We had another puppy training class last night, this one at a new place that didn't have 24 dogs. The class was great, the teacher really knows her stuff. The only issue is that of all the dogs in the class, we have (bum bum bum) THE IRRITATING ONE! Sydney's very laid back at home, and her only character flaw is that she's still very independent. When she gets around other dogs she just goes nuts. She wants to run and play and growl and jump and sniff and play-bite and wrestle. And when Austin or I try to rein her in, her independent side shows right up in the form of yowling or dancing to get out of her collar. During training time she wanted nothing to do with sit or come, and Austin cracked me up by declaring that the treats were no good and she needed her special treats. Somehow I have the feeling that even if we were giving her bacon-wrapped filet mignon she'd still rather go gnaw the face off the giant Great Dane over there.

So, the teacher had us stay after class for some "special help". We're supposed to make her less touchy and independent by constantly touching her, perhaps by brushing her on the hour, every hour for a minute. Hopefully this will help us save on vacuum bags. The other exercise (which I love) is to pick her up from behind and hold her under her armpits (legpits?) at arm's length. She'll wiggle and struggle and try to get away, and as soon as she relaxes and goes limp, we put her down and give her a treat. It's lots of fun for me, since I feel like I'm flying an invisible jet. There's a dogfight joke in there somewhere, but I'm too tired and sick to think of it right now.

Other news includes: We are going to New York / New Jersey this weekend for Nana's 90th birthday, the rest of our furniture gets delivered next Friday, I've lopped four inches off my hair and am back to spunky-punky mode, and Aunt Mar is coming to visit us next weekend so we can go shopping downtown and pick out curtain fabric. I love how busy we are.