Yogi's Resume

Yogi F. Von Kinghaus
Born January 14, 2015

Completed classes and certifications:

Petco Puppy I May 2, 2015
AKC Star Puppy May 9, 2015
Petco Puppy II June 16, 2015
Sumner Park and Recs Beginner Dog Class June 20, 2015

In home training:
Average 1.5 hours per day

Commands and hand signals:
Look, or Mira, finger points at eye
Sit, palm up
Down, palm down
Stand, start with sit hand signal then pull hand away in a fist
Wait, hand slashes like an inverse karate chop
Wait till the human crosses the threshold, then OK
Wait for food or a treat
Wait, Come
Wait, Look Left, Look Right when crossing a street, (this is only ten percent successful at present)
Look Left or Look Right, (this is still sketchy)
Touch Yellow, Touch Blue, Touch Grey, ( should have taught nose yellow, but it is too late now
 Leave It, Come, Fetch, Stay, Find It, Find Heel, Settle, Good Boy, Yes, Right and Left.

Concrete day - I am in jail

Last night the pack walked to Banker's Spit. I met a lovely lady named Scarlet and her pittbull Roxie. We romped and slobbered all over each other, but didn't sniff very much. She was bigger than me and I got knocked around a bit, but stayed in the game. We came back to the lair's lanai and Stephen put on some Beth Hartman, he thinks she sounds a bit like Janis Joplin.

This morning started slowly. Stephen and I went on a walk and then he made Kathy a Dickey's smoked turkey sandwich, (I had kibbles),  Kathy started to sort out our upcoming trip, by putting all the reservations in one document. Then Stephen took my outside to go potty and put me in my crate.

Then they went down the hill to work on Stephen's project. I don't know what it is, but it makes a great agility ramp. An hour later they came back to let me out. You know, I could have helped them. Yesterday, when Stephen was digging the hole, I helped.

Later, when the concrete had set and I couldn't knock the post off plumb, I went down to inspect Stephen and Kathy's work.

The day begins and ends with quiet time

I have a schedule. At 0555 Kathy's phone starts buzzing, they call it an alarm. We get up and I go outside and go potty. Then we have quiet time. Kathy and Stephen often read books wrapped in nylon chewtoys, or catch up on their PeeMail on their iBones. At 0900 I get breakfast, which some people say is the most important meal of the day. That is wrong! Every meal is important, in fact, every kibble is important. In fact, every crumb of every kibble is important.

Then we have our day. It seems like every day is different. Last night, I started my new class, Petco AKC Canine Good Citizen. They are asking the most outrageous things of me. The whole pack is dubious that I am going to pass.

But every night we end up on the back lanai. Stephen and Kathy sit on the love seat. I Go To My Mat. I have my own chair with my Mat. Stephen and Kathy say I will need it, that soon I will not fit on people chairs, and my AKC brand blue ducky. I think I need a bigger Mat too. We watch the planes on their final approach to SEATAC. We watch the bats eat bugs. We watch the ducks cruise slowly on the lake. Sometimes we even get to see eagles. At 2200, Stephen eats some people treats called tryptophan. The light fades and we go to sleep.

PeeMail from Roxie at Meeker Days Puyallup

Dear Yogi,

I met Stephen and Kathy from your pack at Meeker Days. They say you and I look exactly like that. I am not sure that is possible since you are a boy and I am a girl. But if you post this on your blog, maybe my pack will post a comment and we can get together and sniff in real life.

Chaser, a very smart dog, is on TV

Sandy sent Stephen an encouraging link about Chaser, a collie that knows over a thousand words and can deduce. I just smiled while Stephen watched with his jaw dropped. You only know the half of it, human, only the half. He is also on YouTube with a couple videos including this very touching one.

Petco Puppy II Graduation

None of us pups in class were able to come to our class this Saturday, so Nikki, our trainer, rescheduled us for Tuesday. I did great on the Down Stay, struggled a bit with the 30 second Sit Stay and the 10 second Stand Stay but we got er done. The hardest was the come with distractions. They had me switch to another handler and she was giving me treats.

I think I might have heard Kathy calling me, but all I could think about were the treats. I finally heard Stephen. We talked about this as a pack. Should I take treats from other people? I feel the answer is of course I should. Kathy pointed out this is something dognappers do, lure puppies with treats. Stephen pointed out poison treats are sometimes used to disable protection dogs. But I said I am not going to be a protection dog.

Anyway, we will figure it out and in the meantime, call me the graduate, (and that, one day before I turned five months old)! I will miss Lucy and Halle.

Tooth Brushing - Not Sure I like it

When I was a puppy I liked getting my teeth brushed, now I am not so sure. Stephen and Kathy said they would look into getting another flavor of toothpaste.

Moncrief came to visit

Monty is my friend. We puppy wrestle for hours. He came over to visit and we went to Banker's Spit park together with Stephen and Kathy. It isn't that hot, but we are used to the cold, so by the time we got there we were both dripping water off of our tongues.

So we decided to get into the lake.

We got very dirty, so Stephen and Kathy combed us. Then Monty and his pack took a nap and so did Kathy and I.

PeeMail from Braddock and Harley

Braddock and Harley from the Imbert pack wrote and they sent a picture of them being good boys. Braddock, the brown canine is very ill, but he got to run with his pack for a long time. I will send them a note back!

Dear Braddock and Harley,

Thanks for the friend request on Snoutbook. I would be happy to be your friend. Maybe we can meet at a dog park or a yappy hour sometime and sniff in real life.

Saturday is School day

They let me sleep late this morning. Normally the alarm goes off at 5:55 and I am outside by 6:00 AM to go potty. This works pretty well, I have had a dry crate for over two months. I even have a pillow in it which is a strong sign Stephen and Kathy trust me.

Today we slept till 7:00. Since I am a 21 week old puppy, I know some things, and getting to sleep late means this is going to be a big day. This is the week before graduation for not just one, but two puppy classes. Another benefit of being 21 weeks old is I am not afraid of my antler chew toy any longer, if fact, I give it the what for.

Both of my teachers are telling Stephen and Kathy to quit using treats so much, what is up with that? Puppies like treats.

Alpha and Omega Dog Training + big day

Wow. I am a big puppy now, but I have limits to what I can process. Stephen, Kathy and I left the house at one thirty to meet with Garrett at Alpha and Omega dog training.  As usual Stephen and Kathy were lost. However they managed to connect with Garrett by phone and get there.

This session we met at a shopping center with a Petpros.  If you can ever spend forty five minutes in a Petpro I highly recommend the investment. The employees are very supportive and I got to meet other pets and pet owners. Very cool.

After that, we went to Bradley Lake Park in Puyallup. There are some cool birds there, but when I came up to meet them they went into the lake. I am not ready to swim yet so they went away.

On the home we went to Brants BBQ. They have outside tables and I am supposed to be working on meeting people. Several wonderful humans met with me. That was fun. Wednesday is all you can eat at Branks, but neither Stephen or Kathy would feed me any people food. But Stephen rubbed my kibbles in his hands after eating the chicken. UMMMM, those were some good kibbles.

When we got home, Stephen, the leader of the pack,  found a box on the porch. It was dried Porcini mushrooms. What are mushrooms? Anyway, he gave me one of them. I didn't know what to do with it, so it was a thirty minute chewtoy. Maybe Stephen will let me taste his wild boar and porcini mushroom recipe from Italy.