A Preview of Us as Parents

And it's not necessarily pretty.....

The fancy schmancy upscale interior designer came over yesterday to discuss her ideas for what to do with the house.  Knowing that Patches would jump on her, we left him in "semi-confinement"--in the hall near the kitchen behind puppy gates.  Well, that kept him from jumping on her, but didn't prevent him from barking so hard and loud that the appliances rang.  (When he hits a certain pitch and volume something in our kitchen vibrates with a bark echo. Lovely.)  Dave hops over the gate and gives Patches a peanut butter kong. Ahhhh, silence by bribery.  We're off to a good start as a well functioning family!

5 minutes later, puppy lets us know he's done!  We're both trying to explain to the designer what Patches is doing, what it means, and what we're trying to do in response all while explaining what we're looking for in the house. 

• Her "So did you choose the colors yourself?  It matches your painting nicely!"
• Us "No, the owner before us...STOP IT!  He's a collie and he barks sometimes and we're trying to....STOP IT!...ok, ok...well thank you, but no, the owner before us had good taste, not us"

At one point during the conversation, I'm talking and I get up from the table and walk over to see if I can stop the barking madness...while I'm still making some point about our house.  My back to the desinger.  My mind is half paying attention.  My mouth is still going.

THEN, the doorbell rings (actually it didn't, it's broken!  Weekend project for Dave! Woohoo!!), there's a very loud, almost violent knock, on the door.  All of us start.  Dave gives me a worried look and moves toward the door.  Is someone alerting us that the designer's car is floating out of the flood that is our driveway? Are our neighbors mad at us with all the barking?  Are we in trouble?

Wait! I see the UPS truck!  "Yay!" I say.  Then sheepishly admit "It's the toys from PetSmart!"  Yes, right in the middle of this mayhem, the big box of chew bones and play toys (including a giggler chase ball!!!) we ordered online has arrived.  While all this is happening, there's a cat in a kitchen cabinet hiding out because of the thunderstorm.  Two other cats come up and try to jump in our laps.  The dog is still not distracted and is still barking to attract some attention.  (NOTE:  We didn't open the box at the time, but we should have b/c the giggler ball was a big hit)

At this point, she looks at us and sweetly and in an understated voice says "You two need to have kids."

We started advance training last night at PetSmart with our trainer Teresa!  She is really good and calm and she thinks Patches is smart!  (Although her comments re: the barking--Well, my friends, you have a collie!  That's their talent.  woohoo)  Patches was very excited but a little thrown by the new "pack" at class.  Only one dog is  from the previous class--a 9 month old, 90 lb bear/newfoundland, Dreyfus.  He's a total sweety but huge.  He should grow to about 140 to 180 lbs.  I think Patches' new friends will be Sunny, a very cute yellow something, and Betsy, an adorable Beagle puppy.  Lexie, a huge ass German Shepherd, didn't like Patches at all and barked at him in a get-away-I-don't-like-you way.  However, after frightening all of us with Lexie's mean barking, Truman (?) came up and gave Patches a very nice doggy Hi!

Last night we tried to learn:  Automatic Sit where he sits everytime we stop walking, The AKC and German right turns while walking, and Stand Stay where he comes up from sitting and stands still.  That last one is a bit of a problem.  He knows that Sit means sit down and don't move.  To get him to Stand after he's been sitting (like a good boy!) is going to be a lot of work.  We have to actually pull his butt up off the floor to get him to stand.  Lots of practicing this week!  We're also thinking of going for the AKC Canine Good Citizen test!!!!  10 commands to get a certificate of being officially  A Very Good Dog!!

Here's a shout out to Brian who finishing up finals and meeting the parents tonight!  No need for good luck:  You'll wow both the prof and the folks on your own!!

8:10:24 AM