The APDT Conference

I've been away from the blogosphere for over a week but Barbara has a good excuse this time. She was at the Association of Pet Dog Trainers Annual Conference in Oakland, CA and Ambrose and I were at K9 Kindercare. This is a 5 day educational conference for dog trainers so it is very important. There were 1121 trainers there listening to the top behaviorists and trainers such as Dr. Brian Hare, Sue Sternberg, Steve White, Nicole Wilde and many others.

Since Barbara is the president of the APDT, she had lots of jobs to do while there. I feel that as First Dog, I should have been there too. Especially when I saw that she got to stay in the Presidential Suite. Look at the size of that place-I could have had a good time playing there.



Unfortunately I would have had to fly in the belly of a plane to get there, and of course I will not do that. The conference is mostly lectures and demonstrations so I think I would not have enjoyed it that much. I'd much rather be playing or doing tracking. And if we brought Ambrose, he would have wrecked the place for sure.

Barbara did get to go to San Francisco by ferry which I would have enjoyed. The sunset looked lovely.



The best part of the conference, as far as I am concerned, is the trade show. Vendors sell all sorts of cool dog products and Barbara always buys us lots of toys and treats. I was very excited to see that her training bag was crammed full of good stuff.



I inspected the bag very carefully. There were Wubbas, Kongs, chew toys and this great giraffe with a braided fleece body and a good squeaker in his head.



Of course I had to check out all the treats. Last year, you may remember, I did a very scientific palatability test on the various treats so that I could let you know which ones were delicious and which ones were icky. I am very willing to put my efforts into doing this again for you so that you don't have to suffer eating boring tasting treats. We will try to post about it this weekend.



Of course goofy Ambrose had to try to get in on the act. Barbara says that I have to share. Boo! Hiss!



I have the giraffe. It is mine.



If Ambrose thinks he can have it, he is goofier than I ever thought. I am going to take this giraffe onto my bed and keep Ambrose away so he doesn't get his puppy cooties all over it. He can have the Wubba!



As much as I enjoy going to K9 Kindercare and I know that it is important for Barbara to be at the conference, I am glad to be home with all my new treats and toys.

My New Bed

I have always liked my round bed. It used to be nice and puffy but lately it has gone sadly flat. I blame it on Ambrose of course. He is always jumping on it and smashing it down. He tore up his own bed and so has to sleep on a bath mat. He tries to get on my bed when ever he can.



Barbara decided I needed a new comfy bed. Look what she brought home from the dog show last month! It is the most comfy, puffy bed that I have ever had. I know that those bed afficianados, Agatha and Archie, would approve.



I love it and am doing my best to keep Ambrose off of it. I don't want his adolescent puppy cooties on my lovely bed. My old bed has been demoted to his bed! Ha!

Goat Patrol

I had a busy weekend. On Saturday morning, before she had lessons, Barbara took me over to the Durham Kennel Club to practice my freestyle. We are working on a new routine and I am practicing ignoring the people on the sidelines (I love to visit people). This is hard. Here I am checking out my training bag to see if I can snag a few extra goodies.



I sent Ambrose over to Scout's house to play in her yard.



The two of them play really rough. They like to run and bash and play bitey face. Since they are both adolescents they really need to run off their excess energy. I am so glad that they like to play like this because after Ambrose has played with Scout, he behaves better at home.



We went to the dog park first thing this morning. When we pulled into the parking lot I was astounded to see a herd of goats in the woods next to the parking lot!



They are The Goat Patrol. Their person drives them around to places that need the weeds eaten up and they graze on the vegetation! I love goats and once I saw them I didn't even care if I went into the dog park.



I could see that this goat really wanted to play with me. I wish I could have joined her but there was an electric fence around the goats to keep them in the woods (and to keep the dogs out).

Show Dogs

My sister Tori is a show dog. Barbara tried to get me to be a show dog but I thought standing still and looking pretty was boring. I am a go-girl and like to do freestyle and tracking. I also can not stand dog grooming torture and if you are entered in conformation shows you have to do a lot of it.

In July Tori went to a big show in Salem, VA. It is the same show where Fenway had a big win. I wish I had known Fenway was going to be there because I would have told Tori to go and play with him. I am sure that it would have been more fun than standing around in a show ring.

Anyway Tori did great. She got a 4 point major at the Friday show and a 5 point major on Sunday. This means that she had to beat lots of other Gordon Setters to get that many points. The judge who gave her the 5 points is very famous and knowledgeable so that was a big win.



I think she looks quite beautiful and regal and she will be a champion soon.

Now Barbara thinks that Ambrose should enter the show ring. This must be a joke! What judge in his right mind would give any kind of ribbons to this goofy boy?



Me? I'll stick with tracking.

Royal's 2nd Birthday Party

My Drill Team buddy, Royal, turned 2 and invited us to his party. Last year's event was a social success so I didn't want to miss it even though Ambrose was invited too. I was a little worried that Ambrose would act crazy and embarrass us.

Doesn't Royal look handsome? He is wearing a decorative collar from Jing-a-ling Dog Bandanas. We all got these nice reversible collars as party favors. Check out the site for the ruffled collars and bandanas.



I think that I look pretty spiffy in mine.



We had a great time running around with all the other dogs (and we were very well behaved, even Ambrose) but we really wanted to get up on the deck for the refreshments.



Royal's person, Jenn, made us dogs a terrific carrot/peanut butter cake with cream cheese frosting and dog biscuit decorations!



Everyone got a slice. I was drooling in anticipation.



Barbara put the plates down for us and by the time she reached around to grab her camera, we had inhaled the cake and licked the plates clean!!! Very yummy!



Thanks for inviting us Royal. We had a great time. And I'm glad that goofy Ambrose didn't ruin your party.

We Are Trying This Again

She has promised me that this time we will get back to regular blogging. I have heard the excuses and they all lame. Unfortunately, Barbara is the one with the opposable thumbs and I am dependent on her to type my dictation. Just think what I could do with thumbs!

I've had lots of adventures since I last posted. I've been to a birthday party, went to Virginia to visit my siblings, gave some freestyle demos, helped Barbara with her students and gotten back to tracking now that the weather is a bit cooler. All Ambrose is doing is growing and being bad. If I listed all the bad things he has done in the last two months you would be reading for a week!



We've had some good times in the dog park. I will give Ambrose credit for being a good player. Here he is making friends with a little Boston Terrier.





Even though Ambrose is now as big as I am, he still is really goofy. Look at all the dirt on face and on his tongue. What a mess!



I'll try to post photos of some of my adventures in the next few days. I can't wait to catch up on all your blogs. I've missed you guys.