I live for Aha moments. You know the ones... the ones that correlate with 'Eureka!' or 'Bingo!'. Those type of Aha moments.

Today yielded several of those. Today, I (Riptide) learned how to dance. That's right... the Two Step. I also learned how to Bow. Some might say, "Riptide, you're so cool! you know so many tricks how could you not know how to dance and bow!?" Well, for some reason nobody thought it was important for me to know until now >_> Now I have to work on developing muscles that I've never used before so I can do some prolonged rear leg only walking... This will eventually be used to do even better tricks like playing leap frog.

Ember also had a couple of Aha moments. The first was heeling. We're not talking about your average 'walk on a loose leash' heeling. We're talking 'stuck to the bosses leg like glue, making your move match her every move, heeling, pivoting, walking backwards, obedience competition style heeling'. She's been working on it for a couple of weeks now for maybe 3 or 4 - 5minute sessions and it just clicked for her today... sadly this means that for the next 2 or 3 weeks every time the boss asks her to do something (anything) she will immediately go to the 'heel' position and expect a reward. Foolish puppy. She also learned 'finish' which is quite the opposite of 'heel'. Instead of moving directly to the Bosses left side by pivoting on her right paw, she has to walk around the right hand side of the Boss and around her to end up on her left hand side in a 'heel' position.

Hopefully we'll both be ready to compete in Rally Obedience next time there is a trial available. I'm totally ready, but Ember needs some work.


In other news, we have a new Dog Mobile! The Bosses car has gone the way of the dinosaurs and we're now cruising in a stylish, red, 2009 Pontiac G3 Wave! Complete with doggie friendly rear seating, A/C, and a shiney new sunroof! Better mileage means better and longer trips into the far reaches of the Cdn Rockies... maybe even a trip or two south!