Friday, April 5, 2013

Wishing Away Puppyhood



Last night was Max's "graduation" from Puppy Kindergarten.  He did well, and I was pleased with how much he had learned.  Because our tester is a certified AKC Star Puppy instructor, Max now qualifies for his Star Puppy certificate and medal - once I fill out the signed application we received, and send it to AKC along with $10.00.  It's a good program, and a lot of fun to do.  I enjoyed watching Max's classmates too, a diverse group that included a Golden, a Lab, an Akita, a Frenchie, a Beagle mix, a Schnauzer, and a variety of others.  It was a good class, with happy well-adjusted puppies and committed owners.

It's such fun watching a puppy learn about the world.  Everything is interesting to pups, and they respond with such enthusiasm to life.  I've always enjoyed raising pups and attending puppy classes, and always assume that everyone else does too.  That's not true, of course, as I was reminded last night.  Puppies ARE a lot of work!  While chatting with the nice couple who own the enthusiastic Lab puppy, I mentioned how much fun class had been and how much I enjoyed watching the puppies learn.  Their response was that although they loved their puppy, they could not wait for him to be about three years old, finished with his puppy antics, and all settled down.  Their pup is very like Max, happy, friendly, enthusiastic about everything, and an eager learner who did very well in class.  Seems a shame to wish that away, rather than enjoying it!

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