The Book of Ramblings

We arrived at class a few minutes early as some other folks were leaving. We met a couple very nice Border collies and an older dog on the way in. When we got in there, there was yet another border collie and it sounded like the guy was joining our agility class. It turned out that he wasn't -- he was there for the basic obedience class, but had the wrong night (his girlfriend told him to show up, but he was supposed to be there Thursday...oops!). I was most disappointed because I really wanted to watch a BC in class.

And then the guy proved why he was there for the other class. We were just standing there and he let his dog walk over to Dahlia (he wasn't paying much attention). The dog sniffed her, she stood there with no problem, and then suddenly the dog snapped at her. The guy just stood there and said "that's why we're taking class." WTF. You let your fear aggressive dog greet other dogs? When you KNOW he has a problems with this? He was one of those dogs who just gets overwhelmed and freaks out. He ended up having to drag the dog out because it started barking and snapping at everything, no matter how close it was. Niiice.

At any rate, we started off this class with the teeter. I pretty much figured this would be Dahlia's worst obstacle. We did it with a very short, very low to the ground teeter, that the instructor held steady underneath the dogs. The instructor put easy cheese on it at intervals and we were supposed to coax the dog up by pointing to each of them and getting the dog to lick them off. This worked somewhat well with Dahlia, but we had some problems in the beginning. I pointed at the first one and she laid down. My thought was "oh great, she's frustrated already?" And then I realized I had just given her the cue for "down" and she very nicely laid down. Oops. I ignored the bottom bits of cheese and pointed a bit higher and she went for them. Like the other dogs, she stretched out on her tippy toes in order to not put her back feet on the teeter. But eventually she did get one foot on and the instructor helped to place her on it. She took a couple steps forward and then we just let her stand there and petted her for a bit to get her used to standing on it. We never dropped the other side of the teeter, but just getting her on it was a good start!

Then class moved on to a tire jump. I wasn't sure she'd go through it, but amazingly she did (I don't think she liked my calling her a chicken! lol). She managed to go through it a few times with no problems, so she really proved me wrong!

Then we did a combination...two regular jumps, the tire jump, the pause box, and the tunnel in varying combinations. I actually saw her do a couple real jumps, rather than walking over the jumps. I was trying very hard to rile her up, get her excited. Both she and Ellie (the other female dog) seem to have a problem with not getting too excited about it. Samson (the pit bull) gets TOO excited, as does Chauncey (the Goldendoodle). Dino (the yellow lab) does really well and has real potential.

I'm really pleased with how Dahlia's doing in the class. I still don't see her as a real agility dog, but she's having fun at least.

Last night was our first agility class at Blue Prints Dog Studio. The nice thing about this location? They're less than 3/4 of a mile away from our house. I could walk there if I wanted to, but since this is agility class I wanted Dahlia to have more energy so I opted to drive the short distance.

I found this class a little odd right off the bat. The instructor didn't introduce herself to us. I think most of the folks there are daycare dogs and so she knows them and their people. She knows Dahlia because she goes there for grooming, but I have no clue who SHE is. Odd. She was a nice woman though and was very positive with all of the dogs.

Our class has 4 other dogs: A pit-bull/lab/something mix named Ellie(She's adorable with cute spotty toes and adorable ears. She's also a really nice dog. She met Dahlia with no problem, came over and licked my hand, and was generally very attentive to her owner.); a pit bull whose name I have no forgotten (He's a nice dog, but a bit over-excited and seemed REALLY interested in Dahlia); a Bichon named Cesar (cute little dog, very alert and not barky at all...she brings him in his own little carrying case...lol); and a Labradoodle named Chauncey (biggest dog in the class...he's a nice dog too).

We immediately started in with doing some of the obstacles. The first one we did was the weaves. They had them set up so the dog simply walked through them, so it was more like a little path at first than actual weaves. I've heard of this method of teaching them: start with them far apart and slowly bring them closer together. Dahlia went easily through them, which I didn't expect! We moved them closer together and she still had no trouble. So then we started working off leash. We had to bring the dog to the beginning of them, unleash her, and then bring her through. Then we were supposed to leash them back up. The instructor decided that as long as the dog was staying with you, there was no need to leash them back up, so Dahlia did some great off leash heel work and sticking with me. She was bright and happy through most of the class!

