Cause to Drink Before Noon!

Today was doggy school day, and everything was going just fine. I have really been enjoying class. It's a lovely group of women, a great, diverse group of dogs, and Libby the teacher is awesome. I really wasn't expecting anything out of the ordinary today. I was way beyond wrong!

Libby wanted to cover not only the importance of the command "come", but the different ways to teach it so that our dogs think that when we say it, we are totally worth coming back to. It's kind of ironic that that would be today's lesson, because Brutus failed miserably!

In order to do this exercise, we had to drop their leashes at the end of the aisle in the store, have them "wait", and then call them to come to us and give them great rewards (food based) and hugs and loving. Brutus had done it twice, and it was going fine. The third time when he was at the end of the aisle, he caught a glimpse of the front door, and in what seemed like seconds, I could see his doggy brain calculate that he was a fair distance from me, he could see the doors that he knew opened whenever he walked in front of them, and if he ran, he would be FREE! So, off he went. I ran after him yelling "come", Libby the teacher ran after me running after him yelling "Brutus COME", and a male worker at PetSmart did the same thing. By the time that I got out of the store and around the corner of the building, Brutus was over a city block away and headed toward the frontage road to the freeway, most likely heading to our home. He was running along the edge of the road, so cars were starting to slow down and stop in case he flew out into the road, so they wouldn't hit him. I was panicked. I turned around and ran back into the class room to grab my purse and keys to get in my car and go after him, and my class moms graciously offered to help too, but I just said that I needed to run. By the time that I got back out to the parking lot and was just going to get in my car, a little red sports car came around the corner of the road honking it's horn at me, and there was Brutus in the front seat. The relief that I felt was so incredibly overwhelming. He pulled up to me in his brand new little car with black leather seats (I'm dying at this point thinking about claw marks on his leather) and said that he had seen Brutus run from the parking lot and caught him heading down the frontage road. I was so thankful. I wanted to hug him to pieces, but I managed to keep my whits about me, thank him profusely and calm myself down a little bit once Brutus was back safely in my arms. At that point I was in such mixed emotions between being so upset and so relieved that I just wanted to get in my car and go home and "die", but I knew that I owed it to the wonderful women in class to go back in and let them know that Brutus was safe.

Libby said that she had actually looked up my address and was going to get in her car and head that way and take Lou's mom with her. Lou is a big poodle that is in class, and Brutus has a raging crush on his mom. Not the dog, but the mom. She is very pretty, and very sweet, and as soon as Brutus sees her he wants to hug her and give her kisses. He hasn't reacted that way with any other moms in the class, which is kind of funny. He's very drawn to her. Thankfully, the trip wasn't necessary. Everyone was very relieved that Brutus was safe and sound.

Brutus will be working on his "come" commands on a long leash from now on. I don't trust that little stinker as far as I can spit. He's too smart for his own good, and apparently likes to ditch class.

Nick is still home for spring break. When I got home from class I poured myself a cosmopolitan, made a mini pizza and ate some girl scout cookies. He remarked that I had probably covered all of my necessary comforts to take care of the stress that I had felt that morning. Now all I want is a nap!!