fire and control

Despite our drive being an hour instead of 30 minutes (I got about a block from the Mexican border… so clearly I had passed the elementary school) Mackenzie and I made it to the Elementary 15 mins later than we said we would, but still 15 mins earlier than the classes were going to be getting there.  So things worked out perfectly.

She behaved better than I ever thought she could.  After whining and bouncing around the car for the hour it took to get there I figured she was going to act like the crazy hyper dog she normally is.  Well she did, for a while right when we got there and I was signing in and showing them our Delta badges and she became fascinated with the water fountain.  After a few minutes though she realized we were ‘working’ and she started to behave much better.  She knows exactly what I need out of her and exactly when I need it.

She was calm and quiet (besides a few little whines because no one was paying attention to her) when the Teachers were talking to the kids and she was totally ON when we were asked to do tricks (for 3 classes in a row).  Every class first asked to see her do a back flip.  Then they would want to see classics like roll-over, play dead, jump was a favorite, dance, shake hands, they LOVED ‘wave’, and they got spin, limp, spin/twirl, bark (by accident), sneeze, and ‘cover your eyes’ a few times.  She was so totally awesome that in the middle class she did the entire trick routine with no treats (thank you delayed reinforcement training) until she was done.  Everyone was real impressed with that.  She loved when all the kids would come up to her and pet her and talk to her.  And she really loves the trick “give her/him five” where the kids put their hands out and she runs up to them and gives them a paw.

One kid was really sweet.  Like I mentioned yesterday the whole reason we were there was as an incentive for the kids to read more over the summer.  Well in addition to that, what they were doing today was offering the kids a little “store” in which they could use the points they’ve earned from reading throughout the year to buy stickers, notebooks, dinosaurs, etc.  Most kids had around 30-60 points with some having as few as 15 and some as many as 180.  So once they bought their little goodies they would come back and play with Mackenzie and/or Tinker (the other dachshund in WAGS- she’s a b/t).  So anyway, this one kid used his points on a little Spiderman foam ball.  He and his friends sat in a little circle to play with Mackenzie and he asked me if she would play with the ball.  Of course she would!

Actually, she was NUTZ for the ball.  She was catching it in the air, kicking it with her paws, growling, chasing, and shaking it all over.  Everyone had a great time throwing it in the air for her and watching her chase after it.  Finally I told the boy that he better take it back because she might rip it or mess it up.  He took it back in his hands for a little while and thought about it and handed it back to me and said “I want her to keep it.  She can have it.”  It was so sweet, I told the supervisor and she told his teacher and they all said it was a really nice thing for him to do.  Especially since he used his only points for that ball.  He walked out of the library grinning from ear to ear watching Mackenzie with her little ball.

As we were leaving the woman in charge of the whole thing told me “Wow, she’s a star.  Ya’ll wanna come back in the afternoon too?”  I said we had been planning a big party for our other dog’s birthday and we couldn’t.

But yes, Mackenzie is a star.  She’s got that special something that you don’t see everyday.

She is an incredible dog and when you meet her, you just know she’s a star.