by Natalia
At the beginning we wanted to have a purebred dog, but once we visited a shelter and saw many wonderful cats and dogs, and how they looked like in the kennels; bored, sad or looking at you with their special looks, we decided to get a dog from the pound. Soon Puppy Pound Rescue had a litter of pit/lab puppies — 3 males and 4 females.
Bim was the biggest puppy of the litter, most playful. Later actions revealed the secret that he was definitely ‘Alpha puppy’ of the litter – first to play, first to eat, always in the middle of the action. This did not change much – he still has energy like a small power plant, curious, ready for adventure, outgoing and friendly.
Breed: Mutt
Place of Birth: Somewhere around Lake Tahoe.
DOB: Probably beginning of December 2007
Nickname: Bemoleh, Bambushka
Likes: Explore new places, play “catch me – if you can” games with other dogs or people, chase rabbits and deer.
Pet-Peeves: When Bim is in the crate and the cat teases him with her fluffy tail walking slowly around the crate
Quirky Tid-bit: Loves fruits: peaches, watermelons, plums, and overall is pretty much everything.
Our Similarities: I think Bim has more similarities with my teenage son, than with me: they both like junk food, both love to play with their friends despite it being not a right time or right place, both need strong, firm discipline.
Trivia: Mutts or mixed breeds are combinations of different breeds — one-of-a-kind dogs with unique looks and characteristics. Mixed dogs are, as their name suggests, a cross between two pure breeds, and it has often been observed that the crossed dog often times acquires the best characteristics from its parents. Mutt’s lineage of course, is much further from purebreds, however they are less likely to get sick and they have less health problems than many purebreds do.
October 1st, 2008
by Anu Maurya
After our 2-day back-to-back first RE “A” attempt in July, where Lego had decided it was more fun to run in the ring than perform… I gathered my courage and signed up for 2 more back-to-back trials on September 27 and 28.
September 27, we arrived at the location 40 minutes prior to the starting time. I took a walk with Lego to get him acclimated with the environment. We were the last entry in RE, which made us the 1st dog to honor.
In Rally Excellent, there is an Honor exercise where a dog either does a sit or down-stay (depending on the judge), while another dog-handler performs the course. The honor dog is selected in a round-robin fashion — the last dog in the list of entries honors for first dog-handler team. And after the dog-handler team finishes the course, they in turn honor for the next team.
I was happy to be the last entry on the list. I felt that doing the Honor exercise first might help in getting Lego acclimated to the ring — at least we would get a chance to walk in the ring before our actual show time. The Honor exercise was a down-stay. Lego is very consistent with his downs, I was very confident it would not be a problem. Following the judge’s instructions, I put Lego in a down, told him to stay and walked at the end of the leash. Lego did very well in this exercise.
As our show time approached, I grew more nervous. The dog that went before us took off and ran out of the ring in a playful prance. Lego and I were lined up at the entrance of the ring, and that dog’s playfulness excited Lego a lot. This made me very nervous and gave me flashbacks of Lego’s “run-and-jump-for-joy-routine”.
The judge invited us in the ring and asked me to hand over my leash to the steward. “Are you ready?”, the judge asked. I asked Lego to watch me, took a deep breath and said “Yes” to the judge. On the judge’s command, we moved forward. The first sign was a broad jump. This was a very hard sign for many dogs because the dog doesn’t have much time to react to it. I asked Lego to go over the broad jump, and he did! This was a good start and it boosted up my confidence.
We then approached the “Evil Temptation 8” which had 2 food distractions. Lego was always by my side and performed perfectly at this exercise. However upon finishing the figure-8, I lost track of the direction I had to exit from! I started walking towards the wrong sign… luckily I saw the number of the sign and immediately turned towards the right sign. This threw us off a bit.
The next few exercise where close to the honor dog. But Lego didn’t even look at the honor dog — he was entirely focused on me :)! The last exercise was the hardest one, it was the “Backup 3 Steps”, where the dog walks backwards as the handler takes 3 steps back. With a small dog, it’s hard to get their attention. I asked Lego to watch me, took three steps back while asking him to back up, and he walked backwards perfectly, in a straight line next to me — it was a great finale for us! I was ecstatic that Lego was focused on me the entire time and didn’t take off! I put back the leash on Lego and left the ring with a huge smile 
I looked at our score, and was in complete awe… we got 98 points and earned First Place! We were awarded 1st place Blue Rosette, Green Qualifying Ribbon and a gift.
RE Attempt #4
Day 2 – September 28, we arrived at the location 30 minutes before the course walk through time. The stewards were running late, which resulted in us waiting for quite some time.
I checked in and received the copy of the course. The course was more straight forward than the previous day’s. But the judge made 2 last minute changes to the course which she announced at the walk through.
