Goodbye my Sensei

My Dear Sensei,

I am so brokenhearted that I had to say Goodbye to you today. What a sweet angel you were, my boy. I am so lucky and grateful to have had you in my life. You truly were my Sensei, an amazing teacher. Thank you for making me take my training to the next level by demanding that I communicate clearly and respectfully with patience and understanding. I am so sad you are gone but so grateful that you were able to leave this world with dignity and comfort, in my arms while I kissed your head.

With all my love,

Your Student

Rescues, ruptured discs and haircuts

On Saturday, my student organized an Easter Egg Hunt to benefit One Pup at a Time rescue dogs. The hunt involved dogs hunting for plastic eggs full of treats. I am sure it was fun for them, but thankfully, Sensei wasn't subjected to it. With all due respect, I am simply not made for "sniffing". I am also not particularly interested in playing games when it comes to my food.

That being said, it was successful. Lilith Anne, the lovely, older Dachshund that spent a week with us, was adopted. Wonderful for her! Razzie, the wire was also adopted and went to her new home yesterday. It was bittersweet. We are happy for her to go to her new forever home, a on 30 acres with chickens horses and a barn, it sounds lovely. On the other hand, we quite liked having her here as well.

The wasn't the only thing that happened yesterday. Poor, dear Winnie began walking funny and with those, long, low Dachshunds, we know what that means. She has a mild disc rupture. She will probably be okay but will need to be on medication and crate rest for 6 to 8 weeks. We have been through this before and always came through successfully, so we are hopeful that Winnie will come through fine. Still, it hurts Sensei's heart to see her this way.

I saved the worst for last. Yesterday, my student clipped off all of my beautiful coat, save a few longer hairs on my tail and head! Something about allergies and skin and needing to grow it out all over again. I was further humiliated by being forced to endure a bath today. I do, however, feel quite nice with both the haircut and the bath, but I will never let her know that. So say Sensei...

Spring; The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

The Good
The lovely flowers. Sensei's favorite part about Spring is the colorful, cheerful, wondrous flowers. Soon my students will go flower shopping and will refill all the pots and containers with flowers and plants!

And, the weather! Welcome back to the sunshine! Warm sun, but still crisp and cool out. That is indeed the good.

The Bad
The unpredictable weather. Sensei prefers to plan his days ahead and I dread not knowing whether tomorrow will bring sun or rain. I like cool, I do not fancy wet. Definitely, the bad.

The Ugly
The dreaded allergies, just as they always do have come roaring back for Spring. My student is feeding me not one, but two pink pills a day to help control my hay fever. I quite like that they are delivered in delicious sausage slices, but even those don't make the allergies worth it. Undeniably, the ugly.

So say Sensei

Pearls of Wisdom

"Cleverness is not wisdom."
~Euripides

Another Holiday

My students are packing, which means they are going on holiday, which means my lovely Michelle will come, which means the dreadful pug will accompany her. You must accept the good with the bad I suppose. And now, she has adopted a handicapped puppy with no front legs. One would think Cheerio, as he is called, would annoy Sensei, strangely, he didn't and I am quite taken with him. He is a good little lad and I shall enjoy my time with him this weekend. She will bring Cupcake, the old pug as well. I mind her not. She is easy to live with. It should be an enjoyable weekend, minus the donut....

Rumble Grumble

Last night my students, the others and I were relaxing and enjoying some television together. All of the sudden, there were flashes of light and then the most earth shattering, rumbles and grumbles of noise! It was horrible! Sensei is courageous and brave, but I must admit, I was afraid. I ran screaming to my student and demanded to be picked up. She picked me up immediately and found I was shaking. I was so afraid I cried out and she held and rocked me. She explained that it was okay, only thunder and that she was there. There were no more rumbles after that and she held me until I calmed down. Quite a scare. I do not wish to experience a Thunderstorm again.

A Travesty

As I have mentioned before, I am not a fan of dog shows or of beauty contests in general. One should not be judged on their looks alone, but should be judged on who they are inside. Take dog shows, your honorable Sensei is not viewed as "show quality" and so, is not welcome to compete in a dog show, yet I possess more wisdom and charisma than a thousand "show quality" Pekingese. Not that I am one to brag, but it's quite true. But, I digress.....

While I am not a fan, I do occasionally fancy watching a dog show on television now and again. I made the mistake of spending the last evening watching the Westminster Kennel Club show. At first, when the Pekingese Malachy won the Toy Group I was quite pleased and thought that I might actually enjoy this, until he was robbed of the Best in Show award! It was a travesty, clearly he was the best dog there, he is, of course, a Pekingese. So say Sensei.

Close Call

She trapped and bathed four of the others today. Sensei only narrowly avoided being number five! So say Sensei!

Pearls of Wisdom

"Breed not a savage dog, nor permit a loose stairway."
- Talmud

Shoes of the Lion

My student considered purchasing some Pekingese shoes she found. Unfortunately, they most insultingly did not have them available in black and tan. The nerve. So say Sensei.

Under the Weather

It has been a while since Sensei has written. I do apologize, I have been busy as of late. The fact is I was feeling quite ill for a few days which was just dreadful. As my student was leaving town last week to attend Clicker Expo, a large and exhausting conference she realized that I wasn't feeling well. I had a horrible stomach ache and couldn't eat for days. I thought for a moment that she wouldn't leave Sensei, but I let her know it was best that she go. That left my other student to care for Sensei. He is not nearly as diligent or thoughtful as she is. He always believes she "overreacts" when Sensei or one of the others is not feeling well. There is no overreacting when it comes to Sensei's health and well being!! Can you imagine? I suppose I should mention that in an attempt to make me "feel better" and "clean me up", he gave me a bath, unfortunately, he does not realize that Sensei absolutely abhors baths. In the end he did schedule me an appointment to see the most wise Dr. George, however, I improved greatly prior to the appointment, thus, I did not have to be seen. It was a most awful few days though, I was quite under the weather. I wonder why they refer to being ill as "under the weather". Sometimes, on crisp, cool, sunny days it is quite nice to be "under the weather". Perhaps they are referring to the rainy, blustery days when being "under the weather" might not be as pleasant....