Then we moved onto the jumps. Ahhh...poor Miss Dahlia did NOT like them at first. We were to lead the dogs up to it, throw a treat over it and give them a hand signal and the jump command to go over. Dahlia went around. And then around again. Then she finally sat down and look at me. She just didn't seem to get that she could go over it. It was like this HUGE barrier to her and she was definitely nervous to step over it. Finally *I* stepped over it and showed her "look it's ok!" and she managed to walk over it. We had a huge freaking party. lol She pretty much struggled with this all class, but we did get her over it a few times and even once was more like a jump than simply stepping over it.

The last thing we did was a pause box that was made out of PVC piping and laid on the ground. the goal was to get your dog inside the box and have her sit down and pause (I think it's 5 seconds in competitions). You'd think this would be easy. But, alas, Dahlia did NOT want to step over the PVC piping onto the floor in the middle. I finally stepped into it and then she immediately did as well. I guess she needs Mommy to show her its safe. Once in, getting her to sit and wait was easy enough. I was glad to see that Ellie also did not want to step over the PVC piping and would try to lean over it to get the treat they threw in the middle.

At that point we combined the three elements. Get the dog in the pause box, stop, lead the dog to the "weaves," go through, then go over two jumps. She did this ok...certainly she has the following me part ok and she goes through the "weaves" just fine at this point (no clue how she'll do when we try to get to actually weave!). It always took a bit to get her over the jumps, but she would eventually do it. Especially for the freeze-dried chicken liver treats the instructor had (we are SO buying some of those).

When class ended I decided to take her over the jumps again and finally, at the very end of class, she went over them without really hesitating. We did it twice in a row and both times she went over. She keeps her head down while doing it, though. I think she feels she needs to watch the jumps in case something scary happens. lol

I think my poor girl needs more confidence in herself with these things. She was nervous to try just about everything. I'm thinking about getting some sort of practice jump I can take down to the park with me and work on it with her. This one site has "duffle jumps" which you can take apart and stick in a duffle bag for carrying. That might be an option.

I'm really SO glad that the CGC thing is over with. It's funny, but I didn't think that it went all that well last night. She was a bit distracted (the woman with the testing dog had treats...argh) and not paying 100% attention, but I guess she did what needed to be done.

( Rambles about the CGC and aftermath )

In other news, I'm really tired of all the rescue people up in arms over the Obama's choice for a dog. His kid has ALLERGIES so they can't just go to a shelter and bring home any dog. Most dogs at the shelter are either mutts or some really common shedding breed like labs or Golden retrievers. The only dog they were perhaps likely to find was a poodle, but they didn't seem too interested in poodles. So they got a dog from a reputable breeder who needed to rehome the little guy. What the hell is so wrong with that? Sometimes I'm embarrassed by my fellow animal welfare advocates. *smacks forehead*

It's already midterm night for class. I can't believe it's week 4 already! I'm looking forward to this being over for a bit. In another 4 weeks, I'm basically done with teaching until August. More time to relax at home with David and Dahlia!

David was really restless last night. He fell asleep on the couch while trying to do work and finally came to bed around 1am. Then he almost immediately got back up and didn't come back until almost 4am! I guess he suddenly got inspiration and ended up back in his study working all night. Good for him!

I went to bed way too late last night as well. It was after midnight when I crawled into bed. I wasn't tired for some reason and ended up starting to clean my study. Oops. lol That is the ONLY room in the apartment that is still a disaster. The living room, dining room, kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, and David's study have all been cleaned, vacuumed, things put away. The place looks freaking AWESOME. Awesome enough that I think we could soon have my folks over (though it still looks dingy, especially our living room floor which is really beaten up -- see the floor in this picture -- that's not dirty...it's clean...*sigh*). We're having some friends over this weekend, so that should be fun.

On a side note, I'm rereading Susan Kay's Phantom. God I forgot how much I love that book. *sigh*

Well, tonight's the big CGC test for Dahlia and I. She's been awesome this week. Peppy, excited, going down when I ask her to. But I expect she'll forget all of that when we get into the room and she's distracted by the smells and the new dog they're bringing in for the test. Sshe's gotten used the the instructor's hound mix who has been the "helper" dog for the past few weeks. On the bad side, that means she's going to have to remain calm in the presence of a new dog. On the good side, the dog is going to be a calm, dog-friendly dog who will basically ignore her. The instructor's hound mix is really reactive and often starts barking at the other dogs and people who come too close to him. She keeps him under great control, but he's definitely reactive (like she kept pointing out, HE would never pass the CGC).

