A boy and his friend

My girl started her flute lessons this week. My son, Haddie, and I decided to wait during the lesson (versus driving home and returning) because the Flute Teacher's neighborhood provided a new environment for our newest four-legged.

I am getting my routine down on what I need when I pack Haddie into the car - but I need to remember my good camera, and not rely on my camera phone. These would have been much cuter with my Lumix.

I loved watching my son work with Haddie. After a walk, and observing the local High School's Cross-Country Team jog by (Yay, Haddie!!! She's witnessed more runners since the original freak-out, and this time Jogger numbers 5,6,7,8 didn't phase her!), my son decided it was time to just sit and watch the world.

Another day this week, my son split her last meal of the day; half went into her bowl to consume all at once, the other half he put on the laundry room counter. He used the countered-food as a Reward for training. He got the whim to teach her how to Shake with her paw. A few minutes had transpired before I heard the call from the Laundry Room - "Mom, come see this! Haddie knows Shake."

And she did. She was eventually getting it more and more consistently as he showed me. I don't know which of the two I was more happy for - my four-legged friend for learning so quickly, or my son who was beaming with pride.

The next morning, I tested Haddie with her newest commands - Sit, Down, Shake.  She knew them. We'll continue to perform these commands out in public and test her thinking skills. But so far, she is doing pretty outstanding.