George and the Old Fart

It's past time you all meet George. World, this is George. George, meet the world.

George had his second night in the 'Beginner's Class' at dog training last night. I'm not sure how much he's really learning about 'sit' and 'stay'. He is the champ at 'come', though. Well, sort of. He comes to me just fine, he flat won't come to the woman running the class, or anybody else. He just looks at her and says something along the line of "who are you? I don't work for you."

Jackie, the woman running the class says that that's not entirely a bad thing, he'll be much harder to steal that way. She says that German Shepherds are very often one man dogs. Of course, the real reason for this class is basic socialization around both other dogs and people. He had none of that at all in his first five months. THAT part of the plan is really working. He is quite gentle around the other dogs in the class and, although he won't really approach the other people, when they come to him he allows them to do some petting and suchlike. Most important, he is very gentle around strange children.

Afterwards we drove over to meet my best friend and their dog, Roxy. Seein' as how Linda Lou absolutely refuses to bring George on our next vacation out to Arizona, over Christmas, this is important. Steve is pal enough to keep the mess-dog while we're out of the area, assuming that everybody gets along. I drove away thanking the good Lord that they did all get along. That's some five hundred bucks we won't have to spend in boarding.