I contacted a local training place that has an Agility for Fun class that starts on May 12 and registered us. As long as they get one more dog, the class will run and Dahlia will get a chance to try her hand at some agility. I'm looking forward to it. But I'm refusing to take it all too seriously. I just want her to have a good time.

Dahlia and I had our first Canine Good Citizen class last night. We're going to the local SPCA for the class. Our instructor, a woman named Danielle, seems very positive and upbeat. I was a bit worried as I heard her talking about people walking out the door in front of their dogs in the class before, which is usually a big part of dominance-based theories, but she seemed to be very positive-based training oriented. She's been teaching classes for the SPCA for 7 years and is a certified CGC tester, so she'll be giving the test. Hopefully that will bode well!

The class has just three dogs -- a German Shepherd named Jackson who seems fairly well-behaved but possibly a little dog reactive/aggressive; a Great Dane named Ruby who actually has NOT ever had an obedience class and is a bit out of control (but is very shy and would not do well in the basic class, so she put her in ours because it was small); and Dahlia, who is...well, Dahlia.

I got a chance to see the 10 test items of the CGC in action last night (you can see what they are here). They demonstrated it with a test dog, a shepherd mix named Gordon. I THINK Dahlia can do all of this. She did very well last night. We worked on some basic sit/down/stay exercises, which are no problem for her. And we also did the first two test items (ignoring a stranger who approaches and sitting politely for petting). She did great -- didn't move a muscle on the first one and happily accepted the petting on the second. She didn't break the sit on the latter either. She just stuck her neck out to get petted.

The other thing we did was walking on a loose leash in a circle. Here she didn't quite get it at first. I think the fact that we weren't walking in a straight line threw her a bit. She eventually she got it and kept walking with me, but frankly, *I* didn't care for walking in a circle either. I couldn't keep an eye on the other dogs to keep pace with them AND keep an eye on Dahlia. Ah well. We don't have to do that in the test. But it was good practice nonetheless. We made the dogs sit and go down during the walk and she did both just fine. During the down/stay, Ruby came over and was sniffing her all over. Dahlia didn't move a muscle until Ruby stepped on her tail. LOL I was pretty impressed with her self control.

During the demonstration part, they dropped one of the crutches near to her and I got to see her reaction, which was a slight startling and then leaning forward in curiosity. She did pretty well with that, especially since she has issues with noise (the time the DVD player fell off the TV, she fled across the room and jumped up on the couch and cowered there for a bit -- it took her awhile to go anywhere near the other side of the room again).

Dahlia can do all of this. The only problem? We can't use treats during the test. If we could, I'd have no worries. But getting her to sit, down, and stay without a treat might be tough so I have to figure out SOME way to wean her from them. I'm thinking that if she just knows I do have them on me and will get one later on, she might work anyway. But we'll see!

Today was our last day of intermediate obedience class at Petsmart. David didn't come tonight because he has a big presentation to do tomorrow and so had to stay home to work.

I expected it to be a bit like the last graduation class. A couple sits/downs/stays and then we'd take pictures and call it a night. Except last time we had 4 or 5 dogs to take pictures of and this time there were only two.

Class for Dahlia and I actually started early -- the moment we walked in around 6:40pm actually. Our trainer was training her advanced class to do sit/down stays by the door with people and kids and dogs walking in and out. She had us walk Dahlia by the dogs as they did their stays. Then she used us for meeting strange dogs on the street and standing and not greeting the other dog. Dahlia and I walked along and stopped when we saw the other person, greeted. The dogs had to stay at our sides and not try to greet the other. Then we continued on our way. Dahlia did great; so did the other dogs.

Then she and I wandered the store for a little bit while they wrapped their class up. I really had to go to the bathroom, so I attempted to take her in with me. Well, that was a no-go. She put down her foot, so to speak, and refused to move. The second time I tried to coax her in, she actually looked like she was shaking a bit, so I just stopped. I wasn't about to let my dog panic. We walked away and I got her calm again. I still had to go to the bathroom so when I went back and the class was gone, I asked our trainer if I could leave her in the room with her while I ran to the bathroom. We decided it was a good chance to see what she did when Mom left her alone with someone else. Well, I'm glad to say she did great. Our trainer said she didn't whine or cry or panic or pull on the leash. She sat there and watched and waited for me to come back. I was really proud of her. It's part of the CGC (Canine Good Citizen test) that I want her to do, so I'm glad to see she did pretty well with that. The most important thing is that the dog doesn't panic.

