community column

Teaching a young dog old tricks

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Most of you remember that seven months ago, I was given a beautiful little eight weeks’ old Havanese puppy that I have named “Precious the Third.” What a blessing she has been in my life. When I hear someone say that he or she is too old to get a new puppy, I say, “Bah, humbug! Not true!” Precious shall keep me much younger as the years go by; just chasing after her gives me exercise every day. Picking up after her is also great aerobic exercise.

Her favorite pastime is unrolling toilet tissue a roll at a time and streaming it all through the house. She has “toilet papered the house” several times in the past week. I have ‘policed’ every room in my house to have it safe for her antics. Her favorite toys are my shoes. She has a little of ‘Imelda Trump’ in her, as she carried all of my shoes one at a time to her bed while I was on the phone the other day. Her “turtle walk” that is done with her dog bed upside down and on her back, is quite entertaining to watch.

Dogs can prove to be a little embarrassing now and then as well. While visiting with a friend the other day, Precious proceeded to bring her “wee wee pad” into the living room to show me that she had done her business on it; thus waiting for her ‘treat’ reward for having done so. Treats will get a dog to do absolutely anything that you want them to do.

While Precious was watching the TV show, “Dog Whisperer” the other day, she got great ideas of how to get me to do almost anything that she wanted me to do. That TV show is now called the “Mommy Whisperer” as she is getting so many great ideas.

Her favorite TV show, however, is “Curious George.” That little monkey keeps her entertained for an hour every afternoon. While watching “Sesame Street” in the mornings, she is learning how to spell; soon I’ll have to be careful spelling things out to my friends, as she will know exactly what I have said.

Her greatest delight is when I turn on the Golf channel. I’m sure that she will be taking up golf very soon. She will sit in front of the TV for hours watching golf, just as my husband has done for many years. He claimed that it improved his golf game.

With all of this activity, I get very little time to quilt. I have to work on this problem this winter, as I have many projects that need finishing; but for now, watching this precious piece of God’s work running about under my feet and sitting in my lap, seems to be more important. Cold weather will be here soon, and she will outgrow her puppy mode; then I shall spend my quiet time quilting. Believe this if you will!

Visit the Ocean Wave Quilters Guild the second Friday of every month at The Players Senior Center on Landrum Ln., off CR-210 behind the Shell station at 10:00 – 12:00 p.m. Hopefully you will find me there to visit with you about quilting. Precious will most likely be with me.