It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year.

A Christmas greeting from the Blind Louie Family! xoxo

Tomorrow is Christmas eve.
This is a time when I feel closest to my family and loved ones, including my four legged family members. Louie even slept under the covers last night, I just couldn't say no. Well, I did say no about 4 or 5 times but then at about 4am when he was trying again, I let him under into his little cocoon of heat and security. He loves that.

My husband and I are hosting Christmas eve dinner at my Grandmother in laws house.
Our home is so tiny we can barely fit two people in the kitchen, let alone feed and entertain 13 people, so to Grandma Barrett's delight we suggested hosting at her house and it seems like a wise idea. I've been cooking today, on and off. I did manage a two hour afternoon nap, that of course, included Louie and a kitten. Having my usual weekend off work is great, but knowing I have two more days to enjoy my family is amazing.

Louie is always interested in what I'm making in the kitchen.
Like I said, the kitchen is TINY, I mean tiny. Standing room is roughly about 4 foot by 6 foot. The space I am using does not include room for a nosy 100 plus pound dog. Sorry Louie. I know he just wants to 'see' what I'm doing in there, and since he can't just peek in around the corner like our seeing dog Snorp does, he has to follow his nose to the source of interest. The phrases 'out of the kitchen' and 'back up' have been said dozens of times today. He always starts out well, and I get busy and before I know it, I turn around and trip over big Blind Louie. 'Back up buddy, out of the kitchen. Scoot scoot scoot!'. His reverse is pretty cute. Rear legs: step step, front legs: jump back! and repeat.

Louie's models his cool hat as Snorp gives him 'bunny ears'

So after a few of those I decided we could practice something else instead.
Since we didn't have class yesterday and we won't again next Saturday because of the holiday I thought this would be another great opportunity to practice 'lay down' and the long stay. Staying in place for quite a while and just relaxing will really help us when we do the final CGC test, because he will have to stay with strangers while I am out of the room for three minutes. After today I am more confident than every that he will have no problem with this. The first few times I asked him to stay, he would sneak back up on me, but then something miraculous happened. I finished a task and turned around and Louie was still out of the kitchen! I looked at the clock and it had been six whole minutes! He was still awake and in the same position I had left him. He was still listening intently to what I was doing but he was not whining and was staying in place. Success!

Meatloaf Kitty tries on Louie's new hat!

I have written before about Louie having a hard time with the 'lay down' command.
This is getting much better, but he seems to be following the 'third time's a charm' rule. I say 'Lay down', he looks at me and sinks his shoulders a tiny bit. I say again, 'Louie, lay down'. He scoots his front feet forward a step each. This makes him look like he's doing some yoga move, I think it's actually called the downward facing dog, so it's quite fitting. One more time, same tone and delivery 'Louie, lay down.' The front feet scoot forward and he lays down. Success! Now, I have to ask our instructor if this will count against us during the test, having to ask him multiple times. This is a pass/fail test, so this is very important.

I hope you enjoy our festive photos, Louie's cool hat was made by Grandma Barrett. He loves it, Meatloaf kitty, not so much.