A lot of things happened during the class. We did some walking in the aisles. Our trainer told us to use this pit bull that was in the aisle as a distraction. Which we did successfully. On another go around, we ran into him again. His owner clearly was trying to control the dog (who was, ultimatley, a rather calm and good dog). She kept telling him "NO NO NO" when he tried to even look Dahlia's way. Then she kept frantically telling him "LIE DOWN..DOWN! DOWN DOWN DOWN." And when he didn't respond, she JERKED him the ground, shouting "DOWN." I said something like "ohhhhh" in what was probably a surprised and disapproving tone. THe woman said, in a rather snotty voice "It doesn't hurt him." I had to bite my tongue, as I'm not the trainer. Instead, I stepped away, walked a few feet away and with only hand signals, calmly had Dahlia sit and lay down. I turned, looked at the woman, gave Dahlia a release cue and walked away. I think that made my point clearer than telling her I thought she was an idiot. Fucking idiot Cesar Millan and his abusive methods. God I seriously hate that guy and wish he were taken off the air. [/rant off]

I'm not sure what our trainer thought of them, as she was right then when she jerked her dog to the floor. I hope she made a few training suggestions.

We then headed over to do stays by the the fish tanks, something new for us. Well, Dahlia's threshold issues came out again. She wouldn't come all the way back there. Our trainer was surprised she hadn't seen this from her before and wished she had. She got me to coax her back there and had me drop the leash and walk around the corner for the last few feet. Dahlia's need to not lose her mom overcame her difficulties. She then suggested going back out to where Dahlia felt safe. Well, we did, but then I decided to have her come back one more time, and the second time she was much better.

We both her and Schmutzi (I think that's how you spell it, though I could be wrong) in a down stay by the fish tanks. Then, since they were doing so good, she had us try something new. First we each stepped around the corner while the trainer held the leash, returning shortly from he same direction and treating/releasing the dog. Both dogs did great. The next time, she held both their leashes while they both were in a down stay and had us walk down the aisle and around and come up from behind them. The first time, both dogs took a moment to see us and remained down in a stay until just moments before we got to them. Try again! The second time, both dogs stayed until released. Our trainer was most impressed with Dahlia because she said she's smart enough that as soon as I disappeared around the corner, she turned her head to look down the aisle we had come from before. Yay for smart dogs!

We also did waits in the aisle with Colleen throwing treats. The first time Dahlia went for the treat and for some reason the "leave it" command escaped me. Duh. The second time she didn't go for the treat, though I spent a fair amount of time confusing her. Turning her around, while trying to get her to not sit on or trip over the exceedingly long leash, plus dealing with the lady with the pitbull and her stupid daughter YET AGAIN didn't help much. She ended up a bit stressed (as evidenced by her yawn, which our trainer poiinted out). Luckily, at that time, class was over and it was on to taking pictures of Dahlia in her grad hat. She did very well this time and I got a few really cute photos.

( Graduation photos )


I also talked to our trainer about the Agility for Fun classes and she thinks they'd be a great idea for Dahlia. We met several people at the store tonight who were impressed with her, starting with the woman and her two kids on their way out when we were coming in, plus one of the women who was there with a puppy for the class before us, plus a couple people in line when we were on our way out and even the cashier, who gave her a treat which Dahlia immediately ate right there on the rug). So all together it was a great class!

Class last night was...interesting. It didn't go so well, for the first time. It started with our discovering that Dahlia had stepped in some gum and gotten it worked into her paw pad pretty well. I'm guessing she stepped on it on the way into Petsmart and we didn't notice it right away. She was slinking around a bit so it was probably because it was uncomfortable. So we spent the first 10 minutes of class keeping her down and on her side so our trainer could work some peanut butter into the gum to loosen it up. We got it all out, but I'm sure her paw was still irritated.

Dahlia was HORRIBLE distracted all class, which was ashame as it was a private class. Our trainer was a bit distracted too -- I think she was having a bad day as well. So all together, Dahlia did NOT do really well, but it was an ok class. We talked to her about Dahlia's reluctance to go with someone else and how to work through that. So we have some ideas for that. She does ultimately go with the person we hand the leash to, but she's not happy about it and it's obvious from her body language.

