Why being smart is an advantage

At the outset of this post I would like to say that we have termed Saturdays "Honk Saturdays" because of the horrible drivers in our city. Today, someone ran a stop sign and nearly killed us! She didn't even slow down - hubs had to swerve dangerously out of the way and we were fortunate to avoid the accident. It would have been a bad accident as she only stopped inches from our car and didn't bother swerving at all... just drove straight at us. I saw two things: my life before my eyes (actually, I saw my doggie's life) and the scratches already on her front bumper. Obviously a terrible driver. Some choice words were exchanged (our words - she was too busy trying to avoid our gaze.) To the driver of the electric blue Toyota Camry - LEARN TO DRIVE. (No, it wasn't Jr.) (Haha!)

Ok! Onto today's post.

If you asked me whether I would rather be rich and stupid, or poor and intelligent, I would pick poor and intelligent every time. Of course, someone always has to say that if you were intelligent, you wouldn't be poor. But let's not argue over that sort of thing right now. Intelligence is worth a lot. So is kindness and patience and compassion, but we aren't discussing those qualities at the moment. I promise - I am not a complete jerk.

As you may have already read, Kodi came in first in her puppy kindergarten class today. We were of course thrilled. I made hubby take her through the testing because I was worried she wouldn't walk properly if I was with her. She didn't walk fantastically in any event, but then again none of the dogs really did. Perhaps they wondered why they were being walked on a leash in circles around the room. Her "leave it" trick was awesome and she was also great at sit/stay and down/stay. We are going to take her to basic obedience (in which she will hopefully learn to "heel" and do a down/stay for three minutes!) - but that will have to wait a couple of months until she's older. Right now we are just so happy that she learned some tricks and also learned to be a little more assertive and playful. I caught her biting some doggy ears today during playtime. Hmm.

Let me tell you about one of the dogs in the class. I will call him Nerdlet. His real name isn't that of course, but one never knows who is online. Nerdlet came to class with his mom and, um, older brother (maybe a 10 year old kid or so.) As background... on the first day, all of the dogs had the wrong collars - we all had to get training collars. Some of us also had the wrong leashes. Nerdlet had the wrong collar, the wrong leash, and also, he wore a raincoat. INDOORS. Nerdlet's mom tried to protect him from playing with the other dogs, as she was worried he would get hurt. (Nerdlet is the same age as our girl, but much larger.)

As the weeks went on, Nerdlet's mom finally bought him a better leash. On week 3, she still had the wrong collar, and her excuse was that the training centre didn't have the proper collar. The trainer pointed out that there are other stores that sell the right stuff. So finally on week 4, Nerdlet had abandoned the raincoat and was wearing the proper gear. But that sadly did not eliminate his... elimination problems. Nerdlet had developed the unfortunate habit of peeing and/or pooing (usually both) at every class. The first time, his mom had to pick up the poo and she kept complaining that it was gross. I suspect she is the sort who lets him poo everywhere and doesn't clean it up. Even on graduation day, Nerdlet had to pee. And not just a little bit - I am talking about a full pee. What did Nerdlet's mom do? She stood there of course! I would have grabbed my dog and taken him outside to pee. Instead she let him pee and then waited for the trainer to mop it up (you are supposed to mop it up yourself.)

Nerdlet was terrible at his tricks. His mom insisted that he does not know how to lay down without physically moving his feet forward. Alas he did not pass that section. Even when the trainer showed them ways to train him, the mom looked totally clueless. The trainer told his mom that Nerdlet was playing her - he totally knew WHAT to do, he just did not want to do it. Poor Nerdlet.

To top it off, during playtime, all he wanted to do was run up to people and grab/hump their legs. I was unimpressed. I can't stand that sort of thing.

I'm really glad to have my little doggie! She has been such a joy (and at times, such a terror.) When I have kids, I'll tell my kids that winning isn't everything, and that winners should be gracious. But for now, I'll tell my dog that she's allowed to gloat over the Nerdlets of the world. After all, she was the best-behaved and the best-qualified for the next level of classes. Of course she's smart - she has really smart parents. Heh.

Later I will post a picture of the dog with her prize!