I wasn’t as nervous as the previous day. Lego and I were again the last entry in RE “A” class, which meant I would get to honor first in the ring. After the judge finished judging the RE “B” class, she took a break. And just like the previous day, I assumed they would do the award ceremony for RE “B” class before they proceed with judging RE “A” (my group).
In this break time, I decided to take a walk with Lego and do some warm up exercises. After a short while, I returned back and saw a RE “A” dog-handler team entering the ring to be judged and a volunteer dog doing the honor. I rushed to the ring and told them that I was supposed to do the honor and I explained how I thought they were going to the awards for RE “B” before they started with RE “A”. But they told me that the judge decided to do both class awards together and that I should now wait to do the honor exercise after I finish the course.
It wasn’t a big issue, but it just threw me off a bit. I had planned on getting the ring exposure prior we were judged for the course. It probably wouldn’t have made a difference, but nevertheless, my nervousness started to kick in.
Our turn arrived. I walked into the ring. The judge asked if I was ready. I looked down at Lego and asked him to watch me, but he was focused elsewhere. I took a deep breath and acknowledged to the Judge.
“Forward”, the judge said. At that very moment Lego looked at me as we proceeded to the first exercise. We finished the course smoothly and stayed to do our honor exercise, which was a sit-stay.
We eagerly awaited our scores, and I couldn’t be happier – we got 97 points and were awarded first place
I am very proud of my little Lego – he did absolutely everything I asked, and more
September 28th, 2008
by Anu Maurya
After reading about therapy dogs and talking to friends that volunteer with their dogs, I was very interested in participating in this program. I looked up several therapy dog programs, including Therapy Dogs International, Inc.
The TDI test had a long waiting list and I was told that there was no guarantee I would be able sign up for it.
Last week I got a call from the dog training club informing me that there was an opening for the TDI test on September 2nd at 8pm. I agreed to be on the list knowing that I was still allowed to back out if we weren’t ready for it.
Lego had passed his Canine Good Citizen (CGC) when he was about 11 months. But after receiving his CGC certificate in the mail, I slacked off and wasn’t consistent about how he greeted strangers and I allowed strangers to encourage his frenchie-power-launch-kisses.
The TDI test consists of all CGC exercises, with a few more additional tests. My biggest concern was the “Say Hello” exercise followed by the sit for being pet.
“ Test 11: Say Hello
The TDI Certified Evaluator will test the willingness of each dog to visit a person and that the dog can be made readily accessible for petting (i.e., small dogs can be placed on a person’s lap or can be held, medium and larger dogs can sit on a chair or stand close to the patient to be easily reached.) ”
I never trained Lego to sit calmly on someone’s lap. With friends, he gets super hyped-up and gives them frenchie-power-kisses… I had planned on getting off early from work and taking Lego to public dog friendly locations to practice on this exercise. But of course, I got tied up at work and didn’t have that option.
I came home, picked up Lego and decided to try out the test. We arrived at the location around 6:45pm. We checked in and took a walk around the facility. There were a few volunteer kids that were part of the TDI testing. The kids LOVED Lego! They petted him while he sat calmly next to them.
The testing began. The evaluator approached me and asked if she could pet my dog. I acknowledged and as she approached Lego, he stood up from his sit in heel position. I asked the evaluator whether he should sit or stand, and she directed me to have him in a sit-stay for being pet. I asked Lego to sit and stay and he warmly welcomed the evaluator to pet him while he sat calmly.
Lego did well on all the other CGC exercises and the TDI food distraction test. We then reached the “Say Hello” exercise. Another evaluator was sitting on a chair and as I approached him, he asked about Lego’s weight. I told him Lego was about 22lbs, hoping he would not ask me to put Lego on his lap…
The evaluator first asked me to have Lego on his side on the floor while he petted him. The evaluator then said, “Lets try putting him on my lap”.
Not knowing what could happened, I carried Lego and placed him on the evaluator’s lap. Lego was about to give his frenchie kisses to the evaluator. I asked if he could do that, and the evaluator told me that some people might not like it, hence I need to “turn off” his kissing. I told Lego to stay, while on the evaluator’s lap, and he stayed! He didn’t give any kisses and the evaluator gently stroked him.
At this point I was ecstatic! That was the first time I ever put Lego on a stranger’s lap!!!
The next exercise was the 3 minute separation test, which was the last test. I put Lego in a down-stay and left the area. After 3 minutes I returned and saw Lego in the same down position. The evaluator watching him told me he never moved nor broke his down-stay. I was so proud of the little guy 
!
The stewards informed me that I had passed. I need to fill out a few more forms before we get our TDI badges and can then start volunteering!
Lego and I came home with huge smiles on our face
Lego got a special dinner of beef, pork spare-ribs, Stella & Chewy’s freeze-dried beef steaks, and his favorite treat, baby carrots! And he also picked out a new rope toy — his favorite!
September 2nd, 2008
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