Bella goes to camp!

With the move quickly approaching and life becoming a bit more hectic, our sweet pup hasn't been getting the greatest attention she truly deserves. I'm simply amazed at the energy of a 9 month old lab. NOTHING we do keeps her entertained. My father has been reminding me for a while that she really should spend some time at training camp, because in his words, "She's too hyper!" We've put this off and said we would NEVER do it...

But...5 days ago Alex took sweet Bella-Boo (as we call her) to camp for 30 DAYS! WHOA! That's a long time you say. Yes, it is. But it really is great timing for her, and us! When she comes home, she will hopefully have forgotten her old roaming grounds of our backyard and be ready for a new "play pen." Also, it gave us some time to patch the holes in our back yard so the new peeps moving in don't totally hate us for having a "holey" yard! She is so smart and also knew something was up with all the boxes that line our walls and walk-ways throughout our house! She would set and look at us with her head cocked to the side as to say, "Where are we going?"

While at "camp (aka Club Canine of Nashville)", Bella really has it made. She has two or three 30 minute play times with other dogs her age/size, 2 walks a day, and three 15 minute "training sessions." Plus, she can have up to 3 visits from us each week (they're quite strick on the number of visits...I hope colleges aren't that way one day)! We actually went to see her today, which felt like visiting a child you've sent off to college. (Alex said it wasn't the easiest thing he'd ever done by leaving her last week, knowing that she won't be home for a MONTH! It's amazing how much a part of your family a pet becomes!!) She was doing great, and it was a relief to walk her and not feel like a Chevy truck is pulling me around the neighborhood!

In her absence, we will have an invisible fence installed at our new house. Our back yard isn't fully fenced there. That should be another interesting thing to train her on. Let's pray that after coming home from "camp", it goes smoothly! I'll keep you updated on her progress. They said she had already learned the commands "heel", "sit", and "come." Her new command "down" is introduced tomorrow! In the meantime, we just have this sweet face to look at...