Mom Calls Me an Extortionist

Hi everybody! It's Penny here, and me and my mom Jean are very excited to be talking to you about Dogs on Thursday. I figured, since I'm a dog (or at least that's what they tell me anyway), I'd give you my perspective on things. (Mom's helping by typing for me -- darn this lack of opposable thumbs!)

I'm 24 weeks old today. Yay me!! And last weekend, I graduated from puppy kindergarten. Yay me again!! It was a lot of hard work. There were lots of big dogs there, but I kept up with all of them. Not so easy to do on these short little legs.Like all good puppies, I learned a command called "leave it". Now, Mom and Dad appear to be using this to their advantage, because I hear them say this when I've found a particularly interesting something, or an incredibly tasty tidbit, or some of their dirty clothes that they've left within my reach (seriously, I'm a dachshund... how hard is it to put something where I can't get it?). They say "leave it" and when I back away, they click the magic clicker and then I get a treat.

Pretty slick, eh?

Except, they didn't take into account that I'm an exceptionally smart puppy, if I say so myself. I've figured out that, if I just prop my front feet up on the coffee table and look interested in something, they'll say "leave it", click, and give me a treat. If I actually succeed in grabbing something, Mom brings out the big guns and gives me a Milk Bone Gravy Bone in trade (especially if it's something to do with the IRS. I don't know who they are, but she takes them pretty seriously).
Some days, if I sneak into Mom's office, I get a lot of Gravy Bones. *burp*

Mom calls me an extortionist. Something about holding things hostage for ransom. I think I need a dictionary. At any rate, it gets me lots of treats.

See you in a few weeks!