Life on the Leash

I often hold training sessions in the store before I open. Since Sum is my constant companion now, he has to come and hang behind the counter while my clients and I click-click-click our canine student. The poor guy knows what the clicker means, so every so often he’ll give a little whine, as if to say, “I can come when called! Let me try too!”

Sumner visits during “recess.” He does some consensual sniffing with the student-dog, then gets to begging. And drooling.

The poor red chair!

This interwebs thing can make the world seem very, very small.

Here’s the story … years ago I trained Gene Weingarten’s dog. He mentioned me a few times in his popular online chat, and one of his readers, Abby, a Foreign Service Officer stationed in Albania, got in touch with me to ask for advice about her Albanian street dog, Cooper. We started a friendly correspondence (Cooper, you have very dedicated people!), and a year later when Abby and her husband Paul were passing through DC, they invited me to meet for drinks.

Was I a tad worried about meeting these two strangers? Uh, a little, sure. Turned out they were ridiculously nice, and they didn’t try to roofie me once! And they brought me a present – a beautiful pendant from Albania that nets me compliments every time I wear it. Drinks turned into dinner, and we parted as friends.

Cut to another year later and our move to PA … Abby and Paul were about to embark on their new assignment in India and they were connecting with friends and family on the East Coast before leaving. And you know what that means …

Cooper visited the red chair!

I loved meeting him after hearing about him for so long. He was adorable, curious, and willing to eat anything I offered him. I totally bribed him to like me.

Abby and Paul treated him to a LOTL shopping spree, then he joined us for dinner.

They gave me another gift, making sure to note that the bottle referenced my dog connection, not my temperament:

(Those who know me well might think it fits on both levels.)

Abby, Paul and Coop – best of luck to you in your new home. Thanks for visiting … Namaste!

Meet Yoda.

Can you guess what he is? (Hint: he’s a mix of two unique breeds.)

(My Facebook friends were already introduced to Yoda, so don’t cheat, y’all! Speaking of Facebook … have you been wondering why my blog posts are so infrequent these days? That’s because 90% of my cute pix are ending up there – join the fun!)

Sumner continues to amaze me. He’s almost a perfect host to our shoppers. He’s still shy, but he’s able to demo the treat-dispensing toys in front of an audience:

Even better, he’s now greeting many of our canine shoppers out on the floor! Without incident, I should add. If the visiting dog makes him uneasy he’ll take a sniff and then head right back to his bed behind the counter.

He was curious and gentle with these wee pups:

We wound up with a total of four dogs (the puppies, Polo and Daisy) plus a free-ranging Sum in here, and everyone did great.

That play bow I’ve been hoping for? He did two with a Goldendoodle pup a few weeks ago. It was magical! Quite proud of my old man’s new tricks.