Award!

This is a non dog related post, but if you would like to know a little more about me, feel free to read!

Days with Dante has been awarded the Sunshine Award from my friend Lauren at Jacob and Lauren Goetze.  Thanks, Lauren!

Here are the rules:
1.  Thank the person who awarded you.
2.  Place the Sunshine award on your blog.
3.  Answer the questions  about yourself that can be found on the blog of the person who nominated you.
4.  Nominate others for the award!

Here are Lauren's questions:

What is your favorite holiday movie?  I have to say "It's a Wonderful Life" because my family watches it every Christmas Eve and it is such a great movie and tradition.  

What is your favorite flower?  Ooo, this is a hard one.  Sunflowers are one of my favorite!

What is your favorite drink?  I hardly drink anything besides water, but on special occasion my favorite has to be an Izze.

 What is your passion?  Well, more obviously one of my passions is raising puppies, but I am extremely passionate about my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Not so much a passion, but a hobby, I love to crochet and have been sooo inspired lately (Pinterest, anyone?), but can't seem to find the time I need to get it all done :-)

What is your favorite time of the year?  Fall.  Hands down.

What is your favorite time of the day?  Depends on the day!  Hahaha!  Probably right before bed when Dante has been crated and I sit on my bed reading my Bible and whatever other pleasure books I'm reading at the time.

 What is your favorite physical activity?  I enjoy walking D and love jumping rope (which I still haven't been able to start up again after breaking my ankle in June).

What is your favorite vacation spot?  Beaufort, NC.  Cutetest beach town EVER.

As I was writing this, I realized that a good portion of my readers don't know me outside of this blog, so I hope your enjoyed this break in "regular" post to learn a little about me.

And now it's time for me to award.  I am awarding YOU.  Yup, that's right.  If you are reading this, you are now awarded!  Take the award on you blog, copy the rules, answer the question and then comment on this post so that I can see what you answered!

P.S. Come back soon to see how Dante's first Thanksgiving went.  It is long and will probably take more than one post!

My Lil' Helper

My sister, Rebecca is an aspiring photographer, and got some great shots of Dante the other day!

My FAVORITE!

 And what's a picture post without the goofs? ;-)

Classic Dante look.

I do love this one - soooo him!

Waiting and Whining

Sometimes I feel as if Dante's training is going one step forward two steps back.  I know that he is making progress, but it is slow and steady. . .just slow.

He is making progress in his commands, and knows almost all of them.  But his manners need some work.  I can attribute some of it to his age, the phase he is in, and his breed, but it can still get discouraging. 

The golden in him is strong, and he is still pretty mouthy.  It's his way of saying "I'm not listening to you, I do what I want."  Oh that sassyness.

He has also recently started whining.  Please tell me this is not going to last long!!!  Dante comes to three classes with me per week, and is usually fantastic.  He sleeps, or just lays there being pretty near perfect.  But on Tuesday afternoon, he softly whined through an entire 1 1/2 hour class.  And it has continued at home when he doesn't want to be "under" the table while I do school, or "wait" for a special toy.  

Last night, my mom had him and got out a stuffed Kong, set it on the coffee table and asked him to "down."  He went "down" but started whining.  He whined for 30 minutes strait before he was quiet long enough to earn that toy.  *Sigh*

I need to be honest, but I don't want to just sound complaining.  This is the reason I do have him for more than 10 months. :-)  And he really is a great dog.  He is SO smart, loves to learn new thing, is extremely confidant, and is fantastic on all of his outings.

Looking so obedient. . .or maybe I have kibble :-)

Halloween

Not much to report.  Dante was mildly interested in all of the Trick-or-Treaters who came by.  he would look to see who was here between playing with a toy.

 But he did have a costume that he got to wear to Awana last Friday and Wednesday night.  He didn't care much for the super hero cape, but he loved the little "newspaper" toy that came with it (and the fact that I let him carry it around).

A few weeks ago, we hit the Halloween section at Target and had lots of fun watching the talking/light up skulls and such.  Oh, and trying on some masks/costumes.  Dante was not-so-sure about the masks at first, and barked twice, but got pretty comfortable.

Treats for not be afraid.

Nice loose leash walking

 

Not so happy about having something on his head.

Fall Fun

"I love. . .

. . .to run. . .

. . .and run. . .

. . .and R-U-N!!!"

The tennis ball-less Wubba is still a fav, and surprisingly still alive

He barks for me to throw the toy.  Needless to say, that tactic doesn't work too well.

And sometimes gets a little naughty as well.

Target, People, and Hidden Retrievers

Target, one of the best places to bring this pup.  They have always been so great about Dante.  They put up with (and some even smiled at) a very barky 5 month old, complimented me on a silent 7 month old, don't blink an eye when we walk down the isles with a huge hat and mask on, and ask me every time I come in "How is Dante's training coming this week?"

We have had our fair share of interesting encounters with other patrons though.  Like Dante's very first outing.  There was also today, where we were walking through the main, more open part of the store and 15 ft ahead there is a mom with 2 little boys.  She was quite enthralled in what she was looking at.  One of the boys lights up and says, "Doggie!!!"  And starts coming toward us.  Uh oh, I think, this doesn't look great.  We cut to the right and lose him after a minute. that was close, D.  It's not that I don't like kids, or talking to people, not at all.  I just had a bad feeling about the way this kid lost his mind when he saw my dog (and the fact that his mom had no idea).  Shopping with puppies in training can be very fun if you let it, always anticipating what your surroundings will throw at you, then communicating what your next move will be with your sidekick: yes, let's make it into a game. ;-)

There was another time a while back that I am still not sure what to think about it.  I was looking at something, and Dante was laying nicely at my right side.  A woman comes up to me with a tiny puppy in her purse.  And then asked me where I got Dante's vest because she wanted one for her puppy.  My mom was with me and we both gave her our spiel on vests and legality, that I'm sorry to say, we have had to give far too many times.  She proceeded to tell me that she was very sorry that my dog was so big and that I couldn't "hide" him like she could her's.  Say what?  It caught me so off guard, that I had no idea what to say at the time.  But, for the record, I have no reason whatsoever to hide my dog in any setting.  

What an adventure it is to shop with a puppy, and how much you learn about people when you do.

5 month old D's 2nd trip to Target.  Oh that little baby vest!  At least he's still just as cute now as back then :-)