The Morning After, a message from Gimme

Hello everyone, friends, family and fans...

Yesterday was my birthday and now I'm one year old (plus one day).  We had a great celebration of this most extraordinary and fabulously momentous event. 

At training class we shared muffins with the humans and doggie gift bags with the other dogs.  What's that all about?  I thought they were supposed to be bringing me gifts.  Mom says they didn't know my birthday was coming and that sharing is gracious.  Maybe the party will be a hint that they should bring me something and, as luck would have it, they still have three more classes this week in which to correct the oversight.

Once at home, I had a nice surprise dinner of all kinds of treats and goodies.  Mom said it was all junk food and I shouldn't expect to eat any more of it if I want to continue being as gorgeous as I am now.  Even Ursula commented last night (unprompted I might add) about how I am growing up so nicely and what a stunning beauty I've become.  Clearly she is a genius (just like me) and has an astute grasp of the obvious.

Also for my birthday I got a new toy.  Mom bought it at Costco on Sunday and snuck it in the house so I wouldn't know and she could surprise me.  Isn't she just the clever one?  This toy is designed to be the super tough kind, made for power chewers and its supposed to be "indestructible".  I don't know what means, but I had most of the stuffing out of it in less than ten minutes.  I could have done it faster, but I held back while Mom was watching and taking pictures.  I do so love pulling the stuffing out of things and chewing toys into little bits.

I think Mom celebrated too much for my birthday, cuz she woke up with a migraine today.  I told her that exercise is the best solution and she needs to get her heiney up and take me to the fort for a long walk.  She has just taken some drugs to get ready.

However, all that is not the reason for my blog entry today...

I wanted to explain to all my canine friends some important facts about first birthdays and the changes that follow it.  Humans should not be allowed to read beyond this point. 

When you turn one year old, you are officially grown up and no longer have to do as you are told.  You can set your own life agenda now. 

This may tempt you to believe you don't have to listen to your human person any more; in my case, that's Mom.  However, and this is important, you will still need to listen to them.  After all, if you aren't listening, how will you know when they are about to do something important, like give you a treat or more toys?  When you are training your human, you have to listen to be sure they are responding correctly to your instruction and learning what you want them to know. 

Also, at this time in your life, you may discover that your human is behaving strangely.  They will start reviving rules you discarded many months ago.  You have to listen to them all the time if you are going to shape them to become an obedient and clever person, the kind you would be proud to take in public.  Shaping is an important training skill that relies on gently nudging your human (unbeknownst to them) in the right direction.  If you want your person to be a joy to live with, you must listen now, even more diligently than before.

And that, my friends, is my message and my gift to you.  Best of luck in all your human training efforts.  I have confidence in your abilities and the eventual superb outcome.

Love, Gimme