22 posts tagged “penny”

It was a big day for Penny yesterday as she completed and graduated from her Family Dog I class.  For the past month and a half or so, we’ve been working on sitting and staying and heeling and coming when called – all the things that are needed to be a good dog citizen.
 

I will have to say that Penny didn’t really love the classroom environment, because she couldn’t quite conceive of a place where there were half a dozen nice dogs and that she wasn’t supposed to play with them.  What else could they be there for???
 
Still – when called on to do her series of behaviors, I have to say that she did really really well and passed with flying colors.  After the final class, there was a little graduation ceremony and all the dogs received their diplomas to everyone’s cheers, though I’m pretty sure Penny was everybody’s favorite (not that I’m biased or anything).
 
After the class, Penny got an extra treat and then got to go play with her BFF Roxy the Vizsla at dog beach.  They ran and ran and ran together and just had a great old time.
 

Afterwards, we all tramped over to a dog-friendly café in Del Mar for a late breakfast, relaxing well into the early afternoon over good food, pleasant conversation and tired pups.
 
Good job, Penny!

It was a big couple of days at The Aerie this past weekend as our eight-month-old puppy Penny made her debut in the show ring.

I know – many of you are saying, “Dog show?!!?  You guys are dog show people?!?!?”  Well, we’re really not.  But the breeders that we got Penny from are local, and it helps them to have more dogs in the ring, so we were happy to do it and have a little goofy adventure.  We tried to get Penny mentally ready by having her play with her Busy Bee – I’m not so sure she got the hint.

The show was right nearby in Del Mar for two days (Saturday & Sunday).  Penny, of course, had no idea what all these dogs were doing in the same place.  It must have seemed like the biggest dog park in the world.   Of course, dog park behavior is NOT appreciated at the show, so she was on a pretty short leash.

One thing she got to do was meet (and play with a little) her brother, Tucker, who was also there for the first time.

For a first timer, Penny did pretty well (the breeders did all the handling) – though she didn’t seem too thrilled to have to stand stock still while some strange man felt her up (can’t say that I blame her).

And for her efforts she won Best In Class* on both days!  And on Sunday, a very kindly judge took a shine to her and also awarded her a Best Reserve ribbon (which is sort of like a group 1st Runner up).

After all that pomp and circumstance and standing still and controlled trotting, we did go let out all the pent-up excitement at dog beach – which I have to say was probably her favorite part of the weekend.

After that, someone was pretty pooped, but also got plenty of love and treats for the rest of the day on Sunday.  Good job, Penny!

*Let’s not mention around her that she was the only dog in her class (females, 6-9 months), ok?

It was a busy morning for our little pack -- with Family Dog I, a trip to dog beach with her best pal Roxy and then a walk through Del Mar (for us) to get a late brunch.

Since then, it's been reading and lying around.  Some folks were even happy to lie on my chest in the late afternoon sun.

Over the last couple of weeks, there have been a number of posts here and on fb by parents about their child’s first day of school.  For a parent, this can be a traumatic day – a sense of time passing too quickly and anxiety about whether their fledgling can handle the classroom.  Of course, there’s also a feeling of pride seeing your little one move on to the next level.

And so it was at The Aerie this morning as Penny began taking her first class – Family Dog I.  She had never taken  “Puppy Kindergarten” because of her age when we got her and when she finished getting her shots.  Now, she’s done pretty good around the house and on walks, but we wondered how she’d do in a more formalized setting.

We stopped off at the dog park on our way over to class to let her burn off some steam.  It was a foggy early morning and we certainly appreciated how quickly one can lose a white dog in a fog bank.

Soon we were at our class (held at a great local pet-store) with about seven other really nice seeming dogs, aged a few months to a couple of years.  Penny seemed to be right in the middle age-wise.

The early lessons – including “sit”, which she’d already gotten pretty early in her stay here  -- were pretty easy and Penny did pretty well.  She was pretty easily distracted by the other dogs and passersby, but could usually be called back to attention.  After some time, she began to whine a bit – being on a short leash and not being able to play with her new friends seemed to be the issue.  Oh, the drama of growing up!

Afterwards, we were off to dog-beach so she could really run out some of her excitement/frustration.  And someone even got a Texas Toothpick treat after her big first day of school.

Good job, Penny!

So, last week I showed how Penny has been more than willing to help out while I play the piano, and the other day she decided that she could help out with Happy Hour.

Now, without opposable thumbs, she’s not very good with a cocktail shaker, but she did show a lot of interest in “helping” me while the Beloved and I were playing a few hands of gin rummy…

… looks like I had a good hand.

Yesterday, we took a Labor Day Weekend Excursion to another one of San Diego’s dog-favorites – Coronado’s Dog Beach.  We went down with good friends we hadn’t seen in too long and their two mini-dachshunds, Indiana Jones and Bella Xocolate – who is the newest addition to their household, about 10 weeks old.

The weather was grand, with a nice cool breeze coming in off the ocean.  The doxie’s were pretty happy to stay close, while Penny found it a great place to run…

…and run…

… finally we corralled her enough to come home.

We all a nice dinner on the Aerie’s patio (even Bella who was tuckered out) and relax with a glass of wine….

or two…

Someone's become very interested in my playing...

Today Penny turned six-months old.  And so, as a surprise, we went back to the breeders where we’d gotten her in Escondido.

It was very exciting.  All the dogs were excited to see her.  The breeders gave her lots of love and treats because she truly was one of their favorites.  They all said that she looked very happy and very healthy!

She got to do another victory lap around the German Short Hairs that were still there.  And everyone had a grand-old time.

She also got to visit with her brother (Bobo) and her sister (Rose-girl).

Rose girl was very sweet and the owners jokingly said that if Penny wanted her sister with her, that I could just take her home.

Alas – time went by very quickly and it was time to go home again – but it sure was nice to visit with her brother and sister for a bit.

The Beloved and I are heading out of town this weekend which should be a lot of fun for us, but maybe not so much fun for Penny --- who, while she’ll get great treatment from our pet-nannies, is due for quite a bit of crate time.

So, as a treat for her, and hopefully get her good-and-tired and not really minding some crate-sleeping, we went to dog-beach in Del Mar for some good ol’ running around.

This isn’t the first time we’ve gone there, but it is the first time I remembered to bring my camera.

Technically, the dog-beach area is on-leash only until after Labor Day, but the only dogs I saw paying attention to that were ones attached to joggers.

The great thing is that it’s a large area to run around for Penny and chock full of other dogs to play with.  Most of the dogs (and owners) are really friendly and it’s good socialization for Penny (who’s a little nervous around strangers still).

Afterwards, we walked about a mile-plus through some of Del Mar’s nicer neighborhoods to a nice little breakfast lunch place that is dog-friendly.  I had a sausage-egg-and-cheese croissant and Penny had some water and kibble.  Though I think she thought maybe mine looked a little better.

Good morning!

Yesterday, Penny and I took a pleasant early-morning excursion to the local park and canyon that was the inspiration for her name -- the Los Penasquitos Canyon Preserve, which is essentially down the hill from our house.

Penny really enjoyed it --- there were SO MANY NEW THINGS TO SMELL!!  There were birds to flush and bunnies to scatter.

We did a nice combo of trail running and exploring.

The preserve is pretty serious about keeping dogs on leash when in the park, which Penny wasn't a big fan of.

Even so --- we found a good spot or two to do some off-leash (or at least leash-dragging) practice.

We were out early with a little cloud cover and back home before the heat of the day kicked in. All in all, a great morning.