Don't Mess With my Puppy!

image from www.montessaurus.ca/

We took Sally to her second Puppy School class on Saturday, and much like the first class, she was the loudest, most boisterous pup there.

On the flip side, she was also the only pup there that already knows sit, lay down, shake and watch me. Granted, this was our second go at this class because we had to restart the classes; We attended her first class and then missed the next two, making Sally a puppy school delinquent right from the start. But, she is also the only pup in class that reliably, vocally signals when she has to go potty. So take that, you other puppy-parents!

We got lots of those looks from the other puppy-parents each time Sally yelped or whined from boredom and I suppose it resonated somewhere deep within my psyche, because that night I had a dream that we were at puppy school, and all the puppy-parents were pointing at Sally and making fun of her. In my dream they were calling her names and laughing...following her around and harassing her. Not that much unlike a certain football player I can remember from my own high school experience: following me around the hallways "mooooing" and making barnyard animal sounds at me, calling me a cow and a big fat pig...It was horrible and I was pissed! I just wanted to protect Miss. Sally Sue from their cruelty. I knew she was smarter than their little cowardly pups, all nestled up in their parent's laps, afraid to set paws on the floor. Not my Sally Sue! She was raring to go and willing to learn whatever the trainer threw at her.

I don't know if my dream is any indication that Sally will be as much trouble for us as I was for my parents (God, I hope not), or if it means that I identified with her scenario, or if I've simply been using Facebook a bit too much lately and finding all these people from high school has resurfaced some memories that I thought were long since buried, but either way, I know that my protective instinct kicked into high gear, and I triple dog dare anybody to stand in the way of my pup and me now!