Our girlie Sassy

This is our girl Sassy. She is really very much my dog.

For the last couple of weeks I've been wanting to do a post on Sassy. She's done a few things lately which have caused me to feel so much pride for her.

1. She is a well-behaved dog. She knows lots and lots of things. Such as hand-signals to move to the left or right. Comes such as one-side, heel, wait, and so forth. And of course her favourite... where's the cat? :) This is, of course, said cat. Sparks is a large, lazy tom cat. Who when HE hears "where's the cat" immediately decides that not being visible would be a good idea. :) It makes us laugh. Sassy can seemingly be lost to the world, dog dreaming, and we can very quietly say... Sassy, where's the cat, and immediately she perks up her ears and looks around with this intense.....where's that cat so I can BUG HIM? :)

Lately Sassy and Justin have been ganging up on the cat. We don't really encourage this ganging up but we do allow it for 5 minutes or so...Just until Sassy starts to bark. :) We DON"T want her barking at the cat as the cat is family, squirrels on the other hand...do get barked at THEY are NOT family. :) But I digress....

2. Sassy has a strong tendency to not appreciate rude dogs at all. She is VERY quick to remind them that proper dogs don't rush into each other's space and so forth. We do not encourage this behaviour since in today's legal climate having a dog tell off another dog can land said non-dangerous dog in trouble in the province of Ontario.

Over the past couple of weeks she has met no less than four rather rude dogs. She was VERY good and very patient with them. One bichon that pulled the glove off it's owner and came bounding over with full intent to do what he likes to do...pounce on dogs. Sassy just turned her head and circled away so that I could catch him. One lab...same dog twice, being a typical young lab with "i have no brain And I got away from you!". Here I thought was major trouble waiting to happen as labs tend to bounce first and ask questions later... and Sassy stared this dog to a stand still and then said hi as friendly as could be, let me catch dog and return to apologetic owner. Of course second time around...I got a growl from her, but I did figure a growl is better than a snarl, and dumb owner should have had a better grip on young over-eager lab. :) Fourth time I think was just sheer wisdom on Sassy's part. We were walking along, minding our own business and a pack of young shepherds burst out of a house. I thought we were toast! One of these four shepherds was quite determined to get one of us, but I put that one of us behind me and acted big and tall and scary! Finally male owner (female was a bit of an idiot) whistled up the dogs and we left thanking God that nothing nasty happened. Sassy was an angel just standing quietly behind me. NOT doing her what would be normal for her....stand back "mom" I can handle this. :) She listened! She was VERY VERY good. :)

3. She's a game dog. As in she's game to try anything and do anything with me. From learning to jump after sticks into deep water (this was hard for her), to learning to play agility with me, to learning some freestyle moves and to learning to cope with a toddler in the house (having to share me). All stuff for a dog to learn and do and .... she's a good dog.

So I have a good dog. A dog I can be proud of.

For lots more doggy tales and information on how you can add yours to the "Dog Days of February" collection, go to Rebecca Writes who is featuring all things canine this month.