My Eleventh Birthday

Yesterday was my 11th birthday, and people (including my doodle pals) have been asking me what I did to celebrate the occasion. I've decided, though, that it would be much simpler to tell everyone what I didn't do on my birthday.

I didn't go running at the beach, because four-legged people aren't supposed to run around on La Jolla beaches.

I didn't go swimming in a pool, 'cause we don't have one at our house.

I didn't play with the big ball, because (blush) the last time I played with it, I tried too hard to pick it up and it stopped being a ball.

I didn't have a date with my beautiful Daph-o-Dil, because she wasn't in town.

I didn't jump for snowballs, 'cause there isn't ever any snow around here (Momsy says "thank goodness")

I didn't lurk in the tall grass waiting to pounce on a wild turkey, 'cause we don't have any wild turkeys around here (I chased off a cat that trespassed into my back yard, though).

I didn't even get a birthday cake!!

So, what did I do on my birthday?

I took Momsy and Popsy for a long walk to the local Muttropolis, where the nice lady behind the counter gave me a fistfull of treats.

And I curled up on my favorite chair to dream about all the things I didn't do on my 11th birthday.

Training Your Humans With Treats

Humans are smart. Take it from one who knows! This makes them quite easy to train - once you figure out what treats to use. Fortunately, most humans are food motivated, and will work for treats that are easily available to the average Doodle. With patience, practice and the appropriate rewards, there are many tricks that you can teach your humans. Here are just a few of the most important behaviors to teach your human family and their friends.

Polite greeting

Posing patiently for a picture

Dancing

Walking calmly side-by-side

Of course, not everybody is equally easy to train. First, you must find the best treat to motivate your humans.

Orange wedges, watermelon cubes and blueberries all are effective training treats.

Throwing your toys for your human to play with is also a good training tool.

If all else fails, there's always CHOCOLATE CAKE!!