We did manage to get her to do some stays with other dogs around and she did well with that. We're working on stays and waits with distractions and she's being pretty successful. She even managed to when there were some pretty hyper dogs around. I'm proud of my baby. She's a good girl.

In other notes about last night's class.

OMG I MET A WOLF DOG. Seriously. I was standing at the check out lane and this woman came in with this MASSIVE dog. I took one look at it and told David I was positive it was a wolf dog. And so I had to go find the woman and talk to her and sure enough, it was indeed a wolf dog...that looked more wolf than dog. He was friendly, but timid. He doesn't like hands (they think he was abused and so he's nervous if someone puts a hand out to him), so I squatted down and he came over and sniffed me. He was just such a handsome amazing dog. It's the closest I've gotten to a wolf or wolf dog and I was just blown away at having that opportunity. We were 5 minutes late to class but really, it was so worth it. What an amazing creature. She's a very lucky woman.

And I also got to hold a baby ball python. That was neat. I love snakes. I couldn't actually have one as a pet because I can't feed it what it needs to eat. But it's fun holding them and letting them crawl around my hand.

It was definitely an interesting night at Petsmart!

I guess I haven't had much chance to post in the past couple days, but more on that reason soon.

Dahlia had her third week at obedience class on Monday. I'm really enjoying the fact that we have only two dogs in this class. It means we have more time with the instructor and things move faster. Both dogs are smart and while Schmootzy is still just a puppy, she responds really well.

We started off class with just discussing some things. I think we mostly did because the other woman in the class had some questions, but also because we wanted to go out and do some work in the aisles and there was a woman there with her four unruly children. Colleen cracked me up by making a few snide comments about the kids needing leashes, training, and then about how their poor dogs would probably end up in a shelter. She's probably right about that, sadly. The dogs AND kids were horribly out of control and the owners seemed to have no clue what to do with them. Maybe she'll suggest training classes to them!

We're moving onto having the dogs do a "wait" with us not turning to look at them. It took a couple times, but Dahlia seemed to understand what we wanted of her pretty quickly. We got through the door with little problem. We found an aisle down the way a bit and practiced some loose leash walking. Colleen came and watched and said she was impressed with Dahlia. She does seem really impressed with her a lot -- she tells everyone she's the perfect rescue dog. It makes me proud! She's such a good girl. We're adding in turns when we're heeling and she did a great right turn around into the next aisle.

Further down there, we met a woman with a small puppy who was really afraid of Dahlia at first. Dahlia approached the dog and it kept running away. So Dahlia's reaction? She laid down and reached out her nose to the dog. After a few minutes, the dog started to bark and want to play. Dahlia really seems to have this innate sense of how to carry herself around small frightened dogs. She's so awesome with them. Colleen thought she was pretty amazing. We really did get a gem of a dog!

We also worked on "go to your bed" and it took Dahlia a little bit, but she was eventually going to her bed. I don't think we'll have much use for this command as she's a calm dog who doesn't get up on the bed with us, doesn't get in your face ever, isn't even obnoxious in begging. But at the same time it's a good command so we're working on it.

She really does amazingly well at class. She's such a great dog!

And on other Dahlia notes -- she's starting to play with other dogs! We met one today and she went over, sniffed, and then jumped into a part play bow! She's getting it! She's playing! I'm so happy to see her initiate play and get more comfortable with it. It's such a joy.

And one more dog note -- the Obamas have said they're going to adopt a shelter dog! Yay!!!

So we're back at our obedience classes again. We decided to sign up and do intermediate obedience classes at Petsmart with the same instructor we had before. We really like Colleen. And Dahlia really likes her too.

It turns out that this class has only TWO doggies in it. Yay for that. The only bad thing? It's quiet, calm, well-behaved Dahlia and a crazy 7 month old labradoodle puppy named Schmootzy. Schmootzy is cute as hell and is really smart, but she's nuts. She wants to play and of course, Dahlia's reaction is "omfg get off me you little child!" Hmm...not good for poor Schmootzy. Dahlia mostly stays out of the kid's way.

