The World According To Pepper

A while ago I tried a new dog park. The Douglass Dog Park in San Francisco. Mama and Papa were invited to a birthday BBQ party in the city and because I still don’t stay home alone (not even for 5 minutes) they asked if I was invited too. And guess what? I was allowed to go to the party even though I had to stay on the patio and wasn’t allowed inside the house, because the birthday girl was allergic to me.

But that was fine for me. I like being outside and the best was, I was closer to the BBQ. Tee-hee

But anyways, Mama and Papa thought it was a good idea to let me play before the party, so that I would be tired and relaxed. So we tried the Douglass Dog Park in San Francisco. The dog park section is located between 27th and Douglass Street. It’s all fenced in and really really big. It has a grassy area and a steep hill. I ran with some bigger dogs, when one climbed up the hill and I followed him. Guess what? I’m not a mountain goat, even though I got very high up. But Papa had to come get me down again, because I was a little trapped and couldn’t get down on my own. Oh, well…

The park also has a drinking fountain too, some trees and benches for the humans to sit on.

I had a blast! On the downside though, the park has some muddy areas too and obviously I had to jump in one of the mud puddles. Mama wasn’t too pleased especially as I was all dirty BEFORE we got to the party.

Guess that’s why no one was cuddling with me that day. I’m not used to that so I pretended to sleep.

When we came home in the evening, of course I had to go in the shower.  NOT A FAN

But the Douglass Dog Park was fun. There’s a meetup group if you’re interested: http://www.meetup.com/The-San-Francisco-Upper-Douglass-Dog-park-Meetup/

I’d give the park 4 out of 5 paws. It’s huge, has a nice few, lots of friendly dogs and humans, a lot to explore but also a bit muddy. And in our case… a little to far away from home to come here on a regular basis. But if you’re living in the city, this is an awesome place to go to.

Mama and Papa took me the annual Northern California Bearded Collie Fanciers Club’s Beardie Bounce in Walnut Creek.

That was soooooooooo much fun! Although I was the youngest here, I had a blast. Or maybe because I was the youngest. Tee-hee! I got so many cuddles from so many friendly people. And the Beardies were the best! I made a lot of new friends and hope to see them all again very soon.

Some of them even showed me, that there is no reason to be scared of water. They hopped in the doggy pool and after I’ve been watching them very carefully, I went in too. It wasn’t too bad, I have to say.

3 hours of running, jumping, bouncing, cuddling and lots of fun.

I was running with the big boys and girls and I didn’t get tired at all! I had the time of my life.

We applied to become members in the club and I’m really glad Mama and Papa did that, because I want to meet my new friends as often as possible. And I can’t wait ’till next year’s beardie bounce. Maybe, if I’m asking the tooth fairy, maybe, maybe she’ll convince them to have more than one bounce-in per year.

Oh I totally forgot mention, that a Beardie bounce is a meeting of Beardies and their humans where we got to play with each other, the humans are chatting and having lunch, and both, doggies and humans are playing together fun games.

It’s really really cool.

The second Papa started the car to drive back home, I fell asleep and almost missed the stop at Petsmart were I got a new comfy bed, a bigger collar (I’m still growing you know) and some very yummy treats.

After all that fun yesterday, I am really really tired today, but then my neighbors Jesse and Leyah came to my place were they’re currently spending the day. Wohoooooooo!

I’m really lucky Puppy.

If you’d like to check out some more of the Beardie Bounce pictures, you can visit my Mama’s Flickrstream. All you have to do is click here: www.flickr.com

This week is full of excitement and appointments.
Monday was all digging at the beach (I’ve already talked about that adventure).

Tuesday started out very lazy, because my Mama had a bad migraine so Papa had to work from home to keep an eye on me and take care of Mama. But the evening turned out to be very interesting. I stated Puppy 2 at “A Dog’s Life”. Except for Esme the Springer Spaniel Puppy, I don’t know anybody yet in my new class. Loads and loads of new friends to be. Wohoo! Even my teacher is brand new. At least to me. Tee-hee.

Nancy seems nice and she has a lot of yummy treats too, just like Peggy used to have.

So I guess I’ll do my very best to please her to get as many treats as possible. I don’t know why Mama and Papa told her that I seem to have forgotten almost all we’ve learned so far. Let me tell ya’ll I haven’t forgotten about it at all. I’m just testing if Mama and Papa are still insisting that I’ll do “sit”, “down”, “stay”, “don’t jump on people”… you get the picture

Wednesday was just horrible, but I managed to get through it very bravely.

I had to go to the vet again. More vaccinations and I needed to get my right ear cleaned. Wow, that was unpleasant. The ear cleaning thing, not the vaccination.

I really really don’t like the ear cleaning! Nope! NOT AT ALL AND NOT IN A MILLION YEARS!

Guess Mama is as relieved as I am, that we don’t have to repeat that at home any time soon. Just horrible!

After the vet visit I was so exhausted and the vaccine was taking its toll, so that I didn’t even cared for my dinner. That hasn’t happened before. But Mama and Papa were extra lovely to me and I got lots of cuddles.

And the next day, everything was back to normal. And I even got a little big bigger breakfast than usual.

I guess Mama and Papa felt a little bit guilty for causing me so much trouble with the vet visits. Tee-hee. Don’t tell them, but I actually like my vet even though I hate the procedures.

Thursday was a bit mixed.

I got to see my former Trainer Peggy again. Wohoo! I like her soooo much. And she even came to my house for a visit. I was so excited that I could stop myself from jumping at her and greeting her over and over again. Even when she sat down with Mama and Papa to have a “serious talk about Pepper”. What? You’re talking about me? How come? I’m the sweetest thing in the world!!!!

I overheard them talking about how I’m behaving when being left home alone. Apparently I’m barking too much and that I’m causing a “problem” for Mama, Papa and our neighbors.

WHAT? I’M BARKING TOO MUCH? I’M NOT SETTLING DOWN? ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

My solution to that: don’t leave me home alone! Not even for 5 minutes! I don’t like it and that’s why I’m barking.

But as far as I can tell from the talk Mama, Papa and Peggy had, that’s not an option

Although I don’t have a so called “separation anxiety” (which I think is good, right?) I have to learn to stay home alone WITHOUT barking. Hmmmm, not sure about this.

We now have to practice every day beginning by 1 – 2 minutes until I’ve learned to stay quiet when being left home alone, according to Peggy. Why? Why do I have to learn that? Anybody out there who can explain that concept to me? I just don’t get it! I love my Mama and Papa soooo much that I want to spend every second of my life with them.

Mama and Papa reassured me though, that they want to spend every second of their lives with me too, but that there are sometimes things, where I can’t come with them, like doing grocery shopping (I wouldn’t mind), doctors appointments, some restaurants… etc.

Seems I have no choice. What about all my doggy friends? Are you staying home alone quietly? How did you manage to calm yourself down and “enjoy” the alone-time?  Hints, tips and tricks are very welcome.

With all that going on in the last week, we’ll have a “quiet” day today. But the weekend seems to be interesting especially Sunday. I’ll tell more about it, next week. I promise.

I did it once before and thought it was fun, so I’m going to participate more often in the wordless wednesday blog hop. It’s nice to hop around different dog blogs and check out what my fellow canines are up to.

You can check out the other pet blogs here. The links will be posted as soon as they’re available: