Goodbye

Good bye, Willy. I love you, buddy. I know you'll make me proud.

This is hard

The one thing I hear the most from people is ”But don't you get attached? I don't think I could give him up.”

YES, of course you get attached. This is so hard. I'm looking at Willy in his dog bed, sleeping happily all curled up with his Kong, and thinking that I will probably not ever see him again.

It stinks. I know he will make somebody very happy in the end, though, and that is why I'm doing this. That makes it a little easier.

I am going to be a horrible mess tomorrow after I take him to the airport, though.

What a goof

Willy loves fuzzy things. He gets a cuddly blanket in the kennel, and his big dog bed is also fuzzy. I guess he would rather try to squish himself into a tiny fuzzy dog bed for a dog half his size, than nap on the floor.

He tried awfully hard to fit.

Saying his good byes

Willy has been busy this week saying good bye to everyone.
I took him to my parent's house yesterday.
Then he went and played in the yard for awhile, and got tired. At one point, I went inside for ten minutes. I didn't tell him to stay, but when I came back he hasn't moved a muscle! I guess my mother told him to ”stay here, she will be back.”, without realizing that she just gave him a command. Good boy, Willy! He was listening when nobody else was paying attention!
He also got to run around with his pug friend one last time.



He was waiting patiently for my mom to come outside.


I also took him to my sister's house to say goodbye to his dog friend, Bo, my niece, and my sister.

Say cheese!

He took the spiral staircase like a pro.

Getting ready for his departure

I guess the teacher from Utah couldn't make it here today, so I get Willy for a couple extra days. I'm really going to miss him around here, he is such a sweet and happy dog.

I've been trying to get all of his stuff ready for his departure. He is going to be boarding the plane with the teacher, while the other dogs are getting checked in. That's pretty neat. I doubt he will be afraid, but just in case, I took him near a small airport so he could hear the planes. They were super loud, but he remained calm.

If anything, he will be trying to make friends with everyone on the plane. He is the friendliest puppy in the world.

I still need to pick up his medical certificate from the vet, because for some reason they are closed Thursdays. He needs a bath, probably tomorrow, and I need to wash his vest and headcollar, in case she needs them. Everything else is ready to go. That's good, because there are a lot of people who still want to say good bye to Willy!

I let him sleep out of his crate for the past few nights. I brought his dog bed into my room and put it next to my bed, and gave him a Kong to play with. He was so good! He didn't get up and wander around at all, just stayed put in his bed. My alarm rang and he got up and the first thing I saw when I opened my eyes was his big old tongue heading right for my face. Mmm morning dog breath!

Sniffle

Well, I got the email. I have until next Thursday with my sweet pupster.

The Botanic Gardens

I took Willy to the Botanic Gardens, to work on distractions. 

"Hey, mom, I'm ready to go somewhere!"

This little bridge bounced up and down when you walked on it. He was not concerned. He was practicing his Sit, Stay.

We had to do this one a few times, but here he is, doing a down, stay in a sandy tunnel.

Another bridge, this one rocked and swayed. He just sat there while I did my best to move the bridge around and distract him. 

Just relaxing.

I think this was a children's playhouse, but whatever it was, he sat there very nicely.

He sat next to the pond with waterfalls, and didn't run after the children nearby.

He laid under this bench while I looked at the cool pond.

Back in the car, on the way home!

He was soooo tired. 

Might I add how proud I was that we were there for three or four hours, and he drank a lot of water. Even though a huge garden probably looks like fair game for any dog, he didn't use the bathroom at all until I brought him outside the gardens and gave the command. 

After that, it was bath time. 

"Maybe if I hide back here, she will forget."

"Ok, I'm over this. Where's the exit?"

He slept like a baby.

A long day for Willy

Today, I took Willy all over the place with me. we went to the fabric store, Walmart, and ulta.

He was very well behaved, I am so proud. He would get excited every so often, but I could tell he was really trying to pay attention to me and not everything else. He ignored kids and people trying to get his attention, he didn't try to lick or eat anything, and he was trying to stay in perfect position.

After that, I took him to this neat park that my parents used to take me to so I could feed the ducks. It's kind of in the middle of all these office buildings, and there are a lot of fountains, bridges, ponds, and different kind of steps.

Right when we got there, he was really excited and distracted, but as we walked around, he got a lot better.
He practiced his sits, downs, and stays, and investigated the giant steps and surfaces.

After that, the vest came off and he got some puppy playtime on the long leash. He had a blast, and we also worked on recall.

The sun started setting, and we got ready to leave. I was so proud that he didn't relieve while we were playing or walking around. He only went afterward, on command. He's such a good pup.

He's super exhausted, now, completely passed out with his Kong.

Spying

So, I figured out a way to spy on my sneaky dog. There is an app that lets you view your phone camera screen on a computer. It's pretty handy. I left Willy downstairs with his beloved dog bed, good chew toys, a few shoes and some tissues, a makeup brush, food wrappers, a blanket, that kind of thing. I've been spying on him for probably 20 minutes.

He is being so boring. I think he knows what's going on, somehow. He hasn't done anything with any of the stuff I left, not so much as a sniff. He is just lounging in his bed. Don't get me wrong, its a great thing that he is behaving so well, but I know he is not like this all the time. I know how sneaky he is. It's ok, though, now that I have this I can use it anytime!

New bed

I got my little buddy a big dog bed, since he isn't chewing everything up all the time anymore. He hasn't left it since we got home at like 7:30.