"big rig"

I had my first day of school tonight! I was very happy that Mommy held me in the car ride over to PetSmart. I'm hoping they gave up on the carrier idea and I'll never have to go in that death trap again! I'm always so nervous in there. That's why I keep barking and having accidents. I hope Mommy and Daddy realized that now and will never make me go in there again!

At school tonight it was just me and an Australian Ridgeback puppy named Briggs. Briggs' daddy said he was 4 months old, but I highly doubt that!! He was so big! One of his floppy ears was probably the length of my entire body!

Briggs wasn't barking, but he did keep getting dangerously close to Daddy's feet. I had to bark a few times to let him know who's boss and to back up off of my Daddy! Briggs, however, did not seem to understand this. I barked and barked all though the pet lady's demonstration. Mommy looked a little embarassed and said she couldn't believe I was this barking this much!

The pet lady kept using Briggs for demonstrations. I know how to "sit," too, lady! I think my intimidating bark was throwing her off. I did get to play a fun game with Mommy and Daddy, though. I think it is called the "Yes" game. Mommy would say "yes" and put a tiny treat in my mouth. Then Daddy would do it. They did this over and over and I was so excited that I was getting so many treats, I was going to pay attention to whatever they wanted me to do!

Next, Mommy and Daddy would take turns asking me to "sit." Since I am pretty accomplished at this task, I did it without any problems! Then they would say "yes" and put a little treat in my mouth. A pug could get used to this! After that we did another treat-getting game called "Watch Me." Daddy took a little treat, put it above my nose, and then brought the treat all the way up to his face, between his eyes. If I watched him the entire time, I got the treat! If I looked away, I had to do it again. I was much better at this with Daddy than Mommy. (I think Mommy may need to go to her own school to figure this out!)

After the class ended, Briggs and I were allowed "play time." Well, I did not want to play with Briggs, so I kept barking until he came close. Then I had to scoot under Mommy legs. I wasn't scared, you see, I just had to protect underneath Mommy's legs in case Briggs thought he could get under there. Daddy started calling Briggs "Big Rig" because he kept pawing at me and even knocked me down a few times. He wasn't trying to be mean; I think he's just big and goofy! He was nice enough, I guess, but I just do not want to sniff his butt yet, and I would have appreciated it if he'd stop trying to sniff mine! I guess I will need to work on my butt-sniffing techniques for next week's class. Next week there is also supposed to be a little Sheltie puppy joining us. Maybe he will play nicely with me!