Deep Breaths - a lesson in patience

I always tell prospective puppy raisers that one thing a good puppy raiser must possess is patience.  Some dogs test this virtue more than others, and I must say, in the battle of the wills this weekend, Sophie has won.  Sometimes Most times she is a perfect angel, an absolute pleasure to be around, a dog that shows promise for a wonderful career ahead of her.  Other days, she has the devil in her.  Let's just say, the devil seems to be getting a little too comfortable in Princess Sophie's body over the past few days.  My left knee is killing me from a jam-packed day of walking and training her yesterday.  It hurts so badly that the only way I am going to survive a week of full-time Sophie duty (my parents are traveling), is by putting her in a gentle leader for a few days.  For anybody who hasn't tried it, the gentle leader is a collar/harness gadget that slips over the dog's nose to give the handler more control of the dog's head and limit pulling.  It works like a charm and greatly increases Sophie's one-week survival outlook.  It's totally cheating for trainers to use it, but this week, I'm going to be a cheater.  In addition to losing all self-control, chasing children, birds, and squirrels, Sophie has flipped her entire bowl of food all over my living room and tripped my neighbor - and this is just the past 12 hours.  Her only excuse for these puppy nutsies is that she may be coming into heat and her hormones may be raging out of control.  We've all been there, and for that, I will cut her some slack.  If only I could just slip her a Midol.  Reminder to self: I love my puppy.

Check out the bulldog that came skating through puppy class in Columbus Circle yesterday.