My Puppy is Smarter Than Your Puppy

WILLIS GRADUATED!

For the last 6 weeks Willis and I have been going to the PetSmart Puppy Education Class in Orem. There were 5 puppies total:

• A Malamute named "Cache"
• A Maltese named "Zoe"
• A Beagle/Pug Mix named "Max"
• and a German Shepherd named "Onyx"

Not surprising, Willis was definitely the delinquent of the group. He was constantly trying to slither over to the other dogs and say hi. He never really outgrew that... In the 6 weeks of class he has gone from weighing 19 pounds to 40 pounds! Another accomplishment is he is very well behaved in the back of the car now. (That took some getting used to.) Willis thinks he's a big dog now and that he can jump out of the Murano with no problems. Tonight when I opened the back for him to jump out, he did a solid face plant into the pavement. He's still not used to his EZ-Walk Harness.

These are the commands Willis has mastered:

• Watch Me
• Sit
• Lay Down
• Take It
• Leave It
• Drop It
• Come
• Stay
• Shake/High 5
• Puppy Pushups
• Loose Leash Walking

Tonight for graduation they had a few competitions to see how well the puppies learned. Willis came in 3rd for the Loose Leash Walking race (He was easily distracted by the boxes of Greenies in the aisle). He won the "Stay" Competition quite easily. (I had to make him stay, then walk to the end of the aisle and back to him without him moving. It's quite the accomplishment for a puppy with a short attention span!) He came in dead last in the "Come" Competition (He and Cache were having too much fun playing with each other to care about their owners yelling "Come here! Come here!" repeatedly.) He was the only puppy to successfully complete Puppy Pushups (Sit, Down, Sit). And the final competition was "Leave It", which Willis dominated. (I had to put a dog biscuit on the ground in front of his paws and he couldn't eat it until I gave him permission. None of the other dogs could do it and Willis sat there like a good boy until I released him.)---The picture below was taken while I made him leave his ball so I could take his picture.

As a graduation present we bought him this soccer ball that you put his treats inside and he has to roll it a certain way to get them to fall out. It's definitely shot to the top as his favorite toy. (Anything involving treats always has his full attention.)

So Congrats to Willis! You're the best puppy anyone could have :)

Happy {Early} Birthday Bryant!

It's Bryant's Birthday!!!...on June 30th.


So what better way to celebrate him turning 26 then by throwing him a surprise party at his parents house 26 days early? (I really didn't plan for it to be 26 days, it just happened to be the only time we could both go up to Logan on a Saturday and have his family all be there.)

While Bryant was golfing with his brother and my brother, I hurried and bought his favorite cake (Sam's Club- White cake with white frosting) and the other party supplies and ran back to the house to set everything up.

In order to get him outside to see everything, I had to tell him that his parents cat, Kramer, had been digging a huge hold in the back that he needed to see. He walked right past the decorations, his mind focused on finding the hole I was talking about.

A week or two before this, I told Bryant that I had purchased his birthday present. He kept pestering me to try and get any information he could. I finally told him that I bought him tickets. That wasn't enough information. He wanted to know dates, locations, if I was going to be with him or not...(I think he really wanted the Miami vs Ohio State football tickets). The following picture is Bryant opening up the decoy present with two tickets that said, "Cache Valley Center for the Arts Presents: Couples Pottery, June 24th, 6:00 PM". He kind of stared at them for a second and tried to think of a tactful way to say, "Seriously??"

I actually held my smile off for around 45 seconds, long enough to make him think I was offended he didn't like his "Couples Pottery" tickets. (Couples Pottery? Seriously?! I impressed myself, coming up with something that Bryant AND I would absolutely hate!)

So then I told Bryant his real present was somewhere in the house and he had to go find it.

After a few minutes of searching, I basically pointed it out to him.

Bryant is now officially the proud owner of an iPad 2

Happy 26th Birthday...in 26 days

His dad picked out a lovely birthday card that resembles Willis

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRYANT!!

The Great Escape

The day I’ve dreaded has finally arrived: Edgar has figured out how to jump the fence in our backyard. While this may not seem that catastrophic to most, to me…it’s just awful.

I’ve completely taken for granted the fact that I could just throw Edgar in the back and go about my business while he frolicked around chasing bugs. Now he just sits by the door and constantly meows his irritating, obnoxious, Siamese meow.

When Edgar is allowed outside, (supervised now, dumb cat) Willis has to stay in. He's not a fan.

This is a perfect example of what I deal with on a daily basis: Edgar taunts Willis-Willis chases Edgar-Edgar jumps to higher ground-Willis waits patiently for the cycle to start again.

When we lived in Logan I would put a harness on Edgar and stake him out in the backyard with a 20 ft radius to roam, since the yard wasn’t fenced. When we moved to Springville I didn’t think I would have to use the harness again, but low and behold…stupid Edgar just HAD to figure out that he could jump the fence.

So now, Edgar gets to revert back to his beloved harness.

They're Best Friends...

This is the area that he's been escaping to. The house in the middle belongs to a sweet old widow who has been very good to let me into her backyard to fetch Edgar. A few mornings ago Edgar escaped out of the house at 6:30 AM so I was running around the neighborhood in my pj's, slippers, and robe trying to catch the stupid flea bag.

This is to the west of our house, where he made his first escape.

Bryant and I have been brainstorming ways to prevent him from jumping. Bryant suggested spraying cooking spray along the top of the fence so he can't get a good grip. Sadly, didn't really work. In the picture below you can see how gross the fence looks now.

Now my question for everyone:

What do you think we should do to stop the blasted cat from escaping?

-Obviously the harness thing works, but its a pain and Edgar doesn't really like it.

-I'd like to get a remote controlled shock-collar, but they start around $150.

-They have contraptions that you can install on the top of the fence that acts as a horizontal block, but those are super pricey.

And the final option: Leave the dumb cat inside.