Well, it has certainly been a long time between posts, again, and again I have no excuse except that I have been to busy living life to sit down and document my life. So what have I been doing, you ask, to take all my attention away from this blog life? Lots. Actually, my educational pursuits tend to sap all my strength so there is little time to do anything - including house work. For Spring quarter I took the usual 2 classes, along with full time work, and all the while trying to maintain a social life (as if that is going to happen). Actually, I am finding that I am much less stressed about my workload these days and know that I am going to make the grade, so what is there left to stress about? Well, I am finally realizing that I like to stress. I do. More to the point I seem to be a stress junkie and it is the only way that I manage to get things done. A little stress helped me to walk away with a 4.0 in my second quarter of Ceramic art class and a 4.0 in Multicultural studies. So, yes I was quite content with those grades and admit to earning them as I worked my butt off - though not in the literal sense, unfortunately!! But I have time to work on that now and it is all about baby steps...
Aside from studies, exercise and housework I have also been concentrating on obedience training with my girl Zoe. I am finding that my high expectations are not limited only to my own pursuits for excellence, but that they extend to my adorable pittie. I have been trying to prepare her for the Canine Good Citizen (CGC) certificate but my studies kept hindering our progress - so with that out of the way (for now) we have no excuse. The test for the CGC is made up of various scenarios that hope to prove that your dog understands basis obedience. This sounds really easy, doesn't it. Don't get me wrong, my Zoe knows how to sit, high five, stay, roll over, play dead, and mostly walks really well on a leash (apart from the odd pull if she is in a hurry ) BUT she is a sucker for people, dogs, and cats (in the negative way) so our main problem is with these distractions. I guess some of this is my fault as people always said "socialize your dog as much as possible" - which I did - and now I have to work on her staying focused on me when these fun distractions are around. Gee, you should see the spectacle she becomes when she sees dogs and people at the park. She will listen to my command to sit, but she is on the alert and acts like a puppy who has never gotten any affection from anyone as soon as people try to approach her. It is appalling!! Admittedly, people have been one of our problems of late as they just assume it is ok to walk up and pet my dog - even while we are trying to work on distractions - and even as I am telling them that. Really, I should be excited about the fact that she is such a great example for all the good pit bulls out there BUT manners are also very important, which she partly understands. So this is my life for now and I promise to fill you in on any important updates in the near future.
* Photo provided by Sir Brownie is Australia (of course)
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