February Sponsor Letter

Good morning Sue!

I hope all is well there.  As you can tell from the attached photos, we have been keeping Beacon busy.  In addition to all the everyday training, Beacon has been out and about to some interesting places.

January 21st was our puppy meeting.  Beacon was the model dog and performed well despite the distraction of 3 new pups in our group. 

A group photograph of the Nashville Puppies in Training.
Beacon is third from the right.

Beacon was the model dog for down, stay.  Beacon is in a
down stay at the Area Coordinators feet.

Beacon still loves to travel by car, which is great considering we are always headed out somewhere with him.

Beacon on the floorboard of the car.
He is looking off to the right.

Beacon still has some difficulty with stairs, so while at the farm we practiced up and down the stairs A LOT.

Beacon standing on the middle of two steps.

On February 9th, Beacon visited the vet for an eye exam and also toured the Parthenon in Nashville.  We practiced more stairs and statue exposures.  It was a very long day but Beacon was a trooper!

Me giving the thumbs up as Beacon looks around the corner
while in a down at the Vets office.

Beacon is in a down on the examination table at the vets office.
A vet tech is scratching his head and the Vet is holding Beacons
muzzle while checking his eyes.  Beacon is being a very good boy!

Billy is straddling a sitting Beacon at a display at the Parthenon. 

Billy is standing at the foot of the Athena
statue at the Parthenon.  He is holding Beacons
leash as Beacon maintains a down stay.
FYI - the Athena statue is 41 feet 10 inches tall.  She is
the largest piece of indoor sculpture in the
Western World.

February also brought a crazy exposure for Beacon - a professional hockey game.  Our seats were maybe 15 rows from the ice and near the goal.  I knew there would be noise, but never expected it to be at the level it was.  It was a sellout crowd (I suspect this was most likely due to the free rally rag give away and not because the Predators are a great team!).  There was a lot of popcorn on the floor which made it the perfect practice for the 'leave it' command.  Beacon made an occasional lunge for the popcorn but  did very well after several 'leave it's and ignored the popcorn.  The ketchup covered pickle was another story!  Beacon nabbed that so quickly that we then practiced the 'drop it' command.  He did not want to give up the pickle.  Luckily, for us and Beacon, he suffered no ill effects from ingesting the pickle.  

Beacon was very interested in the woman in front of us.  Well, maybe not so much in her, as much as her hair! 

We practiced 'down, under' (Beacon must get into a down and then scoot under the seat) and 'under, down (Beacon must get under the seat and then down) and he did GREAT!  

I

After the first period, the buzzer noise did not make him flinch.  I must say, he was better behaved than many of the fans!  

At each period break, Beacon was able to get up and stretch a bit.   You can see from this picture how big he is getting!  

As usual, we practiced stairs but with a twist.  We had to handle cement stairs and metal stairs - both of which were not normal riser height.  Also, there were people coming up and going down in all directions.

We attended another puppy training meeting.  Billy was the photographer this time around so we have no actual pictures of Beacon in the indoor pool and hockey rink.  Billy did manage to take a picture of Beacon trying to smile

and of the outdoor obedience portion of the meeting.

Beacon was initially a little excited by the splashing in the pool but quickly realized he was not going to be allowed to jump in, and settled down and charmed all those around him.  He loves attention and sits very well to receive it.  Beacon is allowed to be pet by the public while in jacket for a few more months.  He is still a very easy, laid back puppy and a joy to raise!

Beacon is growing well and I believe he has lost most of his puppy teeth.  Hopefully March will bring an 'adult' size puppy in training jacket for Beacon and some additional great exposures!

Have a great month!