Wednesday, September 27, 2006

Back to School

It's been far too long since I've posted and summer has sadly vanished leaving fall in it's place. I learned on the news recently that it's not really fall, it's more like cut off -- there's apparently some biochemical reaction in each and every leaf on each and every tree that dispenses its colorful leaves upon the ground that literally cuts the leaf off and sends it on its way.

I have sent on their way my 3 daughters off to school. One, a 2nd grader, brought home a poem that I thought worthy of posting. It's called THE DOG ATE MY HOMEWORK by Sara Holbrook.

The Dog Ate My Homework

The dog ate my homework
You're heard that before?
This one at the table,
then chewed through the door.

Broke into the living room
with his munch mouth,
snacked on some carpet
lunched on the couch.

He chewed up some albums,
then swallowed the mail,
even ate pretzels,
though they were stale.

He garbaged down everything
left in his path
and still wasn't full
when he found my math.

He chewed tops off bottles,
then drank all the pop,
as far as I know,
he still hasn't stopped.

If you don't believe me,
then give Mom a call,
if she still has a kitchen,
or phone on the wall.

She'll answer and tell you
my story is true.
The dog ate my homework.
What could I do?


Now I was suitably impressed that my 7 1/2 year old could read the poem and with feeling and proper inflection but being the behaviorist and nag I am we then had to have a chat about how poorly managed and anxious this poor dog was, homework or no! We also had to define what albums were and discuss the history of phones that aren't cordless, but that's beside the point.

I certainly am seeing an influx of anxious and poorly managed dogs lately. Perhaps it's the changing of the seasons exacerbating things or the change from a more lax summer schedule to fall without actually helping the dog understand. But before winter hits with even more restriction it's a good idea to figure out some things the dog can do with pride than wait for the dog to do things that are less than acceptable! We'll have to come up with some ideas in a future blog entry. Here's one you can try now.
 
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