, Lucy was the only dog of the class that he suggested a repeat of the basic course before moving on to his advanced course. I just want to say that Bill is a moron. Lucy is not like his german shephard who understands english, german, swedish...and whatever langauge he is teaching him next week. Lucy has impressed me so much in these last 5 weeks. I am not interested in enrolling her in Bill's Nazi class. I don't want my dog to be a trained robot. My little lucy is a bundle of sweetness. She can sit, stay, lay down, and shake. The rest is just details. I love you lucy, great job.