Mom & dad are back!! I had a great time with sitter Suz, I think her retired service dog Walker is going to miss me. Mom says she needs to brush up on her skills after a month away, you know what that means … πŸ™‚

We spent a couple of weekends at the cabin, I love it there, it’s so peaceful however I still get up early, mom says, “What’s with that”?

We had a class bbq when I got there I was pretty vocal, and mom & dad were not impressed, I just wanted to go and play with all my friends, we were wearing our vests so no playing. I did settle down after dad took me for a walk, and mom & dad got to socialize with other raisers, I don’t think it’s fair us pups couldn’t socialize, but we did go to the dog park after. My sis Cela, & I had so much fun chasing each other, and we really didn’t care about the other dogs. Raiser, Teri who has my sis, Electra, made us pups yummy cake. We’re pretty lucky to have these get-togethers.

Mom & I met up with sitter Donna who was looking after my friend PADS Copper. We walked through the mall and then sat in the food court. Donna made me a beautiful bandana with hearts on one side and x’s & o’s on the other side, and you’ll see it in the pictures.

Some of our training has been at different grocery stores, Value Village, and I tell ya, there are some good smells in there. Mom took me to Newport Village, and we went to a few stores where the staff know us. They love it when mom brings in us pups. After, we sat outside at a coffee shop, and I got stung by a wasp, luckily I didn’t have a reaction. We’re keeping up on going to a pet store once a week, and we also met PADS Lohn & his raiser at a mall and then went to a dog park.

Mom hurt her neck and had to go for physio or as she calls it, torture, aka IMS where the physiotherapist puts needles in her neck, arms and back. Brendan, the physiotherapist said I was the calmest dog mom has brought in, I was on my bestest behaviour and gave mom lots of support.

Mom discovered I have an extra special skill that’s important if I become a working dog, I like to pick up things off the ground. Let me clarify “things”, mom dropped a small piece of paper on the floor, and I immediately picked it up. She thought it was a fluke so she dropped a business card, I picked it up, then she put a pen on the floor and I picked that up. She praised me and said what a smart girl I am, I just have to make sure I only pick up things she wants me to.

Us pups need to be able to put our heads inside things, mom practices with an empty dog food bag, that’s what that picture is about, as you can see, I’m OK with it, I also walk on it even though it makes weird noises and moves.

I’m continuing to work on all different skills, I’m a work in progress, and I hear I’m going into “adolescence”. This sounds like fun to me, but mom says, not so much.

July is looking to be a busy month with parties and company, I’ll let you know how they all go.

Happy summer!
Maia

Submitted by: Alison