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My life at Carter's Critter's

Puppy Class /Novice/SAR

As I entered my fifth month Rose enrolled me in a puppy class. It was great. The class met every Saturday morning.The humans told stories,
and traded tips while us pups played. We learned how to get along,hold still for one minute,ride properly in the car..stuff like that.
Between five and 7 months of age I learned all the basic stuff like sit, come here , down/stay..ect. Rose kept me on a short line for the formal stuff then used her long line for distance work.
At seven months I graduated and began my SAR training. This training was not as easy. The training takes a long time.
Rose and I did help find people.We both miss that.I may be retired from SAR, but I have a new "job". I spend my time keeping an eye on things around here. With all the creatures coming and going..Rose needs my help.

Puppy Training

My puppy training began on the first day of my arrival into the Carter's home. Important stuff like when to eat, don't do your "thing" in the house,don't chew the shoes, ect. I was spoken to softly,never had my face rubbed into my" mistakes".When ever she put her hands on my back it felt nice.I was told "good girl" all the time.When Rose groomed me she let me see and smell the tools.I really did not understand the words,but her gentle touch and soft tone helped guide me through to my forth month.
By the time I reached my forth month I knew my way around pretty well. Rose bought me a new collar.It was soft leather and it had tags on it.As soon as Rose put it on me I felt something new was sure to begin. Oh sure,I remember my old collar,but it was gone now. This collar made me feel important.
The new collar felt a bit strange.It must of had something to do with the line that was hooked to it. I could walk about 15 feet away from Rose, then she would say" Matea..this way,come here". At first I did not want to come back ,but a slight tug and her words convinced me otherwise. When I finally got to her she would say" good girl"..pet me and smile.I loved it. Rose took me everywhere. Strange people would smile and pet me. It was good. Small children wanted to poke and pull at me,however,Rose would say "no,don't poke..pet". Rose always showed them how to pet me. Over the next month I realized that Rose was going to protect me and teach me how to be a companion pet. Puppy class was about to begin..

First meeting

Hi..My name is Matea Osa..that means gentle bear. When the Carter's came to look at me and my litter mates they were thinking "male dog". I saw them when they stepped out of their car and just knew I was born for them.They being human did not realize this but I did. I knew what I had to do. Every time they stopped to look at a boy pup..I just scampered over to the husband and touched his hand with my muzzle.
After awhile the male human got the idea and I heard him say" How about this female?" Then..Rose looked at me and I gave her this "I'm smart" face.I could tell she was under my spell as soon as she picked me up. One look into my eyes and my new bed was on its way.
After a long ride home(three stops along route) we pulled into the long driveway and into the cozy house we went.
WHAT? Cats. Lots of them. I started to count them as they wandered into the kitchen to check me out. Five cats..four of them sort of ignored me as I danced around trying to look tough,however the fifth cat walked up to me and pawed my face. I found out later that his name was Sand Boy (you can see his picture on the cat site) .
After a few weeks I became quite comfortable with the humans smells and lifestyle.I had my own bed set up next to theirs.When I whined they took me out to do what I needed to do,then I was hugged and put back into my bed till morning.
Everyday I got to go outside and play ball,take a short nap on the grass,and taken to this huge lake to see the water. When I was four months old I got enough courage to step into that water and it felt wonderful. Within three days I was swimming in that water..Rose kept me on a long line and kept saying.."this way ..come here".
Basic training was about to begin.