Spencer, The Good, The Bad, and The Windmill

For the past few weeks, I've been writing about all the good things Spencer does. It may seem like he's nothing but good, and an angel. But I'm here to tell you, he's not. This week, he's been trying our patience as much as possible. While it may be annoying, it's normal.

One of the first things he's been doing is darting off. Down the street, through the back to the people's houses behind ours, and on and on and on. An example of this incident was when he was in the side yard playing ball with my dad. He bolted off to the houses' behind ours and came back with their little windmill. My dad took it back and play time was over for Spencer.
Chewing is another example. Like this morning, when I caught him chewing a coaster. Why in the world he would want to chew a coaster, I can't tell you. He will chew anything he can get his teeth on, and I mean ANYTHING, twigs, softballs, coasters, leaves, etc.

But he's not a terrible dog, in fact, he's one of the most well behaved dogs I've ever known. Spencer's a great dog and companion and will hopefully go to someone he can really help one day.

This week, Spencer went back to puppy class! He was very excited to go back and see all his friends.

After Spencer played with his friends for a while, they started working on stay and here. Spencer did very well, and did some heel and side along with the other tricks. They would line the dogs up on one side of the room, and there owner would go to the other side and call them, Spencer would always go to my dad or do heel or side the first or second time he was told.

Out was another trick they worked on, and Spencer did great with it. Out is where the dog goes through the door and turns around. We walked through the building doing this, and Spencer was always good at it.

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     Spencer got to go on an exciting trip with his puppy class friends this week, they went to an outdoor shopping center!

     When Spencer first got out, we walked over to the center to wait for everyone. Spencer decided to see what the fountain was, and proceeded to get hit in the face with water. Spencer also practice up and jump on some benches. His friends starting getting there and we talked to people and socialized a little bit before we got started.

     As we walked around, we practiced more ups and jumps, and also worked on walking on odd and different surfaces, like the grates. We were disappointed that the pet store was closed, and continued on our journey. Spencer practiced out a few times through a door, and is seeming to get it down. Our journey progressed on, and the dogs got tired, and we sat down to take a rest. As I sat down to pet Thatcher, Howie (the newest dog in the group), proceeded to wrestle with Thatcher and I, and the smart little guy managed to get his gentle leader off. We took a group photo afterwards, and our adventure was over.

     Seeing these dogs progress make me feel more and more that they are great dogs and are one day really going to help someone. Spencer is doing great with his training, and just keeps getting bigger and bigger!

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Spencer, Fishing, Jumping, and Lonesome

Spencer has done a lot with us recently, we had the oppurtunity to go to Pennsylvania again, and he had a lot of fun!

Some of the most fun we have in Pennslyvania is fishing. Spencer went with us twice this trip, and did he have fun! While we were fishing, he swam in the lake, rolled in the mud, and played with sticks! What more could a dog ask for?

We've recently had some problems with Spencer being a bit lazy. He decided that he didn't have to jump in the car, and we had to put him in. My dad would have none of that. We went to puppy class and asked on what to do. We used Spencer's regular food as treats, but we found out you should have another "special" treat. I highly advise doing this if you are having trouble with a dog. The regular food was described to us as nickels, but the special treats are five dollar bills.

Recently, Spencer has been extremely lonesome. He has been laying on anyones feet, puting his head on my shoulder in the car, and being as close to anyone as possible. I included this because I thought it was kind of funny. Spencer is still getting bigger and bigger and he's doing great.

At our last to puppy classes, a partial deaf woman came in with her CCI dog who had been helping her for a while, and I have to say, it completely changed my perspective of having to give Spencer up. After seeing how much this dog helped her and how much she loved this dog, I know want him to go and help someone because I know he's a great dog that someone would love to have.

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Spencer goes to the lake!

Seeing as my mom and I were sick this week, and my dad was gone, Spencer didn’t get to do much. But come Saturday, my dad was back and I was feeling better, and Spencer got to take a trip to the lake!

When we first got there, it was a long walk to the actual lake, and Spencer was happy to get to do some exploring. When we finally got there, Spencer was flabbergasted that there was so much water in one place. After a while he didn’t really mind being in the water and he somehow managed a ball. We threw the ball for him for a while, but he lost interest. But soon after we found a stick for him and he had a lot of fun. Towards the end of the trip, he had a little pile of sticks, and I managed to find a tree for him. His eyes went wide as he saw it and I threw it in the water for him. He tried to pick it up but had no luck. After a while though it was time to go home. He had a lot of fun but was very tired when we got home.

 

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Spencer’s growing up!

These past few weeks, Spencer has had many accomplishments. Along with learning visit, car, and out, he also got to go to work with my dad, went to restaurants with my family and I, and he even went to a concert!

Spencer really enjoys being with my dad, so he was very excited when he went to work with my dad and got to spend all day with him. He slept in my dads office while my dad worked, met lots of new people, and got to run around and play too! Spencer has his own name tag too, which I thought was awesome.

He has also gone to a few restaurants with us, which he has done very good in all of them. We put him in a down stay, and he usually will stay the whole time, especially the times he falls asleep. Spencer is calm during these trips, and overall a very good puppy!

Yesterday, the School of Rock put on a Van Halen tribute concert. We decided to go and check it out, and we brought Spencer along. It was very loud in there, because is it really a concert if you don’t crank it up? Spencer was a little stressed because of the noise, but was excited in meeting a few new people, and overall did very good!

It’s amazing how fast time has flown by! My little puppy who just wanted to explore, now watches T.V. with me, knows many tricks, goes lots of places with us, and he got huge! Because of how well he’s doing, I have reason to believe that he’s going to make as a CCI service dog, if he gets a little less stubborn.

 

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Spencer Speaks!

Sorry for not updating this for a while. We’ve been BOMBARDED with snow. We’ve actually had so much, that Spencer’s been wondering, where’s a guy to pee?

In recent weeks, a very exciting event has happened for Spencer, he learned to speak! I will post a video of him speaking, and if you don’t know why my dad and I are laughing so hard, it’s because Spencer  has a tendency to shoot his food out when he speaks.

 

It’s hard to believe how big Spencer’s gotten! I caught believe I only have a year left with him! We also have a few puppies leaving to graduate in our class! I’d like to wish Russ, Edwin, Iden, and Crystal the best of luck! (Sorry if I added anyone in, misspelled their name, or forgot anyone!) I know you guys will do great!