Almost Private Class

Man, Sunday's are tiring

Everyone, meet my tongue. Tongue, meet everyone (he's shy).

Another two hour long hike in the woods. We discovered this week that one of the poodley dogs on our hikes - the lady has three; I'm talking about the big, black puppy - is also in our play class! I said hello on our hike, but he was more interested in one of the four(!!) German Shepherds that came along with us. I guess they're more his size. There's a bulldog mix that comes along with us (who's usually with a Papillon, but he wasn't there this week) and I hung out with her for the first half of the hike. Then we switched it up and we walked in the back of the pack (sooooo frustrating, but Beta says it's important) with a Jack that came with us. He was new! I like new friends! He didn't seem to like anyone very much before we started the walk, but by the time we went back to walk with him, he was walking along just fine. He still didn't really want to play (I tried), but he wasn't mean about it anymore, which was nice. Once we finished the walk, he was kind of mean again, but not quite so much... I think I can win him over eventually!

Then, only time for a short nap before heading off to Rally-O class again. But there were only two of us there yesterday! Teacher said that it was because of Christmas stuff with the other students, so we kind of had a private class. Teacher had her dog in with us too. He's really old. I wanted to play with him, but his legs hurt, so I just licked his face so that he knew that I liked him. Then, because we had such a small class (and because I'm so smart and learn things so fast), we got to have play time! I've been wanting to play with the black lab in our class for sooooooo long (he seems really fun), so we got to play together. Beta says that I was getting grumpy at the end though, so we packed up and went home. We stayed a little bit afterwards because Alpha and Beta can be boring sometimes and they wanted to talk to the trainer. I almost fell asleep standing up while we were waiting!

Then, finally, home for a nap.

Beta thinks Sundays are tiring too.

Saturday wasn't all that tiring. I got to play with a Frenchie, and a Border Collie mix puppy in play class. Man though, that Frenchie has a tongue on her! Every time I play with her in class, my ears are all soaked by the end!

Beta says that this week, we're going to take a long car ride and go meet some of her family. She says that I'll need to be nice around the kids (I love kids!), so I'm going to do my very best to remember. But I have a feeling that I'm going to get excited (I love kids!) and forget to be nice and try to play. She says that she's going to do her best to remind me to behave (have I mentioned I love kids?!).

Yard

So Alpha and Beta went out to look at a yard on Saturday. They've been doing that a lot. This was the first time I got to come along (since we were going to play class right afterwards). I had to spend a little bit of boring time in the car, but then I got to go explore the yard. There were a lot of sticks, probably because there were a lot of trees. I tried to get out under the fence at one point, because there was a hole underneath and I could just fit, but Beta had the leash on and wouldn't let me explore over there.

Then, when we got back from play class, Alpha and Beta said that the yard would be ours! We're totally going to be moving to a yard of our very own. There's not enough fence, but we'll have to wait until spring to do that. And... Beta says that once we get the new yard and fence, I'll be getting a new packmate to hang around with! That should be fun. Alpha doesn't play Noms at all, and Beta's kind of a wimp... I barely bite down at all on her hand and she complains.

We went on a really long walk on Sunday (like, two whole hours)! We got to hang out with all the pack-walk people (Alphie wasn't there, though). I tried really hard to walk nicely, and even managed to go pretty far without pulling, but of course all the new smells kind of got the better of me and Beta had to keep slowing me down with the leash. She noticed when I was walking good, though. No treats, but she did remind me that I was a good boy :)

Rally-O is getting more fun. We got to do an actual course this week instead of just going through the individual exercises. Well, we did learn a couple new things too, and a couple old things. We did some 180 turns (those I knew), and we did a side step to the right (that was the new one). That was a little bit trickier, but I had Beta doing just fine before too long. Teacher thinks I'm really smart for being able to teach Beta so well. She was going on about how the side step would get better as the week went on, or: 'If you're Pixel, you'll have it before you leave today'. That made me feel good, and Beta was pretty happy about it too.

Devil Dog

So we were playing Chase the Thing last night in the hallway (Beta changed the rules slightly though; she wanted me to bring the Thing back to her, too), and Alpha was taking pictures. Now, I swear it wasn't dark in the hallway, but Alpha managed to get this picture while I was running back with the Wubba (that was the Thing in the game last night).

I know, it's dark, but it's definitely me!

Don't I look positively evil? With my glowing eyes and the darkness and my prey in my mouth?

Don't worry, the pictures aren't usually this hard to see. This one, for example:

Throwitthrowitthrowitthrowitthrowitthrowit...

This is me waiting oh-so-patiently for Beta to throw the thing so I can chase it and kill it and eat it. And I guess bring it back afterwards. Man, Beta keeps changing the rules on me.

Weekend in Review

Let's see; what did we do this weekend?

Well, we went for a hike. Nothing too long or far. Beta brought the camera to take pictures so I could post them here. She didn't remember to take any pictures until the end, so here's a nice shot of me next to the parking lot at the end.

This is me, looking all regal, dogdammit. Plus, this is the only picture you get today, so appreciate it!

