Life with Penney is such a joy! She is a total goof ball and has the most hilarious personality. She loves to be the center of every ones attention. When shes not she knows how to get all eyes on her by wiggling her bottom and jumping up and down like a jumping jack. She is always making a silly face whether her top lip is stuck under her bottom teeth or the tip of her tongue is hanging out. She loves to be loved. She always wants to be near you and loves to be petted or snuggled.
For being deaf she is an exceptional listener. Not to speech of course, but to sign language. She has learned the commands for sit, stand up, lay down, stay, come, no, 'go potty' and her favorite 'good girl' (which is "spirit fingers," this turns her into an excited wiggle worm) She has also caught on very fast to the house rules of sitting before you go outside or come in and before eating. Since she has caught on so well to everything I have taught her thus far I am continuing with many new tricks.
Inspired by Therapy Dogs Padame and Blaze I am going to begin teaching her how to read. Therapy dog handler Tammy Baker floored me when she showed me how she taught her standard poodles Padame and Blaze to read one word commands such as sit, stay, down, off, come. I instantly thought that this would be an awesome ability for Penney. Another trick we are working on steamed from what I originally thought to be Penneys worst attribute, jumping. Blocking the dogs from entering the dinner room is a baby gate. While eating dinner one night Penney deiced that that baby gate was NOT going to stop her from begging and in one leap she cleared the gate and was siting at my feet. Since she has began jumping over everything, including Pete! At first I hated the fact that she could jump so high but then I got the idea of how to use this ability- Hula hoop jumping. Just yesterday I bought her a pink hula hoop and our training will begin soon.
I am happy to announce that Penney has been granted permission by the Barber Center Senior Center to practice socialization. Starting tomorrow she will begin her official training for her Therapy Dog exam by visiting the Seniors. I am so excited to finally get her out interacting with people. She is well on her way to becoming an official member of this organization. I know she is going to be a wonderful addition and is going to touch so many individuals lives. She is an outstanding little girl.
