Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Good Thinking

Alfie walking in his jacket at my side, happy look on his face, tail high and wagging
I LOVE to work!

Had to laugh during today's walk when I noticed Alfie was paying better attention to our work than I was!  We were working at a new location (Sports Authority) and came to the section where they had row upon neatly arranged row of bikes for sale.  Great place to practice turns and "watch me."  So we were working our way through this rubber-tire-smelling maze and Alfie was doing great when I asked him to turn left into the next row.  He snorted loudly and refused, giving me one of his...well...looks.  I thought he was just being stubborn and repeated my command.  He refused again, this time sitting down rather decisively to emphasize his point.  That's when I actually took the trouble to look down that aisle...to see that way down the opposite end of that row, someone had pulled one of the bikes out into the aisle and it effectively blocked the path.  Since the aisles were so narrow (no room to turn around), I'd have either had to roll the bike out of the way, or we'd have both had to back out the way we came.  I had to laugh out loud at myself for missing that...and was pretty happy with Mr. Alf for avoiding the obstacle!

I can't say that all Alfie's mental activity is quite that commendable, though.  One of the things I worry about is his poor tolerance for boredom.  I was down with some type of virus for a couple of days and was treated to such attention-getting pranks as this...

Alfie at the back glass door looking very handsome EXCEPT for the fact that in his mouth he's holding a small cookie can that he snagged from a living room chair
Heh heh, look who's got your Chips Ahoy now!

He didn't actually try to chew the can of cookies open or anything, he just wanted to flaunt it at me so I'd notice and play with him.  Not exactly what you want when you're in bed snuffling and sniffing...sigh!  So for the next day or so Charissa gave him some extra backyard training sessions, and we made sure he was stocked with chew toys to keep him busy.  That seemed to work pretty well.

So yeah, ups and downs...but overall I think he's coming along!

In the GREAT NEWS category for GDTx...their 1st ever brood, yellow lab Poppy, gave birth this morning to a fantastic litter of 8 gorgeous puppies.  5 girls and 3 boys, the "A" litter is getting the GDTx breeding program off to a great start!

3 comments:

Lisa and pups said...

Hosta and Alfie sound so similar. I can see Hosta pulling a stunt like that when he gets bored! That's what we get for having such smart canine friends though! :)

Erin said...

Hahah that's great!! Go Alfie!!!!

Infrequent Flyers said...

He is something!! I guess there are pros and cons to everything. Hope you are feeling better! It's hard to be a wife, mom, and dog mom, when you don't feel good.