Oodles of Poodles-- Happy Birthday Queen Flee Wee

Today we had our monthly Oodles of Poodles meetup. I was bouncing around and very excited to get in the car, and mom put on my special birthday bandana from the Fun Loving Family (thanks again!) because it was time to celebrate Queen Flee Wee's birthday.

The party was held at a local doggy country club, and we arrived about 15 minutes early so that I could have a chance to walk around the block and practice not barking. We got out of the car and almost immediately mom's distraction skills were put to the test-- there were two lions outside of a building that were roaring at me and had their paws raised up like they were going to get me! Yipes! Woof woof WOOF! I tried to warn mom and scare those lions away, but they didn't move or make a sound. Then mom and dad started laughing at me, they said that the lions were "statues", which apparently means that they were turned to stone! Well, I gave those lions a wide berth just in case they turned back into real life lions as we walked by.

We walked around the block and most of the time I heeled really nicely. We had to walk past another doggy day care (where we had our last Oodles of Poodles meetup) and there were dogs barking, so I had to join in for a bit. I got about 7 or 8 woofs out before mom redirected me sufficiently. Then I heeled for most of the rest of the way except when there were three pigeons and a raven on the sidewalk in front of me, I got distracted and pulled on the leash, but didn't bark at them and with a few reminders we walked past them nicely.

We rounded the corner to get back to the place where the party was, and saw some of my poodle friends! Yippie!!!! I woofed once, and mom turned around and we went back around the corner. It took several times of having to turn around when I got too distracted (though I didn't woof, just tried to pull on the leash) but eventually we made it to the door. We had to wait in the waiting room for a bit, and I was SOOOOOOOO EXCITED and I really really wanted to bark but mom kept putting me out of sight of the other doggies when she could tell I was almost ready to bark. Then gradually we moved out into the main lobby. Mom was so proud of me, I didn't bark at all for lots of doggies coming in, until a golden-doodle came in and then I had about 5-10 barks. We had to wait in the lobby a long time because mom wanted to walk me into the room herself, and not give me to the workers there to take into the back room and then bring me in (mom would have OKed this if she got to go with me, but they said no), so they made us go in last.

Finally we got to go inside and there were so many dogs! Queen Flee Wee has lots of friends, and so in addition to all the poodles, there were a lot of other breeds plus the normal doggy day care dogs in there. There was an inside and an outside area, and the inside are was pretty loud and crowded so I wasn't really comfortable playing in there as much. Plus there was a cocker spanial that kept going after other dogs and every time it happened I got nervous and tried to hide behind mom. When we went to the outside area where there were fewer dogs I had a TON of fun! I played a lot with Mattie, Frosty and Brandon, plus some other puppies that were there whose names I don't know. I met the largest poodle I've ever seen, Matise, who was the size of a great dane!

I ran and played and played some more, and I was a very good pup most of the time. There were sandwiches and a guy offered me some of his so even though mom kept telling me to leave it, I kept trying to go say hello to the man. Eventually I realized mom wasn't going to let the man give me any sandwich, though. No fair! I am a growing teenager and need all the food I can get!

We played for about 2 hrs, and dad took lots of pictures, you can see them here: http://poodle.meetup.com/136/photos/. Mom is being slow about cropping and posting pictures, so hopefully they'll be up on here soon! I think most doggies had a good of a time as I did, though please send good thoughts to our toy poodle friend who was injured by the cocker!

Mattie and I left at the same time and she saw the statues as well. Mom gave me treats on the statutes, and Mattie explained that in her experience, the statues never come to life, they just stay stone so I don't need to worry about them. Phew! Thank goodness!

We stopped by PetClub on the way home to get crickets for the gecko and more dog treats, and I did SUCH a good job in the store. I didn't make noise at any dog in the store, and we saw about 10 dogs! I heeled the whole time, too. One woman even asked for training tips because I was being so well behaved.

When we finally got home I told Sissy Sabrina all about my outing and she sniffed me all over to make sure none of the doggies mistreated me. Then she took all my treats and my tennis ball! That's OK, though, I didn't mind because I was so happy to see her! She confirmed Mattie's story that the statues wouldn't come to life, and shared her Sabre toothed tiger story with me. That statue sounds a lot scarier than the ones I saw!

It was a busy day, and now I am wiped out. Mom was very very proud of my control of my barking, and says that depending on how I do on my morning walk tomorrow, I might get to go in to work with her after all! I'll try my best because I don't want to stay home!

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