Sit, Stay, Stop...
              ...oops!!!

• You will encourage me, comfort me, groom me and feed me.
• Through positive reinforcement I will learn what you want me to do.
• Physical pain and things that frighten me will be remedied by you,
  not intentionally caused by you.
• Pleasing you and being happy are important goals for both of us.
• Enforcing our rules "some of the time" confuses me. Follow our rules, consistiently.
• Recognize signals for my need to go out/potty, my pain, my fear and my need for love.

Basic Commands and Phrases

• Come Front --- When they say this, I go in front of them. I don't have to sit, I just have to go in front of them.
• Come --- They say this to call me from a sit stay in obedience. I am required to sit right in front of them and wait for more commands to finish, or release.
• Ok --- I like this one. It's the release word from wait or stay.
• Wait --- They use this when they want me to stay, but in a minute they're going to call me, saying "Come" or "Come Front."
• Stay --- Oh, this is such a toughie! I have to remain in position, whether I'm sitting, standing or down until they come back to me and say "Ok". I just want to wriggle!
• Easy --- I love to hate this word. They say it so softly to settle me laying on my back. I love it when they stroke my belly and croon to me. I don't love it when they groom my teeth and nails, but since they stroke me more often than they groom me, so I like to be "Easy".
• Can You Show --- Although sometimes they just say "Show", they mean for me to pose in a show stance, then they give me a goodie.
• Heel --- I can do this, if these people would remember that "Heel" means for me to be on their left side.
• This Side --- And this would be so simple... if they remember this means I'm supposed to be on their right side.
• Let's Go Outside! --- They sure get excited over this one. They don't make me go outside in the wintertime though, I go in my potty pen. They take me to it first thing every morning and right before bedtime. And about every 3 hours during the day. Sometimes I don't want to go, and I give them this really pained look, but do you think they believe me? (sigh)
• Go Potty --- DUH. They say this and I relieve myself. I mean, seriously, people. They put me in the pen, they say go potty... what ELSE am I going to do, play the piano? Usually they say "Hurry, hurry!" Yeah, it's cold in the garage, and I do hurry hurry! And I'm a GOOD girl about "going" too. That's because I love to hear the next words:
• Good Dog! --- Oh yes I am so happy when they say this, and they say it always after I go potty. Because I'm always a good dog. And they say it when I follow a command exactly. It's almost as nice as getting a goodie.
• Wrong. --- Oh I don't LIKE this word. They don't yell it or anything, they just say it like... like... it's a void. It's so empty! Then they show me what they wanted me to do and I do it and they say "Good Dog!"
• OUGHT! --- I probably like this word the least of ALL the words they say. It means I have to stop what I'm doing (usually sniffing for a place to potty) and pay attention. Then they take me to potty. Gee, can't I just smell the floor sometimes? But no, they say I OUGHT! not! They say it if I'm sniffing around something I could get into trouble for, too ... like homework papers... or something they dropped but I'm not allowed to eat... (those orange things they call cheetos look SO interesting, but they won't EVEN let me have one!) For Ginger they say, "Not for dogs." Some people just tell their dogs "no". I really know to stop though, when I hear "OUGHT!" and Ginger is learning it also!
• Stop --- I don't hear this one directed at me very often, but once when I snapped at Ginger for being nosy, I heard it. Mostly dogs who whine or bark or jump up hear it. Ginger hears it a LOT! (snicker, snicker) She barks and jumps up all the time!
• Bad Floor --- I have heard of a man who would hit himself over the head with a newspaper, and say "I should have been watching, I should have been watching, I should have been watching" when his dog had an accident on the floor. My people say "BAD FLOOR!" While this sounds hilarious... it is UTTERLY embarrassing, because they do this when I wet the floor. I know that's unacceptable, and then they clean up my accident and they are really, really angry at the floor, scrubbing and rubbing it. I know they're not really mad at me, I didn't do it on purpose. But I can't open the garage door and get into my potty pen all by myself. If I was sniffing around, it's not my fault I couldn't wait another minute. They NEVER Hit me, or make me smell my accident or rub my nose in it, because that could possibly break my little jaw. It's very very fragile and my teeth could fall out! Not to mention that it would make me afraid of them AND my potty business! But let me tell you... I'm not going on the floor again... that's just too weird to see the humans act that way.

Agility Terms

• TUNNEL --- It's a tunnel! I love the tunnel!
• CHUTE --- This is weird, it's a collapsed tunnel with a fabric chute attched.
• TIRE --- It's a tire! I love to jump through the tire!
• JUMP --- These are so much fun! They're like hurdles and I hurtle over them, bounding, bounding, bounding!
• OVER --- Ooo! This is a BIG jump. Sometimes there's WATER! I can make it over! I know I can!
• SCRAMBLE --- If I could sing "Climb Every Mountain" from The Sound of Music you'd get the idea. This is the A-Frame, I scramble up it and scramble down it.
• TEETER --- I'm a teeter totaler. This one is new to me and I'm learning how to master it. It's fun, though!
• WALK UP --- I can pretend I'm a construction worker on a skyscraper on this one. Or not.
  It's a cake walk, easy as pie!
• WEAVE --- Oh, I love to fly in and out between the weave poles! ZOOM! ZOOM! ZOOM!
• TABLE --- It's a table! You want me up on it! You want me to show? Okay!
• HERE --- Here with you. That's right where I want to be. (wagging tail)