I don't know if I'm really smarter than before, but I'm sure getting bigger cause all the treats I get there. School is lots of fun. I get to see all of my doggie friends and visit with other humans too! I get to play with a "dumbbell", jump over boards, and sometimes just "heeling" around and around the room chasing all the other doggies, but we never catch up with any of them. They're always ahead of us. I also have to watch out for the ones chasing us, but they never catch us either. Once in a while my mom pops a treat in my mouth and says "good girl", "good heel", "excellent job". As long as I hear that and get treats, I don't care if we go around in circles all night. Maybe we're all supposed to lose some weight since we doggies get so much treats!

I have two teachers, Loretta Delinger, and Lori Drouin. They're both great! I must be doing good because they keep letting us come back. The only hard thing about school is that even though I know how to do a behavior, I'm not suppose to do it until Mom gives the command. I mess up there a lot because I want to finish the behavior quickly and get my reward. They call that "anticipating", and it's not good. They try to trick me by giving me other commands, but I get confused. For instance, I know on the recall I'm suppose to run real fast to mom to get my treat, but when the teacher says "call your dog", Mom doesn't always give me the signal to come right away. So I help by coming anyway. But when I do that, she doesn't like it and makes me repeat the exercise again. All these silly humans, why do I have to sit or lie down a certain way, or not move at all? Or sit each time Mom stops. Then I have to hurry to catch up with her when she starts walking again. If I don't have to sit when she stops, I would be ready to go when she does! Oh well, I guess there's a reason, so I'll keep going to school to get smarter so I can find out what it's all about.

Sometimes mom takes me to a park and we have to do certain things in a "ring" fenced only with ribbons. I can escape from the ring if I wanted to, but I stay to keep mom company. Then we go through some "exercises" with a human following us giving commands. This worries me because I'm afraid I'll mess up and mom won't give me any treats. Anyway, sometimes if I'm real good, the "judge" will give mom a ribbon or a prize, but I don't get any treats! That's no fair...I do all the work and Mom gets the reward! Some day I'll discuss this with her. One time in the ring I decided not to obey the commands and just went visiting the stewards near the table. Boy, was this a big mistake! I didn't make the "leg" and really disappointed mom. She just took me to more classes, but I didn't mind because I love going to class!

Lori has this really neat Sheltie named Chaser who is really, really smart. He must have gone to school a lot because he's got a "UD" degree, and that's much better than a "CD" (which I have)! But I've got a "CGC" and a "Therapy Pet" degree too. He always does everything just right, which makes us look bad in class because the rest of us aren't as smart. Maybe that's why he gets to relax or play in his pen while we have to work! Sometimes my mom sneaks a treat to him, but his mom doesn't know. Don't tell her.