In case you've forgotten how handsome I am

Today, I am one sorry Moy-Moy for causing some dogs and kitties- and possibly some humans?- to miss me last week. I got tired from doing all the work here in our clinic so when the Secretary came back, I decided to take a break. Perfect, because Jappy, the Secretary's friend came over to spend summer with us! Jappy and I spent every minute of the day playing.

Oopps...

He started it!


Then we had a game called "bitey face",


But after a few rounds, the Animal Doctor had to whisk Jappy away.

Jappy is like four or five years old and I am not even six months? Maybe I should prescribe a double dose of Moy-Moy energy to this dude.

While Jappy catches his breath, I will tell you his story. He lives- or used to be tied to a post- a few blocks from the Secretary's old apartment. Jappy was a cranky canine way back in 2005. He would bark angrily at the Secretary who greets him on her way to work every morning. But the Secretary did not give up and thought food would mellow him a bit. For months, she would leave a plate of steaming boiled rice and ground beef for Jappy but all these yummy stuff did not make him less of a crab.

Then one day, the Secretary bought some bacon flavored treats and offered them to Jappy by hand- and guess what?- the dude gingerly took it in his mouth! He was actually careful not to bite the Secretary! So that's how their friendship started- over a piece of pretend bacon. The Secretary got bolder and asked Jappy's owner if she could take him for walks ( this is the part where I get jealous because she does not even bother to take me out for walks!).

Jappy must have finally admitted to himself how he enjoyed the treats and walkies because he started acting like a lovestruck adolescent whenever the Secretary would pass by or pick him up for walks. Just the sound of the Secretary's voice would detonate his tail into a wag bomb and his joyous yapping was just too much for the neighbors. That's how Jappy loves the Secretary who by then developed anxiety attacks whenever it rained because she would think of Jappy tied to a post, shivering in the cold and possibly catching pneumonia. Thankfully, after losing innumerable umbrellas and towels, the Secretary was able to convince Jappy's owners to let him stay indoors.

The Secretary now lives with the Animal Doctor, but did not forget about Jappy. She sends him presents and picks him up from time to time to spend vacations with us. Cool. I like playing with Jappy, which I say because other than my tail and my pipsqueak sister Pussy, there's not much to choose from.

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The Secretary woke me from my late afternoon siesta yesterday to introduce me to our client who happens to be some kind of celebrity in the field of dog training. He has a group who advocates clicker training, wherein "a dog is trained by marking (click) a desired behavior and reinforcing it with food, toy, threats, petting or anything that the dog likes". The group believes that there is no better trainor than the owner himself; the training sessions actually involve teaching humans the principles and methodology of positive reinforcement which they will use in training their dog for anything, be it basic obedience or fancy skills.