Puppy Professor

Brooke, a girl in one of Chris' photo classes was seaching for a story for her next assignment when Chris suggested doing one on yours truely. So after a few days of playing phone tag Brooke & I finally got to sit down & she interviewed me about my career choice, dropping out of school, Skyler, & life in general. She also came and sat in on a few of my training sessions and Puppy Preschool classes. Here is Brooke's story about me...

Puppy Preschool

In January I started my first puppy preschool class at Go Fetch! I had 3 little puppies in my class a French Bulldog (above), a Pembroke Welsh Corgi, and a Shih Tzu. I was in the process of creating a brochure to hand out to local business promoting my Puppy Preschool class so Christopher came in and took some pictures for the brochure.
One activity of Puppy Preschool is I teach owners and their puppies how to have a positive association with the vacuum cleaner. The vacuum is on and running strong in the photo above as Dutch eats kibble from it.
Christopher's "puppy" Schuck sometimes comes into Puppy Preschool to help teach puppies how to properly introduce themselves to big dogs as well as socialize them to dogs of all sizes.
Skyler also gets to come into all of my preschool classes, which she loves to do. I swear she somehow knows what Saturdays are Puppy Preschool days because she is so much perkier on those mornings.
Teaching owners to handle their puppies in all ways out of the ordinary is also very important.
Talking to my class during handling/pass the puppy exercises.

My first class all in all was a great success! Today I started with class #2 which consists of a Leonberger, Miniature Poddle, as well as a mixed breed.

Snowshoeing

Took a trip up to Lolo Peak today with Christopher, Cameron (roommate), Danny (friend) & of course Skyler & Schuck. There is still at least 4 ft of snow up there so we rented snowshoes and took a nice jaunt up into the Bitterroot Mountains. Snowshoeing is fun but tiring. We made it to the top of some random mountain & the work was well worth the payoff of the awesome view. It's days like these that solidify my love of the West & my home in Missoula.

Now who wants to come visit me?

Belaying

Work is stressful, but I love it. On average I've been putting in anywhere from 50-60 hours a week between training and the store. So yea, I've been keeping busy. Since I'm not a student at the U any longer, I also haven't been getting much exercise (other than all the running around and hiking I do). I'd been thinking about getting a gym membership somewhere in town but just havn't had the time to go do it yet. But last night I think I found an answer to my problems.

My roommate Cameron is an avid climber. Since he & Christopher are competing in the Grizzly Man race this spring, they've both taken up climbing a few nights a week. I've been wanting to do it for ages, but with absolutely no knowledge of climbing, I never got around to ever trying. After the guys giving me a quick rundown of the knots, safety procedures, techniques, etc. I took a test & am now belay certified. We spent the rest of the night taking turns spidering up the wall, which was a blast & a great workout for the entire body if you ever want a fun way to build some muscle. I'll try to take a camera next time I go. Although we have to stick to the wall inside the rec center for now, as soon as some snow melts we have a tripped planned on some real cliffs in another month or so.

I think I've found a new addiction.