We have a S.T.A.R. puppy!

Last night was our final senior puppy class.  The goals of this class were to give our puppy the skills to pass the American Kennel Club's S.T.A.R. puppy program.  We had a series of tests last night that Zelda had to pass in order to graduate.  Zelda passed with flying colors.  The tests were:  1. sit stay in a specific spot, 2.  walk sit walk, 3.  sit stay on top of a platform, 4.  go through a chute (short tunnel), 5.  jump over an obstacle, 6.  allow a stranger to examine her ears and paws,  7.  go through a long tunnel, 8.  sit stay in front of a stanger,  9.  down stay, 10. come from a distance and then as a plus we were supposed to do a trick if they knew one.  Zelda only had a problem with #8, mostly because she loves people so she wanted to get a belly rub.  A lot of the other puppies originally had problems with #'s 3, 4 & 7.  Zelda, being a dachshund, has never had a problem going through tunnels and she loves to get on the highest spot she can reach so the platform thing was no problem.  We got a certificate and ribbon that said she passed the class and now we have to send off for her S.T.A.R. medal.  The trainer gave us each an evaluation and she said, "Zelda is a wonderful little dog who probably would enjoy almost any class."  She also reccomended that we skip the next level of class and go to either Family Dog 2 or the Canine Good Citizen class.  Impressive.

On another note, Zelda and I have been puttering around the house trying to organize everything.  The past week or so we've been concentrating on the spare bedroom.  Sadly, since nobody sleeps in there it ends up being a catch-all room.  No more!  We are nearly done organizing and getting rid of things nobody wants/need.  At the same time we've been trying to set up the room as a man cave/craft room, as we had originally intended.  The desk is now cleared and is currently housing my sewing machine for christmas presents.  While all my craft things are hidden throughout the room they are almost entirely out of site.  The decorations are going ot be very guy compatible--no flowers and lace.  Its going to be all Star Wars and video games.  Its not done yet but its getting there.  Double bonus:  Zelda gets incredibly tired checking everything out while I'm working.