We were going to walk for longer than we did (we were barely out for an hour), but we got to a point where the path had been flooded. It was frozen over (and I was walking perfectly fine on the ice), but Alpha and Beta didn't want to chance it.

We did pass by a big black lab playing in a park, so we stopped for a bit and played (here's a pict- oh wait, no, Beta forgot). I took his ball, and he chased me, and then we played Tug for a bit, and then we ran around some more.

Saturday is Puppy Play Class. This is one of the best places in the world. There's more than one best place in the world, but the others are all outside. Puppy Play Class is inside. There was a new puppy there - a Border Collie/Blue Heeler. We had a little bit of fun, but of course I can't just play with one other dog for the whole class. Got to let everyone get their Pixel Fix for the week.

Once again, Beta forgot to get pictures.

Sunday was a hike! Guess what? No pictures. It wasn't very long either (Alpha forgot a hat and got cold). It wasn't very interesting. We walked around a lot, Alpha and Beta kept trying to make me walk slower, we met another puppy, and then we went home.

After that, was Homework! But at class! We're working on some serious stuff in Homework class now. I have to pay a LOT of attention (it's rough). There's a lot of heeling around cones, and turning, and bouncing into heel position when I'm out of place. Lots of treats change hands in Homework class. Plus, I already know two of the other three dogs (the Collie mix was in our Intermediate obedience class, and the Golden Retriever (have I mentioned I LIKE Goldens?) was in our Advanced obedience class). Beta calls this class "Rally-O", which she says is more fun than Obedience, but not as fun as Agility.

Allow Myself to Introduce... Myself

Well, I guess since this is my first post, I should probably just start with a little bit about myself.

The name's Pixel.

Wow, my head looks huge here.

That's me. Right there. Up there. You know what I mean. The black and tan guy who's picture you would have to have looked right past to get to this paragraph here.

Anyway...

I live with my pack. This is Alpha:

Alpha, the boring one

Alpha hangs out with me most of the day, though 'hanging out' is more like 'napping on the couch'. Which is cool, since I nap all day too. We go for walks sometimes, and every once in a while, we walk to the best place in the world. He'll play Tug and Chase the Thing (I'm still trying to teach him that one properly), but he really doesn't like playing Noms.

Beta, the fun one

This is Beta. Beta's funner than Alpha. She takes me on long walks, and plays Tug and Chase the Thing and Noms. She's usually out all day hunting, which is kind of a bummer, but she makes sure I get breakfast and dinner every day. And treats. And scritches. I guess Alpha gives me scritches too, now I think about it. Beta does a lot of Homework with me too, which is great, because when I do good, I get treats. Nummy, nummy treats.

Enough about Pack, now back to me.

I was born in February 2014, which makes me 10 months old. Alpha and Beta brought me home after they saw my picture on the Internets.

I must have only been about 3.5 months old here... aren't I cute?

The Internets apparently refers to dogs like me as 'Chigi's: my mum was a Pembroke Welsh Corgi, and my dad was a Chihuahua. Beta doesn't call me a Chigi, though: I don't think she likes it. She calls me Pixel. Or sometimes, 'My Little Mutt'. I've got my dad's fur, and my mum's personality; that's what Beta says.

My day's are usually pretty full; normally I wake up with Beta. She lets me out of my crate, and I get a tummy scritch. Then we do a little bit of Homework, and she lets me have breakfast. After breakfast, I go out on the balcony for a little bit, to check out what's changed overnight. Then back in for a short nap on the couch. Sometimes, there's some more Homework, sometimes more scritches. Then Beta goes out hunting, and I get my morning nap on the couch. Once Alpha wakes up, some more scritches, then more napping. There is usually a walk in the afternoon. Then more napping until Beta gets home! Another walk, or sometimes we go to the best place in the world (we don't go as much now that it's colder... or darker... or snowerier... I'm not sure why...). Then, Beta gives me dinner and we usually do more Homework. After Homework, we'll sometimes play Tug, or Chase the Thing, or Noms. Then, an evening nap on the couch until it's time for bed.

My crate's actually pretty comfy (that's where I sleep at night). It doesn't smell as good as blankets or towels or socks, but it's cozy. Alpha usually doesn't even close the door all the way at night, 'cause I stay in there until Beta wakes up in the morning.

I'm pretty smart; well, Beta tells me I'm really smart, so it must be true. Beta keeps saying that she wants to do Agility or Treibball with me. I don't know what Agility is (teacher-lady says we are not allowed until I'm 11 months old), but Beta brought me a big ball to start Treibball with. So far, it's not very interesting (just pushing a ball back and forth across the room), but hey; there's treats.

Beta brings me to the second best place in the world a lot too. Lately she's been bringing me to the toys and telling me to 'pick something out for Christmas'. There's nothing really interesting that I haven't already got though; not in the toys that I can reach anyway. On second thought, I could go for some rawhide. Can never have too much rawhide.

Hmm... maybe I will write more later. I can't actually type, so Beta's doing it for me; and she says it's time for bed.