We started off with a few "puppy calisthenics"...just running her through basic sits, stays, downs, and whatnot. Dahlia is great with this stuff, especially if there is doggy crack involved!

Then we launched into something new. The first thing we did was "wait." The concept here is to get the dog to sit and wait so you can walk out the door (or down the stairs) and have the dog follow you on command. David decided to do it first and poor Dahlia got SO confused. He was, ultimately, doing it all wrong. The way you were supposed to do it was walk to near the door and tell the dog sit. You then wave your hand from one side to the other in front of their face and say "wait." Since we're new to it, we need to face the dog and make sure she stays put. Well, she wouldn't for David. He waved his hand in this HUGE arc that just made her want to go get whatever treat was in his hand. He kept trying to get her to do it over and over again and she was getting more and more confused and he was clearly getting frustrated. So I decided to try it instead.

I got to near the door, made her sit, said, "wait," and did the signal. The first time she moved quickly and we started over. This time I did it, stepped out and turned to face her. She shifted a bit forward and I said "eh-eh" (or however you want to write it). She sat back down. She tried it again, another "eh-eh" and then she stayed put. I released her and she walked through the door to her treat. I was pretty impressed with her. David tried it again and she really just was somewhat confused. Poor kid. He told me today she was doing ok with it but I think last night she was just balking at his doing anything with her.

We did loose leash walking and she's brilliant at that with me at Petsmart (not so much at home! LOL). Very attentive and great. I think this guy that I ran into beforehand with his big yellow lab really hit the nail on the head. He said "the problem with training here is they can't do the live squirrel test." Yes. This! Exactly! The distractions are just not enough. But...we do our best.

Afterward we did stays with a bit more distance and time. The way Colleen introduced this was to get the dog into a sit-stay and then step to the side, to the middle, to the other side, and then back to the middle. Treat. Then step back one step and then back to the beginning. Treat. Keep doing that and then start more steps back or more time at the one step away. She can handle this. She did really well when Colleen did it. And she did ok when I tried it at home. If I step two steps away she follows me though. I just have to get good at timing my vocal corrections "eh-eh" to get her to stay in place. We'll get there! I have no doubt of it.

Overall she did REALLY well. I'm looking forward to next week's class!

I can't believe I never updated on Dahlia's progress this past week. Because of my teaching schedule, we were forced to change classes for the last two weeks. So instead of going to the Tuesday night class this past week, Dahlia, David, and I jumped into a new class on Friday evening. It was a little weird joining a different class, but was also great fun. She got to meet Vito, a really large 7 month old Rhodesian Ridgeback (a breed of dog I've never met in person!). Gorgeous animal and he and Dahlia were GREAT together. Not a growl between them. He was also a really sweet dog and at one point during class, while we were waiting for others to complete their "come" exercise, he came over to David, sat down in front of him, and leaned up against him. Awww...we know he just wanted his "doggy crack," but it was still really cute.

And for the record, Dahlia (who was supposedly a jealous dog) did not seem fazed at all by Vito's actions.

We also met Missy, a shih-tzu/poodle mix (I think) and Jessie, an English pointer. Jessie was NUTS. Totally out of control, energy out the whazoo. But her owner took it totally in stride, was absolutely calm about it all. And Jessie was just all too happy to do everything. She's going to be one great dog when she grows out of her puppy craziness. Well, she's a great dog NOW, but just a lot more hyper than she will be eventually. I was worried about her meeting Dahlia, since Dahlia doesn't seem to like dogs jumping up in her face all the time, but she did great when she met her.

I really like this class and although I love the dogs in the other class, I think Dahlia would be even further along. They were already working on rolling over and shake, along with calmly greeting other dogs (something Dahlia SO NEEDS). We did the greeting and passed with flying colours. She was totally awesome. Now why the fuck she can't do that when we're out on the road for a walk I don't know. It might be MY tension being relayed to her since I get worried that the other dog is going to be dog aggressive. I need to work on that myself to be honest, so hopefully Dahlia and I can work together to greet doggies more calmly when we come across them on the street.

We tried to get her to roll over, but only got her on her side. Maybe eventually we'll get her to do it.

We got back for our 8th and final class tonight. Dahlia's gonna be a graduate! We have to take our cameras and get shots of her with a little cap on. How silly, but it should be fun (if we can get the cap on her head!). We're definitely signing up for intermediate classes, also with Colleen. I'm looking forward to continuing!