ARL Pet Step 2011 and Super Jake!!!!

Today started with rain.....I was disappointed that the weather would stomped on my day with the Animal Rescue League Pet Step pet walk benefit......the pet benefit started at 10am and would end at 3pm. Jake and I just looked out the window until it stopped raining at around 11 and then I saw the ground (asphalt) start to dry and that was it......Jake and I hit the road to the ARL Pet Step event!! It was great! We missed the actual pet walking part of it, but we turned in all our donations, caught all the vendors and met up with Zoey.....

This is Jake's little gal pal Zoey.....she is a mix between
a Shih Tzu and a Poodle

She's much more hyper than Jake.....she's two years old and
Jake will be 10 years old in January

We enjoyed the pet vendors and walked around.......as I walked, I snapped some pictures so you could see what I see.....it was held at a fairground 15 minutes from where I live......I look forward to this event every single year! :)

There's was more people and dogs than this picture
actually shows it, the vendors were to the right,
raffles were to the left - this where I checked in....

Lots of vendors, this great!

Just looking around...

More vendors....

Hello.....that's one big furry doggie....

We found Zoey!!!

Gifts of all shapes and sizes.....

Another friendly doggie.....not sure who this cute dog is....

Yep, and the "colorful" showed up too.....

Did someone say "Free"!!

Now we're talking....this says it all.....

Shhhhhhhh......

 I really didn't know an AKC evaluator for the "Canine Good Citizen" program was there today. At first I wasn't not going to participate at all (not even a second thought to it), Jake can be very independent and high strung sometimes and the "Walking through a crowd", "Sit and down on command (stay)", "Reaction to another dog", and "Supervised separation" were the ones on the list that made me really nervous (you might as well say the whole list made me nervous). But Zoey wanted to do the test and we watched other's participate in the test, so I thought, it's now or never. So, I ponied up the $10 and told Jake to pay attention and make me proud........

"The Rules"

Watching other's participate in the
AKC CGC (Canine Good Citizen) test.....

 SOooooo, it was Jake's turn, and he's okay when people comes up to him and pet him.....no problem with people at all.....I knew the first two were easy aces. Appearance and grooming was a cinch too, I mean, seriously, Jake goes to a Doggie Spa every other month. Number 4, "Out for a Walk", that's not too bad, he's been on enough walks to know "what to do". Okay, this is where I start sweating, Number 5, he walked thru a crowd okay, kept his head down to the ground and followed my lead, got that one. Okay, Number 6.....we went to the middle of the field arena and I kneed down and told Jake to sit, he did. I walked 20 feet away (the leash I had to use was 20 feet long, no cheating here, lol!). I walked 20 feet out and prayed that when I turned around he wasn't on my heels, he wasn't, he was still sitting there with a confused look on his face (actually the look said "Where's my darn cookie for this?"). The evaluator told me to walk back to the dog and put the dog in a "lay down" position and walk 20 feet away, I thought "Oh Lord, here we go", I went back to Jake, told him to lay down, I told him twice, he miraculously complied. I walked to the end of the leash again. Jake stared at me, I stared at him. The evaluator told me (as Jake still laid there), to go back to the dog and re-enforced the stay command and walk 10 feet out (half the leash length). I thought for sure as I walked back to him, he would get up and wag that tail of his, but he laid there, I kneed down and waved my hand in front of his face and repeated my "stay" command twice for re-assurance (and incase his selective hearing kicked in to effect). I walked out 10 feet and he just looked at me laying there. I couldn't believe it at all, but the test wasn't done, and I'm sure you know by now, I was more nervous than Jake. Okay, time to tackle number 7 on the list.....okay, there's a reason why I say his name 2 million times a day......cause he never comes to me when he is called, he usually wanders off doing his own thing. So, I called his name and he just looked at me (with that "Where's my cookie!" look), I called his name again and added the words "let's go Bye Bye". He KNOWS the word "bye bye", I should of named this dog "bye bye" cause his look switched to "Yeah, that's a good idea!" and he came over to me. Phew! Number 8, thankfully, the evaluator brought Zoey out and Jake just had this "uh huh" look to Zoey. Number 9 came and left as the evaluator suddenly banged on an alumium dog water bowl and Jake didn't flinch, but I jumped as I was startled, she didn't even warn us she was going to do that! Number 10 was the scary one cause I know Jake has "separation anxiety", and okay, maybe the owner does too. I gave the leash to the evaluator and walked 100 feet behind a wooden shed. I had to stand there for 3 minutes to see if Jake could handle separation from me. 3 minutes went by like 3 hours and I returned to Jake laying in the grass next to the evaluator's feet looking up at the sky. I was way more excited about passing this test than he was! LOL! I'll leave you tonight as I fill out his forms for the AKC for his "Good Citizen" diploma! :)

Have a good night. Not sure of my plans tomorrow :)